A study of 6.5 million Instagram accounts shows that on average verified Instagram accounts have a 30% higher engagement than regular accounts.
A verified badge is a check sign located next to the name of an Instagram account in search and on the profile. It means that Instagram has confirmed that an account officially belongs to a public figure, celebrity, or a global brand.
A verified badge simplifies the process of finding public figures, celebrities, or brands. Getting a blue checkmark has become a cherished objective for many influencers and brands.
Verification helps to stand out from the crowd, gives more trust, confirms that the account is real.
There are several myths about the Instagram blue checkmark:
Only accounts with a quality audience and without bots may receive verification;
Verification mark increases engagement rate;
To get your account verified, you should reach out to a person who works in ‘Instagram Verification’ and send them $5-10K in Bitcoin.
We have analyzed 210,449 influencer accounts with the verification mark and would like to share our findings with you. So, how many verified accounts are on Instagram? Let’s find out.
Only 3.26% of Instagram accounts are verified
We have checked a sample of 6.5 million Instagram accounts that have over 1,000 followers. Only 3.26% of them have a verification mark.
Even accounts with 1K followers can have a verification badge
To better understand the principle of obtaining verification, we divided accounts into five tiers based on the number of followers.
Surprisingly, we found that even nano-influencers (accounts that have from 1K to 5K followers) may get a verification badge.
For instance, a freelance journalist Peter Yeung has only 1,006 followers and is verified.
In quantitative terms, there are almost as many nano-influencers (10,979) with verification marks as mega-influencers (14,491).
Most verified accounts have from 20K to 100K followers – 77,996 accounts have blue marks.
Every 5th macro-influencer has a verification badge
Among macro-influencers (100K-1M followers) almost every fifth has a verification badge.
73.5% of accounts with over 1M followers are verified
This means that once an account reaches the milestone of 1 million followers, it almost automatically gets verified on Instagram.
32% of verified accounts located in the US
32% of verified accounts are from the US. The chances of getting verification for an account from the US are much higher.
Verified accounts have a 30% higher engagement rate on average
Accounts with verification get a higher engagement rate in all tiers than accounts without verification
We don’t know exactly why it happens. It might be that Instagram gives preference to verified accounts, or users have more trust in them and are more willing to interact with their posts, or verified accounts have a higher percentage of quality audience.
Although the official Instagram account @creators denies that there are some benefits of having verified accounts.
But the fact is that in the case of some tiers verified accounts get twice as much engagement as accounts without verification.
Over 58% of verified accounts are male
There are more verified male influencers than female influencers.
Only 22% of verified accounts are brands
22% of verified accounts are the ones of brands. More brand accounts are found among nano-influencers (28%), and less among mega-influencers (15%).
If you want to apply for a verified badge, you can do it right now. Read our Instagram Verification guide that describes the process step by step.
Instagram will never request payment for verification or ask you to confirm your verification.
The portrait of an average verified account
So far, a typical verified Instagram account looks like as follows:
it has over 100K followers;
it is a male account;
it is based in the US.
According to the Instagram Help Centre, to get a verified badge, your account should be unique, as they don’t verify general interest accounts (example: @puppymemes).
Anyway, getting verified on Instagram is just the start. To take advantage of this longed-for badge, develop your Instagram strategy and engage your audience with high-quality content.
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