How to protect your social media accounts from being hacked

Your business social media accounts are your shopfront, your service desk and your ad engine – which makes them a prime target.

When an account gets hijacked, the hacker borrows your brand's reputation, locks you out of your customers, and can drain your ad budget before you even notice.

The confronting part? Once you've been hacked, dealing with Facebook, Instagram and the like is notoriously difficult – support is automated, human help is scarce, and there's no formal appeal.

The reassuring part? Almost every attack succeeds because of a missing basic, not sophisticated hacking. Protecting yourself is cheaper, simpler and faster than you think.

In this practical, jargon-free session built for small business owners, you'll learn:

• how to proactively protect your personal accounts
• how to lock down your business pages, company pages and Business Manager accounts
• how hackers actually get in
• the simplest, highest-impact steps to stop your accounts being taken over and deactivated
• why social media companies are so hard to deal with once you've been hacked
• where to get real help in Australia.

You'll walk away with a clear, do-it-today checklist to dramatically reduce your risk – no technical background required.