This is the first of a series of posts on claiming social media accounts, starting with Facebook.
As far as we know, the information provided below is accurate as of 6/21/17. Social Media platforms are constantly making changes to their procedures and are subject to change without notice. In several instances we have reached out to the publisher for additional clarification and will update this post when we hear back.
Many of us have faced the problem. An employee is tasked with setting up a Facebook page for the business. Time marches on and one day the employee leaves. You then discover that the employee is the lone Admin to the account and you cannot gain access to your own business account.
What do you need to do to reclaim control? As you will see below, there are a few different scenarios that you may come across.
The Account was Setup by an employee no longer with company using a company email address.
- Ask your IT department to reactivate the employee’s email account
- Start to sign into the Business Manager Account and select Reset Password
- When the reset password email arrives, reset the password and then sign into the account and follow the directions
- After adding yourself as an Admin, be sure to remove the former employee as an Admin
Best practices.
Thrive believes that you should setup a single email address for all Social Media accounts. Like ThriveSocialMedia@gmail.com. This way you can control the account by simply changing the password anytime you have employee turnover.
The Account was Setup by an employee no longer with the company using a personal email address.
- Send an email to the employee’s personal email address (or phone them if you have access to their phone number). Explain the situation and ask them if they will login to the account and add your company account
- Next, now that you are an Admin, permanently remove the ex-employee from the account
If you can not contact the previous Admin, or if the Page no longer has an admin, you will not be able to regain access to the Page. As ou will see in future posts, you can petiton Facebook for Trademark infringement, but prepare to be patient. It rarely works the first time. Or the second. Or the thrid... At this point it is probably better to Create a New Page and start over.
If you are working on recovering a rogue Facebook page started by someone else and are able to convince them to turn over Admin rights, don't simply delete the account. If they have generated followers on the account, you can merge the rogue account into your company account. You will lose the content, but the Followers will be transferred to company account. I will write more on this in a future post.
If you still have questions about claiming your Facebook account, give us a call at 419-776-7000 and we will walk you through it.
Best wishes!
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