Recently I had one of the most horrifying things in the history of my professional life happen to me: I had my Facebook page shut down.

What happened?

I didn’t give someone a free copy of my book and they reported me for abusing Facebook. Lovely, right?

Let me break down what happened:

I had just finished a live broadcast on my page and I jumped over to my computer to put up the thumbnail photo for the video. This is the horror I found:

So I clicked on Learn More and got this:

This, of course, was not the most helpful.

So I clicked on Appeal:

At this point, I wrote out a message explaining that I did not believe I was in violation of any of the Facebook rules (PS, if you haven’t read those-stop and read them) and questioned if I might have been hacked. I was 90% certain it was that kid I said I wouldn’t give a free book to a week earlier, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

NOW WHAT?

At this point it became a waiting game.

There is no way to reach Facebook. They don’t have a public number to call for help. There is no way to email them. There is no chat box.

I even went as far as to go into an old case I had with them to get my page certified awhile back-and they locked it so you could type a long message but could not send it.

In despair and heartbreak, I took to my business groups on Facebook and asked if anyone knew how long it took to review cases.

Most people said “a month and several requests to fix it.”

GOOD NEWS

They fixed it the next day, told me it had been an error and that I had not violated and terms…and then proceeded to remind me that if I ever violate terms again they’ll take my page down.

Appreciate the vote of confidence, guys, since you clearly saw I did nothing wrong.

IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU

Don’t panic.

Write out a brief explanation saying you don’t believe you violated and terms, ask if you could have been hacked, thank them for their help, then send the message. Remember, keep it short-communicate clearly and concisely because they don’t have time for you to write a novel, especially if it was some jerk who reported your page because they didn’t like you.

Wait for a response.

In the mean time, let your fans know there was a glitch with your Facebook page and that it’s temporarily down. Chances are that they’ll rally around you and make you feel better while you wait.

IF YOU’RE SMART you’ll do what I did and use it as an opportunity to get fans on your newsletter list “so if this every happens again, you won’t miss out!”

Want more info on how to help avoid having this happen to you? Check out the video!

Has your page ever been shut down? Share your experience in the comments!

Stay inspired,

-K.M.