Small but critical things that business owners forget
You’re busy running and growing your business, and although you realise that social media can be a key player in your marketing strategy, the online stuff is not your main priority. We get that!
Many business owners leave the set-up and management of their social media accounts to an internet savvy staff member. But what if the employee who has set up the online business profiles leaves? What if you can’t get hold of them? When they’re gone, so are your login details. Yikes!
It’s a common scenario at small businesses that don’t have strong social media policies or exit procedures. When a business changes hands, access to the social media channels also easily gets forgotten. That’s why it’s important to make sure you have access to all your professional social media accounts and the Google my Business Listing, too.
Why it’s important
Your social media accounts are hugely important to your brand. It’s where you interact with your audience on a more personal level, and where they can find information about new products, services, events, special offers, and news. When things get stale on your socials or worse, if someone who should not have access to it can comment or post as you, your customers will notice.
A bitter ex-employee with access to your social accounts is a problem waiting to happen. Even if a departing employee isn’t disgruntled, if you have little control over who is speaking for your brand, you’re taking a big risk.
That’s why you should remove anyone who has left the company as an admin of the social media channels and change the passwords, too. If users have your password, they can change the admin email, create a new password, and lock you out. Issues like that can be easily avoided.
A Facebook Business Page must be linked to a personal Facebook profile. Whoever created the page has Admin access. Only people with Admin access can edit page roles – that is, give other people access to manage the page. That’s why you, as the owner of the business, should be added as an Admin from the start. You may not be too keen on this as you’ll get pinged on notifications, but it’s essential.
Google My Business
Google My Business is a handy tool that enables you to manage and optimise your Business Profile on Google. It is linked to Google Maps, Google Search and gives you valuable insights. It’s also a place where you can interact with customers and read and respond to reviews.
You can add photos that show what you do, and according to Google, businesses that add photos to their Business Profiles receive 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don’t.
Google my Business is easy to manage and it’s great for local marketing, so if you don’t have a listing yet you should get it sorted now (here’s how). Again, make sure that you are set as the primary owner, even if someone else sets up the listing for you.
No help from the top
Contacting Facebook or Google to regain access or to close the account seems like the logical thing to do if you find yourself locked out. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Communicating directly with the online giants can be a lengthy, frustrating, and often fruitless process.
Most social platforms won’t give you access or close your account for you for security and/or privacy reasons. You must log into the accounts yourself and make the changes. If you’re locked out, you’re in a sticky situation. You can only regain access if you can prove ownership of the content.
No matter how well you word your email, as there’s no way to get hold of them by phone, the results you can expect include but is not limited to:
- They completely ignore your request
- Someone answers the request by saying they can’t help
- They could threaten to delete your page or profile
- You’ll get an email that says: This is a no-reply message, but we forwarded your report to the team that handles Page admin issues. Then it’s back to point 1-3
All that can be easily avoided by making sure you’re an admin on all your channels.
Staying on top of it
Posting content and creating ads on Facebook and Instagram has been made easier with the Facebook (now called Meta) Business Publishing Tools. Anyone who has an Admin role on your business’ Facebook page can access it.
Sometimes you need multiple admins on your social accounts. Maybe your brand needs to communicate with audiences in different time zones. Or you subcontract your social media management because you’re too busy with other business operations.
It’s perfectly fine to give access to someone you know and trust. Just make sure to stay on top of things yourself, too. Facebook has plenty of resources available on how to manage the platforms. You can find an overview of it here.
It’s best practice
We see many business owners that haven’t got access to their Google and Social accounts and the frustration that comes with it. Whatever social media accounts you have for your business – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat and more, make sure you keep control.
Make sure you have access as page owner, and that you know how to log in and find your way around the platforms. That way you can manage the content and add and remove other people when you need to, which is especially important if an employee has left on bad terms. It’s equally as important if you are selling or buying a business. You want full access to take over or hand over.
If you want to have a chat about digital marketing and social media, feel free to book in a strategy session with our Overlord. You can ask us anything, and we’ll be more than happy to help you align your social media efforts with your digital marketing goals.
