Twitter account verification is an excellent way to see which one is real and which one could be fake. It's especially important for brands so that their customers and clients can be assured that they are dealing with a real brand.
It affects how your users will take your account seriously and could also affect the success of your marketing campaigns on Twitter. But, getting verified on Twitter isn't as easy as signing up. In this blog post, we will talk about who can and who cannot get verified on Twitter, why to get verified, and how to get verified on Twitter with as little hassle as possible. Let's get started!
- Why Get Verified On Twitter As A Brand?
- How Many Followers Are Needed To Get Verified On Twitter?
- Who Can And Can’t Get Verified On Twitter?
- How To Get Verified On Twitter: The Basics
- How To Get Verified On Twitter: The Steps
- How Do You Maintain Twitter Verified Status?
- If Rejected, Can I Reapply For Twitter Verification?
- Best Tips to Get Verified On Twitter
- Final Thoughts
You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.
Why Get Verified On Twitter As A Brand?
You would be surprised to know how many fake accounts are out there on Twitter just to make trouble and spread false information. Sometimes, the competition can also play dirty and attack your brand's reputation.
If your account is verified, you can resolve situations of false allegations much easier. Otherwise, it may look like a random account saying 'it wasn't me, they are lying' or something similar. A verified account can allow people to know that they have been treated to misinformation.
Image Source: Subway Twitter
Being verified on Twitter can also help your brand stand out amongst the many fake profiles that may be impersonating your brand for whatever reason. It does happen! One significant academic study indicated that up to 15% of Twitter users were automated bot accounts.
Here are three important reasons why a verified Twitter account is essential to your brand's digital presence:
1. Establishes Identity
It is said that impersonation is the ultimate form of flattery. Twitter verified accounts distinguish yourself from fake accounts. Gaining a blue tick on Twitter can ensure that the actions of another account aren't mistaken as being done by your brand.
2. Improves Your Social Visibility
A verified Twitter account can help your fans find you on the Twitter search tool. It would also help your fans distinguish between your original account and fan pages.
3. Improves Brand Credibility
Your brand can get more customers, clients, and leads with a 'credible' Twitter brand. Verifying your Twitter account can enhance your social media presence making your brand more attractive to your target audience online.
Image Source: Microsoft Office Twitter
How Many Followers Are Needed To Get Verified On Twitter?
According to Twitter, the follower count isn't a factor for account verification. Technically, you should be able to get Twitter verified with even zero followers.
The following Twitter account actually proves that quantity really doesn't count when it comes to verification:
Image Source: Zoe Ballantyne Twitter
This data is accurate as of 11/02/2021
Instead, Twitter awards verification based on whether an account is authentic, notable, and active. Notable means that the account in question represents or is associated with a prominently recognized individual or brand. The criteria for being 'prominently recognized' are listed in Twitter's Help Center.
You can actually see what kinds of accounts get verified on Twitter. Twitter runs an account @verified that follows most of the verified accounts. Take a quick browse through the account's Following list, and you will get a taste of the broad range of accounts that are successfully verified on the platform.
Who Can And Can’t Get Verified On Twitter?
Your account must be notable and active to be Twitter verified. The six types of notable accounts that Twitter verifies are:
- Government accounts
- Companies, brands, and non-profit organizations accounts
- News organizations and journalists accounts
- Entertainment accounts
- Sports and esports accounts
- Activists, organizers, and other influential individuals accounts
Image Source: ESPN Radio Twitter
Certain accounts are ineligible for the blue tick, regardless of the above criteria, including:
- Unofficial fan accounts
- Accounts of fictional characters, unless they are directly affiliated with a verified company
- Accounts engaged in violations of Twitter policy, such as the buying and selling of followers and engagement
- Accounts of individuals or groups associated with spreading hateful content
- Accounts posting content that harasses, shames, or insults any individual or group
- Accounts promoting sales of the verification badge or offering unauthorized assistance with the application process
How To Get Verified On Twitter: The Basics
When it comes to building a brand, reputation is everything, even more so in the social media marketing space. There are many fake accounts on several social platforms that do more harm than good, and you need your users to know that you are legit.
Getting verified on Twitter plays a big role in how effective the social media marketing is for a brand. A verified Twitter account carries a lot of weight and instills trust in your users.
In order to stand a chance of getting verified on Twitter, you must meet the basic requirements, which are listed below.
Profile Picture
Your Twitter profile should have a clear and proper profile photo and a cover photo as well. You should use your real name on your profile. For your brand's Twitter account, you should use your original band name as your username and your logo as your profile picture.
Image Source: Target Twitter
Bio
Your bio should be filled out and should be very descriptive. There must be no doubt about what your company does or the service it delivers.
You can include extra information such as your business's or brand's website. This will up your chances to get verified on Twitter. It would be wise to link to your company's official website in your Twitter bio.
Know more about 200+ Twitter Bio Ideas: How To Write A Good Twitter Bio
Confirmed Contact Details
Your email address and phone number on Twitter must be confirmed. It is recommended that you use the company's email address for this purpose.
Be Public
Your Twitter account must be a public one. When you fill out the Twitter verification form, you will have to provide all the necessary documents, like your I.D. or passport.
Twitter asks you to make your case at the time of verification – you have to give a good enough reason for wanting to be verified. You will also be expected to explain why you think you or your brand deserve to be verified on the platform. You can share some links to your websites to help confirm your identity or brand authority. This would help a lot in getting your Twitter account verified.
Image Source: Morphe Twitter
How To Get Verified On Twitter: The Steps
Follow are the steps to get verified on Twitter:
Step 1: Open the Twitter app on your mobile device
Step 2: Tap on your profile avatar on the top left corner to open the menu.
Step 3: From the menu, tap "Settings and Privacy" -> "Your account."
Step 4: On the Account settings page, tap on "Account information."
Step 5: On the Account information page, tap on "Verification request."
Step 6: Now, you will get all the information about Twitter verification on the next page. Scroll to the bottom and tap on "Apply now."
Step 7: Select your account's category from the given six options. Tap on "Next."
Step 8: On the next page, select a method to show that your account qualifies for verification. Tap on "Next."
Step 9: Select your account type. Enter your account credibility details. This includes a public presence URL and at least three news reference links from reputed organizations. Tap on "Next."
Image Source: Twitter
And that's it. Your verification request will then be sent to Twitter for approval. If your application is approved, Twitter will start showing the blue tick on your profile. Otherwise, you can reapply for verification after one month (30 days) of receiving Twitter's decision.
How Do You Maintain Twitter Verified Status?
Those accounts that use the verification badge as part of their profile photos, background photos, or in any other way implying verified status are subject to permanent account suspension.
Even after you obtain the verification badge, Twitter reserves the right to remove the blue tick at any time without notice.
Just as Twitter bestows the honor of the coveted blue tick mark on those who meet the criteria, they can also take it away from those who violate certain terms. Once you have received your verified status, you must take care to abide by the rules, or you risk losing it. Twitter has specified 6 ways how you can lose your verified status. And they are as follows:
1. Hateful Content: Any statements, display names, images, or other types of content that promote violence or indirectly attack another user based on race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.
2. Abusive Behavior: Just as it is in the real world, an attempt to harass or intimidate someone on Twitter is against the rules. Be kind, try to help, and not hurt one another.
3. Glorification Of Violence: This is directed at individuals or groups who associate with a particular group or relate to particular characteristics of a person indulging in violence or promoting violence. Glorification of violent acts, such as mass shootings, for example, can encourage others to imitate the same behavior. This has been implemented to eliminate any harm in the offline world that could occur resulting from posts glorifying violence.
4. Civic Integrity: Using your Twitter account to promote interference in or manipulation of any civic process, including elections, can result in the revocation of your verified status.
5. Privacy Policy Violations: Users are not allowed to reveal the private information of any other users or individuals through Twitter without their express authorization and permission.
6. Platform Manipulation And Spam Policy: Users cannot use Twitter to suppress information presented to or by any other users. The goal is to eliminate any kind of manipulation of content that may cause deception or disrupt the experience for other users on Twitter.
Previously verified accounts that lost their verification badge due to any of the above-stated reasons may not be eligible to have badges restored.
In fact, verified Twitter accounts may become targets for hacking or phishing campaigns. Hence, to ensure your account is secure, Twitter recommends its users turn on login verification. This would require users to pass a second security check to log in to their account and ensure that the email address associated with the account is secure.
Image Source: Eff
If Rejected, Can I Reapply For Twitter Verification?
Let's say you applied for Twitter verification and didn't manage to secure the blue checkmark on the first try. What will be your next move then? Don't get disheartened if you fail on the first attempt because you can reapply to get verified on Twitter.
Twitter states you can reapply to verify your account 30 days after rejection if you feel that your application must have not been rejected. Twitter does not apply any restriction on the number of times you can apply for Twitter verification.
That essentially means you can apply for Twitter verification every 60-odd days. Ultimately, you can apply to get verified almost 5 to 6 times a year on Twitter, barring that the new applications are not on pause.
Best Tips to Get Verified On Twitter
Even if your Twitter account satisfies all the conditions in the eligibility section, Twitter may not necessarily verify your profile. That's because they will consider a few signals for determining your account's noteworthiness at the time of verification. Some of the top tips to secure the maximum chances of getting your account verified on Twitter are as follows:
Complete And Optimize Your Twitter Profile
Applicants must fill in all the details in their profile, including the profile picture, cover photo, profile name, and bio. It is always a wise call to add how the general public should recognize you in your Twitter bio. This could be your brand's tagline, title, or even a notable achievement.
It is a good idea to include the @account name of your company's chief person, such as CEO, in the bio. You can also provide links to your website, blog posts, or any mentions on the web on your profile.
Add a unique profile picture and header to your Twitter account. It doesn't necessarily have to include your face, though; a logo works fine for your brand's Twitter account.
Image Source: Instagram Twitter
Build Credibility On Twitter
While building a complete Twitter profile with your picture, blog post/ website links, and other details are essential, there are several other ways to build credibility on Twitter as well. You could tweet out articles you have written for a major publication and also connect with another major, well-known, and verified profile in the process. Tag your publication's brand accounts to build authority on that topic.
Ensure Your Account Is Active
It has been noticed that Twitter mostly verifies accounts that are active on the platform. Ensure you tweet regularly and actively engage with other users through tweet replies and D.M.s. It sounds simple but greatly helps you build a brand and get you one step closer to getting verified on Twitter.
Image Source: Walmart Twitter
Confirm Your Email Address And Number
You should have a confirmed phone number or email address on Twitter for security reasons. In addition, it recommended enabling two-factor authentication for your Twitter account to add an additional layer of security to your account.
Follow Twitter Rules
This might seem like an obvious tip, but Twitter requires applicants for verification not to have had a 7-day or 12-hour lockout for violating the Twitter Rules in the past year.
Use Hashtags Wisely
Hashtags are an important part of Twitter. You can participate in popular generic tags, such as hashtags for specific holidays. You will want to find the best hashtags for your niche for the best effect.
You can also create a hashtag on Twitter. There are two types of hashtags you should consider creating:
1. Brand hashtag: Your audience can use this hashtag when they want to talk about their experience with your brand or while sharing images of your products. These hashtags can be a great source of user-generated content. However, such hashtags tend to usually gain popularity if you already have a sizable audience.
2. Chat hashtag: Such hashtags are used to facilitate a discussion around a specific topic weekly or monthly. This would encourage like-minded people to come together and spend more time engaging with your account's content.
Image Source: Anastasia Beverly Hills Twitter
Create A Schedule For Your Twitter Content
There are two aspects to a successful content schedule:
1. Post regular content: Things move fast on Twitter. So if you are not posting every day, or even multiple times a day, your content will get lost in flood. This will reduce your chances of keeping your account active. Also, ensure that you post at the best times to post on Twitter to increase the chances of getting your tweets noticed.
You can simplify this by using a social media scheduling tool such as Statusbrew to set up posts in advance. Statusbrew helps you schedule your tweets in advance, including Twitter polls that too with approval workflows.
Know more about How To Schedule Tweets
2. Make time to interact with other Twitter users: The "social" in social media is incredibly important. Set aside a few hours every day to check your feed and interact with relevant posts.
Focus On Consistency
The real key to getting verified on Twitter is to focus on consistency in every aspect of your Twitter presence: your schedule, quality of your content, your brand voice, and many more. This will help you become a trusted authority in your niche on Twitter.
Final Thoughts
If you decide to apply, ensure to have the necessary information ready to go. This includes links to published articles, a company or organizational email address, prominent websites where your bio appears, copies of documents, and other necessary info.
Getting verified on Twitter isn't necessary to succeed on the platform. However, it does help you out in a number of ways, especially by adding credibility to your brand. The blue tick mark does have a way of opening doors to several fruitful opportunities, so it's certainly worth considering applying.
Happy verifying!
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