Utilizing Facebook Privacy Settings

Keeping your business and personal information safe needs to be one of your top priorities if you run any part of your business online. If Facebook is part of your business plan, are you utilizing all of the privacy settings they offer? 

Facebook is an incredible and powerful tool. We talk about it all the time! It's amazing what it can do for your business when used correctly. It can gather amazing information about your clients, the demographic that follows you, how you can achieve a better reach, and how to improve your content and ad campaigns. There is no other platform that knows how to learn about you better than Facebook. With every post liked, every ad you click on, every group or company you follow, Facebook learns more about you. It's so intelligent that it will keep showing you more of what you love as time goes on. As much as it learns, is there ever a point where it's learning too much? Even the strongest, smartest, and most powerful companies have their flaws. Facebook privacy has been breached and private information has been leaked before, it's not immune to these attacks. Some of these leaks have been due to hackers, some have been due to apps that use Facebook to log into them, and many other reasons. 

When it comes to private information getting hacked, it can be a difficult thing to recover from. When a company's information gets leaked, it can be devastating. Privacy needs to be one of your top priorities when running your Facebook Business Page. Thanks to the built-in safety precautions Facebook has added to the platform, you have the power to maintain and control your Facebook pages at all times. Don't let it control you. To help keep you and your company as safe as possible, we wanted to share some tips and suggestions on how to utilize the built-in privacy settings on Facebook. Please note; these tips and suggestions can be found on every Facebook page. You can access them through the Facebook Help Page or your Settings page. To learn more about each of the settings, you can read more about them on Facebook's help page (listed at the bottom of this blog) or through countless videos on YouTube! 

• When you have a business account linked to your personal Facebook account, always go the extra mile in achieving privacy and top-notch security. One of the first steps you can take is to go into Facebook and turn on the Two-Factor Authentication option. Choosing this option will require anyone new logging into your Facebook account to supply more than just a password to log in. You can choose between receiving a text message or to use an authentication app. Every time a new login happens, you will personally have to approve it. 
• It is recommended to turn off Face Recognition on Facebook. This is a wonderful tool for your phone, but not so much in the Facebook app. When this is turned on, Facebook learns about you through your pictures and videos and collections information on what you look like. It learns from photos posted by you and by anyone else on Facebook. 
• Be careful about what apps you're allowing or giving permission to log in through Facebook and what apps you're giving data access to. Remember, this isn't just your data that you're giving away. It could also be the data of your friends, the groups you follow, the businesses you support, and your business. To see how many apps have permission to your page, visit the privacy section of your Facebook account. Click on the "apps" button and it will list everything connected. Make sure you keep your eyes on this setting. 
• Visibility is very important for your Facebook Business Page. You want the right people to see your page at the right time of day to get new clients, new business, and new support. What happens if you start getting negative visibility? What if countries or groups of people who have no interest in your company or what you offer start spamming or harassing you? What if your business is geared towards an adult audience and you want to keep your page clean? You can choose what groups are allowed to view your page and from what countries. You will find an option for Country and Age restrictions in your settings for your business page. 
• Keeping a close eye on the comments your followers leave is very important, too. Wanting to keep biased opinions, curse words, and other forms of harassment off your page benefits your sanity, your company, and your target audience. In your page moderation filter, you can choose to target keywords to control comments. You can use the profanity filter to block unwanted words, spamming, and harassment. 
• Location! This has to deal with the Facebook app on your phone. It's great to let your clientele know where your business is located. But, they don't need to know where you are at every second. Facebook logs and tracks your location unless this option is physically turned off in the settings on your phone. If a hacker gets ahold of this information, it could mean bad news. If you turn this option off, its also a great battery saver for your phone. In the same vein, turn off your location history. Facebook logs every place you've ever been with your phone (if you have the Facebook app on it) and that's not information anyone but you need to know about but you.  
• Make sure to visit the "wall tabs shown" option in your privacy settings for your account. This will be a personal preference for your company, and it's an important one. This decides if you want your audience to just see your posts or for them to see other comments and posts by your followers on your page. Also make sure to decide if you want your Facebook page to allow your audience to post on your page directly, or just in the comments. 

There are more safety and privacy settings available to you than what we have listed here. Make sure to utilize all of them, or at least know and understand where they are and what they do. Spend time going through your privacy settings on your personal and business account on your phone and your computer. If there is something you don't understand, we urge you to look it up and not pass it over. If you would like more in-depth training and someone to help you walk through your issues, we can help you with that. We offer individual social media training to walk you through on how to use each platform. If you or your company wants to take another step up in your online business world, we are here to make that happen. Don't hesitate to reach out. We are here and excited to help your company grow. Thank you for continuing to follow us, learn with us, and support us. We are here for you Summerville, no matter what! 

To directly visit Facebook's privacy settings visit the link below: 
https://www.facebook.com/help/1297502253597210