Getting verified on Instagram is not an easy process, and it is not something that everyone is able to achieve. For any brand or social media influencer, getting verified is the highest form of validation. When you manage to secure that blue tick on Instagram, it will validate your authenticity and also allow you more control over your online presence ensuring that you are the only one representing your brand / name.
Instagram mainly requires you to have a solid online presence. In this article, we are going to discuss all things Instagram verification, what the requirements are and what types of articles work, as well as what doesn’t work.
Let’s get right to it!
What Are the Requirements?
One of the main requirements of Instagram verification is a wide online presence. Now, the exact process is a bit greyed out but Instagram does offer some guidelines on their platform.
First, you want to make sure you are following the community guidelines and terms of use. Over and above this you need to ensure that your account is:
- Authentic: It should belong to a real person, business or brand.
- Public: Your account needs to be public as private accounts are not eligible for verification.
- Complete: Your profile needs to be 100% completed including a bio, photo, and activity.
- Unique: Your account should be the only one that represents your name, business or brand. Instagram will not verify multiple accounts for the same person, business or brand.
- Notable: It must represent a publicly known, highly-searched for person or business. You should have been featured in multiple, authentic news sources.
These are the main guidelines, and as you can see there is no mention of how many followers you require for Instagram verification. It makes no difference whether you have 1000 or 100 000 followers, if you have a strong online presence, getting verified is not that tricky.
What Won’t Get You Verified
Before you run off to go and get some articles published about yourself, let’s take a look at the types of articles that will have little to no effect on the outcome of your Instagram verification application.
Free-to-Publish Articles
Articles published on sites where just anyone can publish are an absolute NO! They offer no value and are seen as non-reliable sources by social networks. The one thing to avoid when building your online presence, is free-to-publish sites. Some examples of these sites would be Medium or Scoop.It.
Pay-to-Publish Fiverr Articles
The next one to avoid is pay-to-publish articles. These are available to anyone online who can pay for a publication. These sites also offer no value, unless you are paying to publish on a reliable and trustworthy site such as Forbes, New York Times or similar. Social networks are also well aware that individuals / businesses are using freelancers to get published on blogs / sites. This is something you want to avoid at all costs. They worked for a while, but now they are blacklisted.
Indian Press Release Packages
A few years ago, around 2018 and 2019, a group of PR agents started an idea, offering clients full feature articles on 10 different Indian news sites, for next to nothing. They may offer to charge a fee for the blogs, and then an additional fee once the articles go live, to help you with your instagram verification badge. Social networks have caught sniff of these and have banned the sites. Yet these PR agents are still out there trying to sell these packages to unsuspecting clients, and making a profit.
Mentions on Notable & Reliable Sites
To get Instagram verified, you will require at least ten or more full feature articles that are all about you only. Having mentions are great and may help, but you will need a set of ten full feature articles on reliable sites. Therefore, you don’t just want to be mentioned in an article about something else, you want to be fully featured in the article for a stronger case.
Promotional Publications & Wire Press Releases
Individuals trying to get financial gain through those who want Instagram verification are selling press releases and promising that it is enough to get Instagram verification. Now, press releases are considered promotional. Social networks can tell the difference between full feature articles and press releases quite easily. Therefore, always make sure if you are buying article content, that you are buying a full feature article and not a press release.
What Will Get You Verified
Now that we know what doesn’t work, let’s take a look at the types of articles that will help to verify your online presence.
Full Feature Articles
A full feature article is one that is solely about you. It does not only have one or two lines about you, the whole article is about you. These should be published on reliable and notable websites such as international or local news sites. These are sites where not just anyone can become a publisher. They will be Google-news approved sites. Local sites are also helpful, as long as they are quality.
Wiki
Having a Wiki page of sorts is a big plus point. In order to have a Wiki page, you would be required to have tons of reliable articles and mentions. This will add an insane amount of value to your Instagram verification application. Be careful of mock Wikipedia sites being sold, as they are not useful for verification. Also bear in mind that while it is a huge advantage to have a Wiki page, it is not a must to ensure Instagram verification.
Google Knowledge Panel
This is an info box that will pop up when you Google anyone famous whether it be an individual or business/brand. You will find a quick snapshot of the person which will include their bio, social links, reviews and a photograph of them/ business logo. Having this will be a huge advantage for any verification case, however again, it is not a must.
Website
If you have a professionally done and regularly updated website, you will stand more of a chance of getting verified. In an Instagram verification case, a full website is not on the list of requirements, but it is certainly helpful. Even creating a one-page responsive website through a site such as Wix, can be sufficient.
Final Thoughts
When you are on the road to getting verified on Instagram, it is going to require a lot of time and effort on your part. Although it sounds like a daunting task, it is all worth it in the end. Instagram verification will set you apart from the rest and give your name, business/brand more credibility on the platform. We hope that you found this article useful. Best of luck on your verification journey!