The difference on the surface between a verified Facebook page and an unverified Facebook page is a simple check mark.
What difference does that check mark make, and how do you get it in the first place?
Facebook verification has come to the forefront of conversation in the social media world in light of recent changes Facebook made to its branded content rules. Being able to take advantage of all the new features is definitely one good reason to verify your Facebook page.
Here are a few more:
- Build trust with your audience. Having that check mark symbol gives your fans confidence that you are a legitimate brand that they can have confidence in.
- Get back your views. If you are famous or successful enough, you are bound to have copy cats. Sometimes these can be fans who simply want to show their love. Other times it can be more malicious, with someone stealing your content and scamming people in the process. By having your page verified, it helps your following to find the real you and be able to ignore the fakers.
- Show up higher in search. Because Facebook has already reviewed your page it is more likely to show up in searches on Facebook, meaning that new people are more likely to find your page.
- Possibility of increased engagement. Even though there are no conclusive studies of this, the cumulative effect of the above benefits may also lead to more reach and engagement with your brand.
Page verification is a simple process that only takes a few minutes and a publicly listed business phone number. Many older articles about this process are much more complicated – ignore them. Facebook has recently streamlined this process to make it super simple.
The first step is to go to “Settings” on your Facebook page. You should see the “Page Verification” link the third option from the top. As a quick side note, there is a chance that you won’t see it here. That simply means that Facebook hasn’t rolled out the new verification system to your page yet. Give it a couple weeks and check again. Or you can submit a help request to Facebook.
By far, the easiest way to verify your Facebook page will be through your phone number. Enter your phone number and wait for Facebook to call you. A cheery voice automated voice on the other end of the phone will tell you that they are calling from Facebook and give you a four digit code to enter. As long as your number is publicly listed, you should get instant approval for your page. This also means that if you are an agency or verifying a Facebook page for a client, you will need to input their business phone number and make sure someone is there to pick up and give you the code.
What counts as a publicly listed phone number?
That is unclear.
I verified the page for a real estate agent that I work with using her cell phone number and it worked fine. However, another page that I tried to verify with my phone number did not work — even when I entered that information into the “Page Info” section of the Facebook page itself.
This debate is part of an active thread in the Facebook community support.
The other option if your phone number doesn’t work is to verify by documents. This is a slightly longer process, and Facebook is specific about what they allow as proof. Documents you can use include:
- Business utility or phone bill
- Business license
- Business tax file
- Certificate of formation
- Articles of incorporation
You will need to have this as a digital document so that you can upload it to Facebook.
Once you upload the needed documents, Facebook will manually verify the information submitted to make sure it matches publicly available records. You will get a notification in Facebook itself, or an email, in a few days letting you know that your page is verified, or what additional steps you need to take.
Congrats on your verified Facebook page, Tammy Jo!
Do You Have a Verified Facebook page?
Have you verified your page yet? Did you notice any positive impact? Are you convinced that it is worth the effort now?
(Source: https://www.agorapulse.com/blog/verified-facebook-page)