On Saturday, I was trying to catch up on my DMs on Instagram, after being chronically behind for weeks (months?). While sending a message to another photographer, my app locked, told me I was suspended for violating Instagram's community rules, and kicked me off. I'm still waiting on my appeal to be reviewed (there is absolutely zero reason I should be suspended, in case you were wondering!), but I'm on day four with no word, and no way of checking the status of anything. Worse, if my appeal is rejected, I can't appeal again – I simply lose my entire account.

 

For someone who doesn't really enjoy Instagram, it's been a surprisingly stressful few days of suspension. I've worked to build my account for many years, and have friends and family and acquaintances I'm connected to on there. And of course, sharing my services is a big deal, quite literally how I provide for my family!

 

Naturally, I figured this whole ordeal would make some important newsletter content - because I am likely not the only person around here who will experience this, and because losing an account can be devastating (but it doesn't have to be).

 

I have zero idea why this happened. There is nothing I have done or posted or shared, etc. that is remotely problematic. My only guess is that Instagram is using AI to look for bad accounts, and that something mistakenly triggered a warning. I have one student who has experienced this as well, and she never knew why she was suspended either. Thankfully, she got her account back, and I'm crossing my fingers for the same outcome!

 

I also wanted to add for clarity that I was not hacked. No one accessed my account and used it maliciously.

 

Unfortunately, that means there is no way to prevent this. It's not something I caused, and it's not something I even knew could happen. But it is disturbing to be confronted with the fact that our social media accounts can be removed at any time with no good reason and no recourse.

 

When I was alerted to my suspension, I was able to request an appeal. There is no number to call, no one to email, no way that I can contact Instagram. I have heard horror stories from people whose accounts were hacked, and that they could never contact Instagram to get anything recovered. Of course that was awful, but I at least felt I could protect myself: I use a strong password and update it regularly, I monitor any new logins, and I've been paying for Meta Verified for quite a while so that I had extra security on my account.

 

I was suspended Saturday morning, and am writing this on Tuesday morning. Nothing has changed, and there is no next step I can take. My verified status hasn't helped me in any way since being suspended, so I highly doubt I'll be paying for that anymore if I do get my account back.

 

If I get my account back, I assume everything will be reinstated as it was left. But if my appeal is rejected, I will simply lose everything – my posts, my lists of followers, all of the stories I've posted of my kids over the years, my messages, etc. And there will be no way to appeal again. Unsurprisingly, it's been a long few days!

 

There's a solid chance that I'll have my account back soon, and have no long-term issues. I am of course very much hoping for this outcome, and, based on the stories I've heard, I should get my account back. I didn't violate any rules and there isn't actually a real problem.

 

And if I do have to start over, I'll take the hit as best as I can. It'll probably involve a margarita or two, a few tears, and definitely a newsletter series as I share the process of rebuilding. But I'll cross that bridge if and when I need to, not today.

 

 

A business without an audience is not much of a business, is it? And if we're only really relying on one audience set, our foundation may not be strong enough to weather a storm.

 

We've all been told at one point or another that our social media audience is not our own - it's less ‘ours’ than any other platform, really. I've known this for years, and thankfully I have invested real time and energy into building a solid email list and ranking well for relevant Google searches. In fact, a majority of my photography inquiries come from Google searches. 

 

Of course, none of that means that this doesn't hurt – it does, and I don't like it one bit! If I lose my account, it will affect my business, and it will be upsetting and challenging – but it won't ruin me. Even if I lose my social media audience (my biggest segment), I have built a foundation that means I won't be starting from scratch.

 

I'll be sharing more on this topic soon, including some super simple SEO tips and ways you can build an email list as a photographer. There is no perfect solution, and no way to prevent all possible issues with the platforms we use to connect with our audience. But thankfully, there is a straightforward way to build a solid foundation for your business that will carry you through any storms that come your way.

 

My goal is always to turn my challenges into your gain, and make the sailing a little smoother for everyone else when possible. I hope that this stressful experience I'm still working through can be a reminder to you that social media is just one part of running a healthy business. It doesn't define you, your numbers are fairly unimportant, and you and your business will both be healthier when you can put your time and energy into other avenues as well!

 

Thanks for reading, First name / friend! I know I've left some of you hanging on IG, so please don't hesitate to reach out here!

 

P.S. If you're ready for a transformation bigger than you can even imagine right now, I'd love to have you join me in Unbasic Creatives. My students are surpassing their goals and thriving as artists and business owners. Want to join our wonderful community? We'd love to have you!

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