How Instagram's Paid Program May Impact Influencer Marketing for Brands

From what we see as a response (slash echo) to Twitter, Meta has officially launched their paid verification program in the US – available for Facebook and Instagram. 

What does Meta's verification include?

Unlike its controversial competitor, Instagram will require users to provide a government ID before receiving the coveted blue badge. Users can get IG verified for the low-low price of $11.99 when purchased on the web and $14.99 via iOS and Android – whatever that means. 

But that’s not it! Not only do you get a blue checkmark, but you also get: 

• Proactive account monitoring. We’re calling it a “Catfish Blocker” - patent pending.
• Access to a human customer service representative. We love to see it.
• The exclusive right to express yourself in unique ways. Though, isn’t that point of IG anyways?

Verification will only be available for people, not businesses or organizations.

One major point of clarification we were given is users will need to sign up and pay for verification separately to receive blue checks on both Facebook and Instagram. Seems like the price is stacking up but up to users to decide whether blue checks for both platforms make sense for their social strategy. 

How does this update affect influencer marketing for brands? 

We don’t see this verification plan affecting influencer marketing strategy significantly, except for increasing the number of verified accounts on the platform. Verification is not a requirement to work with brands. 

Fohr’s CEO, James Nord, argues that Meta's verification rollout is likely not an update driven by money. Instead, verification is Meta’s attempt to offset incoming complaints about impersonation accounts. Anyone locked out of their account or dealing with impersonation knows this to be true–Meta’s customer service is a hot mess.

In initial press released, there was talk of a benefit of increased reach once you pay for verification, however, as of May 20, 2023, Meta decided to push its roll out sans this benefit saying it needs further consideration.

In the earliest iteration of this post, we stated our belief that priority ranking would likely be an issue for the folks at Meta and creators as brands typically choose influencer partners based on reach metrics and engagement, so there may be a future need in investing in verification to increase those numbers. I’d like to think Meta took a look at our blog and realized how problematic this would be and cut it -- but that’s unlikely.

We'll be keeping a close eye on this so we can determine how this will impact the influencer marketing industry. Stay tuned for updates here...

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Photo source: Jared Rice on Unsplash