Posting regularly but feeling overwhelmed or unsure it’s working?

Yes, a business can have more than one Meta advertising account, although Meta can apply limits to the number of advertising accounts a business can create or manage. These limits can vary depending on factors such as the business, account history and how the advertising accounts are being used.

Having multiple advertising accounts can be useful in some circumstances. For example, a larger business may want separate advertising accounts for different brands, countries, divisions or areas of the business. An agency may also work with multiple clients, with each client’s advertising activity kept separate.

However, most small businesses don’t need multiple advertising accounts simply because they’re running different campaigns. You can normally manage multiple campaigns, ad sets and adverts within the same advertising account, so there’s usually no reason to create a new account every time you want to advertise something different.

Before creating another advertising account, check whether you already have one that meets your needs. This is particularly important if you’re taking over an existing Meta advertising setup or working with an agency that has previously managed your advertising.

It’s surprisingly common for businesses to have an existing advertising account but not realise that it is already connected to a Business Portfolio or that they only have limited access to it. Creating another account may appear to solve the problem, but it can actually leave you with advertising activity, data and billing spread across multiple accounts.

There can also be restrictions around creating new advertising accounts, particularly if you’ve reached an account limit or if Meta has placed restrictions on your business or advertising activity.

If an advertising account isn’t showing in your Business Portfolio, don’t immediately create a new one. First, check whether you’re looking at the correct Business Portfolio, whether you have the necessary permissions and whether the existing advertising account is owned by another Business Portfolio.

It’s also worth thinking carefully about ownership. If you’re working with an external marketing agency, your business should generally retain ownership of its advertising account rather than allowing the agency to create and own the account on your behalf. The agency can then be given the appropriate access to manage your campaigns.

In short, multiple advertising accounts can be useful when there’s a genuine business reason for keeping advertising activity separate. But for most businesses, one well-organised advertising account with properly structured campaigns is likely to be much easier to manage than several accounts created simply to get around a permissions or setup problem.

Need help with paid advertising? We have a paid advertising service which can help!

Yes. You can give a digital marketing agency, social media manager or other external partner access to your Facebook Page without giving them your personal Facebook password.

In fact, this is the approach we would recommend.

Meta’s business tools are designed to allow businesses to work with external people and organisations while keeping ownership of their business assets. You can give an agency access to the specific assets they need, which might include your Facebook Page, Instagram account, advertising account, Meta Pixel or other relevant business assets.

The important distinction is between ownership and access.

Ideally, your business should retain ownership of its Facebook Page, Instagram account and advertising assets. The agency then receives the permissions it needs to carry out the agreed work.

For example, if you’ve hired an agency to manage your social media, they may need access to your Facebook Page and Instagram account so they can create and publish content, respond to messages or monitor activity. If they’re also managing your paid advertising, they may need access to your advertising account and relevant tracking assets.

That doesn’t mean they need full control of your entire Business Portfolio.

Giving an agency access through Meta’s business permissions also means you can change or remove that access if your working relationship ends. You don’t have to hand over your personal Facebook login details, and you don’t have to worry about an ex-agency still knowing your password.

Should I give my agency full control?

Not necessarily.

It’s tempting to give someone full control because it’s quick and avoids having to work out which permissions they need. However, it’s generally better to give people only the access required to carry out their role.

For example, a social media manager may need to manage your Page and Instagram account but have no reason to access your billing information or other business assets.

Similarly, an advertising agency may need access to your ad account and tracking assets without needing unrestricted control over everything your business has connected to Meta.

If you’re unsure which permissions an agency needs, ask them to tell you exactly which assets and functions they require.

What if the agency says it needs ownership?

This is something worth questioning before making any changes.

An agency may need access to your assets in order to manage them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the agency should own those assets.

Your Facebook Page, advertising account, Instagram account and other important digital assets represent part of your business’s online presence. Keeping ownership with the business makes it much easier to change agencies, bring marketing in-house or work with another provider in the future.

If an agency has set up your Meta accounts on your behalf, it’s worth checking who actually owns the assets and which Business Portfolio they belong to.

Fixing an ownership problem after several years can be considerably more complicated than setting things up correctly in the first place.

What happens when I stop working with an agency?

When an agency relationship ends, review the access they have to your Business Portfolio and its assets.

Remove access that is no longer required and check that your business still has appropriate administrative control of everything it owns.

It’s also worth checking any connected advertising accounts, tracking assets and other business resources rather than only removing access to the Facebook Page.

The aim is simple: your business owns its digital assets, and the people you work with have the access they need to do their job.

And no, that does not involve sending your Facebook password to someone called Steve from the agency and hoping for the best.

Yes. You generally need a personal Facebook account to access and manage Meta’s business tools, but that doesn’t mean your personal Facebook profile becomes your business account.

Meta uses individual Facebook accounts to identify the people who have access to a Business Portfolio and its assets. Your personal account acts as your login and identity, while the business itself is managed through the appropriate Meta business structure.

This is important because it means you shouldn’t create a separate personal Facebook profile for your business or create a shared Facebook account for your team. Doing so can cause problems with account ownership, security and access further down the line.

Instead, each person who needs to work on your business’s Facebook Page, Instagram account or advertising should use their own legitimate Facebook account and be given the appropriate permissions through the Business Portfolio.

For example, if you own a business and have a member of staff managing your social media, you don’t need to give them access to your personal Facebook account. You can invite them to your Business Portfolio and give them access to the specific assets they need.

The same applies if you work with an external marketing agency. The agency doesn’t need your personal Facebook login details. Instead, you can give the agency or its relevant team members access to your Facebook Page, Instagram account, advertising account or other business assets through Meta’s business permissions.

This approach also makes your business more secure. If someone leaves your company or you stop working with an agency, their access can be removed without affecting your personal Facebook account or requiring you to change your password.

It’s also worth remembering that having a personal Facebook account doesn’t mean that other people automatically get access to your personal information. The purpose of Meta’s business permissions is to allow people to work on business assets without giving them access to your personal Facebook activity.

So, the simple answer is yes, you’ll generally use your own personal Facebook account to access Meta’s business tools, but you should manage the business itself through its Business Portfolio and give other people access through business permissions.

If you’re setting up a business account for the first time, getting the ownership and permissions structure right from the beginning can save you a lot of headaches later. Meta account problems are much easier to avoid than they are to untangle!

Yes. Meta Business Manager and Meta Business Suite are free to use, so there is no monthly subscription or setup fee simply for creating a Business Portfolio and using Meta’s business management tools.

You can use these tools to organise your Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts, manage users and permissions, connect advertising accounts, work with agencies and partners, and manage various other business assets without paying Meta for access to the platform.

However, it’s important to distinguish between using Meta’s business management tools and paying for Meta advertising. Business Manager itself is free, but if you choose to run paid advertising on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll pay for the advertising campaigns separately. How much you spend is up to you, and your advertising budget is not the same thing as a Business Manager subscription.

For example, a small business could create a Business Portfolio, connect its Facebook Page and Instagram account, give a social media manager access and use the available business management tools without spending anything on advertising.

If that business then decides to run a Facebook or Instagram advertising campaign, it can set an advertising budget and will be charged for the adverts it runs according to Meta’s advertising system.

There may also be costs associated with third-party tools, agencies, software or services that you choose to use alongside Meta. These aren’t charges for Meta Business Manager itself. For example, if you employ a digital marketing agency to manage your Facebook advertising, you’ll pay the agency for its services as well as any advertising budget you allocate to Meta.

So, if you’re wondering whether you need to pay just to set up Meta Business Manager and organise your business accounts, the answer is no. It’s the advertising and any additional services you choose to use that can incur costs.