When you put all of your marketing eggs in one basket, and that basket doesn't belong to you, it's a pretty vulnerable spot. And my guest today is right in the middle of a large basket of broken eggs. And she was kind enough to come on the show to share not only how that happened, and what she is trying to do about it, but also the lessons that she has learned. In the meantime, if you are a longtime listener of the show, you may remember my friend, Megan Lacey, she came
on. Gosh, it's been probably a year and a half ago, to talk about her struggles as a military wife, who has to relocate her business on a regular basis. So because her husband travels, or rather relocates for work, she has a business that has basically existed in one place for a year, and then another place for nine months, et cetera, et cetera, which, of course, is
challenging. And as you can imagine, she has used social media throughout that process to kind of create continuity of her professionalism and all that sort of thing, and to start to market when she knows where they're moving next. Well, six weeks ago, as of the time of this recording, her Instagram and Facebook got shut down. And I'm gonna let her tell you the
story. And so if last week got you super excited and ready to redouble your efforts on social great, but I want to make sure that you listen to this one first as well. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name is Annemie Tonken. And I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more
sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it. And I can show you how. Meghan lacy Lacey, welcome to this can't be that hard. I would say that I am so excited to see you and I am but I'm sorry that it is under these circumstances that we are chatting other than the obvious how are you today?
I'm good. I don't even care that it's under bad circumstances. i If you ever want to bring back mini mentoring, and just call it mentoring Megan, we can do that.
We'll do our weekly Megan check in. That would be super fun. I think that I think we should put that on the potential things to think about list. Although I have to say like I peeked at your website. Before we have done as I typically do, and I've got a guest that I'm going to be chatting with and you I just love everything that you're putting out there. But I'm gonna point this out. This is totally off topic. For anybody who's
listening. Megan's gonna give you her email or not her email her website address at the end of the episode and and you should go look it up because her tagline is maybe one of my very favorites of all time it's "With session so fun Even dads don't complain." Nicely done on that one. That's so good.
It's taken a lot of tests, trial and error type phases, mainly after I hear one of your podcasts or something I forget. But I am happy with that one right now. I'm kind of leaning into the crazy part of parenthood right now with my messaging. Yeah.
How old are your kids now?
Seven, four, and almost one and a half?
Yeah. I wonder why you're leaning into the crazy side of parenting? Yeah, I think it's good to embrace the season of life that we are in, in our messaging because that is like that's the way that we use that, you know, and I'm using air quotes here like authentic voice but, but that is that is where that comes from. Well,
let's, let's jump right in. The other thing that I checked before we actually got on this call was I just peeked to see whether your Instagram was back on and it looks like it's not so you reached out to me. It has been almost a month since you messaged me and I know that in your initial message. You were like, it's been two weeks. So we're going on six weeks of no Instagram, no. Facebook, right?
Yes. It would have been nicer to for it to be at choice. But yeah, I've been on a social media cleanse
An unannounced cleanse, I just decided to shut everything that I mean. Yeah, the evil overlords decided to shut everything down. Okay, so let's back up. And I'm gonna let you tell the story kind of from the beginning and give us a little background before we do because this that your background is relevant to the impact that this whole process has had as well.
So I am a military spouse. My husband is the service member and not everybody moves as often as we do, but we've had a lot shaking things up with in his army career where I We're just in places for like a year, this last time was less than so I just to where we are now, which is Belton, Texas, and we've been here since the end of
July. So getting all of our stuff put away unpacked, getting the kids in school and started, all of that kind of stuff meant that my business stuff didn't really come back to life for me until maybe September ish, somewhere in there. I tried to do little things to get me on a good start beforehand, but working in the business until
September. So then in October comes around, and I'm out of town, visiting family, and October on October 19, I received a notification on Facebook that I had violated community standards, and that I needed to click this link to dispute the accusation maybe. So I freak out a little bit and
click the link. And looking back, I'm not sure if maybe it was a spammy thing, a fake account that did something I was able to continue to see that post or whatever I was tagged in and happen to scroll down below the viewing area, you had to scroll down to see it, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And I was tagged with a list of other photographers that all seem to start with M, or have like a word that started with M in their business name. I can't remember now if it Everything
happened so fast, I'm sure. I can't remember now, if it was my personal page or my business page. Either way, they're both locked at this point. So yes, I'm not sure if it was a spammy thing. And then I actually did violate community standards via a hacker or something like that, or whatever this link triggered, but my account was locked. For it did tell me it was for Sexual Child sexual exploitation, which I know can be an issue for
newborn photographers. I, I you know, I don't do bathtub minis. I don't do any of that. So I don't know what triggered it is it could be a Facebook bot that triggered it. I have no idea.
Okay, let me timeout here for a second. So your initial notification came through Facebook, it wasn't an email, it was an actual, like notification in Facebook.
It wasn't notification on Facebook. There may have been an email sent, but we'll get to that in a second.
Okay, when you clicked on it, did you know did it tell you like you violated this particular rule? Was it then that you learned that or was that later that something else happened?
It was there's a phase where you can dispute the accusation, but you are still locked out. So the initial notification just said, You're violating community standards. If you don't click this, you will, your account will be locked. That was the post with that was tagged with other
photographers. When I was actually unable to access my account, that's when it said this is the reason that you can add was at that point, you can dispute this by I think the verification method is receiving a code that they can either email you or text you and you have to input that code. Okay,
so continue on. Okay.
So next part is I'm trying to get this code to dispute it via email. And I can see which email address that they're going to send it to it was an email address of mine, however, it was I had two email addresses on file with them. And one was my college email, which I know this too, because that's what you needed back in the day to join Facebook was a university email address, had to have.edu at the end, so that one was on file, which obviously I'm not going to get a code there.
And then the other one was like basically the same thing. It was an old gmail account from like college that I've just set up over the years to forward to my new email addresses, but I don't I over the years have just like unsubscribed from all of that stuff. And I don't get those anymore. There's nothing important that I received,
except Facebook messages. And so that's, you know, that was a big mishap on my part, it did offer the other option of sending a code via text message and I can see my full phone number it was the correct phone number kept clicking Send me the code and it just I was not receiving any codes. And so I kept doing that once or twice a day, hoping that it was just like a glitch in their system and it was it would work itself out or they would fix it or whatever. And then I would be able to receive the
code. I did that until October 25. And I was like I'm putting a you could change the phone number it let you change the phone Phone number it sent the code to so I put in my husband's number and was able to put in the code through him. And that's when it started the review process I've just been through, then we got the flu and all of this other personal stuff. So it just kind of took a backseat because it was more of a almost a relief to not have to deal with social media during all
that. And then fast forward to today, thinking about the recording today, I was like, I really need to see some progress on this. Now, I sent a message through reporting a bug fix, because you don't need an account, I guess to report a
bug. So I did that. And I flagged it as a an issue with profiles, and just said, like trying to get someone's attention, like, you know, I'd really love some response on this, you can't submit a help center claim because I think it tries to do it through Facebook Messenger, which I dont have access.
Right, right. At this point, you have not heard anything from Facebook. Other than these sort of automated messages, you haven't gotten in touch with a human being on the on the Facebook Meta end at all. You're just sort of in this like dead zone limbo, but you're locked out of all Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Yes, I was only told that one account violated community standards. And I'm assuming because they're linked that they took it all down? I'm not sure how that works. Like their reason for it. I could see I mean, logically you would think, okay, if someone's by violating community standards, personally, or business, and it's a single person business, then yeah, probably overlap. But I don't know, like, who's
keeping tabs on that? Probably nobody, it probably just automatically flags and both shuts them down.
Right? This is the sort of thing that like gives me heartburn, just thinking about because totally to your point, like, if I got locked out of social media, there would definitely be at least a couple of days where I was like, Oh, this isn't the worst thing that ever happened. But, of course, our businesses
rely on this. There are other things about like, I would walk away from Facebook in a heartbeat if it weren't for the photography groups that I'm in, like, obviously, I run a couple of photography groups, but then I'm also in these other communities that over time have really become an amazing resource for you know, going and asking questions, or searching old posts and things like that. I imagine you're in the same boat.
Yes. Every time I have a question. I'm like, Oh, just No, I can't.
Oh, and as far as like you in particular, given that you move frequently. I imagine Instagram is like a big way that you're kind of out in your digital community. drumming up business.
Yes, I use Instagram, for me historically has been more of a networking with other small businesses tool, as well as what do I want to say? hoping that it will one day become a lead generator? For I don't know if I just haven't mastered Instagram? Or if that's not where my people are? I don't typically get leads. And when I do, they're off the wall. Like someone looking for studio photography. They're just casting a wide net.
Yeah, I like it. My Instagram is not that way. But whenever somebody uses my like Google phone number half the time, they're like, do you take passport photos? I'm like, This is gonna be the most expensive passport you've ever gotten. I'll call him back and be like, yep, that, that's great. That's a great thing to go to your local post office for. So I you know, honestly, like, I wish that this were something where I could say, oh,
I think you should try this. And I don't doubt that after the show drops, you're gonna get people who are messaging you through your website saying, you know, oh, you should try this or I got which great. Like, I assume that you're open to that helpful, you know, kind things.
There's no question that probably like we all accidentally click on a link that that we shouldn't click on every once in a while they these like scam artists, spammers, whatever, have gotten so sophisticated, at sort of tapping into those things where you're like, Oh, no. Yeah, in fact, just this morning, I got an email that was about it said your card has been charged if you believe that this is a fraudulent charge. You know,
click this link. That was like, I didn't but but I can totally see where you know, my mom, hey, Mom would see that. And potentially click a link before that, like back of your brain is like way, way way. Wait a minute. So you have to be on your like super toes all the time. And here you are, you're traveling, you're with family. This thing pops up on your
screen. Maybe you're scrolling at 1130 at night you know you're like in bed go at getting ready to go to bed and your brain just doesn't protect you and so like no judgment We've all been
there. But it now that you're in this situation, and you're sort of in the middle of the situation, what I would love to talk about is what you have learned and what you plan on taking with you assuming that either your account gets restored, or you just, you know, start fresh with a new account and an updated email address.
Yeah, definitely updated email address, I can't tell you exactly how big of a mistake it is. Because for all I know, they're not continuing to update me via those emails. I don't know that for a fact. But who knows. And then the other part is that I've linked the that to Instagram, which may be the smarter thing to do would be to have those under two different email addresses. So you don't lose both. You're invested in getting leads from
both. And then also, if this does happen to you do not assume in any way that you can ever talk to Facebook, there is that but there is no customer service number, there is no messaging system that I've been able to tap into, I do still have access to like their online help the blog type articles, those kinds
of help articles. But a lot of times, it's like, see what you need to do if your account is hacked, and we're and it's just like a list of what's going to happen instead of like anything proactive that you could do. It's terrible, too. But it's like, you have to laugh at it. But the timeline that Facebook gave me was that this typically takes one day to review out. But they have a lot. They have a lot of reviews that they have to do right now. So it might take a
little longer. So it's we're going on six weeks, like you said earlier, now that the personal life stuff has calmed down for me, I do need to come up with a definitive timeline that this is when I'm going to start a new account and just call it what I may do is well, I said the personal life stuff has calmed down. But we'll see. We may be moving again next year. And maybe what I'll do is start
fresh. So that at the point where I know that that's happening, and build up with all the proper keywords and tags for that location, if that hub will not be moving for four years,
so Okay, good. I like that plan. .
Yeah, So that would at least be hammered out. And I can't contact their like support or help center with like a personal message, or I don't know, like you don't get a help representative. Because they're through messenger and I can't access that. So yeah..
That's an insane Catch 22. And yeah, I can certainly empathize with how frustrating that kind of situation must be. And I can totally see the appeal of just being like, you know what, nevermind. It's not like you have to, you know, you could start fresh, but I imagine, I mean, you've been in business for a long time, I have no doubt that you've got a large number of, you know, in Facebook communities that you're involved with. And then, you know, a long track record on Instagram.
Yeah, definitely, like longer on Facebook, I've had the Facebook Business account since I started, which was about 10 years ago, I kind of dragged my feet with Instagram, because I didn't want one more thing type of thing. And then Instagram stuck around. So I joined that. And for a while hired a writer to write all my posts. This is ironic, I unfortunately, couldn't afford to keep hiring her because I had no clients because we keep
moving. So I was like, You know what, this is something I'll take over, I had been paying her on the 20th of the month, every
month. So we said October 20 which was the day after my account was about to start so I had essentially spent like all my work time while the kids were at school setting up all of the social media stuff to automatically post so like for like the whole month of no getting daily reminders from my automatic posting service that it was time to post and I was like nope, it's not
well at least you didn't do all that planning in Instagram because don't I think they have that tool now you know, at least maybe if and when you restart with the social media, you can just like cut and paste those for next year.
Yeah, recycle or something. Oh, so well. So I was also doing the marketing mini course that you have. And so you have like the analogy of the rocks and the pebbles and the sand and so I had a couple of those things that like I could still do it wasn't social media based. And so I've reached out to I don't know if they have this where you are but macaroni kid. I've heard of it before but
I don't know what it is. It's essentially a go to spot for everything that's going on in your specific location and local parent that publishes your locations information.
Okay, cool.
So I got in touch with the publisher for my area. And after knowing nothing about how that it's a nationwide, like kind of, I guess, chain you would call in, but the publishers are all local people. So I wasn't sure how it was structured in terms of like doing guest articles for that, which is what I asked her and, and she was like, Yeah, I would love to meet with you and talk about that. So we got together.
And this is a thing that she does not get paid for, she only gets paid if local businesses advertise with her. She said she was totally open to that, because that takes work off her plate, which makes total sense. So I just wrote the first one, which is going to be published this month and link back to my website in a couple of spots. And it's like six or seven tips for creating your family
yearbook. Nice. So it's not like, why you should have a family session, you know, hopefully is speaking to the type of people that I want to work with and leaving, but we'll see
nice, yeah, I mean, not to go too far down the marketing path. But the way that I think about marketing is that it really does have to be a balanced approach, not just because of this exact situation, like you don't want to build your build your business on rented land, but because you find different people in
different places. And so and I generally believe that if you are serving a local market, primarily, you will get better, stronger, more qualified leads that are more attached to you as a person, if you're showing up kind of in person or in a more local kind of a way, it's very easy to become like another face in the crowd if you're only
meeting people digitally. So I stand by that, that said in the marketing course that you're talking about that I teach, I call social media, the water like it is the thing that happens every day. It's kind of all around us. And so, so yeah, I mean, it's definitely a big piece of it these days. And to have that cut off without your intention is, is definitely it's it's a handicap to have to work with. But I have no doubt that you will solve this problem one way or the other. I hope that
Facebook solves it for you. And I'm really sorry that you're dealing with this. But I'm really grateful to you that you're willing to come and share kind of the messy middle of this problem. Because one of the worst things about things like this when they happen to you is that feeling of like, I don't know, it's almost guilt or like, shame about like, uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I think the good news is everybody sees Facebook as sort of like a villain. So. So at least it's a common enemy
situation. But it's also, you know, it's isolating in more ways than one like feeling like, Oh, everybody else is marching along with their social media. And I'm dealing with this, like, frustration that I didn't sign up for. Yeah, yeah.
I learned, I used to, I pride myself on the fact that like I could, if it wasn't for my business, I probably walk away from social media. I don't need the external gratification or whatever that you get from people being in your business. But then when it went away, like you were talking about earlier with the groups and not being third, sure, ask questions or whatever, like, especially being new to an area, like, I don't have all that I can talk to
about that stuff. And then because my personal account was locked up, I don't have day to day communication or keeping up with friends that are far away. I learned about the birth of a friend's baby through my husband, because I have, you know, she wasn't, we're not close enough anymore. This is a friend that I had, like eight years ago, where she was like, I'm on her text list for pictures. And so yeah, it was It wasn't until my husband showed me like, oh, they had their
baby. And I was like, but this was days ago.
Yeah, well, it's really easy to get used to kind of knowing all that stuff. I mean, it's funny. It's like going back to the 90s or something where you're like, oh, yeah, I got a letter from my friend. Her birth announcement came in the mail that used to actually be the way that you'd find out about that sort of thing. But yeah, it No, I totally can relate to all of that. And I love again, that you're, you know, in here sort of sharing that experience as it's happening because it's such
a good wake up call. It's such a good reminder for all of us that like these things happen without our permission or planning and they will inevitably happen at the worst possible time. So you do the best thing that you can do is kind of protect your business, insulate your business or yeah, just have that kind of multi pronged approach.
In case people do want to send me any ideas or anything like that. I guess I'll How would you recommend adding an email address because I don't necessarily want it out there.
I was gonna say what have you did? Is it easy enough for you to build a page on your website that's like, Megan hyphen lacy.com/podcast?
Yeah, I'll do that.
Okay. And I'll link that in the show notes. And then you can just put like a generic contact form on there that goes to your email. Yeah, yeah, that'll be perfect. We'll protect you from like, the crazies getting in your email all the time. And then you can just take this page down whenever you want. Well, thank you again for coming on. And did I say that right? It's m e g a n hyphen lacy.com.
There is another Megan Lacy photography that is out in I want to say Virginia or something like that. So look for bright colors rather than earth tones and you're in the right place.
I love it. And and again, that amazing tagline of with session so fun. Even dads don't complain. So good. Oh, Megan, I wish you will keep me posted one way or the other and and maybe when you get this resolved, we can like put it out there on social media so that everybody hears the end of your story?
Yes, definitely. All right. Well, coming out to the world again.
Hello, world. Oh, good. All right. Well, have a great day.
Thanks, you too.
Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same time, same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode, along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn If you liked the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review on iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.