What Happened When Our Instagram Account Was Suspended 3 Times In A Week
WE DIDN’T PANIC…
Ok, maybe we did panic the first time our account was suspended, but on reflection we knew we had not done anything against the IG guidelines. Beside using approved third party app Planoly for scheduling everything we do on the account, from commenting to replying to DM's is done by Sophie and myself. We don't have a set time we do this which leads to further authenticity when interacting on our account.
We also knew it was highly unlikely due to a security breach as we have not one but multiple two step authenticator methods set up to protect our account. Therefore we were confident that if we followed the prompts and spoke to someone the issue would be resolved.
WE FOLLOWED THE PROMPTS
Each time our account was suspended the app on our phones started a constant loading loop, and on our laptops we received a message that the account had been suspended. They had prompts which included taking a selfie with a series of information and submitting this to Instagram, which we did each time.
Then it was a waiting game...
WE LEVERAGED OUR AD ACCOUNT
This is an advantage that most people won't have access to. Because we run ads not only on the IG account but also for our clients I was able to access Advertising Support which meant I was able to Live Chat and Email with someone from Meta. The third time our account was suspended I ended up having someone from Meta call me, not once but twice!
I know that Facebook/ Instagram / Meta... whatever you want to call it is almost near impossible to contact someone for assistance but utilising the advertising support was a game change to help us get our account online in a timely manner each time.
WHAT WE LEARNT
Our Instagram going down, not once, twice but three times was a stark reminder that we don't have control or access to our audience, Instagram does. This highlighted what we already knew - diversifying your marketing is key!
Growing your email list, and having other avenues for your audience to find you, including in person networking events is important because like we saw your access to your IG audience can be taken away with no warning. While our IG security is fortified, it is also a reminder to you, if you haven't set up two factor authentication do it today! (...oh and stop using bots, and icky engagement tricks!)
Do you want to utilise email marketing more strategically for your wedding based business? Join the waitlist for our online self paced marketing course coming in March 2023!
