Simple Ways to Keep Your Social Media Profiles Secure

In today's digital world, keeping your online accounts secure is crucial. That includes social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others. Although these sites have employed safeguards to keep scammers at bay, there are still risks. Today, we’re sharing a few important tips to keep your business’s social accounts safe and secure.

1. Use a Business Manager account for your Facebook and Instagram pages

You already have a Facebook or Instagram page for your business, but do you know who owns those pages? It is important to use a Business Manager account to keep your Meta profiles, admins, permissions, and accounts in one place. A Business Manager account gives you the ability to share your pages with other people without giving them full administrative access. This will allow you to keep control over your pages while still giving others access to post content and respond to comments.

2. Review who has access to your page

It is crucial to continually review who has access to your social media accounts. Access should only be granted to those who need it for business purposes. Regularly review your admin list and revoke access from anyone who no longer requires it. We once worked with a company whose Facebook posts were vanishing shortly after publishing. We were sure that there was some glitch plaguing the page – only to find that one of their ex-employees was angrily deleting every last post. Yikes!

3. Two-Factor authentication

Two-factor authentication is a security measure that adds an additional layer of protection to your online accounts. It requires a user to provide two different forms of identification to access the account. On most social media sites, you’ll be asked to provide a phone number for SMS login verification. Two-factor authentication is an easy and effective way to protect your accounts and makes it much more difficult for “bad actors” to take control of your profiles.

4. Watch out for phishing scams

Phishing scams are a common way that hackers try to access your social accounts, and they appear to be on the rise. Phishing scams occur when someone tricks you into providing sensitive information like login credentials or account numbers. They may take the form of emails or Facebook messages that appear legitimate but are designed to deceive you. Most often, we see false “copyright violation” emails that ask the user to complete an appeal process to prevent page deletion.

Although these notifications look authentic, there are a few ways to spot fakes. Start by scanning the message for typos, poor spelling, and grammatical errors, as these are telltale signs of a fake. It’s also uncommon for Meta Support to contact your Facebook or Instagram page via Messenger, so always approach these messages with caution. If the “profile” leads anywhere other than Meta’s official Page, it’s a hoax. Finally, legitimate emails from Facebook will always come from fb.com, facebook.com, or facebookmail.com addresses. If the email does not come from one of the above, it is not authentic.

Always be cautious about providing sensitive information online. If you receive a message that you’re unsure about, Conversion’s Social team will gladly review it for authenticity.

5. Educate your team

It is essential to educate any team members that use social media on how to keep online accounts secure. Train your team on how to identify and avoid phishing scams and encourage them to use strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication for their personal and work accounts.