With the advent of social media and digital marketing today, everybody starting from a movie star, politician, brands and NGO’s are on social media with millions of followers. Since the platform is open to the public, it becomes difficult for differentiating between the original accounts and the fake accounts or the fan pages of celebrities, influencers and various brands. To curb this problem, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat now provide a blue badge/tick to the official accounts to avoid the confusion and give them the authenticity and originality. All the public figures and brands now get the official verification in the form of a blue badge or checkmarks on their profiles. This verification not only identifies the original account but also ensures authenticity, attracts a larger number of audience and gain comparatively more engagements than everyone else. If you are trying to make a career out of social media, getting a blue tick verification on social media platforms is a dream come true for you. 

Bluetick plays an important role from the point of view of customers as well as the brands. It becomes easier for people to spot the official profile of the brand and order, communicate, purchase or carry out business collaborations with the brand. Also from the point of view of brands, they can easily reach out to the official accounts of celebrities, influencers and social media personalities in order to have a brand collaboration, PR and more without any confusion or spam. 

There is a laid down procedure for getting verified on all the social media platforms and all of them have different requirements to apply for the same. You can only apply for a blue tick if you are genuinely a brand, celebrity or an influence with a certain number of followers. 

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Here a few advantages of getting verified on social media platforms: 

• Getting verified not only gives you a validation but also recognizes your work and what you have achieved over the years. 
• The validation stands as an authority for being a professional and expert in the filed as compared to others.
• It is a social proof for the users, clients, customers, brand and other audience on media which can also be used as leverage. 
• Being verified gets more attention from customers and gives you more visibility on the platform. Also, if you are famous enough there are many perks, VIP access and freebies for various products and services. 
• Collaborating with other influencers, brands, celebrities and media platforms become easier if you have a verification badge.

Apart from the official documents and ID proof required for verification badge, there are a few other pre-requisites of getting a blue tick on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook:

• Be well known 

Being well known for something does not necessarily include having millions of followers, if you have a proof of being a known authority in your field and on social media, you will get the verification badge even with 500 followers. Just like how Jennifer Anniston joined Instagram a few days ago with a verified account and from zero followers to record-breaking 10 million followers in just a couple of hours and still counting. Therefore, it is not about the quantity, but the quality of work you have done in your category of field. There is no stringent rule book or guideline of being well known, it can either come to you with luck or it can come to you with years of hard work. 

• Social proof 

Social proof is very important to be verified on a social media platform. There can be multiple fake accounts in your name and it can become difficult for the platform to recognize the legitimate official account. The best way to do this has an authentic social media network with other social media personalities who can vouch for your credibility. Make appearances in various articles, interviews, collaborations and more. Building authentic relationships with already verified people on Instagram will give you good leverage over others. 

• Maintain the status 

Once you are verified on a social media platform, it does not mean the verification badge will last till the ends of time.  Every social media platform has some community guidelines and rules, if you tend to break them or post spam or your account gets hacked in any manner and you stop using the same, the social media platform can remove the badge from your profile. Therefore, you must maintain the authenticity of your name and refrain from doing the things that can get your verification terminated. 

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Let us go through the process of getting verified or receiving a blue badge on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

• Get Verified on Facebook

Facebook uses verification badge as a sign of credibility for local business, large brands and celebrities. They have two verification badges of a blue and grey colour. These badges are provided to ensure authenticity and increase audience approach and visibility towards potential customers. 

There are two verification badges on Facebook and both of them denote different meanings. 

The grey verification badge is given to a small organization, a business which carries multiple location-specific Facebook pages. The blue verification badge, on the other hand, stands for a brand, larger business company, a public figure or a celebrity. There is a certain procedure to apply for the blue badge on Facebook and it required some of your legitimate information:

• First of all, you will have to go to the setting options at the top of your Facebook page
• Click on the option of Page verification from the General menu
• Click on the option of Verify this page followed by the option of Get Started
• In order to verify, Facebook will give you an option of instant verification or a detailed verification process. If you pick the instant option, Facebook will call you on the registered number provided by you and once verified, you will be awarded the verification mark instantly. If you choose the detailed one, Facebook will ask you to upload some of your official legal documents that reflects the name and address of your business along with any electricity bill or government id proof. 
• After you have completed the validation request, be it the instant one or the detailed one, Facebook will take about 48 hours to 45 days to check the records and subsequently confirm or deny your request. If your request is denied, you can re-apply for the verification badge after a few days again. 
• Make sure all the information provided by you on Facebook is correct and you are fairly active on your page. 

• Get Verified on Twitter

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Public figures and celebrities are most active on Twitter, so much so that they actively tweet, retweet and communicate with their fans on a very frequent basis. Therefore, it was relatively important for Twitter to verify the official accounts and make them authentic with regards to the public interest. 

By the offset of 2016, Twitter commenced the option of applying for verifications on the platform. All you have to do is fill out a form requesting for verification badge after you have updated your profile with relevant information like registered phone number, email address and other current information. 

Twitter has laid down a few categories of people who can be verified like fashion, government, media, sports, journalism, music, acting, religious, business, politics and various other categories. 

• The first thing you must do before applying for a badge is active. Make sure your bio is updated, mention about yourself or your brand, and be specific about your influence and interest. 
• The next thing is to make your tweets public. 
• You will be asked for your government id like a driver’s license, Pan Card or Adhar card for verification.
• Twitter will also ask for a generally 500-word essay about who you are and what you do for the sake of background check.
• Submit all the information and wait for 30 days. Twitter will take some time to cross-check the information and confirm or reject your application.

However, due to a few controversies, Twitter has stopped taking any new application for verifications from 2019 onwards till the further notice. 

• Get Verified on Instagram

When it comes to getting verified on Instagram, the process can be a task. Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram did not have an application procedure for getting verified instantly, it chooses the profiles and verifies them on its own. A person can link their other social media handles to prove that they are authentic and get noticed by Instagram though. 

Instagram mostly verifies celebrities, global businesses, public figures and brands which are authentic. You can increase your chances of getting verified by doing a few things. 

Along with keeping a business profile, fill in the name and bio section, mentioning the services or endorsements; one must also engage and interact with their followers actively on Instagram. This helps the profile to gain the attention of Instagram. 

Instagram has extremely strict rules and guidelines against inappropriate content and even though it does not keep monitoring the verified profiles frequently if you indulge in some inappropriate activity through your content or post spam, it can easily take away the verifies badge. 

After the feature of Business profile, you can now apply for a verification badge on Instagram 

• Go to your business profile and click on the three horizontal lines in the top right corner of the app.
• Tap on settings and click on the account and then request verification 
• Write down your full name and choose the category you fit in (Music, fashion, Entertainment, Blogger/influencer, business, brand, organization, politics, government or other) 
• Make sure you attach your government ID which includes passport, driver license or any other official business documents.

Instagram will take a few days and will let you know if you are verified or not. If your request gets rejected, you can apply for the verification again after 30 days. 

Overall, getting a blue tick on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook is not rocket science if you are a celebrity, public figure, brand or fall under the category mentioned in these platforms. You will only need to fill out a few details and maintain a social media reputation.

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