Meta Verified for Facebook & Instagram: Is it worth paying for?

Meta has rolled out Meta Verified or paid subscriptions for both Facebook and Instagram. And I bet you have questions. What benefits do you get with Meta Verified? Who can sign up for Meta Verified? Is Meta Verified worth paying for? Let's dive in!

What is Meta Verified?

Meta Verified is a paid subscription, available for both Instagram and Facebook, designed to "make it easier for people, especially creators, to establish a presence so they can focus on building their communities on Instagram and Facebook."

The subscription is offered for both Instagram and Facebook individually, so will need to sign up (and pay) for each separately.

Where is Meta Verified available?

At the time of writing this article, Meta Verified is currently only in New Zealand, Australia and it is now rolling out to the USA.

Can anyone get Meta Verified?

Meta Verified is a product for creators, for people, for public figures, for individuals. It isn't necessarily a product for businesses.

Here are some key points you should be aware of:

• For Facebook, you an only sign up for Meta Verified on your personal profile. Business Pages are not eligible.
• For both Facebook and Instagram, you must have a photo of yourself with matches your photo ID as your profile image. You can't sign up for Meta Verified if you use a logo as your profile image.
• For both Facebook, your profile name must match your photo ID.
• For Instagram, you can have a Business or Creator profile however you must have your full name, as it is shown on your photo ID, included in your profile name. You can have other words also, such as your business name, a description of the services you offer or your role but you can't have simply a business name.

Because of this, Meta Verified is only really relevant if you are a coach, consultant, influencer, content creator, public figure or wanting to build your personal brand.

What are the benefits for signing up for Meta Verified?

There are a number of benefits to signing up to Meta Verified which include:

1. A Verified Badge: prove that you are the real you with a verified badge!
2. Proactive Account Protection: Get protection from impersonation with proactive account monitoring.
3. Direct Account Support: Get help when you need it from a real person on common account issues.
   NOTE: support cannot help you with issues on your business account. Also, to request support you need to fill in a form and wait for an email response.
4. Exclusive Features: Get exclusive stickers on Facebook and Instagram Stories and Facebook Reels. For Facebook Only: get 100 Stars a month so you can show your support for other creators.
5. Increased Visibility and Reach (NZ and Australia only): As I'm in New Zealand and I was one of the first to be able to sign up for Meta Verified, this benefit was included from the start. But now Meta Verified is rolling out to the US and for US users, Meta has removed this benefit. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram said, "we are not going to include any increased reach in the US expansion for now." So if you are in the US, this is not included.

How do you get Meta Verified on Instagram?

To sign up for Meta Verified on Instagram you need to locate your Accounts Centre in your settings:

 Before you sign up, remember:

1. You must have a copy of your photo ID on hand (you can't upload a photo you have saved - it will need to be scanned).
2. Your profile photo needs to match the photo on your ID.
3. Your profile name needs to include the name on your photo ID.
4. If signing up via the app on your phone, you will be charged immediately, even before your application has been approved. If you are declined, your payment will be refunded.

How do you get Meta Verified on Facebook?

To sign up for Meta Verified on Facebook you need to locate your Accounts Centre in your settings: 

Before you sign up, remember:

1. You must have a copy of your photo ID on hand (you can't upload a photo you have saved - it will need to be scanned).
2. Your profile photo needs to match the photo on your ID.
3. Your profile name needs to match the name on your photo ID.
4. If signing up via the app on your phone, you will be charged immediately, even before your application has been approved. If you are declined, your payment will be refunded.

Is Meta Verified worth paying for?

Before I share my thoughts on if Meta Verified is worth paying for, I want to point out that when I signed up I was only able to do so via the apps on my phone. Not Meta has mentioned that the subscription is slightly cheaper if you sign up on your computer, in a browser, probably because Google and Apple take a cut of payments made on apps on their devices. But every time I attempted to sign up via facebook.com or instagram.com I was re-directed to the app on my device.

OK, so back to is Meta Verified worth paying for? Here are my thoughts:

For the Verified Badge?

Maybe. I think it does add a level of trust with your audience but I'm not sure if that us enough of a benefit to warrant the price point for Meta Verified.

For the Proactive Account Protection?

Maybe. For me, impersonation is not an issues. I don't think I have a large enough following to be impersonated but if that is an issue for you then yes, this could be a reason to sign up.

For the Direct Account Support?

No, not in my case. I have an issue with my business account, which I would love help with but when I asked the Meta Support concierge for assistance, I was told they couldn't help with business issues. So if you think you're going to sign up for Meta Verified and you're going to get help with your business account or an issue maybe you're having with your Facebook business page, don't bother.

For the Exclusive Features?

No. So far I have 3 stickers available to me in Stories, which look very similar to all the other stickers that are available and are not the style that I usually use on Instagram or Facebook. Plus 100 stars is only worth about US$1.

For the Increased Visibility and Reach?

No. Not if you are in the US - as this is not an included benefit anymore. And for New Zealand and Australia, to me it makes more sense to spend that money on a paid ad campaign or boosted post to guarantee the increased reach!

I would love to know if you have any questions at all. I'd love to hear from you. Have you signed up? Will you sign up? What are your experiences? Come on over to Instagram or TikTok and have a chat.