The world of social media is changing quickly. With Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter and the ongoing metamorphosis of Facebook parent Meta Platforms, businesses need to keep up with an evolving landscape. This makes it difficult to understand the best way to craft a social media strategy.

Just look at verification as an example. In 2022, Twitter started offering a paid subscription that included the social media platform's iconic blue, verified checkmark. In February of 2023, Meta announced a similar program: Meta Verified.

While Meta Verified isn't yet available for businesses, these changes raise the question: can being verified on social media benefit your small business or startup? This article aims to answer that question.

What is social media verification?

Social media represents a key component of any company's marketing strategy. It provides an entry point for the sales process, letting you locate and entice new customers. At the same time, it contributes to overall branding, raising your profile and building your general reputation.

To get the most out of your social media efforts, you need to take advantage of the tools provided. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook can act as your partners in the marketing and branding business. The more you can leverage the features they provide, the more return you'll see from your investment.

Verification falls into this category. Typically, a social media platform will offer a way for you to prove your identity. This way, users know that information from that account comes from you. These services also tend to provide access to additional features.

Here are a few of the prominent verification programs on the market:

• Twitter Blue: A paid monthly subscription that adds a blue checkmark to your Twitter account, as well as some other features.

• Twitter Verification for Organizations: Another Twitter program, this one specifically for businesses. Here, your Twitter account receives a gold checkmark, as well as additional network-building functionality.

• Meta Verified: This program applies to social media outlets run by Meta Platforms, specifically Facebook and Instagram.

What are the benefits of social media verification for brands?

The landscape of social media verification has changed dramatically recently. This has created confusion among entrepreneurs and business managers about the value of the newly designed programs.

Since Elon Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter, the billionaire has enacted a series of changes to the firm's long-standing policy for verification. Specifically, a process that was once free, meant to give credence to public figures with Twitter accounts, has become a paid subscription service open to everyone.

This has spurred changes elsewhere. Just this year, Meta began rolling out its similar paid verification system.

With these changes, business leaders are weighing the value of paying for verification. While 53% of brands say they won’t pay for Twitter verification, 51% concede that verification on its own is important to their social media accounts.

Business leaders are weighing the value of paying for verification. While 53% of brands say they won’t pay for Twitter verification, 51% concede that verification on its own is important to their social media accounts.

What's right for your company? One issue comes from the fact that the largest platforms are closing the door to the free model of verification. Rather than turning to a less-popular outlet or looking into a third-party verification process, it might be necessary to accept the new for-pay model in order to maximize visibility on the broadest platforms.

To help you weigh your options, here are six of the biggest benefits you can garner by paying for verification:

Solidifies Your Social Media Position

Look at verification as part of a broader social media strategy. The step in itself likely won't make a huge noticeable difference in your revenue growth. However, as a complement to a wider effort in this area, it could contribute to overall progress.

Avoids Confusion

The online world is full of scams and imposters. It's necessary to shield yourself from these potential sources of consumer confusion. Verification isn't perfect in this arena, but it provides one potential tool to clarify your position.

Better Placement in Search Results

Social media platforms give precedence to their verified accounts. As such, your content will move higher in search results. It will help get your message seen by your target audience.

Additional Tools

Most verification programs come with access to additional features. You can leverage these to improve your social media presence generally. As such, look at the full suite of benefits involved in a paid subscription, rather than verification on its own.

Builds Trust

It's hard to carve out a niche in a crowded market. This is especially true for small businesses and startups. To this end, any step you can take to establish yourself can improve your chances of attracting clients. Verification can help in this process.

Limited Financial Burden

This is more of a non-downside than it is an actual benefit. But on the financial side of things, there's not much cost (literally) of these verification processes. At the moment, the price tags associated with these programs are basically negligible in terms of corporate budget.

What are the downsides of paid social media verification for brands?

We mentioned earlier that the financial costs of paid verification programs is miniscule at this point. That said, there are challenges and complications that come from verification. Here are some downsides you should prepare for:

• The rules keep changing. We've noted how Twitter has been experimenting with its verification system since Musk's takeover and how Meta had only recently launched its own paid system. Given the uncertainty, you can expect the rules to change and attitudes surrounding verification to evolve over time.

• Paid verification is less convincing than other models. Paying for something doesn't give the same credibility as something earned. As such, customers are going to give less regard to your paid verification than they would to a free version that had clearly established standards.

• You'll likely still need to do more to get customers on board. While verification gives some advantages, it isn't a magic bullet. As we've noted, it needs to be a relatively small part of a broader strategy.

• Social media users have a complicated relationship with verification. For instance, one study found that consumers generally associate verification with celebrity more than credibility or trustworthiness. You need to understand this as you determine how checkmarks and other badges will impact consumers’ perception of you.

Deciding whether to pursue paid verification

Being verified on social media can open up significant benefits. As part of a broader strategy, the process can feed improved organic brand awareness growth, higher conversion rates, and strengthened customer trust. As such, paying for verification may be worth it (where that option is available).

However, there are downsides to consider. Use the information in this article to evaluate whether social media verification, paid or otherwise, is worth the time and effort.