How to Secure Your Business's Social Media Accounts
Treat every business social media account as a business system. Keep ownership and recovery details under company control, give each person their own access, require multifactor authentication (MFA), and remove former employees and agencies promptly. Review connected apps regularly and have a written recovery plan in case an account is compromised.
Business social media accounts often grow in bits and pieces. One employee creates the Facebook Page. Someone else connects Instagram, and an outside agency is later given access to run advertising. Your LinkedIn Page may still be tied to the employee who set it up, while the recovery phone number for another account belongs to someone who left years ago.
Everything can continue working, so nobody has a reason to check how the accounts are set up.
That changes when an employee leaves, an agency relationship ends, or someone receives a password-reset alert they didn't request. You may then discover that nobody knows which email address owns the account, who has full control, or how the business would recover access.
A compromised social media account can be used to publish scams, send fraudulent messages, access private conversations, or spend money through a connected advertising account. Even if the problem is fixed quickly, customers may have already seen posts or messages that appeared to come from your business.
The best time to sort out ownership and access is before any of that happens.
Make a List of Every Account Connected to Your Business
Start by identifying every social media account your business owns or manages. Include the obvious company pages, but also look for regional accounts, old campaign pages, YouTube channels, advertising accounts, and profiles created for individual locations or services.
For each account, record the platform, page or profile name, public handle, business owner, current administrators, recovery email address, recovery phone number, and any connected advertising or payment account. Also note which agencies, contractors, scheduling tools, or other applications can publish content or read information from the account.
This list gives you somewhere to start when an employee leaves or an account behaves unexpectedly. Without it, your IT provider may have to search old emails and ask several people just to work out who can still sign in.
Keep the list somewhere approved by your business, but don't put passwords in the document. Passwords and recovery codes belong in a business password manager.
Keep Ownership Under the Business's Control
An employee may have created a social media account using their personal email address or mobile phone because they were the person handling marketing at the time. That arrangement puts the business in a difficult position if the employee leaves, loses access to the email account, changes their phone number, or becomes unavailable.
Check that the main recovery email address belongs to the business and will continue to exist when staff change. The same applies to the phone number used for account recovery or security alerts. Avoid relying on an email inbox that only one employee can access. A monitored business address, such as a dedicated marketing or social media administration account, gives the business more control. Protect that mailbox with MFA and restrict access to the people responsible for account recovery.
Where the platform allows it, have at least two carefully chosen people who can manage access. Keep that group small, but make sure the business isn't dependent on one person who might be unavailable when help is needed.
Recovery codes should also be stored securely. If one employee keeps the only copy on their phone or in a personal password manager, the business may lose its backup access when that person leaves.
Give Each Person Their Own Access
If several employees manage the same social media account, they shouldn't all use one username and password. Most major platforms provide ways to assign access without sharing the main login.
Facebook Pages can give people full control, partial control, or task access. LinkedIn assigns Page permissions to individual member profiles, and LinkedIn states that Pages don't have separate usernames or passwords. X provides a Delegate feature that lets an owner assign administrator or contributor roles without sharing the account password. YouTube also offers channel permissions, allowing several people to manage a channel through their own Google accounts.
These features give each person their own way to sign in. You can remove one employee or agency without changing access for everyone else, and you have a better record of who performed each action.
Sharing one personal profile is especially risky. On LinkedIn, for example, profiles are meant to belong to individual people, and sharing login details can lead to account restrictions.
Match Each Person's Access to Their Work
Someone who creates posts may not need permission to add administrators, change recovery details, or manage payment methods. Give each person the lowest level of access that still lets them do their job. Your social media manager may need to publish content and reply to messages, while an analyst may only need to view reports. An outside agency running advertisements shouldn't automatically receive full control of the company page.
Be careful when assigning the highest level of access. Meta warns that a person with full control of a Facebook Page can give access to others, remove existing administrators, or delete the Page.
Review permissions whenever someone changes roles. An employee who moved out of marketing two years ago may still have access simply because nobody removed it.
Require MFA for Everyone With Access
A password can be stolen through phishing, malware, password reuse, or a fake login page. MFA adds another check before the account allows someone to sign in.
Require MFA for every employee, contractor, and agency account that can manage your business pages. This includes people who only post content, because their individual accounts can still become a way into the business page.
Use the strongest method the platform supports. Security keys and passkeys offer strong protection against phishing because they check that the person is signing in to the correct website. An authentication app is another good option. SMS and email codes still provide more protection than a password alone, but they can be exposed through phishing, email compromise, or attacks against a mobile phone account. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommends that businesses use phishing-resistant MFA where possible.
Don't approve an unexpected sign-in prompt. If an employee receives an MFA request when they aren't signing in, they should reject it and report it to the person responsible for the account.
Protect the Email Account Used for Recovery
Your recovery email can be just as important as the social media password. If an attacker gets into that mailbox, they may be able to reset the social media password, approve security changes, and intercept warnings from the platform. They may then change the recovery details and make it harder for you to regain access.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre, part of the Australian Signals Directorate, specifically recommends protecting the email address linked to a social media account with MFA. The mailbox should have a unique password, MFA, and a current recovery method.
Your IT provider should also check for unexpected forwarding rules, unfamiliar sign-ins, and changes to recovery details if you suspect either the email or social media account has been compromised.
Watch for Fake Warnings and Support Messages
Social media administrators regularly receive messages claiming that a page has broken a rule, used copyrighted material, lost verification, or needs to confirm its identity. Some of these messages are phishing attempts. They send the recipient to a fake login page designed to steal a password and MFA code. Others ask the recipient to add a supposed support representative as an administrator.
Treat unexpected warnings carefully, even when they include your logo, page name, or details from a recent post. Open the platform through its normal app or website and check the account's support or notification area there. Don't sign in through a link sent in a direct message, comment, or unexpected email.
Never send a password, verification code, backup code, or authentication-app code to someone claiming to provide support. The April 2026 guidance from the Australian Signals Directorate tells organizations not to share passwords, registration codes, or verification codes, particularly with accounts claiming to represent a platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should own a business social media account? The business. Use a recovery email address and phone number the company controls, and where the platform allows it, keep at least two carefully chosen people able to manage access so the account never depends on one person.
Should employees share one login for a business account? No. Most major platforms let you give each person their own access without sharing the main username and password. That way you can remove one employee or agency without changing access for everyone else.
What is the best MFA method for social media accounts? Use the strongest method the platform supports. Security keys and passkeys offer strong protection against phishing, and an authentication app is another good option. SMS and email codes are better than a password alone, but they can be exposed through phishing, email compromise, or attacks against a mobile phone account.
What should an employee do if they get an unexpected MFA prompt? Reject it and report it to the person responsible for the account.
Where to Go From Here
Ask your IT provider to walk through your social media accounts with you, using the list above. If you don't have an IT provider, reach out to Vital IT and we'll help you sort it out, no pressure.
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