This will not involve any sticky back plastic or pleading with your family and neighbours for used up Fairy Liquid bottles.
If you do not get that reference, you are likely younger than me (43) or you probably aren’t that active on Twitter – also likely if younger than me.
Hopefully, the following will reveal just how valuable media coverage is.
Also, whilst you may not WANT or even NEED the official “blue tick” that Twitter will reserve only for those they deem worthy, I’d like you to consider why they place media coverage so highly on their requirements when seeking to validate “official” accounts.
Because if they value it so much, changes are, your customers do too right?
First of all, some background.
The blue verified badge on Twitter lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. According to Twitter (the “Twits”?) to receive the blue badge, your account must be authentic, notable, and active.
3 big factors that should sound familiar with any marketing campaign really.
First up, let’s examine the AUTHENTICITY criteria:
“To encourage and maintain trust between users on the platform, you will need to confirm your identity with Twitter.”
They then give you 3 basic options; your official website link, ID verification (like a passport) or simply, your official email address.
Secondly they will be seeking that you are indeed NOTABLE:
“Your account must represent or otherwise be associated with a prominently recognized individual or brand.”
In here they are after government links, or accounts must meet 2 of the following requirements:
presence in public indices, including but not limited to Google Trends, public stock exchanges, stable Wikipedia articles that meet the encyclopedia’s notability standards, and databases.
3 or more featured references within the 6 months prior to applying in news outlets that meet the News criteria below; or
follower count in the top .05% of active accounts located in the same geographic region.
So, 3 or more featured references within the 6 months prior to applying in “qualifying” news criteria. That’s arguably easier to achieve than the whims of accruing the follower count criteria AND you will be benefiting from the media coverage as you go!
What media qualifies Greg? I hear you cry.
“Qualifying organizations include newspapers; magazines; broadcast, cable, satellite, and streaming TV and radio news networks, stations and programs; digital news publishers; podcasts; and similar media, and must adhere to recognized professional standards for journalism.”
So this is EARNED media, i.e. not websites and blogs that you control. This is where a professional journalist has written about you or at the very least, one adhering to professional standards or who “has committed to the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles”.
Finally, you must be ACTIVE
Complete: You must have a profile name, and a profile image;
Active use: You must have logged into the account in the last 6 months.
Security: The account must have a confirmed email address or phone number; and
Twitter Rules: The account must not have had a 12-hour or 7-day lockout for violating the Twitter Rules in the past six months (excluding successful appeals).
So there’s the rules folks and with it come a major opportunity for positioning.
Positioning
Imagine you have a competitor, you are both very similar, even down to your price.
Well, what if your Twitter account had the Blue Tick? This is serious kudos folks and if you’ve been playing by my media rules, you will have the media coverage in the bag too, which gives you an even bigger platform to be starting from!
Even better is that hands down the most active social media platform out there, the place where journalists go to seek expert comment or exciting stories from smaller businesses is….you guessed it, Twitter.
So if positioning is now a major part of your thinking, maybe start working towards your Blue Tweeter badge. You can find me and a load of reporters on there via @Press4attention