Selling Verified Instagram Account
How We Got Verified on Instagram (With Less Than 400 …
There is one elusive social media status symbol that remains unpurchasable, and therefore highly coveted and immensely valuable: The verified badge.
This badge is usually found nestled next to the handles of celebrities or well-known global brands like Nike and Lululemon.
Since these badges are handed out on a case-by-case basis by moderators at Instagram, it is impossible to pay for one or fool an algorithm into thinking you are worthy of verifying.
Instagram’s own page on verified badges reaffirms the assumed impossibility of those without Kardashian for their last name getting verified:
A verified badge is a check that appears next to an Instagram account’s name in search and on the profile. It means that Instagram has confirmed that this is the authentic account for the public figure, celebrity or global brand it represents.
So, given these facts, what would you say are the chances that our own account, with less than 400 followers could get verified?
Well, on Tuesday, November 29, 2016, we (@stockroom_shopify and @janelee16) woke up to a shiny blue star of verification next to our Instagram names.
At the time of verification, our account had roughly 311 followers and 8 posts. What’s even more shocking, is that the most recent post was from July 2016—making the account inactive for almost 5 months!
4 Steps to Get Your Own Account Verified on Instagram
There are hundreds of articles written online attempting to demystify the verification process, giving step by step instructions on how to get your account verified. All of these guides reinforce three points of relevance that Instagram looks for—having a huge following, being active and representing a celebrity— all of which were untrue for us, and we still got verified.
Based on our experience I can tell you that a lot of what is written online about getting verified is mostly speculation and not grounded in truth or experience. Having been verified, we have a unique lens into the experience and can tell you what we believe Instagram—and other platforms like Twitter and Facebook—look for when choosing who to verify.
Here are the four key factors we’ve identified as reasons why we were verified. If you follow these three steps we believe you can have a way higher shot at getting verified without being a celebrity, based on our own experience.
1. Don’t get big on Instagram first
This also applies to whatever platform you are trying to get verified on, be it Twitter, Facebook or Youtube. Apparently, even Tinder has verified users now, too! Whichever platform is your goal, you need to work on building your presence somewhere else. We believe that Jane’s YouTube videos—although only amassing between 1, 000-15, 000 views each—was what led to us being verified on Instagram.
There is a reasoning behind this. If you build your brand on Instagram, implementing hashtag research, collecting thousands of followers over a long period of time, this is where people will know you from. You can be easily found on that platform and it is unlikely someone with a similar name could be mistaken for you. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a high priority for Instagram to verify you. After all, Instagram even explains that verification is part of their process of improving the user experience:
We want to make sure that people in the Instagram community can easily find the authentic people and brands they want to follow.
If you don’t have thousands of followers, and your account is not the main place your brand lives, verification would be a good way Instagram can help people find you.
2. Gain notoriety on parallel platforms
What are parallel platforms? Social media marketers will recognize that there are unspoken associations between users on certain platforms that breed the same kind of users with similar demographics and content styles.
For instance, Twitter is heavily associated with news and politics, so you are more likely to see verified accounts from journalists, media commentators, and people involved in news stories. A great example of this is Ken Bone, who got verified on Twitter after his appearance at the 2016 presidential debate went viral.
Similar lines exist between Instagram and YouTube, and Musically and Vine. Once Jane’s videos reached a certain number of views on YouTube (remember—it was only 10k average views, not something unachievable by the average person), it was in Instagram’s best interest to verify our accounts, since users who spend time on YouTube will likely be searching for the Instagram accounts of the personalities they watch.
3. Position yourself at risk of getting impersonated
This tip is taken straight from Instagram’s own declaration of how to get verified. They stress over and over that verification is done not only to make the user experience better, but also to stop people from impersonating others:
Accounts representing well-known figures and brands are verified because they have a high likelihood of being impersonated.
A verified badge means Instagram knows you are who you say you are and wants to help its users build the trust that they are in fact are following the real @shopify_stockroom, not some imitator who could end up spamming you with illegitimate content you weren’t looking for.
Your Instagram page should still list your name, email address and a link to your website so that Instagram can verify it is you, but you don’t necessarily need to be the first profile that shows up when users search for your name on Instagram. In fact, it may even be beneficial to have a low profile, and therefore be at risk of getting impersonated in order to get verified.
4. Request to be verified
The final step is to make the request to get verified on Instagram. You can do this in the mobile app.
Simply go to Settings > Account > Request Verification and fill out the necessary information:
Your full name
What you are commonly “Known as” (i. e. your brand name)
Your “Category” or account type (ranges from Blogger/Influencer to Business/Brand)
A photo of your government-issued ID.
Keep in mind that this submits your account for consideration, and does not necessarily guarantee that you will be approved. However, if you follow the above steps, you can increase your chances.
Getting verified on Instagram
One important factor to consider in our story is our relationship to Shopify. The @Shopify account is a verified Instagram handle, and their YouTube following is in the +70k range. We cannot discount this as a factor in the verification process.
However, it still remains unlikely that this alone was the reason for verifying Jane and The Stockroom’s accounts. It was most likely a combination of a lot of factors a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work and planning.
The most important takeaway from this experience is that verification is not reserved for celebrities and other big names. It is possible to get verified with only a moderate following, and our experience is a great example of the lesser-known factors that can help get you verified on Instagram.
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How Much Is Instagram Verification Worth On The Black Market?
Here in the social media era, everyone is a brand — but some more than others. Verified “influencers” on social media platforms can make a pretty penny selling access to their influence… and so it perhaps is unsurprising that the ability to influence is, itself, a hot commodity you can buy.
Verification on most platforms is hotly coveted, but for a well-known person or brand to get the blue checkmark on Facebook or Twitter is a fairly straightforward process: Anyone can use a publicly available form to apply. Instagram, however, is another thing entirely.
Mashable took a deep look at the world of shady backroom deals for that coveted Instagram verification.
Insta-ads
Instagram often gets lumped into one sentence with Twitter and its parent company Facebook, but in one key way it’s a little different. While every social platform that exists doubles as an advertising platform, on Instagram the line blurs heavily. For some influencers, to be on Instagram is to advertise, with no clear line between “a person, being” and “a brand, selling. ”
That’s something that has gotten loads of “influencers” in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission. If your job is to “influence” someone to buy something, that’s called advertising and we have rules about that in this country.
The FTC has put social media influencers on notice to follow the dang rules about disclosure already, but follow-up reports indicate that most of them still aren’t, and instead continue to be stealth advertisers, hawking wares for cash as if genuinely enthusiastic about something — despite Instagram itself making sponsorship connections easier to disclose.
Verified accounts, though, have more cachet with the platform’s massive audience, and are more likely to show up in search results. Owners of those accounts also get access to extra features.
The point of all that is: There’s money to be made simply by getting attention on Instagram. Verified accounts can get more attention, which can mean more money. And where there’s money to be made, there are people who will try anything to make more of it.
The Black Market
One verification-selling middleman tells Mashable that he’s sold access for anywhere from $1, 500 to $7, 000.
He is not the one inside Instagram granting the magic blue icon; rather, a contact of his does. That Instagram employee charges $1, 200 per checkmark. The middleman charges whatever he likes to someone who comes to him, because he can make a profit based on what he perceives as the needs of the user seeking it.
He tells Mashable he’s sold five verified badges this year, although only three have been approved so far because the employee selling them — as you might guess — wants to be careful not to get caught.
The middleman tells Mashable that he has heard of Instagram employees losing their jobs for selling verification, although Instagram did not comment.
Another source, with access to a different seller, tells Mashable that he has known that person to sell verification badges for $3, 000 to $7, 000. A third seller says that he usually sells verification for $5000-$8000, with 60% – 80% going to the employee who does the deed and the rest to him.
Still more sources tell Mashable that they have seen verification sell for as much as $15, 000, or as little as “a bottle of wine. ”
However, Instagram has limited the number of accounts it will mark verified in recent years, and so even black marketers have to move slowly and take their time, Mashable reports.
Instagram declined to comment to Mashable about the issue.
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How To Get Verified On Instagram – Forbes
I want to be verified on Instagram. I crave that blue check next to my name. Why? Basically because none of my friends are verified, so the verification will prove I’m better than them; which I always suspected.
I spent my weekend obsessively researching how to get my Instagram account verified. Every article was basically the same.
They suggested that growing your following will get you that blue check in no time. They recommended things like: Using popular hashtags, interacting with other users, promoting your Instagram on other channels, and by posting at the “magic times” of 2 a. m. and 5 p. m.
Yeah, like posting a pic of my daughter at 5 p. and tagging it #InstaGood is going to set off a wave of followers like Instagram has never seen.
What a bunch of nonsense.
Follower count has nothing to do with getting verified. Check out Comedy Slam’s profile. They have 9. 6 million followers and no blue check.
Now, look at Dante Jones’ profile. He doesn’t have any posts, and only has 5, 000 followers; yet he’s verified. How did he do it?
It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not supposed to.
According to Instagram, “Only some public figures, celebrities and brands have verified badges. It’s not currently possible to request or purchase a verified badge. ”
That’s actually not true; you can definitely request to be verified. And you can pay to be verified, on the black market.
I reached out to every verified person that I knew, and found that there are really only three ways to be verified: Be famous and have a ton of followers, work with a digital agency and have them submit a request for you, or pay a third party or someone at Instagram to get you verified.
If you could just become famous, you’d already be verified and wouldn’t be reading this article, so let’s move on.
Most of the verified people that I spoke with worked with a digital agency, or publicist, to get their blue check. The agencies and publicists have access to a digital portal that the rest of us don’t.
Instagram calls it “Media Partner Support. ” According to Instagram, “Media partners can submit requests on behalf of public figures. Media partners will hear back within two days of submitting their request. ”
I asked YouTuber Rachel Levin how it worked. “I got verified a couple of years ago. I initially asked my manager if she could submit me to get verified. Nothing really happened for around a year after that, but then I started working with a publicist and after that I got verified. It was all very exciting! ”
I figured this was my best chance to get verified, so I asked around until I found an agency willing to risk their reputation on me. I actually found one that would!
They asked for a copy of my driver’s license and my Instagram and Facebook handle. Seems pretty simple. But it doesn’t guarantee anything.
I spoke to YouTuber Marissa Rachel, who told me that she had to apply several times before she got verified. She got several emails like this:
Now is it realistic that you’ll get verified if you can just get someone to apply for you? Probably not. Marissa and Rachel are public figures, with millions of followers, so it makes sense for them to be verified.
So what about the rest of us? How can we get verified?
Really, the only way to do it is to know someone at Instagram or pay a third party to do it for you.
I reached out on Twitter to see if anyone had a contact at Instagram that could get me verified. I got dozens of messages, but only one seemed legitimate. A guy told me, “I have a friend at Instagram who can get me and one other person verified. He charges $500. The first $250 now, via PayPal, and another $250 after you’re verified. ”
He said it was his friend’s side hustle, and although Instagram has cracked down on employees getting their friends verified; he still charges a couple of people a month to get verified.
There seems to be a lot of money changing hands for the elusive blue check. But it’s a lot easier than creating content, growing your following, and becoming famous. Who’s got the time for all that? We want our blue check now.
But the problem with paying one of these third parties is that it’s going to be impossible to get your money back if they don’t deliver.
Maybe becoming famous is easier than hacking the system.
Frequently Asked Questions about selling verified instagram account
How much is a verified Instagram account worth?
Still more sources tell Mashable that they have seen verification sell for as much as $15,000, or as little as “a bottle of wine.” However, Instagram has limited the number of accounts it will mark verified in recent years, and so even black marketers have to move slowly and take their time, Mashable reports.Sep 1, 2017
Can you buy a verified Instagram account?
According to Instagram, “Only some public figures, celebrities and brands have verified badges. It’s not currently possible to request or purchase a verified badge.” That’s actually not true; you can definitely request to be verified.Apr 16, 2018
Is it legal to sell Instagram accounts?
There are no laws that prohibit the buying and selling of any social media accounts.
