The infamous and often elusive blue check mark is something nearly every actor I’ve ever met is going after.

And with good reason!

Everyone knows that social media, particularly Instagram, has a huge impact on your acting career. It can be the difference between being cast and being passed over for someone else, even if they have less experience.

It’s a huge part of the “castability index” we’ve been talking about recently so getting serious about your social media is something you have to do, if you want to be a professional actor.

Part of that is getting verified on Instagram, because it will impact the growth of your social media which in turn impacts your castability index.

Actors that book consistently tend to get verified easily, but since social media plays such a big part in casting decisions that becomes a little bit like the “which came first the chicken or the egg” scenario.

If you need credits to get verified but it’s easier to get credits when you’re verified, how are you supposed to do either?

It’s actually simpler than you might think...

I get messages nearly every day from actors wondering about getting verified and I’ve realized that most of them think getting verified is more complicated than it actually is.

The truth is, it is actually quite simple. It may not seem like it should be, especially when the payoff can be so huge.

About a year ago, I saw an instance of 2 actors who were at a certain event that drew a fair amount of press attention. One of those actors tweeted about what happened at the event and got his typical amount of likes and retweets.

The other was verified by Twitter but had a somewhat smaller following. He too tweeted about what happened at the event but the results were completely different.

When covering the story, buzzfeed picked up his tweet and featured it in their article. That led to thousands of likes, retweets and new followers.

The tweets were almost identical, but the blue check mark chose the winner because that account came across as more credible, so it was the one that was picked up by buzzfeed.

This happens all the time and it happens even more often on Instagram. It becomes even more prevalent when you take humans out of the equation.

Here’s what I mean...

When the Instagram algorithms are compiling content for the discover page, who’s content do you think is more likely to be featured?

I know, being featured on the discover page is kind of a long shot anyway but the algorithm also uses verification to determine the reach of your content on your followers feed.

In other words, it severely impacts how many people see your content, even if it never reaches the discover page.

Have you ever noticed that you always see certain accounts near the top of your feed when scrolling Instagram, while others show up way down at the “bottom” even though you interact with them much more often?

Verification is one of the factors that determines the order in which they show up on your feed. So how does getting verified on Instagram benefit your acting career?

It shows casting directors and industry decision makers that you can attract an audience, which is what CDs and decision makers want from you, sometimes even more than your talent.

We’ll come back to that in a sec...
First let’s talk about how to get verified on Instagram.

Unlike most things at Instagram, verification is a manual process so the key is to give Instagram and the person reveiwing your application a reason to verify you.

Here’s what I mean.

If someone were to impersonate you, how would it impact Instagram? That’s really what verification is for: to show people which account is someone’s “official” account.

When it comes down to it, Instagram is a business and they won’t do much if it doesn’t impact their bottom line.

That's really the reason that verification came around in the first place. If Instagram were a place were people could rampantly impersonate each other, no one would use it.

So, there are two ways to get verified.

You can either grow your account really big, really quickly and attract Instagram’s attention and be invited to verify your account, or you can apply for verification.

Needless to say, the second way is a lot easier and much faster, so that’s what most actors will do...

If the verification staff at Instagram doesn’t see a reason to verify your account, they won’t. If they were to verify everyone, then the blue check mark would lose its benefits, so they have an interest in limiting the number of accounts they verify.

One of the things they look for when reviewing your application is how much is found about you online. They don’t just look at the quantity, they also measure the credibility of those sources.

So, when you submit your application make sure that any prominent credits you have are displayed on your profile.

As of the time of this writing, you can submit 5 links for consideration. Links to your most prominent credits would be helpful along with any press mentions in mainstream publications.

You might submit an application for verification that should be approved without question, but get’s denied for some reason.

It happens often and many people find themselves applying multiple times. So what do you do if your request for verification is denied?

First, wait 31 days before resubmitting. The official guidance is 30 days but if you do it before then, it’s an automatic rejection so you might as well play it on the safe side.

Spend that time adding to your credibility by pursuing features in mainstream outlets.

Don’t overlook this because it could be a huge boost towards helping you get verified because it’s kind of like the industry’s blue check mark.

Along with that, you should also spend some time pursuing features in mainstream publications before you even submit, to give yourself the best shot at being approved from the start.

Remember, how I said the process was simple?

That’s all there is to it. Don’t overcomplicate it.

That said, it’s important that you don’t lose sight of why you are seeking verification in the first place: to improve your acting career.

When a casting director digs deeper, and they will when you move along in the casting process, what they are gong to be looking for is very similar to what Instagram’s verification team look for.

Casting wants to know that you are a serious actor, not someone who acts as a hobby. Here’s a great way to show them you’re a professional, even if you don’t have a lot of credits yet.

Casting Directors started taking social media seriously for a number of reasons. One of the biggest ones was that your social media can be used a measure of your reputation.

The industry has always been built on reputation that’s something won’t change so make sure that your industry reputation always matches your goals. Here’s how I can help with that.

What we went over today is the framework for getting verified on Instagram. If you have some ideas that we didn’t go over, that doesn’t mean they won’t work.

As long as they fall within the framework of what we went over, they should work out but feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email if you want to bounce ideas.

I’m always happy help however I can because I truly want to...

See you at the top,
Scott