Winnipeg shop has troubles with Instagram account

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This article was published 11/12/2023 (903 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Six months ago, a Winnipeg shop viewed Instagram as its biggest sales tool — then its account got deleted.

After months of frustrating communication and hustling to rebuild different sales channels, its online clientele — historically its biggest customer base — has not rebounded, according to its owner.

“It really feels like you’ve built and built and worked so hard… and then it’s like, ‘Boom, gone, good luck,’” said Jordan Blair, co-lead of So Over It Luxury Consignment.

The Corydon Avenue consignment shop sells luxury brands like Chanel and Burberry. It’s had a presence on Instagram, a global picture and video sharing platform, for six years, Blair said.

The store amassed a following surpassing 12,000 users and posted daily — more than 20 times a day, by Blair’s recollection.

She and co-owner Rachel Solomon shared photos of new products through Instagram Stories, a time-limited feature where posts disappear after 24 hours.

The entrepreneurs would speak real-time to customers via live videos and take orders through online messages, or through their website (conveniently linked to their Instagram platform).

Around 70 per cent of So Over It’s sales came through Instagram, Blair said.

She awoke one June morning to learn that the account had been disabled by Meta, Instagram and Facebook’s parent company.

“I was having a bit of a freak out as a small business,” Blair said. “We have had no luck at all getting it back.”

Emailing, texting clients

Meta did not respond to Free Press questions by print deadline. Blair said her company was notified it had violated Instagram’s community guidelines.

Instagram removes spam accounts, along with users who promote self-harm and post credible threats, according to its community guidelines.

Users must only share what they have the right to, the rules continue. Blair believes So Over It’s account was disabled because it showcased luxury brands and items it doesn’t create.

The company sent proof to Meta it’s a corporation but hasn’t seen any changes to its account, Blair added.

She and Solomon started a new Instagram account immediately — @shopsooverit — but have just a sliver of the followers they once did.

“You can imagine the impact,” Blair quipped.

“What’s scary for small business is the fact that you can be investing in a platform (where) you really don’t own your content… It can just be taken from you.”– Jordan Blair

Meantime, she and Solomon have turned to email, text and phone call to reach clients.

“We sat at our desks for probably a week straight and just called everyone that’s ever shopped with us,” Blair said of June. “(We) explained that they didn’t have to worry, we’d still be here.”

The entrepreneurs go through customers’ previous orders and call clients with items they think will be a good fit.

They’ve brought a pop-up version of their store to law firms and corporations. People visit the Corydon Avenue location, but it’s mainly “a destination spot,” according to Blair.

So Over It still publishes on Instagram, but Blair is wary.

“What’s scary for small business is the fact that you can be investing in a platform (where) you really don’t own your content,” she said. “It can just be taken from you.”

‘We don’t… put all (our) eggs in one basket’

Debbie Golub knows the feeling.

Two years ago, Design Shop Interior Design’s Instagram account got hacked. The interior design page became a promotional tool for Bitcoin and earning cash fast.

Golub, the company’s co-owner, called the experience “stressful.” She started a new account that drew far fewer eyeballs.

“It was very frustrating not talking to a human,” she said of communicating with Meta.

Instagram has since responded, and Design Shop now operates its original account, but it’s altered Golub’s perspective.

“We don’t… put all (our) eggs in one basket,” she said.

An estimated 77 per cent of businesses use social media to reach customers, according to a Forbes article Lam An cited.

“On social media, it’s of your own risk,” the University of Winnipeg marketing professor said. “They can shut you down with reasons beyond your control.”

It’s harder to correspond with social media platforms than speak to the landlord of a physical storefront, he added.

More common problem than people think

Alyson Shane, president of Starling Social, echoed An.

“It’s much more common than I think people realize,” she said of So Over It’s story.

The digital marketing agency has assisted around 12 businesses with similar situations, and another dozen have inquired for help over the past decade, Shane said.

Removal can happen on any social media platform; Instagram has been most common lately in Shane’s world.

By November of 2017, Instagram counted 25 million businesses as users.

Social media is where your audience is — that’s the benefit of having such accounts, Shane described. It’s also cheap and allows for better communication with customers than traditional advertising, An noted.

So Over It did well by having an email mailing list to contact when their Instagram account dropped, Shane relayed.

“You’re not at the whim of a platform,” she added.

The consignment shop has since branched out to different services, like closet clean-outs. Between phoning and hosting events, the store is “back on track,” Blair said.

“If we hadn’t lost our Instagram, it could’ve been a record year,” she sighed.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com