Your admin list need to be managed
Social media accounts are managed by administrators (admins) using an admin list. Some channel types use a simple username and password. Others have manager tools where admins are listed, and have various degrees of access. You have to manage both of these type of scenarios.
Security risk
An admin list can get old very quickly if you do not manage it. The situation can and will get critical when the number of accounts become large. It is not uncommon for companies to have 50+ accounts. At one time I was responsible for 240+ accounts. Its not uncommon for large enterprises.
If you have 100s of company accounts it is very likely that some people listed as admin have left the company a long time ago. Many companies use agencies and the turnover of staff at these 3rd party companies is often unseen by the parent company owning the accounts. Some of these people will walk away with your username and passwords. Worse still they may not be contactable or may have lost the details. The accounts become vulnerable to be taken over. The other side of this issue is the large amount of time and effort needed when approaching the social media channels for assistance to recover control.
Claiming back social media accounts
Claiming back social media accounts is one of my least favourite tasks as a social media director. You have to follow the detailed process of the social media channel. This will take some time and will need you to produce many items of proof like for example:
- Your identity in a photo ID (Passport, driver licence, etc)
- Your email
- The account URL, name etc.
- Reasons why the account should be yours
- Signed statement that the information supplied is true and accurate.
- More..
I had a situation where a 3rd party agency admin decided to take the account as their own. Sometimes the appeal process returns the account back, and sometimes it does not. Therefore, this is one of the most important reasons why admin audits are useful every quarter, or every half year.
The admin list audit
The admin list audit can take some time. You have to go through each account and one by one validate each admin. This is made more complicated if you use agencies. In many of those situations you will not be told that an agency member has moved on. One of the options I have used is to remove the person if they have not replied to your attempts to reach them. If they really need access they will come back and ask.
Do you need to check your social media admin list?
YES, a big YES. The consequences are big if you do not. Most companies do security risk assessments and the potential reputational risk of the top brand account being hacked or taken over is worth avoiding. in some instances you might not get the account back at all. For example it is especially difficult but not impossible once the 3rd party has obtained the business manager ownership as well as the Facebook and Instagram accounts.
I recall trying to regain control of an account but it came down to tracking down the previous owner who happened to work for an agency many years before. They had used their private mobile number on the account. Thus, I had no other option but to ring it. The person who answered remembered working for an agency retained by my company many years before. He was happy to receive a code on the phone allowing me to change over the admin from him to me. I was very lucky that day.
I have been unlucky in the past. For example, an agency ran away with the account and due to the circumstances of their claim we could not claim ownership more than them, so we lost it.
BE CAREFUL.
- Do your audit now
- Keep the list up to date
- Try and manage all account access centrally
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Hi Clive, an important post for sure. So many past clients forget to take me off their page management. I’ve even asked to be taken off as FB page manager and have not been. It’s a lot to see so many notifications. Thanks for sharing about this on your blog Clive.
Hi Lisa. Its a very real issue not spoken about because it seems so low level. If you work for a company that has many accounts then this situation is a common one, but often neglected. I have done this clean up task now and again over the years when logging into my company accounts. At one time I had over 200+ accounts in my overview. I have a quick look for the people I know who have moved on. However, it is not a task that I schedule and this is probably the case for many social media managers. This post is a reminder to others as well as myself 😉