While scrolling through your Instagram feed, have you noticed a blue tick next to someone’s name? Want to get that for your own account?

Instagram is one of the most popular social media network in the world. After Facebook and YouTube, Instagram comes third in popularity with more than a billion users monthly. Many celebrities, global brands, and public figures have the Instagram blue tick as it is given after the verification of authentic presence.

The blue tick helps to easily find public figures or brands as well as avoid imposter accounts. This blue tick has become a status symbol and people are going crazy to get one. Instagram has its Terms of Use and Community Guidelines where every user can see the requirements to be verified. To get a blue tick your account should be.

• Genuine: An account must represent the same person, business, or brand dominating most of the posts. Most of the accounts are usually refused because of their general interest.
• Unique: It ought to be just the one to represent either an individual or a brand since the platform can affirm the credibility of just one account.
• Complete data: Another important thing is that it should not be a private account. To get a blue tick, the account should be made public and contain a profile photo, minimum one post and a biography
• Notable: A brand or person who wants a blue tick should be well-known and highly searched for.

It is important to make sure that information provided during the authentication process is based on truth. Otherwise, you will not only lose the badge but it will also lead to the deletion of the account. You can request a blue tick by following a simple process:

1. On your Instagram profile tap the 3 lines at the top right corner.
2. Select the Setting icon appearing at the bottom right.
3. From the Settings menu select Accounts. Scroll through Settings and tap Request verification.
4. With your pre-filled name a form will appear.
5. Then you have to attach your ID photo, it can be a national identification card, driving license, or passport as well. For any business account, any official business document such as an article of incorporation, tax filing even an electrical bill can be submitted.
6. By tapping on the blue send button, your request for verification is submitted to Instagram.

Your request will be reviewed by Instagram moderators. After reviewing your request, they can decide whether you are eligible for an Instagram badge or not and you will be notified accordingly. There is no specified time frame of how long you have to wait for getting a response from the verification team. It might take several days–some digital agencies mentioned a timeframe of 7-15 days to get a reply.

After sending a request it is recommended by experts to check Instagram notification after 3-4 days. Don’t be sad if you were denied because you can resubmit an authentication request after 30 days if your request is denied for any reason.

Benefits:

As your account is verified you will get the following benefits:

• Trust: The blue tick on your profile reassures your followers that you are real and your content can be trusted.
• Link in Access: if you don’t have a blue tick on your profile then you need at least 10,000 followers to add links on your Instagram stories.
• Attention: With the curiosity and hype that your account gets with blue tick, you can turn such attention to engagement or conversations ultimately leading to sales.
• Instagram SEO: An automatic win to rank at the top on search results of Instagram for the terms that are related to your account name if your account has a blue tick.

Tips to get verified:

1. Hashtags

To help reach your post to a wider audience you can simply use popular hashtags. Using a hashtag that is relevant to your niche is important because creating posts that are irrelevant to your niche means you can’t become a good influencer. A good practice is encouraging your followers to use a hashtag created by you regularly.

2. Promote other accounts

To build a following on your Instagram you can promote all your social media accounts. It will allow your Instagram followers to follow you on Twitter, or your twitter followers may follow you on Facebook and there is a chance that your Facebook friends follow you on Instagram.

3. Post at a good time

If you want to increase engagement, your post needs to be seen by as many people as possible. It means that you post when there are a greater number of your followers are online. For a lot of people, the best time to post on Instagram is 8 a.m, 1 p.m, and 9 p.m, and the best day to post is Friday. However, this can vary as per your niche.

4. Newsworthy

You must be a "someone" to get verified on Instagram. Simply having bunches of followers isn't sufficient. Accordingly, ensure that you do things that different news sources report. Consider delivering a public statement at whatever point you have something newsworthy to state. One thing to remember is that all paid and promotional content is disregarded by Instagram. As such, you must ensure that your report is authentic and genuine. To give yourself a helping hand, you can also use a press release.

5. Stay away from bad social practices

Always try to ensure that your posts are meeting the guidelines of the Instagram community. Instagram will ban you if you are involved in posting pictures that don’t meet their guidelines. Also, try to avoid any spam-like comments.

6. Don’t lose your badge

Once you get your badge, you don’t want to lose it. Thereby, you have to follow the guidelines and terms of service of the community. If you try to sell or transfer your badge or try to promote other services using your account, Instagram will take away your badge and may disable your account.

Because Instagram is allowing all its users to request a verification badge, it is worth trying. Whether you are approved or not, it won't hurt you in any way. Following these guidelines will help you to be one step closer to your desire of having a blue tick on your profile.