HACKED! How loosing my Social Media was the best thing for my business
Hey There!
So my social media was hacked!
Every entrepreneurs worst nightmare right?
We spend years cultivating a beautiful profile and network for our businesses only to have it disappear overnight!
That is what happened to me…
I woke up one morning with a notification from Instagram that there was a sign in from another country then another that said I had posted content that goes against their policy and guidelines.
Perplexed I begin my usual morning routine and started to check if I could still sign in, when someone I knew from work sent me a text and said that they thought I may have been hacked because there was some weird stuff posted on my Facebook.
Before I could even check both my Instagram and Facebook had been shut down!
Every login attempt just said that I had posted content that goes against the community guidelines and that my accounts have been deleted. With no way of contacting anyone that can help me I had to face the reality that it was all gone.
I had my business Instagram linked to my Facebook page so posts would automatically post from Instagram on my business page through Facebook Pages.
After a little research I found that hackers are now targeting peoples social media not only to log in and change the password and send messages through your account to your friends (which is easier to recover by reporting the hack and changing your passwords) but now they are logging in and posting illegal content like nudity and extremism that results in your profile just being deleted no questions asked.
Unfortunately for me since my accounts were linked so I not only “violated” Instagram’s policies but also Facebook’s too because the hacked content was posted there as well since my accounts were linked.
There was no way for me to prove that it wasn’t me who posted the illegal content. With so many social media accounts it’s not like there is an actual person who reviews this stuff it’s all just automated.
At first I was really upset because I had years worth of photos and memories on my personal Facebook and I even had a lot of business conversations via messenger. After a while I had finally understood what I read about when I first started my website and social media for business and that was that we don’t actually own these platforms we simply use them, our profiles don't belong to us and if they get removed in the way that mine was there is nothing we can do about it. The articles I read were on about email campaigns and I just didn’t get what they meant but I understand it now.
I realize now that I actually OWN my website and my email list is a database of my actual customers that I can reach at any time. I don’t own my social profiles!!
I decided to just use my personal Instagram account as my form of social media and go old school with my business networking.
I realized I didn’t earn money from my Facebook friends or Instagram followers, they didn’t buy my products or support my business.
My customers come to me one on one, I see them at events, they call me, they email me, they come to my workshops and buy my horses and my products.
I see them in person and we have a relationship and that is what I enjoy about what I do, how it can bring people together.
A support system with real relationships.
Since doubling down on what really matters my business has flourished!
Instead of wasting time scrolling on my personal accounts I was busy creating things for the people that need my services and support my business.
My customers like to chat to me and have real face to face interactions and that is exactly what the world is missing now more than ever!
Just to give you an idea of the benefits and blessings I have received since inadvertently using less personal social media..
More time to study new things, less time scrolling
Creating real value for real people
Creating new business platforms with valuable content
Exploring new ways of reaching people like Podcasting
Less stress about what people think
More professional and personal emailing and calling for business instead of everything on messenger
Healthier mind and less distractions
Connecting with people who are genuinely interested instead of followers who just look at what I’m doing
More time for writing blog content
More time to spend with my horses
More time to focus and build healthy habits
Better sleep
Less anxiety
Better choices
More self aware and tuned into the environment and my horses
A clear understanding of what is REAL
More space on my phone for educational apps
Spending time planning and scheduling to be more productive
Things to do to protect your profiles and your business networking
Be careful with liked accounts, hopefully the new Meta Business Suite works better
Update and change your passwords regularly
Check for unusual sign ins and activity
Check your account status on Instagram (go to settings - account - account status) you can see content that Instagram has removed (without you knowing) if there is anything there that you did not post change your password!!
Collect other forms of contact from your customers, email address, phone numbers
Start a website and grow a mailing list
I have started a new Facebook account, it doesn’t have anything much personal on there more of a platform to run my business socials and also a pinned post saying what happened to my original account.
I have this new account so that I can keep up to date with news and events since that seems to be where things are advertised, for the buy and sell pages, for my businesses and I also had some valuable groups that I belong to that I enjoy learning from.
I only use Facebook on my iPad and don’t have it on my phone and honestly it’s been an absolute blessing! I have to check Facebook and Messenger on my ipad or computer which I can still do daily even a couple of times daily but it frees me from the constant demand on my phone and I function much better throughout the day far less stressed.
I enjoy Instagram, since it is photo dominant, as a way to express my lifestyle and businesses.
Since cutting back on unhealthy social media habits I have so much more time!
The positives far outweigh the negatives in this situation for me and I can honestly say that it was one of the best things to happen.
I hope this gives you something to think about, perhaps make some changes to protect your privacy and passwords or get a solid form of contact for your customers in case this ever happens to you.
Maybe you could do a health check on your screen time and set some healthier boundaries to help you focus on the more important things in life.
Life is beautiful, go live it xx
