How to Apply for a Verified Badge on Instagram
If you’ve determined your Instagram account meets all of the eligibility requirements for a verified badge, you can submit an application.
Instagram Verification Eligibility Requirements
If you’re a high-profile individual or you manage an Instagram account on behalf of a public figure, celebrity, business, organization or brand, you can apply for Instagram verification. But before you do, you need to make sure you meet the eligibility requirements, which include: Return to Instagram and tap Choose File to select the photo of your ID from your device.
Follow Instagram’s Terms of Use and Community Guidelines;Authentically represent a real individual, registered business or entity;Represent the unique presence of the individual, business or entity;Be set to public and include a completed bio, profile picture and at least one post; andRepresent a well-known individual, business, brand or entity that is highly searched.
Instagram will review accounts that appear in multiple news and media sources, however paid or promotional content will not count toward eligibility. Instagram also won’t consider reviewing general interest accounts, such as those that feature popular books, funny memes or cute dogs—regardless of how many followers the account has.
What Happens After Applying for Instagram Verification?
Instagram unfortunately does not specify any timeframe for when you can expect to hear back about your application, however you can expect to eventually receive a notification whether your application is approved or denied. If your application is denied, you’ll be allowed to submit another application after 30 days if you want to try again. If your application is approved and you receive the verified badge on your account, it should appear at the end of your username on your profile, in search results and in the expanded threads of comments you leave on posts.
The Benefits of Having the Instagram Verified Badge
The verified badge appears as a white checkmark encircled by a blue badge beside a verified user’s username on their profile, in search and also in comment threads. Besides being a high status symbol on Instagram, the verified badge offers accounts a wide range additional of benefits. These include:
Trustworthiness. Users who come across a verified account don’t have to question the authenticity of it, even if there are hundreds of similar accounts. The blue tick lets them know the real individual, business or entity is behind it. Better partnership opportunities. Many Instagram influencers do business with other brands, but being verified makes it easier to get more lucrative and exclusive brand partnerships. First access to new features. Verified accounts often receive special treatment and get to test or try out new features of the app before they’re rolled out to everyone else. Higher ranking in search. When users search for a well-known individual, business or entity, the best matching verified result will appear at the very top of search results. Any and all impersonated (unverified) accounts will appear below it. Higher follower and engagement growth. Instagram users love to follow accounts that are official, authentic and exclusive—which is exactly what that little blue tick represents. This means more followers and engagement will lead to greater organic discoverability of your content on the Explore page as well as your account in Suggestions for You page.
Tips for Getting Approved for an Instagram Verified Badge
Instagram is most likely to approve applications for verified badges to accounts representing people, businesses, brands or entities that are at a high risk of being impersonated. Verified badges help users distinguish from the authentic accounts and fake or fan-based ones. This explains why a lot of celebrities are verified, however being famous isn’t exactly a requirement. Consider the following tips to help increase your chances of getting your request for Instagram verification approved:
Use branded content on your profile. Include a clear, enticing profile picture, keywords in your username/full name, and short blocks of descriptive text plus optional hashtags in your bio. Work your brand into posts, Instagram stories and Instagram reels too. Get featured by the media. If Instagram can’t find any content about you on the web, your chances of verification approval are slim to none. Promote yourself or your business by participating in interviews, becoming a guest host on podcasts, appearing in YouTube influencers’ videos, getting stories about you published on news hubs and more. Work on your web presence as a whole. There are many Instagram accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers that don’t get verified because their presence is limited to Instagram only. Make an effort to expand your presence to other platforms like an official website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and others—ensuring all are highly optimized for search. Work on increasing followers and engagement. The higher your follower count and engagement looks the Instagram, the more likely your account will look like a high-profile one a lot of people know about and are searching for. Just remember to do it genuinely, without resorting to buying followers. Check out the five best Instagram apps to help boost engagement.
