When Social Disconnects Your Business

We have always advised customers to continue to have website even when Social Media pages started to offer online selling. “Social Selling” is a trend that has become huge in the last 3 years but without people really thinking about the impact when things go wrong. What happens when you are selling exclusively through Facebook or Instagram and then suddenly your page is disabled. We are seeing this trend more and more in 2022 and the cause is still not clear. But the impact is huge for sellers who are now stranded.

What do we know so far ?

Something seems to have changed on the Facebook side for sure in late 2022 with alot of people reporting to be #disabledbyFacebook or #disabledbyInstagram. When it’s got its own hashtag then you know its not just a blip affecting just a few people. So what might cause Meta (parent company) to disable your account ?

  • Hacking – If your account gets hacked then its likely the hackers will engage in activity that will trigger Meta to disable your account to protect you.
  • Policies – If your account breaches their usage policies for Spam, False Advertising, Bullying, Hate, Fake News etc they will disable your account.
  • Verification – If your account has not been fully verified or if your account details dont represent who you truly are then they will disable your account.

What is the impact ?

If your an average FB/Insta use then it will be irritating not to be on those Social Media platforms until your access has been restored. But if you are a Business User then the affects are instant and could be long lasting as you wont be able to market or sell online until you get your access restored. You will need to try to make contact with Facebook or Instagram (Meta) , report the issue and then wait for a reply. Your are going to face a wait – so have a plan B for your business.

What can I do to contact Facebook?

Here is the kicker – you cant lift the phone to anyone. Its not like having your friendly web designer on standbye (ahem) Meta’s support model is all online and notoriously lean. There are simply not enough people in the company to handle support calls from the amount of users (billions) so you will have to follow the process via the Support Page to try to get help.

Try The link below (from Kontentino)

https://www.kontentino.com/blog/how-to-contact-facebook-support/

How can I secure my Social Media accounts ?

We strongly recommend enabling 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) on all of your Social Accounts as hackers are actively trying to get into your accounts so they can control your Business pages. We have heard of reports of hackers contacting the original page owners to offer to help “fix the problem” for a fee – even though they cause it original. Read this superb article on 2FA below :-

How to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on every social platform | Mashable

Finally …

We highly recommend that you rethink how you want to run your business online. Your website should be at the centre of everything you do and your Social Media Networks should be your Channels that surround them. If one channel goes down eg Facebook then you should be able to continue promoting via other channels like Instagram, Twitter, Newsletters, Print, Radio etc. Dont put all your eggs in one virtual basket!