Maintain Access to your Social Media Accounts

Not a week goes by without me being asked how a company can try and reclaim a Facebook page, gain access to an Instagram or Twitter account or get admin rights back for a LinkedIn company page. The truth is – if you really don’t know who set up the page or account or who had admin rights last – it’s never an easy task!

So the best way of dealing with the situation is to foresee it and not allow it to occur in the first place!

Here are a few things you can do:

1. Record all passwords and who has access to what

Whether you record passwords in a secure document or use something like Bitwarden, 1Password or LastPass, it is important that you have a record of your current passwords and also what email addresses or phone numbers have been used to set up each account. For Facebook and LinkedIn, when there are no direct logins, make sure you have a record of who has been given admin rights and what level of access they have been granted.

2. Limit your Admins

OK. So this isn’t applicable for Twitter or LinkedIn. But for Facebook and Google My Business, you have the ability to set roles for anyone who you grant access to your page. Firstly, Facebook; where possible, I would recommend limiting the admin page role to only two or three people. Only grant this to high-level people within your business. Any other employees who require logins should be given another page role, such as Editor. It’s essentially the same role, but with full admin rights, there is nothing to stop a disgruntled employee from removing you from your own page!
And now Google My Business; did you know each business page can have several admins but also has one owner? Google My Business seems to be the platform that always draws a blank when we’re onboarding a new client and asking about gaining access. I have reported pages and spoken to Google more times than I care to mention when it comes to trying to gain access to a Google My Business listing! So my advice here – if it’s your business, make sure you own the page. If it isn’t your business, make sure your boss is the owner!

3. Regularly change passwords

We all know the guidelines, don’t use the same password for everything, do make sure they’re secure, and do change them regularly. For the most part, we follow the guidelines for our personal accounts. (I hope you’re nodding and agreeing at this point!) Are you doing the same for your business accounts? Having a habit of updating passwords on a regular basis and checking in on who has access to what is a great way of staying on top of things and keeping your password records up to date.

4. Create an exit policy

I’m sure you’ll agree that most companies have some sort of HR-related exit procedure. From exit interview to returning keys and uniform and signing to say that they’ve done everything they should. So make sure you are considering social media access within this. When your soon-to-be-ex-employee is walking out of your business for the last time, they shouldn’t be walking out with access to your social media sites too! I would always suggest this as being a key time to change those passwords and update those records. Sometimes, unfortunately, it’s a case of removing an employee from a business with little or no warning. In this case, again, that list of passwords and access can allow you to act quickly and also offer your business some protection.

5. Consider verifications carefully

This is a bit of an odd one. I want you to make sure your passwords are as secure as possible and that you are using two-step verifications to make sure things stay secure – it’s a brilliant idea. BUT… If you’re trying to access a Google account and the two-step verification has been set up with someone’s mobile phone number ending in 12, for example. You might find you have a problem! All you will be told is that you can send a reset code to telephone number *********12. If you know immediately whose number ends that way, you’re ok – but if you don’t, it is unlikely you’ll get the code. The recipient of the message will receive what appears to just be a spam text message with very little detail other than “this is from Google, and here’s a code!” (At this point, I’m assuming that number does still exist, it might not!)

So should you use two-step or multi-factor verification? – Yes. Use secondary or backup email addresses where you can, and I would try and avoid using mobile numbers for business accounts unless you are the business owner.

Obvious perhaps – but have you got a procedure in place that is currently sustaining your access to your social media accounts? If you have – fantastic, and we’d be interested in reading about how you manage this. If you don’t, we can help.

So what can you do?

So what do you do if you can’t access your Facebook or LinkedIn page, your Instagram, Twitter profile or Google My Business account? To be honest, I don’t have a clear answer – every time I’ve run into this issue, the situation has been slightly different and I’ve had to go with a slightly different approach. Do the obvious things first, like attempting to reset passwords, as sometimes this will give you a clue as to who to contact. After that, trying to remain patient is my best advice – and drop us a message, of course!