How To Get Verified On Instagram: The Ultimate Guide

Prior to 2018, it was seemingly impossible to become verified on Instagram. The mystical blue check mark seemed to appear on a person’s profile over night and was saved for celebrities, big brands, public figures or, according to Instagram, anyone at risk of impersonation.

Over time, the blue check badge has become a symbol of popularity and importance, separating the higher ranked profiles from the general public. If and when your account is up to par for verification, this will be determined solely by Instagram.

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It’s quite obvious why becoming verified on Instagram is so advantageous. That badge is a sign of recognition. With the check, your account will show up at the very top of the Instagram search engine when people look for your name (or a name similar). 

For instance, when you search a common name such as ‘Ben’ on the Instagram search page, the results will show people you may share a common following with. However, the majority of the results will be a variation of different Ben’s with blue verification check marks. 

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Since the check mark positively affects your account’s credibility and visibility, this will inevitably bring you more followers and traffic to your account. Most people want the mark with hopes that this little icon will skyrocket their business to success. Or at least make them seem more important and desired. 

More recently, the entire verification application process has been updated. Not only can people with a more modest following gain a blue check, but now anyone on Instagram can take the ball into their court and apply. The take away from this new and improved process is that now everyone has an equal shot at attaining a blue check. 

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However, there’s still seemingly no rhyme or reason as to why some people have blue checks and others do not. Since no one knows exactly what it takes to become verified, the mystery behind it makes people want it that much more. 

Additionally, Instagram is not just giving the checks out to anyone who applies. They realize the value it brings to an account and want to keep it that way.

Regardless of the difficulty level for the acquisition of the blue check, it’s worth giving it a shot. You’re probably wondering, how do I go about becoming verified on Instagram? Check out the definitive steps below to begin your blue check application process.

APPLYING

This is probably the simplest part of the whole process. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Instagram app and click the 3 line icon in the top right corner

  2. Click Settings at the bottom of the screen

  3. Scroll down to Request Verification 

  4. Fill in the blanks (Full Name, Known as, Category, and photo of your ID to verify you’re real)

  5. Hit Send

  6. Pick up a hobby or divert energy while Instagram takes it’s sweet time to determine your eligibility. 

Luckily, Instagram has made this portion really straightforward. You’ll eventually be notified after Instagram has reviewed your application on whether or not you’ve been verified. The amount of time this takes varies from person to person meaning there’s not a set time frame you should expect to hear back. 

According to Instagram, in order to be verified, your account must be –

“Authentic – Your account must represent a real person, registered business or entity.

Unique- Your account must be the unique presence of the person or business it presents. Only one account per person or business may be verified, with exceptions for language-specific accounts. We don’t verify general interest accounts (example: @puppymemes).

Complete- Your account must be public and have a bio, profile photo and at least one post. Your profile can’t contain “add me” links to other social media services.

Notable- Your account must represent a well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity. We review accounts that are featured in multiple news sources, and we don’t consider paid or promotional content as sources for review.”

Use these guidelines as a basic check list to ensure you’re at least on the right path towards making your account verifiable. Under Instagram’s standards at least. 

Additionally, there are some measures you can take to increase your chances of being chosen. 

Gain Popularity On Additional Platforms

Building your presence on other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube will back up the idea that you’re a notable account on Instagram. When working on establishing a strong following on an additional social media platform, make sure it’s a parallel platform. A parallel platform is a platform which has a strong community within your particular niche. 
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For instance, there are strong connections between Music and Youtube or Politics and Twitter. The idea behind this is, if you have a decent following listening to your music on say Youtube, most likely those followers will switch over to Instagram to connect with you. Instagram then wants to ensure this process is as streamlined as possible to maintain an enjoyable user experience. If a person cannot find your account, then this fundamentally takes away from the efficiency of the app.

That being said, if you have a larger following on another platform, this ultimately translates to this: you’re relevant. Instagram needs to maintain popularity as a social app and the only way to do this is to stay on trend. Hence, if you’re popular on another social platform, it’ll become more of a priority for Instagram to verify you.

Stay Active

On and off of Instagram. There’s no point in verifying an account that’s inactive. This serves no purpose for you, Instagram or the Instagram community. 

You’ll without a doubt need some sort of a following and presence on the app. Boostly’s service is a great way to establish a following and create consistent growth for your account.  Insight is provided into which accounts and hashtags are most beneficial to target. This information effectively brings desired traffic to your account which is a huge advantage. 

Remaining relevant and active outside of the app is also really beneficial. You practically have to prove your self-worth in more ways than one in order to attain a blue badge. 

If your a brand, business or even a public figure, make sure there is searchable press on you. To put it simply, make sure you show up on Google if someone was to search your name. The more information there is on your brand or business, the more ‘legitimate’ you’ll seem.

This means you’ll need to work on your digital presence. This can be done with a great PR team or through content creation from other users. The more people talking about you, the better!

Suggest Your Profile Is At Risk Of Being Impersonated

Ultimately, the main purpose of the blue check mark is to let people know they’re engaging with real accounts. As a major brand or public figure, social media would be a huge risk factor if no one knew who was real and who was fake. It’s so easy to get caught up in content on the internet and be fooled if you don’t know the source. Instagram would essentially be fake news central if there was no way to prove the validity of an account. 

For example, people want to know they’re interacting with or following the real Lebron James and not a fake Lebron account made by an over enthused fan. That’s why Instagram states:

“Accounts representing well-known figures and brands are verified because they have a high likelihood of being impersonated.”
Therefore giving people like Lebron James a blue check is not only important for Lebron, but also helpful for the Instagram community. 
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If you somehow prove your account is at risk of being impersonated, you’ll be on your way to receiving that bright blue check. Once again, the more information there is on you across the internet the better. This factor heightens your risk of being impersonated. People want to jump on the famous train, and if you’re on your way to becoming well-known, you’ll be an attractive target for impersonators. 
At the end of the day, It’s going to take a good amount of time and effort to get your account verified on Instagram. It may not be the easiest process, but if you’re approaching the verification process with the intent of trying to grow your brand or business, there shouldn’t be a problem (just potentially long wait times). Despite potential difficulty, the fact that the blue check is now available to anyone at risk of impersonation opens a big door of verification opportunity for everyone. 

Boostly is the #1 Instagram Growth Service to help you build an engaged audience, drive traffic and generate sales from Instagram! Get started for free today: