Have you ever noticed the little blue / grey tick next to certain social media accounts (usually celebrities or brands)? They mean that these accounts have been verified; they are the authentic account of that person / entity.
Most social media channels now have a verification process. For schools, some are easily obtainable and some are more difficult to get - each channel has their own prerequisites for verification.
Facebook and YouTube are two of the simplest, taking no more, generally, than 10 minutes to obtain each one. We highly recommend that every school verifies both Facebook and YouTube, as there are benefits in doing so.
Most schools are now on Facebook, all schools should be! The Facebook community is enormous - in fact, they passed 2 BILLION users last month! It has reach that cannot be rivalled, and the vast majority of your parents will be using Facebook.
As a school, you will have a Business Page to help promote and engage with your community. This is what you are looking to get verified. Luckily, the process is very simple.
There are a few criteria that should be met before you attempt to verify your school's Page:
If these are met you should see the option to verify in your Page's Settings.
It is also possible to verify using a business document. Simply follow the same steps but click Verify this Page with documents instead, at the bottom-left of the window that appears. You can then upload a picture of an official document (e.g. phone bill / utility bill) showing your school's name and address.
YouTube is the king of video! It is a great platform for schools and has a new type of community to market to.
YouTube is the second largest search engine online (losing out to Google...who own it!) so having a verified account is a good idea.
None...other than have a YouTube channel!
And it's done!
In having these channels verified you are showing that your community can trust you, something that goes a long way on social media. For 10 minutes work to sort both Facebook and YouTube out, the return on this alone is great.
These two channels are a little more complex to verify as a school. We have seen many top universities and colleges, such as Oxford (as seen on Twitter) or Harvard (as seen on Instagram), with verified accounts - but none from the independent school sector.
While it is harder to verify these two, we firmly believe it is possible.
Twitter's leading rule for verifying accounts is: 'the account should be of public interest.' While there are some guide lines as to what this covers (i.e. music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business, and other key interest areas) there is a deal of ambiguity too.
To be able to complete the form, your account must have the following:
When submitting a request to verify an account, Twitter asks for additional information to help evaluate. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Give it a go! Submit a request to verify an account by filling out this form.
Instagram is another that can be difficult; perhaps the most difficult.
Many of the same rules as with Twitter apply here but the overall consensus on verified Instagram accounts is proof that you are an influencer on the platform (i.e. you have a solid Followers list).
Here are a few tips that could help you verify your Instagram:
Currently, Instagram does not have a section of their site where you can request account verification. This means you may have to try and get in touch with them in other ways to request this. For this reason, our recommendation is that you weigh up the pros and cons of verifying Instagram, and only try if the positives outweigh the negatives.
Having a verified account is a sign of trust for most businesses. In a world where social media accounts number in the billions - you want it to be as clear and easy as possible for people to find you. Having that tick is a large step in achieving this.
For Facebook and YouTube, the effort required is minimal. This should be a priority for any school account.
For Twitter and Instagram, there are certainly variables and no guarantees to getting verified. However, we do not feel this should be a determent and our recommendation is to at least give it a go (Twitter in particular).
Have you tried to verify your accounts in the past or have any thoughts about this article? We'd love to hear your stories and thoughts. Please comment below.