Hey, have you ever been utterly frustrated with the lack of assistance available for your Facebook or Instagram issues?

Many social media managers have experienced the pain of trying to get help from Meta’s reps, who are almost impossible to contact.

But you may soon have another avenue – as per this story from Mark Bowness:

As per Bowness’ post, after a frustrating and fruitless, years-long battle to get a Facebook ad account restored, he’s now been able to do so within days after signing up to the new Meta Verified program.

Meta Verified, which is currently being tested in Australia and New Zealand (Mark is in AUS) includes a range of additional perks for a $12 per month fee, including a verified badge, proactive account protection, and ‘increased visibility and reach’.

It’s not clear how much of an increase that entails as yet – but Meta Verified also comes with one other critical element: direct access to account support.

That dedicated account support may be your ticket to getting long-term issues resolved, as it has been in this case. And while it’s early days, and it may be easier right now to get access to that support, given that there are very few people signed up to the program, maybe, that could be a new avenue, and a new reason to sign-up to the program, even if only for a month to resolve a specific issue.

Of course, some people will be keen to get the blue checkmark as a means to add some level of authority to their account. And that may be effective to some audiences – but it could be that access to dedicated account support is the real kicker for Meta Verified, and the real justification of the cost.

And again, you don’t have to stay signed up. If you have an issue, you may want to sign up, get it resolved, then let your subscription lapse. It’s not ideal that you should have to pay $12 to fix such problems, but I’m sure many people who’ve experienced this frustration will see this as a small price to pay to avoid unnecessary angst.

It’s an interesting consideration either way. As noted, Meta Verified is currently being tested in Australia and New Zealand, with no timeline for a broader roll out as yet.

Thanks to Mari Smith for the heads up on Mark’s story.