You must have heard of, or seen the blue verification tick on Instagram, that little sign that proves someone’s authority and influence while increasing their reputation at the same time. Before influencers were a thing, only big celebrities like Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian had the right to that tick. Now, brands prefer social media influencers with more of an organic audience, a specific reach, as well as that verification next to their handle. But what exactly does it mean to be verified on Instagram, and can anyone get that blue tick? Here are 3 simple steps to follow in order to get your account verified.

According to Instagram, a verified badge is “a check that appears next to an Instagram account’s name in search and on the profile. It means Instagram has confirmed that an account is the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity or global brand it represents.”

That blue check helps people avoid ‘imposter’ accounts, meaning it helps them find the brands or profiles they actually want to follow. It also appears in your search bar as well as on your profile and in the comments section.

For example, the blue tick could help you differentiate a celebrity account from a celebrity’s fan account. Same applies for brands, having a verified Instagram account can help avoid any knock-offs from stealing your followers and customers.

First and foremost, however, the blue check is almost a status symbol.

Although the social media platform likes to present the blue tick as a rare commodity created for superstars and media giants only, it has now become easier for smaller accounts to get verified. Speaking to Screen Shot, Mai Raunstrup Laursen, campaign coordinator at Brandheroes explained: “It seems like it has become way easier to get the tick. I see people ranging from 2,000 to 2 million followers getting verified.”

In other words, if you’re looking to get verified on Instagram but your name is not Lady Gaga or you don’t own Bloomberg, don’t give up just yet. You can apply for an Instagram verification with either a personal account or a business account, on the condition that Instagram deems you ‘eligible’.

After all, getting verified would be too easy if Instagram didn’t ask for a certain number of things before even looking at your application. Instagram verification is reserved for accounts that are “notable”, “in the public interest” and “have a high likelihood of being impersonated.” Yet, more and more people are receiving the check, so why not you?

First things first, you must adhere to Instagram’s ‘Terms of Service’ and ‘Community Guidelines’. Once you’re all done with those, according to Instagram’s website your account must also be:

– Authentic: Your account must represent a real person, registered business or entity.

– Unique: Your account must be the unique presence of the person or business it represents. Only one account per person or business may be verified, with exceptions for language-specific accounts. Fan or meme accounts are technically not supposed to be eligible, yet profiles like @doggosdoingthings sometimes can get verified.

– Complete: Your account must be public and have a bio, profile photo and at least one post. Your profile can’t contain “add me” links to other social media services.

– Notable: Your account must represent a well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity. We review accounts that are featured in multiple news sources, and we don’t consider paid or promotional content as sources for review.

It is important to note that while already having a verification on Facebook will not help you in any way during your application for the blue check on Instagram, having one on Twitter might as it is based on similar criteria.

Getting verified on Facebook is easier as the platform grants verification to small businesses and organisations.

While the criteria for eligibility shown above seem quite strict and, let’s be honest here, boringly tedious, applying to get verified on Instagram only takes a few steps—three main steps to be more precise.

1) Log in: Go on your Instagram app and make sure you’re logged into the account you want to verify if you have more than one Instagram account. Make sure you have a public Instagram account as private accounts are not eligible for the verification.

2) Request your verification: To do so is simple. Click on the three-lined Menu icon in the right corner of your profile (yes, that hamburger icon) and then click on the Settings gear icon at the top of your options. Once on your Settings, click on Account followed by Request verification, which will then take you to the form you’ll have to fill in for your application.

3) Confirm your identity: On this form, you will be asked to write your Instagram’s username, your full name, as it appears on your government-issued identification, and what you are ‘known as’, which means your name or the name of your company. To make it simpler, use the name that people generally know you as. If you usually go by a nickname for example, enter that information here. If you have a company and your Instagram account is mostly known under the company’s name, then write it under there.

Then, you’ll want to pick a category. You can choose from news/media, sports, government/politics, music, fashion, entertainment, blogger/influencer, business/brand/organisation, or other. Simply pick the one that aligns the most with your brand.

Last but not least, you will need to upload a copy of your government-issued photo ID or an official business document. For a personal account, you can use a driver’s license, a passport, or a government-issued identity card. For a business account, you could use a tax return, a utility bill in your company’s name, or your articles of incorporation. Make sure the name on your document matches the name you entered above and that your picture is as clear as can be so that Instagram can read your name and see your picture.

Once this is done, press send and wait for Instagram to review your application for verification. Among other factors, it will be looking at “the authenticity, uniqueness, completeness and notability” of your profile.

After reviewing your application, Instagram will notify you as to whether your request is approved or denied. You’ll receive the message in your Instagram notifications but don’t expect a response right away. While there isn’t any specified timeline for how long the verification takes, it generally takes at least a couple of days.

And don’t forget, Instagram would never ask you to pay for the blue tick and they will not send you an email asking about your verification request. If you get a request to pay or an email asking for more details, you’re being scammed!

Because submitting a request for verification does not guarantee that your account will be verified, you will need to do everything you can to improve your chances of getting the blue check.

First of all, Instagram will look at whether your profile is completely filled or not. This means that you should make sure you complete all of the Instagram fields with accurate and relevant information about yourself or your business.

Secondly, do not try to lie about any information you’ve shared with Instagram. Use your real name, pick an accurate category for your account and use a real document to prove your identity. It goes without saying that if you fail to do that, Instagram won’t verify your account. Instagram specifically says, “If you provide false or misleading information during the verification process, we will remove your verified badge and may take additional action to delete your account.”

Thirdly, although we mentioned Facebook’s verification previously and how different it is compared to Instagram’s own, having a presence outside of Instagram can help your application. The logic behind this is that even if you have a lot of Instagram followers, it’s hard to prove that you’re “notable” if you don’t have any presence outside of the app.

In other words, if Instagram staffers search your name on Google during the verification review process, it would be best if they found other websites and apps that mention your name. For that, make sure your website is optimised to appear in top search results. To grow your online presence, you could consider guest posting on other blogs or sites, especially if they are well-known and respected in your niche.

That being said, do not cross-promote your other social accounts in your Instagram bio and don’t use your bio to ask people to follow you elsewhere. As stated by Instagram, profiles that “contain ‘add me’ links to other social channels” will not be approved.

Then, in order to both grow your online presence and increase your chances of coming up first in search results, try reaching out to multiple news sources so they can write about you or your brand. You can either send a press release to bigger media companies or contact smaller, more local publications if you’ve never been in the news before. Remember that paid or promotional content doesn’t count. Once you start getting mentioned by different news platforms, link all these articles in a ‘press’ section on your website or even as a highlighted Instagram Story. If you’re not sure when to start, look up journalists that are already writing about other Instagram accounts and send them a DM or an email asking them if they could potentially be interested in covering your own Instagram account.

Post regularly. Technically, you need to have at least one post to be considered for verification. But realistically, you should not apply until you have a stronger Instagram presence. For example, if your account has been inactive for a few weeks, you won’t be considered a great candidate for the Instagram verification. To boost your chances, make sure to post new content regularly and to interact with other accounts.

Having an important amount of followers always helps, even though there is no longer a set number of required followers to get verified on Instagram. However, having more followers is a pretty good indicator of noteworthiness. Furthermore, Instagram looks at how likely you are to be impersonated. Someone is probably more likely to impersonate an account with many followers. That’s why having a large number of followers makes it more likely for Instagram to give you the verification badge.

Just remember that, no matter how many followers you have, don’t buy fake followers as this would seriously impact your application. Instagram will notice that you bought fake followers and therefore will not give you the blue tick.

Once you’ve gone through all those steps, all you have to do is wait. Your application might not be approved on the first try but don’t get discouraged by it, take the time to improve your profile and grow your audience, then feel free to apply again! You can reapply 30 days after your first request is denied.

Keep in mind that, while the verification process looks quite simple and short, Instagram has a very strict set of rules that it follows when looking at your application. If you don’t meet some of the less obvious criteria, then you will be denied. You will receive a notification in your notifications tab.

We’ve mentioned it above but we will repeat for those at the back: do not use a third-party service to apply for the verification check. Instagram specifically says not to try to verify your account through a third party as there are plenty of scammers out there who will try to sell you Instagram verification. Read about it here but don’t fall for it.

If you end up with a successful application that results in your Instagram account receiving the blue check, remember that you can lose it as quickly as you received it. Continue to follow Instagram’s terms of service and community guidelines and never sell your badge, or use your profile picture, bio, or Instagram name to promote other services.

For the few of you who might have never heard of it, OnlyFans is a social media platform where influencers are free to post whatever content they decide to—from suggestive pictures to X-rated videos. In exchange for these, their fans pay them money in order to access their private content. What started out as a small influencer platform has now become one of the most important websites out there, with many using OnlyFans as their main source of revenue. According to Forbes, since the beginning of March 2020, OnlyFans registered more than 3.5 million new accounts.

If you too are looking to make money on the content subscription service, you’ll need to know about a few important hacks and tips that will help you stand out from the crowd. Here’s how to make money on OnlyFans.

Although we will focus on exactly how to make money on OnlyFans, you will first have to set up your account and discover OnlyFans’ different features. In a previous article, we covered the different types of OnlyFans influencers and how they charge for subscriptions.

Every OnlyFans profile has the following tabs:

Posts: Where all your content can be seen, from photos, videos, audio, stories, live videos, updates and more.

Photos: Your photos are shown here.

Videos: Your video content is shown here.

Audio: Your voice recordings are kept here.

Likes: Your total number of likes received is displayed here, and it is also where your fans can see your content they liked.

Fans: Your number of fans are shown here but fans themselves (and their usernames) are not visible.

When creating your OnlyFans account, it is crucial that you make your mind up on four things first. You should think about a fitting name for your account, the kind of content you want to post, how often you will post and your monthly subscription price.

OnlyFans offers niche content such as fitness coaching, adult content, cosplaying, fashion, beauty, gaming, DIY tutorials, cooking recipes, influencer vlogs, modelling, and even more! Knowing exactly what your unique selling point will be is the first step to making a name for yourself on the social media platform, and therefore to making money.

Once your OnlyFans account is all set up, you’ll need to upload some content to it. If you don’t, fans who are willing to pay for access to your content will see that you have none for now, or not that much, which will discourage them from subscribing to your profile. That’s why, before starting you’ll want to make sure that you have a reasonable amount of content available and ready to upload.

To start adding content to your profile, click on the Home icon then go to ‘New Post’. From there, OnlyFans will give you a wide range of posting options such as pictures, videos and audio. Pick whichever you want to begin with, and try mixing it up. Some fans might prefer video content while others might enjoy pictures more.

But keep in mind that your monthly subscription fee is not the only way you can make money on OnlyFans. You can also make money through tips and Pay Per View (PPV) content, which are really important methods to use if you’re looking to make some serious money on OnlyFans.

Fans can send you tips by clicking the dollar icon under your posts or they can also tip you through the messages. If you believe you offer subscribers high-quality content, then don’t be afraid to ask them to like your posts and tip you if they enjoy your content!

Go further than that by selling custom content using tips and PPV messages. In exchange for a tip, you can sell both digital content and physical goods depending on your niche. For example, you could sell workout and meal plans in PDF format, recipe books, pictures and videos, or other products you wish to sell to your fans—the OnlyFans world is your oyster!

If you decide to sell on OnlyFans, you’ll need to create a tip menu and list your items for sale plus the tip fee. Pin your tip menu to your profile and ask your fans to let you know what they’re tipping you for in order to define what your best selling items are.

Keep in mind that OnlyFans just changed its rules at the beginning of September, which include a new maximum tip price of $100 for the first four months a user is active on the site. After that point, it increases to $200, which was the standard for all users up until this point.

You can buy my workout routines and meal plans by tipping me in the messages. If you are purchasing a physical product, please send me your name and address. Thank you!!!

Tip menu

Digital products:
Standard 7-day meal plan (PDF file)—$20
Standard 7-day workout routine (PDF file)—$25
Custom 7-day meal plan (PDF file)—$70
Custom 7-day workout routine (PDF file)—$75

Physical products:
Top Workouts T-Shirt—$15
Top Workouts Tote Bag—$18

When you send me a tip, please let me know what you are tipping me for, so I can send you the correct item!

You can use OnlyFans’ mass messaging feature to promote exclusive content to your subscribers. Instead of posting content on your feed for future subscribers to see, you can send a video, photo or a message to all of your current fans, which allows you to build a more personalised relationship with them. Only current subscribers will have access to specific content that you upload, which accentuates the sense of exclusivity.

Promote this exclusive content on your other social media channels to attract more subscribers. For example, you could post on Twitter: “For the next week, only my subscribers will receive exclusive pictures of *your content of choice*. At the end of next week, it will no longer be available.”

Keep in mind that when you send a mass message, whoever is in your current subscribers’ list at that time will always have access to the content you promote in the message. Because of this, mass messages are an efficient way to ensure your current subscribers don’t miss out on the exclusive content you have to offer.

Alternatively, if you decide to post exclusive content to your feed using the expired posts feature, current subscribers who don’t check your feed during that time frame won’t see that content, so remember to stick to mass messages so your subscribers don’t miss out on it.

Subscribers are here because they’re willing to pay you to get extra access to you and your content, access that they wouldn’t normally get from other social media platforms, so use the private messages to engage with fans and post exclusive content of you they won’t see anywhere else, which is exactly how you build up an OnlyFans following and make money.

Sending out Pay Per View (PPV) messages to your subscribers on OnlyFans lets you send price-locked messages to your fans, who can then view them only if they pay the price you’ve set up. Through PPV messages, you can send photos, photosets of up to 20 photos, audio tracks and videos. The minimum price you could set used to be $3, however, OnlyFans just announced at the beginning of September that the rules had changed.

The new rules include a $100 cap on paid private messages, compared to $200 before, and a $50 cap on PPV posts for creators who don’t charge a subscription, compared to $200 previously. OnlyFans is also lengthening the pending payout period from seven to 21 days for creators in 14 countries, including India, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Speaking about the new changes, OnlyFans said they reflect an “evolving process” that’s meant to “ensure payment protection for both content creators and users.”

While you can send PPV messages to many of your subscribers, you can also send them to a specific subscriber who previously requested a custom picture or video. For example, if you have a subscriber who requested a custom video for $80, you would send the PPV message to that fan exclusively.

To send a PPV message on OnlyFans, click on the envelope icon on the top of the page, which will take you the chat page. There, click ‘New Message’, then tick the ‘All Subscribers’ box and click ‘Next’. Once you’re on your messages, write your message and attach the media you wish to send, and click on the price tag icon to add your price for the content. Click ‘Send’ and you’re all done and ready to go!

Before accepting to pay for your price-locked content, fans will already be able to see what type of PPV content you have sent without seeing the actual content itself.

For example, if you sent someone a locked photo, they will see a blurred out preview, the word ‘photo’ as well as the number of photos included in the message and the price to unlock it.

If you have a free OnlyFans account, you can also price-lock your posts, which will require your subscribers to pay for that particular post before viewing it.

While it may sound obvious to some, having conversations with your subscribers is something that many OnlyFans creators overlook. But interacting with your fans, especially those who speak to you in the first place, is key to gaining more subscribers. Engaging with them is the best way to show them that you care, and we all know that engaged fans are the ones who will continue paying your monthly membership!

Again, this should sound evident. By creating and scheduling your content in advance, you’re making sure that your feed is constantly being updated with a regular flow of content. You can schedule photos, videos, audio and updates. Planning ahead not only gives you more free time to work on personalised PPV content but also keeps you ahead of the curve. What happens if you have a full day of content-making in your schedule but you end up feeling sick on that day? That’s when you can turn to your backup content.

While this step is not necessary, buying a domain name and redirecting it to your OnlyFans account could help you bring even more traffic to your page.

If you go a long time without posting content or interacting with your fans, they are more likely to cancel their subscription, so make sure to post content regularly and talk with your fans every day if possible. Update you feed at least every 2 days (if not more often), even if it’s just a photo or a simple status update. In other words, show your followers that you are active so they feel like paying your monthly price is worth it.

With this in mind, all good things come to those who wait, as they say. You need to approach and treat your OnlyFans account like a business, which means that it will take you some time to get things going. If you get discouraged after a few days of posting on the platform, then OnlyFans is probably not for you.

Send an automated welcome message to every new fan who subscribes to your OnlyFans. In order to be able to do this, you’ll need to activate the ‘Welcome Message For New Fans’ feature in your settings.

Once you’ve made sure to populate your page with your content, you can also create a short promotional video, also called a sizzle reel, showcasing your best content snippets. Having a sizzle reel on your profile shows new subscribers your best content, letting them know your value straight away. Pin your sizzle reel to the top of your profile for all of your subscribers to see, and make sure that it is no longer than 2 minutes.

If you already have another pinned post such as a tip menu, you won’t be able to pin both posts. Instead, upload your sizzle reel as a story and save it permanently as a highlight. Your highlights will always stick to the top of your profile, so everyone can see it first.

OnlyFans lets you run promotions by offering fans a discounted subscription. You can set discounts to expire on a certain date, set it for new subscribers only or even to expire after a certain number of people have signed up. You can even make your account free for a while if you think this strategy might help you gain more fans rapidly.

As you might have guessed, discounted subscriptions encourage fans to subscribe to your account and decide if they are satisfied enough with your content. If not, they can cancel their subscription’s renewal. If they like your content, you will now have a regular subscriber who will pay your normal price once their promotional month ends.

By running a promotion, you have a chance to prove to a potential subscriber that your content is worth the full price. If your usual pricing is expensive, this strategy will only work if the content you upload is of high quality. You need to prove to your fans that your high price tag is worth it, and offering them a discount first might help them realise that.

In order to gain more subscribers to your OnlyFans account, you can also use social media to promote it outside of the platform and reach more potential subscribers. Most online marketers follow the one cent per follower rule (or $100 per 10,000 followers). However, you can occasionally pay $25 to $50 for promotion from influencers with 100,000 followers.

Snapchat is a great way to start if you’re looking to promote your OnlyFans account. Start by looking for popular Snapchat accounts with viewers who would be interested in your content. If you run a fitness account for example, look for fitness influencers. If you produce adult content, look for adult influencers—you get the gist.

Once you have chosen a fitted influencer, make sure you ask them to send you a screenshot of their insights. This is an important step because, according to Snapchat, only creators with large audiences have access to the insights feature. This will also allow you to see how many views their stories got over the past week and month, the total time users have spent viewing their profile, the percentage of male and female users viewing their stories as well as the demographic information you will need about their viewers. Having access to this information can confirm whether the Snapchat influencer you’ll pay to promote your OnlyFans has the right audience for you.

When looking for a potential Snapchat account to reach out to, look for someone with at least a million views in the last month—the more impressions your promotion gets, the more clicks and subscribers you will gain.

When it comes to online marketing, the average conversion rate commonly falls around 2 per cent, so you can use this to predict the number of subscribers you will gain from a promotion after receiving your influencer’s insights.

With a 2 per cent conversion rate, 1,000,000 impressions should get you around 20,000 visitors. From those 20,000 visitors, at least 400 should convert to subscribers. Depending on your selected influencer’s insights, make sure to pay for the expected 2 per cent conversion rate, not their impressions.

If you’re looking to promote your OnlyFans profile on other social media, then Instagram is another good option. Just like on Snapchat, you could either reach out to Instagram influencers and see whether they can share your page, or you could also use your own Instagram account to promote your OnlyFans through your Story.

When posting a Story on Instagram, if your account contains adult content, make sure your Story doesn’t contain nudity, otherwise you might risk getting banned or shadowbanned. One thing remains a problem here. How do you link your Story to your OnlyFans account? If you have more than 10,000 followers on Instagram, then you will be able to add a ‘Swipe Up’ link to your Story. Same applies if you have the verification blue tick next to your Instagram handle.

If you haven’t got either of these, try promoting your OnlyFans through a post. Post a photo, gif or video relevant to your OnlyFans content, and in the description add a caption including the words ‘click the link in my bio’. Since links in post captions are not clickable, you need to direct viewers to your bio link, which can be clicked on. Again, if your OnlyFans account contains nudity, make sure not to post any nudity to your Instagram profile. You can always crop out the nude parts or cover them up with large emojis so your content doesn’t get taken down by Instagram.

Although Reddit is a strange and confusing place, it is also a great platform to use for promotion. Start by creating an account and look for subreddits that are related to the type of content you post on OnlyFans. Once you’ve selected a subreddit that works, make sure you read the subreddit’s rules as some subreddits allow self-promotion while others don’t, which might be a bad way for you to start on Reddit. Try to promote your OnlyFans account on a few subreddits in order to increase your exposure.

When sharing your page on Reddit, because links in Reddit post titles are not clickable, add your profile link in the comment section after posting. Since you will probably be posting photo content, you will not be able to add a description to your post, so make sure your potential new subscribers can reach your OnlyFans profile easily. And use a catchy title for your post!

This type of promotion usually works better for influencers, gamers and adult content creators.

If you have a YouTube channel, you can promote your exclusive OnlyFans account directly to your YouTube subscribers. Add your OnlyFans link to your description and tell your viewers to subscribe if they want to view your exclusive content. After reading our Beginner’s guide to SEO, try to post videos on YouTube that include the high potential keywords your soon-to-be subscribers may be looking for.

You can also decide to collaborate with other Youtubers so that both can promote each other’s OnlyFans accounts. The best way to promote your OnlyFans account is to create a video related to either the platform itself or the content you provide.

Finally, you can promote your OnlyFans by working with other OnlyFans creators. Tip other influencers in exchange for them promoting your account to their followers. Before doing this, remember to check how many fans the creator you’re reaching out to has.

OnlyFans is a premium example of how to monetise content with subscribers driving the output. It has become the ultimate platform for nurturing micro-communities and fan engagement, which ultimately makes it a great way to make money. That is, if you have exclusive content to offer your fans in the first place. This should be your main learning from this how-to: work on your content and which niche it fits in first, then start posting consistently and interacting with your fans in order to maintain your subscriber count.

OnlyFans’ business model and immense popularity among its community are both indicative of a wider change in behaviour. Young entrepreneurs on the platform are shifting from direct-to-consumer to direct-to-fan interactions. This newly found level of intimacy gives you the chance to engage with your fans and target them more effectively than ever before, so be sure you make good use of it because brands definitely will soon too.