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A mum who struggled to keep her business afloat during Melbourne’s draconian Covid restrictions is falling again after Instagram decided to delete her account just two days into Black Friday.
Natalie Jarvis and her husband’s company Electric Confetti – which designs light displays and ‘glow walls’ – have worked hard over the past seven years to build a following from business sense in 2015.
But after a difficult few years, including Melbourne’s existence as the world’s most closed city during the coronavirus pandemic, Ms Jarvis is facing another battle.
“Like many businesses, we barely survived the pandemic lockdowns, and since then we’ve been slowly coming back from bankruptcy,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘As pre-Christmas is our busiest time of the year, over the past few months we’ve been working hard on a Black Friday shopping campaign.
‘We have built, we have come to rely heavily on this social media tool for sales and communication, and we are working hard to make our content and bright neon posts to build a large customer base and followers to the 86.7k.’
Natalie Jarvis and her family (pictured) poured everything into huge sales numbers for the Electric Confetti business only to lose their way of connecting with customers.
Ms Jarvis said she had ‘poured everything’ into the marketing campaign for the huge Black Friday shopping day on November 25 – only to see the Electric Confetti page, the main point of interaction for her customers. , disappeared six days ago.
“In a panic, I tried to contact Instagram to ask how we could be violating their social guidelines because we only post pictures of our neon signs. in the house, none of them are bad in any way,” he says. .
‘What I found is that Instagram is an echo chamber with no customer service or answering the previous automated messages that have no way, and no guarantee that this will be fixed before 30 days have passed. than the Black Friday deadline.’
Ms Jarvis said she wanted help from the company and hoped Instagram would respond before Friday.
“Our brand is reflected on Instagram, the merchandise that drives people there, the page that we created for seven years is gone without any reason,” said Ms. Jarvis told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
The couple spent seven years building a brand on Instagram but just suspended the account a few days ago (pictured)
The couple sent multiple emails a day to Instagram to resolve the issue only to receive standard sample responses in broken English.
‘The team has reviewed it and advised that the reader should immediately report this issue to the team. Wait if you think your account has been misplaced,’ Instagram responded.
The customer service representative said ‘the account has been disabled for not following Instagram’s Community Standards’ but did not explain why or a solution to the problem.
The email informed Ms Jarvis that she might receive a standard feedback survey ‘to help us improve’ and ‘have a nice day’.
Ms Jarvis responded by asking what the phrase ‘the reader should report this issue to the team’ meant.
‘This is everything to us and we will have to close our business if it is not resolved,’ Ms Jarvis said.
The business is in danger of collapsing if the issue is not resolved but there is no solid response from Instagram and Meta
The couple has received angry messages from Instagram support
Another representative responded and said it meant ‘filling out the form from your side and the couple can submit a referral’ but there was no link to a form or any other explanation.
However, another official told the couple ‘I’m not going to tell you, I’ll make sure we keep it quiet’.
One of the last comments received by the couple said they would receive an update within 48 hours but ‘are still confused as to why it went down or when it will be fixed’.
Ms Jarvis said she cried for days after their pages went blank and feared she would be out of business if it wasn’t fixed in the next few days.
“We didn’t believe we were at risk because we didn’t violate any of Instagram’s policies, and our business is not political or controversial,” he said.
‘Unfortunately, we were wrong – Instagram can make mistakes.’
Ms Jarvis is desperate to get the account back before Black Friday on November 25
The couple from Sandringham in Melbourne have been running the small family business since 2015
Ms Jarvis is warning other businesses to showcase their work on their own websites as well as social media platforms.
There are many positive feedbacks used to represent our products and services on our Instagram. We will now keep this evidence on file for future reference,’ he said.
‘If your Instagram or other social media has been deleted, there is no way to get or maintain a relationship with your audience, fans of your work and customers.
‘(I) warn other small businesses to have a backup plan other than relying on social media giants who have the power to destroy their business.
‘Posts become our source of information.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Instagram for comment.
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