How to get your Business Verified on Facebook Business Manager?

If you have decided to integrate your business with WhatsApp Business API, you will be required to complete the verification process of your company on Facebook Business Manager.

What is Facebook Business Manager?

It goes without saying that if you have a business these days, you need to be on Facebook. In fact, you may even be considered invisible if you aren’t. With more than 2.8 billion active users, and over 320 million in just India alone, this platform’s reach is unparalleled and its value as a marketing tool, to businesses like yours is immense.

Facebook rightly calls the Business Manager a one-stop-shop to manage business tools, business assets and employee access to these assets. In essence, it’s a place to manage all your Facebook marketing and advertising activities. You can also control multiple users’ access to additional resources like Instagram and different product catalogs.

Here is a little insight on how else Facebook Business Manager can help you:

• It allows you to keep your business activities separate from your personal profile.
• It provides a centralized platform to track Facebook ads and provides detailed reports to show how your ads are performing.
• With the Business Manager, you can give access to your pages and ads to your vendors, partners and agencies without handing over the ownership of the assets.
• Only your name, work email, pages and ad accounts can be viewed by your coworkers as your personal profile is kept separate.

Creating a Business Manager

Although you will need a personal Facebook account to confirm your identity, once you set up your business manager, your coworkers will have no access to your personal account.

Step 1: Go to business.Facebook.com and click the big blue Create Account button in the top right.

Step 2: Enter your business name, your name, and the business email address you want to use to manage your Facebook Business Manager account, then click Next.

Step 3: The next step is to enter your business details: location, business address, business phone number and website. You’ll also need to specify whether you’ll use your Business Manager account to promote your own business or to provide services to other businesses (like an agency). When you’re finished, click Submit.

Step 4: Next, you will receive an email for confirmation on the email ID you used to set up your account. It will have the subject “Confirm your business email”. Within that message, click Confirm Now.

In order to proceed with the Verification Process for your business, you need to accept the Business Manager invitation. This is done so that Facebook can match your work email ID to your Facebook Identity. Once you have done this, you can proceed with verification of your business on Facebook Business Manager. 🚀

Take a look at the list of documents you will need before you start the Facebook Business Verification:

For Facebook to verify your business, it needs to confirm the registered business’ legal name, address and phone number. Facebook also cross-checks with the MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) records to validate any information you submit to them. Hence, it’s a good idea to make sure you are submitting the most up-to-date and correct documents in order to prevent Facebook from rejecting your verification request. To confirm the legal name, address and phone number of your business, the following documents are acceptable ✅:

• Business license and permits from local, state or central government
• Certificate of formation or incorporation (Ex: GST Certificate)
• Articles of Incorporation
• Business Bank Account Statements
• Business Credit Reports
• Utility bills (Ex: phone or electricity bill) that show the legal address, name and phone number of your business respectively

In case you were planning to use any other documents apart from the ones mentioned above, we’re sorry to disappoint you but here is a list of the documents that will NOT be acceptable for the verification of the legal name, address and phone number of your business:

• Invoices
• Purchase orders
• Self-filled applications for the company
• Tax returns filed by you or your company
• Personal bank statements
• Website print
• Other documents like company flyers, letterheads etc.

How to Verify your Business:

Step 1: Go to your business manager and on the left-hand side panel, click “Security Center” and click the button “Start Verification”

A quick heads up! If the “Start Verification” button is disabled/greyed, you will need to create an app from the “My Apps” section and link your business manager account to it. However, a simpler way to get this set up would be by signing up with an Official WhatsApp Business API Provider. They will assist you with not just the process of Facebook business verification, but anything else that is required throughout your journey with them!

Step 2: Here, you will need to fill in your business details that include legal business name, address, phone number and website.

Step 3: Facebook will generate a list of legal businesses. You need to select the correct business from the list.

Step 4: To confirm your Business Details, you will need to select the phone number that you have access to and click ‘Next’.

You can now choose to receive a verification code via text, call or email and verify your details. And that’s it! If you’ve done everything correctly and submitted the required documents, you should be successful with your Facebook business verification in no time. 🙌

How long does Facebook Business Verification take?

If your documents are in order, it should not take more than 5 business days for your verification to be completed. Facebook generally reverts in 3 business days with a review of your setup and in case they do require any additional documentation, they respond within 3–5 business days for the same.

So is it possible for you to monitor the verification process? You bet!

You can do so within the Facebook Business Manager, under “Business Settings”. If your business has been verified. It will look like this:

Still facing a difficulty? Here’s why your Facebook Business Verification might be failing:

1. Your verification can be rejected if the documents that you are submitting for Legal Name and for Proof of Address have details that are not consistent. Facebook uses third-party databases to verify the proof you have submitted for business verification so make sure the legal name and address you mention are the same as in MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) records!
2. The scanned documents that you submit should be free of any handwritten notes scribbled. If there is anything on the document that indicates it may be forged, your verification will be rejected.
3. You should make sure that the website you are submitting to Facebook has the Business Legal Name on the footer of your website, or it can lead to rejection.

How many times can you apply for Facebook Business Verification?

From what we have seen, Facebook gives up to 3 chances to send corrected documents and apply for verification. Post which, they may disable the ability to apply for Facebook Business Verification.

If you have already tried verifying your business and have failed to do so, it is advisable to get on board with an Official WhatsApp Business API Provider, such as interakt, as they take you through the entire process step-by-step. Besides, integrating with WhatsApp Business API is becoming an indispensable tool for fast-growing businesses because of all the game-changing features you get access to!

Tips for a speedy approval on Facebook Business Verification

1. Verify your Domain — Since Facebook limits the ability to edit, link thumbnail images, headlines and descriptions as a way to control the spread of clickbait and misinformation, verifying your domain is a good idea even if it is not for the purpose of business verification. However, doing so would provide a way for you to claim ownership of your domain in Business Manager.
2. You should keep a close check on the documents you are submitting and make sure that the information on all of them is consistent and does not vary from the business details with the MCA.
3. Depending on the document and from where it was issued, the language in which it is prepared can be different from the rest. Make sure that you specify the language of the documents you are submitting correctly so that the reviewer is easily able to verify it:

4. You should consider getting on board with an Official WhatsApp Business API Provider as they guide you through the process and help you get your business verified on Facebook Business Manager effortlessly.

If you are looking to integrate your business with WhatsApp Business API and are facing difficulty with the Facebook business verification process, feel free to reach out to interakt’s team. We are here to help you every step of the way and will even contact Facebook on your behalf if need be in order to make this process as frictionless as it can be!