Once you start providing social media management services for your clients, it will become very apparent that logging into each account individually can not only be a big time waster, but cause other more catastrophic problems too.
Problems That Arise
In our own experience, problems can start to appear when you are responsible for managing social media accounts for as little as 3 clients.
This is when it becomes readily apparent that signing out and signing into accounts for multiple customers is just not working.
Why, you ask? Here are the most common issues:
Time Burden - If your posts are prepared in advance and you are working with a platform that doesn't have post scheduling tools, it will often take you more time to sign in than it does to make the post with roadblocks such as 2 factor authentication slowing you down.
Credential Management - If your customers are simply handing over their username and password for each platform (which they shouldn't be, read on for more on that), then managing all of those credentials and ensuring they are up to date is a serious hassle and security risk.
Account Blocking - For most social platforms, a single device logging into multiple accounts is a huge red flag. It is actually against the terms of service on a lot of platforms, and in their eyes you will be seen as a spammer. We have seen platforms like Facebook/Meta completely lock accounts even after months or years of using them successfully. This is simply not worth the risk as you could lose access to your pages forever, and there is usually a better way.
Solutions to Manage Social Media Posting
(on multiple accounts)
Use Native Options When Available - Most of the more prominent platforms have made investments into tools that can be used by agencies and other businesses to manage multiple pages, profiles, or accounts. If a platform offers this as a solution, it will certainly be your best option to ensure you're complying with their terms of service, following best security practices, and working as efficiently as possible. Some examples of native mutli-account management tools are Meta Business Suite and Youtube Brand Accounts.
3rd Party Tools - For the situations where the native multi-account management doesn't do exactly what you need, or if multi-account management simply doesn't exist, there are plenty of 3rd party tools that can be leveraged. Hootsuite, Sendible, and Social Pilot are just a few examples of the dozens of options.
The Goal
Ultimately, you should leverage tools that allow you to avoid handling the actual login credentials (usually email and password) that your customers use to access their social media account. Whether using a platform's native multi-account management solutions or a 3rd party tool, you'll typically need the credentials a maximum of 1 time to connect the tool. Ideally, your customer will be savvy enough to help you connect, but realistically that isn't always possible. If you keep this goal in mind, it will help to ensure that you are working efficiently and safely with your valuable customer social media accounts.
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