The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has released a guide for small businesses using social media as their business platform, specifically on how they can reduce the risks of being hacked.
The free Guide to Using Social Media Securely also includes steps that can be taken with the digital platforms in the event of a security breach.
“Using social media can be a valuable way to grow and increase awareness of your business with existing and potential new customers, but there are important precautions that must be taken,” Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), Bruce Billson, SAID. “Digital platforms have fundamentally changed the way small businesses connect and sell to their customers. Yet, when there is a problem – such as having your account shut down after being hacked – solving it can be a nightmare.”
The release of the guide comes on the back of recent ASBFEO research revealing that the number of cases involving a small business having problems with a digital platform has more than doubled since July 2022 (up by 127 per cent) and continues to be one of the top requests for assistance that requires a case manager to get involved. Two-thirds of these cases relate to Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, and 75 per cent of those disputes were about getting access to an account after being hacked.
“In too many cases, when there is a problem, these platforms require a time and resource-poor small business to navigate the most elaborate maze of dead-ends and blockages,” Billson said. “One of the absurdities of the current situation is after being locked out of your account, you need to access your account to make a complaint. It’s the ultimate run around.
“It is important to not overlook important security elements when operating on social media, including how to reduce the risk of your social media accounts being hacked,” Billson added. “You wouldn’t give a person you have just met the keys to your business or your house, so only give access to your business account to trusted individuals. And remember [that] not all users require full admin access. If you are hacked, report your issue immediately to the platform and make sure you are actually communicating with the platform and not the hacker.”
Billson has also called on digital platform providers to improve their dispute resolution services, pointing out that some of the delays experienced by small businesses have lasted many months and having someone else access and control their account is devastating for their business and their reputation.
“Small businesses watch helplessly as the financial and emotional damage occurs in real time with no ability to stop it,” he lamented. “They lose customers and money.”
The Ombudsman is urging the digital platforms to come up with codified, dependable, and easy-to-use internal dispute resolution processes that will facilitate the swift resolution of such problems, with support from a real person affected business owners can talk to in resolving these issues.
“This can be supported by a promoted external dispute resolution service, such as ASBFEO, for small businesses that can’t gain a satisfactory outcome when working directly with the platforms,” Billson said. “Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Amazon, eBay, Shopify or any of the many other digital platform providers, across the board there is an urgent need for them to do better by their small and family business customers.”
The free guide is available on the ASBFEO website at www.asbfeo.gov.au/sm-securely.
