Trying to navigate Meta’s portfolio of tools can be frustrating at best and downright infuriating at worst.
Why are there a dozen names for the same thing? What’s a Business Manager account? How do you get Facebook page access? Who has page admin?
This article answers these questions for good and makes it as simple as possible for you to request access to Facebook pages.
Whether you’re an agency or freelancer managing a Facebook page for clients or are an employee who needs admin access to a page, you’re in the right place.
What to jump straight to the step-by-step Facebook access tutorial? Click here.
Why do you need access to your clients’ Facebook page?
Typically, agencies and freelancers need Facebook page access so they can:
- Manage a client’s Facebook Business page and Instagram account
- Create posts and reels for Instagram and Facebook
- Manage Facebook and Instagram stories
- Answer customer comments, messages, and enquires
- Create and run ads on both Facebook and Instagram (more on that here)
- Check analytics
How can I log in to my client’s Facebook Page?
It’s not possible to just “login” to someone else’s Facebook page or business account.
This is because ALL Facebook Business pages are set up through someone’s personal Facebook account.
That means you can’t create a Facebook Business page without a personal Facebook account. Crazy, we know 🤯
So, your client can't share their business page "login" credentials for you to access their page.
The only thing your client could do is share their personal Facebook login details for the personal account connected to their Business Facebook page.
Should they do that?
Absolutely not.
Sharing account login details of a personal account is a big security risk and it will cause problems because of 2-factor authentication (required for most Facebook Business functions).
To request access to a Facebook page, you’ll need to do it via Meta Business Portfolio or with Leadsie.
FYI: In 2024 Meta Business Manager has been renamed to Meta Business Portfolio:
Confused about the difference between Meta Business Manager, Business Portfolio, and Business Suite? This video explains it all:
How to request access to Facebook page: Step-by-step using Meta Business Portfolio
Ok, so you want access to a page so you can start implementing your digital marketing strategy for your client.
Here’s how to get Facebook access:
Step 1. Go to your Meta Business Portfolio (previously called Meta Business Manager).
Note: You can also request access to a Facebook page using Meta Business Suite. The steps are the same as below but you start under Settings/Pages
Step 2. In Meta Business Portfolio click the burger on the left menu, followed by Business settings
Step 3. Under Accounts, click Pages
Step 4. Click Add
Step 5. Click Request access to a Page
If you have not done so, select the primary page for your business following the process described:
Step 6. Find your client's page by typing in the name of the page
Step 7. Select the necessary access level you require depending on whether you need:
- Partial access (business tools and Facebook).
This includes:- Content
- Messages
- Community activity
- Messages and calls
- Ads
- Insights
- Leads
OR
- Full control (business tools and Facebook)
When you gain access with full control, you can manage everything except the most sensitive actions directly on Facebook. You can give access to others and remove anyone from the page.
Important note: when you request access to a page (even with full permissions), it doesn’t change ownership of the page. Your client will still be the full owner of their Facebook page and ad account.
Step 8. Click Request Access, and your client will receive an email like this:
Step 9. To grant you access, it’s your client’s turn. The admin(s) of the page will need to click the “Review Request in Business Manager” button and hit “Accept Request”
Step 10. You can see your client’s page in the list of pages you have access to; Request pending will disappear once they approve your request
Now you have page access, you can manage your client's Facebook page, schedule content, check analytics, respond to customer comments and private messages, and take over the day-to-day management of the page admin.
What about Instagram access?
As long as the Facebook Page and Instagram are connected, access to Instagram will be shared through the Facebook Page.
You can learn more about this in our guide on how to get access to Instagram.
Requesting access to a Facebook page through Meta Business Portfolio: Common problems
When you request access through your Meta Business Portfolio account, it isn’t always as smooth as the process above suggests. Here are some common issues that may arise:
1. Client misses the access request
The number one problem is that client’s often don’t see the request you sent, because the email address they use for Facebook isn’t their work email.
How to fix this? You'll need to chase the client to approve your request. Unfortunately this can cause a lot of friction when you're just starting the client relationship.
2. Not knowing who owns the page or has admin rights
The second most common issue is, that the client doesn’t even have access to their Facebook page or know who has admin access to the Facebook Page. This means they can’t share page access because it’s owned by a Business Portfolio they can't access.
If the page is owned by a Business Manager (Portfolio) that the client doesn’t have access to because it was set up by a previous agency or employee, the best place to see who owns a page is here. It shows which Business Manager (Portfolio) is the “owner” of the page and any people + partners with access:
If the client has access to the page, but the page is owned by a Business Manager (Portfolio) they don’t have admin access for, they can still share access to the page ONLY, but not partner access (which you'll need for Facebook ad account access).
When you use Leadsie to get Facebook access, you can see the names of the the Business Portfolio AND the names of the ADMINS who have the full permissions to the page, it will look like this:
Spoiler Alert: We built Leadsie to solve all of these issues.
3. An unlinked Instagram
If your client hasn’t already connected their Instagram with Facebook, you’ll also have to sort that out separately once you have access to their page on Facebook.
4. Access to anything other than Facebook page
Lastly, requesting access to anything else than the Facebook Page involves knowing your clients’ Business Portfolio ID.
What’s the easiest way to get Facebook access?
It would have been nice to get all of this done in 2 clicks, right? Well, with Leadsie, you can do just that 🤩
How does Leadsie work to get Facebook access?
When you use Leadsie to request access to Facebook pages, every time you get a new client or run an audit for a new prospect, you will no longer need to go through the process above.
With our tool, all you need to do is share your private access link with your client.
They log in with their Facebook account and confirm access. It’s as simple as that!
If you only need access to the client’s Facebook Page and none of the other Facebook assets, your client does not need to have a Meta Business Portfolio set up.
Advantages of getting Facebook access with Leadsie
When you use Leadsie to request access to a page on Facebook, it:
- Takes away the need for back-and-forth communication between you and the client
- Reduces the time spent getting access by at least half
- Eliminates the need to check Facebook to see if you have access
- Makes it possible to get access to all Meta assets, not only a Facebook page
- It's more secure than direct password sharing
Get Access to Facebook Assets in just 2-Clicks
Put a stop to the access request headaches and start getting the work done for your clients straight away.
Do you want to simplify the onboarding process for you and your clients?
See for yourself how much hassle Leadsie saves you, enter your email below and get a free 14-day trial.
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