How to Create a Meta Business Account and Business Portfolio

In the past, businesses launching ads on Facebook and Instagram followed individual paths. Now, agencies, marketers, and companies can manage everything through Meta Business Suite with improved cross-platform connectivity between Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.

To get started with Facebook advertising, you (or your client) will need a Meta Business account. This article will guide you through all the steps to create a Business Portfolio, a Meta Ads account, and— most importantly—how to connect them to run ads for your Facebook or Instagram Page.

💡 Pro tip: In a nutshell, to be able to advertise, you must first create a business account with either your personal Facebook or Instagram account, create a new Business Portfolio (business account), followed by a Meta Ads account.‍

BONUS: We’ll let you in on a secret to make setting up your business manager accounts even easier…just keep reading to find out! 🤭

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What is a Meta Business Account?

A Meta Business Account, sometimes used interchangeably to refer to a Meta Business Portfolio, is where you keep and manage your Facebook pages, Instagram profiles and other business assets. It’s also where you can give and revoke user permissions for those assets. It's completely free to create a Meta business account with your personal Facebook account, whether you have an actual business or not.

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Creating a Meta Business Account & Portfolio

Before you start, these are three things you need know:

• To create a Meta Business Account you first need to log in via your personal Facebook or Instagram profiles. This personal profile needs to own the Facebook Page you want to create your Business Account/Business Portfolio for.
• You can create up to two Business Portfolios, but you can belong to an unlimited number of Business Portfolios owned by others. 
• Permissions that you receive—or give someone—through the Business Portfolio will override other permissions. What does this mean? If you gave someone limited access directly through your Page, but gave them Admin access through the Business Portfolio, then they’ll retain Admin access.

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Part 1: How to create a free Meta Business account

Step 1: Go to business.facebook.com using a desktop browser.

Step 2: In this screen, log in with your personal Facebook account. Alternatively, you can click 'Sign up with Facebook' to create a new Facebook account on the spot.
If prompted for a security code, check your inbox for the email.

Step 3: If this is your first time accessing Meta Business Suite with your account, you might see this screen asking you to create a Business Page. Click 'Create a Business Page.'

👉 If you don’t have a page yet, here’s how to create and optimize your Facebook Business Page before moving forward.
👉 If you already have a Facebook Page, you might be asked to verify your account before you can proceed. Do so to secure your account!

We'll continue to the steps of creating your first Meta Business Portfolio.

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Creating your first Business Portfolio

Signing into Meta Business Suite with your personal account isn't enough. You have to create your first Facebook Page in order to unlock business features.

Step 1: Name the portfolio and fill out your name and email. Use your business email (the one you use to conduct business or email customers) with. Click 'Submit.'

Step 2: Check your inbox for the confirmation email. You're now ready to use Meta Business suite!

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Part 2: How to create a new Meta Business Portfolio

A Meta Business Portfolio keeps various Facebook, Instagram and other business assets together so they can be managed from one place. You can have multiple business portfolios, for example, for different clients or businesses.

Step 1: In Meta Business Suite (https://business.facebook.com/), hover over and click on your profile picture in the left-hand menu, right under the Meta logo.

Step 2: Click 'Create a business portfolio.'

Step 3: Enter basic contact details, then click 'Create.':

• Business Portfolio name: this should match your company’s public name, as it will be visible on Meta’s platforms. Avoid using special characters.
  
  
• Your full name: The name of the person setting up the portfolio.
  
  
• Business email address: Meta will use this email to contact you about your account. It won’t be shown to customers.

Step 4 (Optional): Meta may ask you to add business assets such as Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts to the new portfolio. Select the relevant assets and click "Next," or click "Skip" to add them later.

For detailed instructions, see:

• How to add a Facebook Page to your Business Portfolio
• How to add an Instagram account to your Business Portfolio

Step 5: (Optional) Add people from your team, marketing agency, freelancers, or partners that will help you manage this business portfolio.
There are three levels of access:

• People: Individual employees or freelancers who need access to your Meta assets. 

• Partners: Marketing agencies or other external businesses that manage aspects of your Meta assets. 

• System Users: Non-human accounts created to interact with the Meta APIs like software and servers.   

Invited users will receive an email with a link for them to accept the invite. 

Step 6: Final step. Review and confirm your choices, then click 'Confirm'. That's all! 🙌

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🛠️ Troubleshooting: Unable to access Meta Business Suite

If you're seeing the dreaded message telling you 'Unable to access Meta Business Suite with this account' while you're trying to make any of the steps above, you can resolve it by simply creating a Business Page. (Related article: How to fix 'Unable to assign assets in Meta' errors)

On the error message screen, click 'Create a Business Page'. You can follow along the steps above to finish the set up.

💡 Pro tip: You can just create a dummy Page if you are not ready to set up a business Page yet. Doing so will remove the error message, and you have time to continue creating business assets and portfolio in the meanwhile.

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How to link other assets to your Meta Business Portfolio

Apart from Facebook Pages, business portfolios can also house other business assets so they can be managed together.

Step 1: Go to 'Settings'

Step 2: Select from the dropdown—Pages, ad accounts, business asset groups, apps, Instagram accounts, and WhatsApp accounts.

Step 3: Click the blue '+ Add' button and follow the on-screen instructions to select and confirm.

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How to delete a Meta Business Portfolio

Step 1: Go to Meta Business 'Settings' → 'Business info' (https://business.facebook.com/latest/settings/business_info).

Step 2: In the top right corner, click 'Permanently delete business.'

Step 3: The confirmation pop up explains what happens when you deleta a Business Portfolio—you may lost some accounts tied into it, so double check before you proceed. Click 'Delete portfolio' if you are certain.

That's all! You have 24 hours to change your mind if this was done by mistake.