Imagine this… In the last 5 months I’ve…
Tried to help a charity whose Facebook page was accessible only through a disgruntled ex-employee who was not returning calls or emails.
Had to shut down 6, that’s right 6, Twitter accounts that used some variation of one company’s branding/name, but were inaccessible and unused for more than 3 years. Now going through a similar process with a different company.
Had three companies unable to access their Instagram accounts because they were opened by ex-employees using now defunct company email addresses. Only one was able to successfully re-instate the email address and access their Instagram account.
Shut down 2 LinkedIn groups and 4 showcase pages for a company who felt that their brand was too diversified and they needed to concentrate on one important channel for each platform. It took us 3 weeks just to get control of all the groups and channels just so we could shut them down.
If you are responsible for your Brand on social media, here are some important questions you need to consider:
- Who holds the key to your social media and WHY???
- Do you have a company-wide policy for who has access, who is allowed to be an admin or even eho is allowed to open a company social media asset.
- Do you have a protocol in place, such as:
- There should always be a minimum 2 top level admins on any account, and as soon as one is removed, a new person is assigned
- Always use a generic marketing email address to assign as admin of corporate accounts. That way it does not belong to someone who may leave and take the key with them.
Here are some more best practices for opening new social media assets:
- ALWAYS keep a record of what pages/accounts are open, who has the key, links to relevant pages and 2 factor authentication details (such as backup email addresses or phone numbers.
- ALWAYS have a generic email account set up that at least 2 senior marketing people can access at any given time and make sure you only subscribe to marketing related services and products with that email address.
- MUST HAVE: a company-wide policy that NO ONE is permitted to open and run a corporate branded social asset and that if someone wishes to open a new page or account, they need to do so by filling in a form and then you will do it for them and provide them 3rd level access (never admin access – except on LinkedIn where you can only give admin level access).
- ALWAYS but always have a minimum 2 top tier admins, in case one is unavailable for some reason.
- MAKE sure you set up and maintain your 2 factor authentication methodologies. Either by using a backup email or phone number. Make sure there is a clear way for key stakeholders to have access to this information in your absence.
- CHECK your admin tools regularly and remove or revoke access from people who are no longer relevant. You should be very aware of who has access at all times and what their role is on your pages/accounts.
- CHANGE your passwords anytime someone leaves your trust circle, you just never know what they might do if they still have access. Better to be safe than sorry.
- If this advice is too late and it’s already a big mess. Clean it up! There’s no excuse to keep it that way.
Go be the best #gatekeepers you can be!
