After you have established your business, you decide to set up social media accounts to take your marketing to the next level and get those profits really going. But then the worst happens – the account gets hacked.
With the rise in the use of social media by businesses, it's no wonder hackers are getting on board and we are hearing of more and more instances of social media hacks on businesses.
In this digital media age - don't think you are not at risk. Now is the time to be aware to try to prevent it from happening to you as well as having a plan if your account does get hacked.
The most common way for hackers to gain control is by sending scam emails purporting to be from Facebook or Twitter (or other social media platform) asking for personal details including passwords and other login details.
Always check for simple things like bad spelling, incomplete words like "Facebok" or "Twittr", links that do not match where the email is supposedly from and emails that don't match either (eg. email purporting to be from Facebook but email is from abc1@gmail.com or info@facebook.net). Many of these emails will use scare tactics saying you've been attacked already and will ask for your details for verification.
If your account does get hacked here are some tips:
- Notify the social media platform immediately
- Try to regain access to your account by immediately going to the security settings and changing your password (hopefully you have beat the hacker to this)
- Communicate with your customers informing them of the hack and providing a contact number to contact you if they need to verify that communication was from you. You could do this via another social media platform you are signed up with or via email to your database.
But, the best tip I could give you is to have a back up plan ready to go before you get hacked thereby minimising the impact on your business. This may include having an email or social media post (on another platform) in relation to the hack already set up and ready to go to avoid any downtime. The key is to have as many resources to communicate with your customers at hand as possible.
When hackers gain access they typically post things on your behalf – mainly spam with links to (probably dodgy) businesses and they may even change your social media page/account name. This could mean that you lose followers and, in turn, affects the social media presence you have been working hard to build which may affect your business.
Once you regain access and fix any content changes from the hack – amp up those security settings to the maximum! This could include opting for the "login approval" option where you are asked to enter a code when your account is logged into from a new device.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
