How to Verify Your Facebook Page

Ever notice how your favorite band or celebrity's Facebook page has a little blue check mark next to their name? That means that their page is verified-- Facebook has confirmed that their page is authentic and legit. It conveys to their followers that they're following the real deal and can expect trusted content. And now, that feature is available to your veterinary clinic as well! Business pages can now become verified, indicated by a gray check. 

Here's an example, comparing my hero Betty White's page (verified with a blue check) and my page (verified with a gray check, but significantly less hilarious).  

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So why is this important?
See, I could read your mind there. What's the point of doing this for just a little check? Well, in addition to proving to your clients that your page is too legit to quit (yep, I went there), consider it another security measure. No one else will be able to have a verified page with your clinic's name. Verified page owners will also have earlier access to new features. And last but not least, verified pages also appear higher in search engine rankings.  It takes less than 5 minutes, and these few little steps will be totally worth it. 

Here's how to verify your page. 

1. Click Settings at the top of your Page
2. From General, click Page Verification
3. Click Verify this Page, then click Get Started
4. Enter a publicly listed phone number for your business, your country and language
5. Click Call Me Now to allow Facebook to call you with a verification code
6. Enter the 4-digit verification code and click Continue

If you're the visual sort, you can see the steps I took to verify Brentwood Animal Hospital's page in this slideshow: 

That's it! You're done and verified. Check back on your main Facebook page to look for your badge. It may take a while to show up. Here's how Brentwood's turned out. 

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Note: I've done about a dozen of these verifications now for clinics, veterinary organizations, individual veterinarian's pages, and my own. Of the 12, two of them would not accept the phone number (my own included), and had to be verified with documentation. After entering the code, I immediately got a prompt denying the phone verification, and instead I had to upload documentation instead. For my personal page I used my tax receipt and for the clinic that wouldn't verify we simply snapped a picture of a recent phone bill, uploaded it, and were verified within 24 hours. For both, we received an email notification advising us that the process had been completed and verified!

Overall, verifying your page is one tiny simple task that has the potential benefit of improving your page's security and searchability. 
If you have any trouble verifying your page or have a question, don't hesitate to contact me for help!
Happy verifying, 
-CD