194. Baking it Down - Meta Verified

Baking it Down with Sugar Cookie Marketing 🍪

Send us a text

✔️ Meta Verified - The pros / cons of the blue check.

In this week's Baking it Down Podcast - Episode 194 - Meta Verified, TikTok is about to have a big, public breakup with its avoidant soon-to-be ex, the United States. And whether or not we like this coupling, it comes down to the Supreme Court's decision - who needs reality tv when you've got this?!

As we see content creators scrambling to dust off their Instagram backups, it may be a good time to consider standing out among the masses with Meta Verified.

Meta Verified is that neato 🔵blue check mark that you see next to some pages and profiles (go check out Sugar Cookie Marketing's Page for a real-life example). And it's more than just an icon, actually - which makes it a possible contender for your marketing budget in 2025.

Quick backstory on 🔵blue checks: Back when Twitter was, well still called Twitter, accounts that were verified as professional or famous profiles received a 🔵blue check next to their handles to signify that this was the legitimate profile of the business or creator. It was a manual application process and it was hard to get accepted into. Elon buys the failing Twitter and converts it to X takin' the 🔵blue checks away and offering them as a subscription to anyone who had about twenty bucks.

While verification is still required, the exclusivity is long gone. Meta followed suit a few months later for personal profiles and mid-2024 began offering 🔵blue check subscriptions to business pages.

Meta Verified pages do get some added perks though - so let's take a look at them (we'll focus on the plan I paid for to test this - the Business Plus plan - although all the plans include the 🔵blue check).

But first - let's see the pricing for these Verified tiers:

• ✅ Business Standard - $14.99/mo
• ✅ Business Plus - $44.99/mo
• ✅ Business Premium - $119.99/mo
• ✅ Business Max - $349.99/mo

Yeah - so, like not chump change at all - and this is per profile meaning that yes, Facebook and Instagram are considered two profiles even if the Facebook and Instagram accounts represent the same business and are connected. But the good news - there's a yearly discounted option, a bundle

✅ Meta Verified Business Plus - $44.99

1. ✅ Verified Badge
2. ✅ Impersonation Protection
3. ✅ Meta Verified Support (Priority)
4. ✅ Enhanced Facebook Profile - 3 Linked Accounts / 3 Locations
5. ✅ 2 Links in Reels
6. ✅ Featured Account

You're reading that right - you can actually email or chat with a support rep (for that one profile) if you sign up for Meta Verified. If you upgrade to Premium or Max, you can talk to someone over the phone - a rarity with these social media giants.

But there's more - you also get "enhanced" profiles on Facebook (if you pay for Verified on that platform) or on Instagram. Instagram will give Business Plus subscribers the ability to add pictures to their bio links as well as link 3 additional accounts in the area under the profile bio.

Facebook pages with the 🔵blue check will show up in horizontal scrolls in feeds as "Recommended Meta Verified Businesses." Hey - it's like a free ad included in your not-free subscription. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

Impersonation protection is a neat feature - basically no one can spoof your Business page. Does that mean that past hacked pages have a chance of being reunited with their original owners? Not a clue - but it's worth a shot if you've completely lost access to your Page.