Did you know that some Instagram usernames out there are worth thousands of dollars?
It may seem surprising that someone would be willing to pay such money for a simple online handle. However, if we examine the situation more closely, it becomes clear just what value an Instagram username can represent.
In fact, having a cool Instagram username is one of the key factors in establishing and growing your personal brand as an influencer or a company.

1. The username speaks for the whole brand
If someone comes across your brand on Instagram for the first time, your username will be the first thing they see – and, by extension, the initial indicator they have for judging your brand.
Your username on Instagram is, in the context of the platform, the face of your brand – or the initial calling card that potential followers will see. If it’s a cool and original one, successfully conveying what you’re about, visitors’ initial reaction to your brand is guaranteed to be more positive.

2. Easy to remember
Being memorable is one of the defining features of a good Instagram username – and cool names are much easier to remember than dull or overly complex ones.
A memorable username will make it easier for potential new followers to find you. It will also make your networking and marketing efforts more effective – getting an audience to see a mention of you is only half the battle; they also need to remember your name to be able to find you later on.

3. Original username, original brand
If you’re trying to make it as an Instagram influencer or brand, chances are you have something original and unique to share with the social media world. Whether it’s your perspective, fashion sense, personality, or any other aspect of what you do, you have to be unique in some way to draw in a wide audience.
A cool Instagram username will reflect this, communicating to visitors to your profile that there is something extraordinary about you.

4. Intriguing username = more profile views
Put yourself in the shoes of the average Instagram user, casually browsing the platform. Which would be more likely to pique your interest: a cool, original username or a generic nickname, like xjohn_doex_123?
By using a cool username on Instagram, you’ll make your account eye-catching and intriguing enough to attract additional visitors.

5. A good username will make you look professional
Generic, boring, overly long or complex usernames – such as modifications of your real name to find a username that’s not yet taken - look somewhat lazy and unprofessional. A sleek, cool username that matches your brand, meanwhile, shows that you’re serious about your Instagram presence. This can help you draw in new followers, as well as make it easier to establish professional connections.

6. Usable across all platforms
Your Instagram username is more than the string of characters you use to sign into your account – it’s your online signature. If you choose a unique, cool username to represent your brand, you can also use it on other outlets (such as other social media platforms or your official website’s URL) with consistent branding.

7. Easier to build connections
With a cool username, it’ll be easier to connect with other influencers and companies. Connections are crucial to promoting and growing your brand. Collaborations with other influencers or taking part in podcasts, for example, expose a whole new audience to your content.
Brands with an Instagram presence aren’t likely to want to collaborate with someone who hasn’t got a professional, sleek Instagram profile – and a cool username is a large part of that.

8. Increase your chances of getting marketing deals
Similar to connections for collabs, companies looking for influencers to promote their product will also pay attention to every detail of your profile and content – including your username.
If your Instagram handle suggests you’re a professional with an established brand and a good idea of what you stand for, your chances of securing a marketing deal are considerably higher.

9. Confidence boost
Having an Instagram username that matches your brand and makes you stand out from the competition is sure to give you a confidence boost and help you find your voice.
Getting the perfect username on Instagram is no small achievement – given that there are over a billion active users on the platform, it costs a lot of effort and/or money to secure a relevant, unique, high-quality handle.
Once you’ve invested into getting the best username for your brand, you’re much more likely to find the motivation to keep working on expanding your presence.
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10. Choosing a username that can grow with your brand
Picking a username ‘for now’ and having to rebrand your Instagram once you’ve grown an audience is not a good idea. Although changing your username with a decent following is certainly possible, it’s inadvisable simply for the confusion it can cause – and confusion costs you existing and potential followers
A unique, cool Instagram username picked right at the start of your Instagram career will still be relevant a few years down the line, enabling you to consistently work towards your goals without setbacks caused by mixed branding. 

You may have heard that if you want to get that coveted verified badge on TikTok, the best you can do is stay active, wait for more followers, and hope you get noticed. If you feel like this could take years, you’re not wrong – and even then, there are no guarantees.
Luckily, there’s a quicker, more efficient, and guaranteed way to get verified on TikTok. With the help of a well-connected, expert PR agency, you could be looking at a blue checkmark next to your username in a matter of weeks. Here’s why it’s worth paying for your TikTok verification, rather than waiting and hoping for the best. 

1. It’s not guaranteed to happen organically
There are plenty of TikTok users with a large following who, despite being popular, don’t have a verified badge.
There’s a whole set of criteria for users to meet in order for TikTok to consider granting them the verified status, and these criteria change with time – so there’s no way to guarantee your hard work and staying active on the platform will result in verification, even after a decade.

2. The odds of going viral are not in anyone’s favour
No matter how good your content is, it’s still highly unlikely to make you a celebrity – and that’s essentially what’s needed for organic verification.

3. Time matters
The old expression ‘slow and steady wins the race’ may have its uses in other areas of modern life, but certainly not where it comes to becoming an influencer or otherwise taking over social media.
Using a shortcut to quickly get verified will immediately put you ahead of hundreds of thousands of other would-be influencers.

4. It will help you build a following now
The verification badge on TikTok is more than proof of authenticity – it causes other users to make a series of assumptions about you that have a huge impact on your follower count and popularity.
Verified accounts are reserved for the platform’s elite. The blue badge makes you part of that crowd, a cut above other users. It lends your account credibility and makes it appear more noteworthy, sparking curiosity and gathering more attention from your audience.

5. The ROI is worth it
Fast-track TikTok verification is not free, but the profit can hugely outgrow the initial investment if you play your cards right. Assuming you can use your newly verified account to grow a following and build a solid social media presence for your brand, you’ll soon be able to start making a profit – for instance, on influencer deals (promoting other brands’ products in your content).

6. Trends come and go
Social media platforms can be short-lived or go in and out of fashion – think Vine, for instance, or MySpace. By the time you reach a point where you can hope for automatic verification, TikTok may have outlived its heyday.
At the moment, TikTok is going through a phase of explosive growth. It’s outperforming all other social media platforms (yes, even Instagram) in terms of the number of downloads and new monthly active users. It’s well worth taking advantage of this influx of new potential followers, especially given that it’s impossible to predict for how long TikTok will stay in fashion.

7. You need media coverage anyway
Just like with any other social media, a good following on TikTok isn’t enough: you need to have a solid presence outside the platform as well in order to get verified the traditional way.
A professional Wikipedia page and a portfolio of features and mentions in the media is necessary for verification. Unless you get lucky and become a celebrity that online news sites want to write about, you’ll need to hire an experienced PR agency to get you some press, anyway.

8. You need to be proactive to reach success
With so many people vying for attention on social media nowadays, it’s essential to find an advantage over your competition in order to get ahead. Being proactive and seeking out opportunities to improve your chances are essential components of becoming successful.

9. It will keep you motivated
It’s easy to get discouraged when months of regularly posting high-quality content don’t seem to be bringing you as many followers and as much popularity as you’d like. Getting your TikTok verification fast-tracked will open up more opportunities, as well as helping you to stay motivated to take advantage of them. A verified status means you’re no longer a casual user hoping for a lucky break – you’re a TikTok pro.
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10. It will help you get verified on other platforms
Last but not least, paying for TikTok verification will bring you a step closer to getting verified on other platforms, such as Instagram. You’ll already have a lot of credibility from your online presence and verified status on TikTok, which will help you on your way to getting verified elsewhere. Importantly, any of the materials produced for your TikTok verification – like relevant press – will be ready to use for another platform’s verification process. 

Getting verified on Instagram is a significant milestone for influencers and brands, and a major boost to the follower count and popularity on the platform.
Verification makes you part of Instagram’s elite, indicating that you’re credible, authentic, and noteworthy – as well as giving you access to additional tools and features. It’s easy to see why the blue badge is challenging to obtain, and why it’s so important for brands and influencers to have.
If you’ve tried applying for Instagram verification but keep getting denied, it’s time to re-evaluate your strategy and find out where you’re going wrong. Here are ten reasons why Instagram may be rejecting your application.

1. Missing or incomplete bio
If your bio is too general, inaccurate, or altogether missing, Instagram will deny your verification request. Before you apply again, invest some effort into creating a well-written, on-brand bio that accurately reflects who you are and what you do.

2. No profile picture
Seems pretty basic, but you could get denied simply for not having a profile picture – even if everything else about your profile is in order and meets Instagram’s requirements.
Choose an image that’s appropriate and relevant to your brand. Influencers and other individual public figures should opt for a photo of themselves. Although it doesn’t need to be a formal, LinkedIn-style headshot, it should nonetheless be professional enough to inspire trust.

3. Links to other social media profiles
It may appear counter-intuitive, but Instagram specifically states that in order to get verified, ‘Your profile can't contain "add me" links to other social media services’.
Before your next attempt at verification, make sure to remove any such links from your bio and other content.

4. Lack of activity
Technically, Instagram requires a minimum of one post on the profile in order to qualify for verification. Still, the more high-quality content you’ve posted, the better.
Celebrities and other high-profile public figures can probably get away with just the one post, but for the rest of us, we need all the help we can get to be verified.

5. Not enough media coverage
Instagram calls this being ‘noteworthy’. In practice, it means that to have any chance at getting verified, you need to have had some press published about you.
Verification requests are reviewed manually. If the person checking your application does a Google search for your name and comes up with nothing, there’s no chance of getting verified.
In general, it’s recommended to have at least 10 publications focusing on you. Any fewer, and you’re considered not important enough to merit verification.

6. Weak or unsuitable publications
Still on the topic of media coverage, quality is just as important as quantity. Your Instagram verification request may be getting rejected because your publications are not strong enough: 10 mentions in a local newspaper won’t matter nearly as much as 10 features in Entrepreneur magazine.
Also, Instagram states that they don’t ‘consider paid or promotional content as sources for review’ – so, if your publications have clearly been sponsored, they won’t count.

7. No presence outside of Instagram
Instagram doesn’t officially mention this as a verification requirement, but it’s implied that if you’re a public figure, brand, or otherwise noteworthy in some way, you should be easy to find outside of Instagram, too.
Having a high-quality website, a relevant and authentic Wikipedia page, and a good presence on Facebook and other social media will help with getting accepted next time.

8. Running multiple accounts for the same brand
Do you have more than one Instagram account for your brand and content? If so, that could be why you were denied verification. In addition to being authentic, your account has to be unique – so stick to one profile.
The only exception to this rule is when large, global companies – such as Netflix – create language-specific Instagram accounts for audiences in different countries.

9. Deemed a general interest account
In order to get verified, your account has to represent ‘a real person, registered business or entity’, as Instagram puts it.
If your profile is focused on a particular topic, instead – say, urban photography – without concentrating on you as a person and brand, it’s going to get you rejected.
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10. Lack of followers and engagement
Just like with the level of activity on your account, there’s no official requirement to have a lot of followers before applying for verification. While you’re not likely to get rejected for having few followers if you meet all of the other criteria really well, it does help to have a large following if you’re not exactly a celebrity.
 
As you can see, getting verified on Instagram is a complex and challenging process, especially if your brand or influencer career are just taking off. Contact us to find out how Famous Influencer can help you ensure that your next Instagram verification request will be approved!