How to Share Facebook Business Manager Access

Let’s get your team, freelancer, or agency access to your Facebook Business Manager without handing over the keys to the kingdom. Granting permission is a fundamental step to collaborating effectively, but the process can feel confusing if you’ve never done it before. This guide will walk you through exactly how to share access for both internal team members and external partners, a breakdown of what each permission level means, and the common mistakes you need to avoid.

First, What Exactly is Meta Business Suite (formerly Facebook Business Manager)?

Think of Meta Business Suite (often still called Business Manager) as your company’s central command center for all things Facebook and Instagram. It’s a tool that lets you manage all of your marketing and advertising assets - like your Facebook Page, Instagram account, ad accounts, pixels, and product catalogs - all in one place.

So, why not just share your personal Facebook login? Here are three big reasons:

• Security: Sharing personal login credentials is a massive security risk. Business Manager allows you to grant specific permissions to people without them ever needing your password. When someone leaves the company, you can remove their access in a few clicks.
• Organization: It bundles all your business assets together. If you're a marketing manager juggling two Facebook Pages, an Instagram account, three ad accounts, and a pixel, Business Manager keeps everything neatly organized and assigned to the right people.
• Professionalism: It separates your personal profile from your work. Your team members won’t see your personal notifications, and you won’t see theirs. It creates a professional boundary that’s essential for teamwork and working with external agencies.

Using Business Manager is the industry-standard way to manage business assets professionally. The first step to collaborating is knowing how to use it to bring your team on board.

Understanding the Who: People vs. Partners

In the Business Manager world, you can grant access to two main types of users: People and Partners. Knowing the difference is important.

Adding People

Who they are: These are individuals you're adding directly to your Business Manager, usually employees or contractors who are part of your core team.

How it works: You invite them using their email address. Once they accept, they become a user within your Business Manager, and you assign them permissions to specific assets (like your Facebook Page or ad account). You have full control over their access levels.

Adding Partners

Who they are: These are other businesses that have their own Business Manager account, such as a marketing agency, a social media consultant, or a SaaS company you’re working with.

How it works: Instead of adding an individual by email, you grant access to the partner's entire Business Manager account using their unique Business ID. They then assign people from their team to work on your assets. This is the cleaner, more professional way to work with external teams, as it lets them manage their own staff and keeps your Business Manager tidy.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Add a Person to Your Business Manager

Ready to add a team member? Let’s walk through the exact steps. Remember to have their work email address on hand.

Step 1: Go to Business Settings

Navigate to Meta Business Suite and sign in. On the left-hand menu, click on the gear icon at the bottom that says "All tools," then select Business settings. This will take you to the backend of your business account where the magic happens.

Step 2: Go to the ‘People’ Section

Once you’re in Business Settings, look for the Users section on the left-hand menu. The first option under it is People. Click it.

Step 3: Invite Your Team Member

Click the blue Add people button. A pop-up window will appear asking you to enter the email address of the person you want to invite. It's best practice to use their professional work email rather than a personal one.

Step 4: Assign a Business Role (Super Important!)

This is arguably the most critical step. You'll be asked to assign a business role:

• Basic Access (Recommended): This is the default setting, formerly known as "Employee access." It means you will manually select which assets and tools they can work on in the next step. Always start with this option unless you have a very good reason not to.
• Full Control: This is the "Admin access" level. Giving someone Full Control gives them the power to do everything in your Business Manager, including adding and removing people (like you!), changing settings, and even deleting the business account. Only give this to trusted business partners or system administrators.

For most day-to-day collaborators, you will select Basic Access and click "Next".

Step 5: Assign Access to Assets

Now, you get to choose exactly what this person can see and do. On the left side of the new pop-up, you'll see a list of your asset types (Pages, Ad accounts, Instagram accounts, etc.). Here's a quick cheat sheet for common roles:

For a Social Media Manager or Community Manager:

• Pages: Select your Facebook Page thumbnail. On the right, turn on the toggles for things they need to do their job, like:
  • Content: Publish, create, and manage posts, Stories, and more.
  • Messaging: Reply to messages as the Page.
  • Community Activity: Review and respond to comments, remove unwanted content.
  • Insights: View Page-level performance data.
• Instagram Accounts: Select your IG account and assign similar permissions (Content, Messaging, etc.).

For an Ads Specialist or Paid Media Buyer:

• Ad accounts: Select the ad account they will use. On the right, toggle on Manage campaigns. This gives them the ability to create, edit, and run ads.
• Pixels: Select your Meta Pixel and give them View Pixel or Manage Pixel access so they can track performance and set up conversions.
• Pages: Give them at least "View Page Performance" on the associated Facebook Page so they can create ads connected to it.

You can mix and match permissions as needed. The best practice is to grant the least amount of access necessary for someone to do their job. Once you’re done, click Invite.

They will receive an invitation via email. Their status will show as "Pending" in your People tab until they click the link and accept.

How to Add a Partner (e.g., an Agency) to Business Manager

Collaborating with an external agency? Adding them as a Partner is the proper way to grant access. You’ll just need one piece of information from them: their Business Manager ID.

Their Business ID is easy to find, they can get it by going to their own Business Settings > Business Info. It's a long string of numbers listed right under their Business Manager name.

Step 1: Go to the 'Partners' Section

In Business Settings, navigate to the Users section again, but this time click on Partners.

Step 2: Give a Partner Access to Your Assets

Click the blue Add dropdown button and select Give a partner access to your assets.

Step 3: Enter the Partner Business ID

A pop-up will appear prompting you to enter the Partner Business ID. Paste the ID you got from your agency or freelancer into the box and click Next.

Step 4: Assign Assets and Permissions

This screen looks identical to the one you used for adding a person. You’ll select the assets you want to share (your Page, Ad Account, Pixel, etc.) and assign roles just like you did before. Choose the level of access the partner agency needs to do their work.

When you're finished, click Save Changes. The partner will instantly gain access to the assets you've shared from within their own Business Manager.

Managing and Revoking Access: The Essential Cleanup

Your work isn't done after a person accepts their invite. Proper management is an ongoing process for keeping your account secure.

Go to Business Settings > People (or Partners) at any time to see a complete list of who has access to your business. We recommend doing a quick audit every quarter.

To remove someone:

1. Go to the People list.
2. Click on the name of the person you wish to remove.
3. In the top-right corner, click the three dots icon (...) and select Remove.
4. Business Manager will ask you to confirm. Once you do, their access is immediately revoked.

The process is similar for removing partners. This is a critical offboarding step anytime an employee or agency contract ends.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Sharing Access

Knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing the steps.

• Mistake #1: Giving Full Control (Admin Access) as a Default. This is the digital equivalent of giving a new intern the master key to your entire office building. Only provide admin-level access to the business owners or a dedicated systems administrator. Stick to "Basic Access" for everyone else.
• Mistake #2: Sharing Your Personal Facebook Login Anyway. Never, ever do this. It opens you up to huge security risks, blurs personal and professional lines, and fundamentally defeats the purpose of having this tool in the first place.
• Mistake #3: Forgetting to Remove Old Users or Partners. Leaving access open for ex-employees or past agencies is a security vulnerability waiting to happen. Make it a part of your offboarding process to remove them from Business Manager immediately.
• Mistake #4: Not Being Specific with Asset Permissions. Don't just give someone access to everything because it's easier. Take the extra thirty seconds to assign them only the pages, ad accounts, and pixels they'll actually be working on. This prevents costly accidents, like running ads from the wrong account or posting to the wrong Facebook Page.

Final Thoughts

Meta Business Suite is the professional and secure way to collaborate with your team and partners on Facebook and Instagram. Taking the time to understand how to grant access properly - assigning specific roles and auditing permissions regularly - lays the foundation for a smooth and secure workflow that eliminates chaos before it starts.

Once your team is onboarded through Business Manager, the real work begins. Manually coordinating across platforms, switching between accounts to post content, and pulling reports one by one is exactly the kind of workflow friction we built Postbase to solve. We created a modern social media management tool that lets you visually plan, schedule, engage with your community, and analyze performance across all your accounts - from a single, clean dashboard - so you can focus on creating great content instead of wrestling with your tools.