And no, I don’t mean getting access to their brand strategy, their audience insights or their content library.
I mean literally getting access to their Facebook and Instagram accounts.
You would think this would be the easy part.
It rarely is.
A new client may have had a professional Facebook Page and Instagram account for years. Everything works perfectly on their phone. They open the apps every day. They post, scroll, reply to messages.
Then I ask for access.
And suddenly, nobody knows the password.
“But I’m logged in!”
This is probably the most common answer.
And it makes perfect sense. Most people logged into Facebook or Instagram years ago and never needed to type their password again.
Face ID works. The app opens. The account is there.
Until we actually need the password.
Then begins the adventure.
Reset the password.
Check the email.
Which email?
Maybe an old one.
Wait for the verification code.
The code went to a phone number nobody remembers adding.
Try another method.
Open the notification Facebook supposedly sent.
“Where is the notification?”
“No, not Messages. Notifications.”
Still nothing.
Try again.
At some point, what was supposed to be a two-minute onboarding step turns into a small IT support session.
And then there is two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication is a very good thing.
Until nobody remembers how it was set up.
A login attempt may need approval from another device. Or a code sent by SMS. Or an authenticator app. Or a notification buried somewhere inside Facebook.
Today, for example, getting access to an Instagram account involved a login attempt, a link sent to the account owner, another confirmation on his phone, locating the correct notification and walking through the process step by step.
We got there.
Eventually.
Facebook Pages can be even more interesting
With Facebook, knowing the password is only part of the story.
There is also Page Access.
Who owns the Page?
Who has full control?
Was it created directly by the business owner?
By an employee who left five years ago?
By an agency?
By somebody’s nephew who “knew Facebook”?
Sometimes the owner of a business discovers during onboarding that although the Page represents their company, they do not actually have full administrative access to it.
That is always a fun conversation.
The invisible part of social media management
When people think about social media management, they usually think about content calendars, captions, videos, graphics and advertising.
And of course, that is the visible part.
But before any of that can happen, there is often another job:
Finding passwords.
Recovering accounts.
Checking permissions.
Locating old email addresses.
Setting up two-factor authentication properly.
Untangling Facebook Page access.
Connecting Instagram to Meta.
And sometimes explaining where the Notifications tab is while both people are staring at completely different screens.
It is not glamorous.
But it is part of the job.
And perhaps one of the most useful things a business can do — long before hiring a social media manager — is very simple:
Know who owns your digital accounts, know who has access to them and make sure your recovery information is up to date.
Your future social media manager will thank you.
And so will your future self.