As a brand or business, building credibility with your online audience should be part of your overall social media marketing strategy. Learning how to get verified on Facebook (and other platforms) is a great way to do so.
Why? Well, getting verified on Facebook is a must for public figures, brands and companies who are famous and can be replicated or parodied.
In this post, you will go through some essential steps on how to get verified on Facebook as well as some additional details to give you a complete understanding of how Facebook Verification works.
let’s get started.
- what is facebook verification
- who can get verified on facebook
- Why you should get verified on Facebook
- steps to get verified on facebook
- What if Facebook rejects your application
- tips to get verified on facebook
what is facebook verification
Facebook verification gives credibility to official pages and makes a clear distinction between genuine pages and pages run by fans or fraudsters.
Before we get into the Facebook verification process, you’ll want to first know what it means to be verified on Facebook and why it’s so important.
As we briefly mentioned earlier, businesses and public figures can often see people creating pages and profiles similar to them—whether it’s to copy them or build a fan community. Even if there is no malicious intent behind those pages and profiles, there is a huge risk of them being misunderstood by other Facebook users as the real thing.
In addition, Facebook gives priority to verified profiles and pages in its search results. So Facebook verification ensures that your Page appears prominently at the top of relevant searches, which can further improve your reach. See how the official verified page for Workday gets top priority when you search for a company name on Facebook.
who can get verified on facebook
Although in theory, anyone can be verified on Facebook, they must meet strict verification criteria in order to be approved. In addition to complying with the Company’s Terms of Service, your account must:
- Reliable: It must represent a real person, institution or business.
- Unique: It must be the unique appearance of the person, institution or business it represents. Except for language-specific accounts, Facebook only verifies one account per business or individual. And note that it does not verify accounts for general interests. For example, it will not verify a page dedicated to healthy eating, but it will verify a page representing a registered publication dedicated to healthy eating.
- Complete: It should be active and have all the necessary details like an “About” section and a profile photo. Also it should have at least one post.
- Notable: The person, organization or business it represents must be well known and should have a lot of discoveries. If multiple news sources and publications feature the account, Facebook is more likely to accept your application.
The above requirements are only minimal and do not guarantee that you will be verified. To improve your chances of getting verified, make sure your account looks highly reliable. This means, for example, publishing highly informative and engaging posts on a regular basis rather than sticking to the minimum requirement of one post.
Note that in addition to the above, Facebook may also have other requirements to verify Pages and profiles belonging to law enforcement agencies, politicians, elected officials, and city governments. Be sure to be logged in to your Facebook account to see all of Facebook’s verification criteria for these types of Pages as well as contacts.
Why you should get verified on Facebook
There are many reasons why getting verified is a good idea—let’s cover the bases.
Increases credibility for your brand
Being verified shows that you are a legitimate, trusted brand. The process isn’t easy (as you’ll soon see) and many people/brands have tried to get verified and failed, so Facebook users know if they see a blue checkmark, it’s real.
Protects against fraudulent accounts
Some people create fake accounts and some create fan accounts. Being verified helps set your Facebook Page apart from the rest, assuring customers that they are following or contacting the real deal, not a fraud.
Facebook prioritizes verified profiles and pages
The Facebook algorithm prioritizes verified pages and public figure profiles. That blue check means you’ll be shown first in search results, helping your brand’s Facebook page get noticed.
8 steps to get verified on facebook
While most of the process to get verified is simple, some parts are more complicated than others.
However, if you follow these eight steps to a tee and you have everything you need, you should be able to get that blue checkmark with a little extra effort.
Step 1: Open the verification request form
Begin the verification process by going to Facebook’s verification request form. This is where you will complete all of the following steps.
Step 2: Choose your verification type
If you are a public figure then you have the option to verify your personal profile. Or, as long as you’re logged into your Facebook account, you can choose which business page you want to verify from the dropdown menu. Every business page you manage will be visible, making it easier for each of your business or clients to go through this process.
Step 3: Verify the Authenticity
The next step is proving that your Facebook page is authentic. Remember, verification proves to your audience that it is authentic. That’s why it’s important that Facebook looks for credible documents to approve the verification.
Documentation options you can upload a copy of include:
- Driver’s license
- Passport
- National Identity Card
- tax payment
- Recent utility bills
- article of incorporation
you will click select files button to upload your documents.
Step 4: Verify Notability
This next step is called “Verifying Fame,” but essentially, you’re selecting a category for your business page or profile. This is especially important when verifying profiles—Facebook wants to make sure your profile or page is something people are genuinely interested in or searching for before providing verification.
Categories to choose from include:
- News media
- Play
- Government and politics
- music
- fashion
- Entertainment
- Digital Creator/Blogger/Influencer
- gamer
- Business/Brand/Organization
- other
Step 5: Add Your Country
The next step is to add the country where you or your business is most famous. Even if you have a global company, you may want to choose the country or region where you have the largest audience. If you’re not sure, you can easily find out by looking at your website’s Google Analytics or your Facebook Insights.
Step 6: Add Your Audience and This Is Also Known As
This step is completely optional, however, the more information you provide, the easier it will be for the Facebook team to verify your verification. We recommend that you input basic information about your audience demographics. However, if you don’t have another “AKA” name for your business, you can certainly leave that section blank.
Step 7: Add 5 articles that show your Page or profile in public interest
This step is also optional, but take our word for it: Do not skip this step, This is one of the best ways to help prove your case. Popular social media accounts, articles that talk about your business, Wikipedia profiles, or anything else that proves that people are interested in, follow, or talk about your brand, you’re a more Making compelling arguments that your page should be verified.
Step 8: Submit the Form
Voila! You have submitted your application for Facebook verification. Now all you have to do is wait.
What if Facebook rejects my application
Keep in mind that meeting the basic verification criteria does not guarantee that you will be verified. Facebook may still reject your application without assigning any reason. If this happens, you will have the option to re-apply for verification after 30 days. But make sure you put extra effort into improving your chances of getting verified this time.
Here are the possible next steps in case Facebook rejects your application:
- Contact Facebook Support and try to find out more about why your application was rejected. If you can get this information, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to be verified the next time you apply.
- Create more high-quality content and maintain a regular posting schedule while ramping up your Facebook marketing efforts.
- If you have brand accounts on other social networks, make sure you grow your presence there as well. This will also help you improve your chances of getting verified on those platforms.
Top 4 Tips for Getting Verified on Facebook (and Staying Verified)
Struggling to get verified? We have four top tips to help you. And, once verified, you’re able to be sure that you’ll want to continue with these best practices. Live Verified.
1. Keep your business information up-to-date
We have mentioned that one of the factors for Facebook verification is the entire Facebook profile. But you also have to make sure you keep up with any changes. If you get a new website, change store locations, adjust store hours, get new product lines, etc., you’ll need to update those things on your Facebook page.
2. Post regularly on Facebook
If you haven’t posted any new content to your Facebook Page in more than a year, you haven’t given the Platform any incentive to provide you with a verification status. Make sure you are active on Facebook and regularly posting new content to engage your followers.
3. Connect with the Community
Build a community by connecting with commenters, share content that your audience will love, organize live broadcasts to interact with your audience in real time and much more. If you have an engaged Facebook audience, it proves to the platform that you are a remarkable brand and people want to follow you, which increases your chances of getting verified.
4. Stick to Community Guidelines
Just because you have been verified does not mean that you will remain verified. The Platform reserves the right to revoke your verification if you are consistently violating the Community Guidelines. Making sure you’re compliant (which isn’t hard to do), turning on two-factor authentication and implementing the proper Facebook marketing strategy will all help you stay verified.
Get verified on Facebook today
Now that you know how to get verified on Facebook, it’s time to start gathering all the information you need so you can submit your form. From there, your biggest task is to make sure you have a stellar Facebook marketing strategy to increase reach and engagement, get your audience interested in your business, and generate sales.
How to Get Posts Verified on Facebook: Your Step-by-Step Guide first appeared on Sprout Social.
