Curious about the little blue badge next to your favorite creator’s name? Wondering how to acquire it for yourself?
The verified badge, TikTok’s way of legitimizing celebrities as well as highly influential content creators, is the app’s greatly sought after symbol of indisputable popularity.
Known by some users as the crown before the app’s rebranding, the badge-like checkmark remains a mystery to the vast majority of TikTok’s user-base. While it behaves partly similar to the checkmark feature on other popular social media platforms, such as Instagram or Twitter, there’s quite a bit of hidden depth to the little blue tick, and the same applies to its orange counterpart.
Below we’ll be looking over the nature of the badge itself, learning exactly how it functions for the majority of the platform’s content creators. Beyond that, we’ll touch upon what you can do in order to earn it for yourself, becoming a potentially renowned creator of your own merit in the process.
Let’s get started!
- What Happened to The Crown?
- What Is the Verified Badge?
- Where Does It Show Up?
- Can You Request or Buy Verification on TikTok?
- Verification Criteria to Keep in Mind
- What Else Can I Do to Earn the Verified Badge?
1. What Happened To The Crown?
Not everyone knows that TikTok was born from the ashes of Musical.ly, a social media app popularized by its specific content niche – lip-syncing videos. In late 2017, Musical.ly was bought by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and the merger brought along many other changes for the app, not just a new name.
The well-known mark of popularity used to take the form of a tiny crown that would be attached to the user’s profile picture on the app, and it behaved identically to what we now know as the ‘verified badge’.
2. What Is The Verified Badge?
TikTok mainly employs the blue ‘checkmark’ for the same reason as its rival social media platforms – to verify the identity of celebrities and other popular public figures, therefore avoiding any potential cases of identity theft.
As such, any singer, actor, or public figure who creates a TikTok account will shortly receive their blue verification badge through the automatic process of having their identity confirmed by the software’s internal systems.
What is interesting, however, is that the app’s developers also award its most influential and active users with a similar badge – in the form of an orange checkmark accompanied by the ‘popular user’ tag.
This feature is precisely what has piqued the curiosity of the entire app’s user-base. More specifically, everyone is puzzled by the same question: What exactly do you need to do in order to acquire this elusive checkmark for yourself?
The short answer – No tried and true method will guarantee you a verified badge the very next day, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up just yet. Later on, we’ll look at a few user practices that will get you this much closer to the highly coveted user badge.
3. Where Does It Show Up?
The verified badge is visible next to the username of a verified account, anywhere on the app. This includes their profile, their videos, as well as the comments section.
If the checkmark is not immediately visible next to their username, then their identity has not officially been verified by TikTok, or they are not a recognized ‘popular user’ by the platform’s internal software and algorithm.
4. Can You Request or Buy Verification on TikTok?
Unlike Instagram or Twitter, TikTok does not allow you to apply for verification for any reason whatsoever. The developers monitor the platform’s active accounts through specialized software, granting both variations of the badge themselves, without the need of an official request from any user.
More than that, buying verification is not only impossible but also extremely illegal, going against TikTok’s guidelines and potentially endangering your account and your identity. No third-party website or service is capable of granting you a verification badge, regardless of their extensive promises.
5. Verification Criteria to Keep in Mind
As we’ve mentioned before, there’s no surefire way of obtaining the badge, especially when it comes to its popular user variant. Nevertheless, there are quite a few elements of good user behavior that should be kept in mind if you would like to eventually earn the badge for yourself:
1. Stay active.
Ensure that you engage with the platform constantly and significantly. Post a video every day, interact with your fanbase through the comments section, maintain an active bio and links to other social media accounts, and so on. Stay relevant and active. Your content could be incredibly well made and put-together, but if TikTok notices that you are a rather inactive user, then they will never reward you with the badge in question.
2. Respect Community Guidelines.
Before you embark on your journey towards acquiring the Verified Badge, you should thoroughly read TikTok’s Community Guidelines. Having done so, you will be aware of all the behavioral guidelines that TikTok expects from its most popular and esteemed users. Adhere to them closely, and you’ll become one yourself in no time.
3. Be verified on other social media platforms.
This might be a bit of a stretch, but if you can earn the verified checkmark on another social media platform, subsequently linking it to your TikTok, then that could give you the necessary clearance you need. The app could take notice of your online presence, and automatically award you the badge in the process.
6. What Else Can I Do To Earn The Verified Badge?
While TikTok has been somewhat secretive regarding its handing out of the verified badges beyond obvious identity-based and good user practice reasoning, there are still a vast number of content-related practices that, you, as a user, can directly apply to increase your chances of getting verified:
1. Create fun, thematic, and unique content.
The easiest way to get recognized as an influential content creator is to consistently put out engaging videos that a lot of like-minded users will relate to.
By doing so, you will eventually create a growing fanbase who will interact with your content regularly, liking, and sharing it in the process.
This will greatly expand your chances of making it to the For You page of as many users as possible, which is what you should always be aiming for in your efforts as a content creator.
Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to keep it simple! Try incorporating songs or video formats that are currently trending in the content that you create. TikTok users love interesting, fresh content based on popular songs and media trends, especially if you can showcase your charisma through your own take on the trend in question.
2. Connect with your fellow content creators.
Just like with all other social media platforms, staying connected and knowing the right people is a sure-fire way to attain renown and eventual success. You only have to reach out. Once you’ve created a decent amount of content for your chosen niche, start by following other like-minded content creators.
Focus on the little guys. If someone has roughly the same number of followers as you do, and they like the content that you’re actively promoting, there’s a high chance that they will follow you back. Through this outreach campaign, you are effectively facilitating the growth of a community of similar individuals with nigh-identical fanbases.
Pro tip: Actively collaborate with other creators by engaging in Duet style videos. By doing so, you are not only promoting your fellow content creator, who will surely appreciate the shared spotlight, you are also allowing their fan-base to directly interact with yours, through the way that the algorithm of the For You page works.
3. Look and sound professional.
If you want to be noticed, you have to ensure that you put in the necessary effort to make your content look professional and qualitative. This is a lot easier to achieve than you might think.
The easiest thing you can do is to make sure that you film to your advantage. Invest in a reliable yet accessible tripod or stander for your phone, so as to have the option to fully express yourself when filming your videos. Moreover, consider the lighting and the background of the room you’re filming in. A well-lit room and a dedicated, camera-friendly background can make all the difference.
Pro tip: While TikTok does have its moments of unreliability, such as failed logins, password verification failures, or seemingly randomized country bans, you should trust the developers and respect the algorithm. Do not try to outsmart it by appealing to third-party websites of questionable intentions, or on shady user practices that could end with your account being banned.
To Sum Everything Up
The verified badge remains a virtual holy grail in the age of digital media, and on TikTok, that is no different. From its crown days to its present-day checkmark variant, this blue/orange colored ribbon presents a challenge for everyone that wants to make a name for themselves on the increasingly popular app.
As we have seen above, all you have to do is to: be patient, play by the rules, and create your content with a user-first mentality in mind, and you will earn the coveted badge in no time. If you have any comments or ideas about the intricate little badge, please don’t hesitate to leave them down below!
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