Change happens. It’s a fact of life. One change that happens regularly is that people change jobs. Whether it’s a career change, retirement or just a new opportunity, people enter or leave businesses daily. One facet that often gets overlooked is the admin of adding or removing permissions from business assets, Facebook or otherwise.
But it’s not just people. Technology changes, too. Facebook regularly updates its requirements and best practices for page owners and business managers. These changes are two-fold: the changes are needed due to those advances in technology, and they are needed to maintain the integrity of the security of the Facebook page or business account.
Below are some best practices we recommend to all the businesses we work with to ensure they aren’t left in the lurch when staff enter and leave the business, and what you can do if this does happen to you.
Facebook page
One of the biggest issues we have come across in our experience in working with advertisers is that businesses don’t maintain the admin of their page. Sure, content is still being published, and your audience is still engaging, but taking the scenario from earlier, your page admin has left the business. What happens when someone new joins the business? Who is adding them to the page to take over? If you have limited people assigned to roles on your page, it is a real possibility that access to the page could be limited.
We recommend following Facebook’s best practice here in having at least two profiles assigned with admin permissions to any business page you may own. This way, if someone leaves the business, the other one can remove the former from the page, as well as continue to add and manage new team members as they join the business.
We also recommend you review access for all page roles every 3-6 months, as there may be people who no longer need access, and others who may need their access changed. Good page management will save you headaches in the future.
Business Manager
There are two elements of the business manager that we wanted to draw attention to and ensure your account set up suits the needs of your business.
Page Permissions
Page permissions are particularly important if you are working with an agency such as us at Retain Media. Whenever we begin to work with a new client, we will need to request access to your Facebook page to run ads on your behalf. Like page roles, there are different levels of permissions you can set for your partner agency. Our recommendation is to give the business manager the appropriate level of permissions. There are some nuances here, for example, the permissions needed to post organically are different to the permissions needed to post ads.
Account Security
The second is account security. Many common issues associated with Business Manager are a result of poor account security and practices. At a minimum, if you own and manage your own business manager (i.e. don’t use an agency), you should have two-factor authentication enabled. This reduces the risk to your business account in the event of your personal profile being compromised. Another tool to enable is trusted email settings. This feature allows business manager accounts to add trusted email domains, so only those with the same email domain (e.g. @retainmedia.com.au) can be added to the account.
Had this functionality existed 12 – 18 months ago, it may have prevented our own hacking (you can read more about that here). You can find both of these tools in your business manager settings under ‘Security Centre’
Like Facebook pages, we also recommend having at least two admins within the business manager. This way, if the worst happens and your profile is compromised or hacked, your business will still have access to its Facebook assets.
What to do if you get stuck?
Even if the worst hasn’t happened, here are some resources to help you should any of the aforementioned befall your business.
If you find that someone unwanted is controlling your Facebook page, you can contact Facebook here. This will open an investigation to determine who is the rightful page owner, with the goal of regaining access to the rightful page owner. It’s important to note that this process can take several weeks, depending on the complexity of the hack.
If your profile is compromised, Facebook will usually put a lock on your profile which restricts your ability to manage a page or business manager. You will still be able to log in to your profile, but steps will be required to verify who you are before you can manage your assets again. In this instance, usual forms of verification include providing personal identification (such as drivers license or passport), or filming a short video of yourself completing some tasks to prove you are human.
From personal experience, our paid social lead, Bec had to do this recently after her account was compromised. She tried both methods, and found she got her account back quicker through the video verification process.
Trust Retain Media for Digital Marketing Best Practices
The digital world is ever-evolving, and it can be hard as a business owner to keep up with the latest developments. At Retain Media, we keep our finger on the pulse of the latest shifts on Facebook, Google and more, so you can focus on growing your business.
Check out our Insights for more digital marketing tips and tricks, and be sure to read our Best Practices to stay abreast of the best way to keep your business protected online. If you’re interested in learning more about what we do, contact us today to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation and start standing out online with Retain Media.
