Leading Liverpool hair salon brand Voodou says the sudden loss of its Instagram account threatens up to 20% of its trade. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool hair salon Voodou has been a pioneer in using social media to drum up business but now its Instagram account has been shut down due to a hacking incident.

Voodou founder Rob Webb opened his first salon in Anfield in 1976. It now operates two outlets – in Bold Street in the city centre and West Derby Road. It is one of the best known UK hair salon brands.

Last weekend Phil Evans, an independent consultant who manages Voodou’s website and social networking, was informed by Instagram that someone had hacked into Voodou’s account and had locked out the salon’s access. 

For the last few days Phil and Rob have been trying to contact Meta to have the account reinstated, but so far to no avail. Social media is critical to Voodou’s success with around 20% of its business comes via Facebook and Instagram.

Rob told LBN: “We have been one of the most forward-thinking salon brands in the UK when it comes to utilising the power of social media. Our strategy has seen us twice win Best Salon Marketing Campaign in the UK. This year alone we have spent around £26,000 with Meta.

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“We are mystified as to why Meta cannot get us back online again. It is such an important part of our marketing push so we need this to be sorted ASAP. As a temporary fix we have created a new page called voodou.liverpool but wiht zero followers.” 

Phil Evans has described Meta’s response so far as “beyond hopeless”. He added: “Voodou lost its Instagram page on Sunday when a team member clicked a link on an email that appeared to be from Meta.

“From that point until now we have been chasing Meta support every hour. But it has all been to no avail. Voodou is a thriving small business and Meta really needs to respond in a better way, and more quickly, than this. It’s appalling.”

LBN has contacted Meta for comment.