Last night my nightmare became a reality.
At 9:05 p.m. I was sitting on the couch watching the replay of the USA vs. Serbia Olympic semifinal. I was super relaxed, already knowing the outcome and finally “done for the day” with work.
During a timeout, I did my usual social media brain rot shuffle: opened up X to get angry about politics, then TikTok, checked my crypto portfolio, and then pulled up my email where I saw this:
My account was actually suspended.
To say I panicked would be an understatement. I started wracking my brain to figure out why this had happened: Did I post an Olympic meme that was copyrighted? Did I use too many chatbots? Did a copycat account report me?
Then I went to our BAM account and tried to find The Broke Agent and saw that I wasn’t even searchable. Just like that, ten years and 5,000 posts gone.
My heart was pounding as I quickly realized that my number one source of income, distribution, humor, and the leading promotional arm of our media company was gone. I pictured months of trying to get my account back through hackers and “Meta Mercenaries.” I pictured the conversation the next day at BAM: “Hey so…The Broke Agent is gone.”
I was truly sick to my stomach. But, thankfully, I was able to give them my email, and two-factor authentication through my phone which allowed Instagram to do a quick review and restore my account.
Here is the point of all of this
This can happen to you. I know a lot of agents, including Matt Lionetti, Paige Steckling, Krys Benyamein, Brad McCallum, and more who have had their Instagram hacked or suspended out of nowhere. This can be a complete devastation to an agent’s business and brand.
This is why I BEG you to not put all of your social media eggs into one basket. Do NOT go all-in on any platform, whether it’s Instagram, TikTok, YouTube—it doesn’t matter. We don’t own our data and are highly susceptible to hacks, suspensions, algorithm changes, and shadow-banning. Post the wrong comment on Instagram and they can flag you for abuse even if you made a joke about the word “fire.”
Also, all of these platforms are trying to become super platforms where they do it all. Some will win out while others lose popularity and users. Just like MySpace, BeReal, Snapchat, and even Facebook to an extent, some of these will die out and you don’t want to hook yourself to a platform that might be irrelevant in the next few years.
How To Protect Yourself
1. Grow on all major platforms
If you are posting on Reels there’s no reason that the same Reel should not go up on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn. Yes, you want to make edits and make sure it’s being posted in the right format for the platform. But this extra step is definitely worth it to grow your brand on all platforms. Also, you may find that a post performs better on Facebook than it does on Instagram, and it may open a whole new source of leads and clientele for you.
2. Build your email list
You own it and there is no algorithm to fight. When you send an email it gets delivered at that exact time. Plus, email converts better than short-form content and allows you to have a deeper, more impactful relationship with your audience. You can also embed all of your social content and blogs into your email to grow on the other platforms.
If you want to learn how to grow your email list through social media with lead magnets, check out our training in BAMx.
3. Beware of phishing scams.
Before you ever click an email from Meta or Instagram, click on the actual sender of the email to make sure it’s from a legit account. If it’s not, delete the email immediately. Also, you can set up 2-factor authentication on Instagram and change your passwords regularly to avoid being hacked. Also, read Instagram’s community guidelines so you’re not accidentally breaking any rules.
Not trying to scare you going into the weekend, but I hope this warning makes you rethink how you go about social media to protect yourself in the future!
For a light-hearted end to this nightmare, watch this week’s Walk Thru where we covered the agent who got over 70 million views on ONE post on Instagram!
And of course, join us in BAMx, where we share courses and templates to help you grow on all platforms.
