Affiliate marketing Secure affiliation – securing your Instagram account. Part 1
Instagram is a popular social media where more and more people of all ages have an account. This is also where influencers gather, who build their community by attracting large numbers of followers. A good marketing agency deals with running business accounts on Instagram of brands that want to stand out from the competition. It is a place to share your memories and look for inspiration. Unfortunately, nowadays, any medium can easily fall victim to cybercriminals. So it’s worth learning a little more about how to effectively secure your Instagram account. Staying safe online helps protect your privacy as well as your finances. For businesses, it prevents misinformation and loss of credibility.
Instagram as a work tool
Due to technological progress, the Internet has become the main way to reach a potential customer. Promoting the company in any other way will be largely simply ineffective. Skilful use of social media allows you to significantly expand your audience. Instagram allows you to promote your brand primarily through visual and aesthetic aspects. To create a good business account on Instagram, it is necessary to precisely define your target group and the way you communicate. The affiliate agency Onaffiliate, for example, can help with such issues.
Instagram is also a useful tool for companies conducting recruitment activities, allowing them to improve their employer image. It is worth publishing photos of employees and showing the company from the inside to bring it closer to potential candidates. You also need to remember to skillfully use hashtags, present products or services, and interact with your audience. It works great to use the image of the so-called brand ambassador, who also publishes favorable reviews and photos with links to the company’s profile on his account.
Login details… But from where?
There are many types of fraud, so you always need to be vigilant when operating online. Scammers can send out fake emails or text messages, often pretending to be someone they know or the Meta platform itself. In these messages, they warn you about alleged problems with your account and urge you to quickly click on the link for more information. There might also be downloadable malware in the attachments. Phishing scams are popular. Victims receive a message from someone they know or follow on social media in which the person informs them that they are taking part in a challenge or competition and need to vote.
When you click on the link, you are taken to a website that looks like a login page for a social media platform. In this way, the victim enters their login details and sends them directly to the fraudsters, who log into their account, change their email address and password, and thus block the owner. That’s why you should avoid clicking on suspicious links in messages that may contain language errors or unusual requests, downloading software and files from people you don’t know, and report messages in which someone asks for their password or financial information. In addition, many people use weak passwords to log in to all their profiles on the web. Then there is a greater chance that the account will be taken over by fraudsters. Criminals also capture active user sessions on Instagram when using unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
So what now…?
If you suspect that your account has been compromised, you can check your active login sessions in the “Security” tab and log out suspicious sessions. However, if you are completely unable to log in to your account, it is worth checking if you have received a notification about the change of your login email address, also in the Trash or Spam folders. You can still try to reverse this action by clicking “revert this change”. If the app thinks that a particular account does not exist, you can try to access it through the accounts of followers who have tagged the profile in their posts and see if its name has been changed. If the fraudster has only changed the password, it can be reset. If, despite everything, logging in is still ineffective, it will be best to report directly to Instagram support.
As soon as you manage to recover your account, you should set up two-factor authentication, in which you need to confirm your identity when logging in, e.g. by entering a code sent by SMS. You will also need to change your password immediately – the best password is a strong and unique one, containing special characters, numbers and letters of various sizes. It is also worth updating the application regularly, not publishing information about your place of residence or sensitive data, such as PESEL number. It is risky to brag about a newly received driving license, ID card or even a plane ticket.
Settings and security
You can try to recover a stolen account by using the password recovery feature, contacting Instagram support, verifying your identity, or using a backup email address or phone number. In Instagram’s Settings, there is the Two-Factor Authentication option mentioned above. You can choose to authenticate via a special app, such as Duo Mobile or Google Authenticator, text message or WhatsApp. The first option is the most recommended by the Meta platform. There are also so-called additional security methods on Instagram. As part of them, you need to generate 5 reserve codes in the Instagram app and store them elsewhere. The profile can also be protected against spammers. You should go to Settings -> Privacy -> Limits. In this way, the user will restrict, for example, the actions of people who do not follow the profile, but send “like for like” messages.
In addition to securing the application, you also need to remember to secure the devices themselves. A smartphone can be secured, for example, with a fingerprint, face image or PIN code. You must not remain logged in on devices that can also be accessed by other people. It’s a good idea to use strong password generators and change passwords for all apps regularly, rather than using the same passwords for every account.
Staying vigilant online is the responsibility of every user. There is more and more talk about popular fraud methods to increase public awareness about them. Unfortunately, sometimes despite being careful, it is impossible to avoid data theft, but it is worth acting quickly. In many cases, the account can be recovered without major consequences. Using strong passwords, protecting them, and using two-factor authentication increases your chances of avoiding an unpleasant situation.
