Meta Paid Media Onboarding

We are thrilled to partner with you and get your ad campaigns up, running, and scaling.

Before we can dive into data, targeting, and creative strategy, we need to securely connect our business to yours. To do this, we utilize Meta’s formal backend network— Meta Business Manager (which Meta now calls a Business Portfolio). Connecting as formal business partners is the single safest way to collaborate. It ensures that you retain 100% absolute ownership of your data, assets, and pages, while safely granting our team the precise pipeline access we need to deploy, manage, and optimize your campaigns.

Why We Use Business Manager (Not Suite)

While you might use Meta Business Suite on your phone or desktop to post updates or reply to customer messages, it lacks the technical advertising tools required for a professional agency deployment. By linking our accounts on the backend, we can cleanly manage your:

• Ad Account & Billing: To monitor pacing and keep budgets highly optimized.

• Facebook Page & Instagram Profile: To publish your high-performing dark ads (ads that don't clutter your public feed).

• Tracking Pixels & Datasets: To closely monitor attribution and see exactly which ads are generating revenue.

Following, you will find a simple, step-by-step guide outlining exactly how to create your Business Portfolio and securely link our team as a partner using our unique Agency ID.

Let's get your assets locked down so we can start driving results!

Adding a partner is the cleanest, most secure way for agencies, clients, or freelancers to collaborate. Unlike adding "People" (which invites an individual via their personal email), adding a Partner connects two business entities. The owner retains absolute control, and assets never change hands. Here is the step-by-step documentation for adding a partner and granting asset permissions.

Standard Operating Procedure: Assigning Partner Access in Meta Business Manager

This guide walks through how to safely share business assets (Pages, Ad Accounts, Pixels/Datasets) with an external business entity without transferring ownership or sharing individual passwords.

Prerequisites

You must hold Full Control (Admin) access within your Meta Business Portfolio.

DO NOT CONFUSE BUSINESS MANAGER/PORTFOLIO WITH BUSINESS SUITE. Go to Page 4 to learn to navigate the difference between Suite and Portfolio and how to create a Portfolio if you don’t have one.

You must have the 15- or 16-digit Meta Business ID:

(Big Rig Media: 1011797202211010)

of the agency or partner you are connecting with. (They can find this by navigating to Business Settings > Business Info inside their own account).

Step-by-Step Partner Integration

1. Navigate to Business Settings: Access the backend directly. Go directly to business.facebook.com/settings. If you manage multiple portfolios, verify that the correct business name is displayed in the dropdown menu at the top left of the screen.

2. Open the Partners Panel: Locate user controls. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, look under the Users section and click on Partners.

3. Add a New Partner: Initiate the connection. Click the blue + Add button at the top of the center panel. From the dropdown menu, select "Give a partner access to your assets".

4. Enter Partner Business ID: Link the portfolios. A popup window will appear asking for the Partner Business ID. Paste the 15- or 16- digit ID provided by your agency or collaborator into the field and click Next.

5. Select Assets and Roles: Assign explicit permissions. A multi-column asset management window will open. Assign permissions across the required categories:

• Column 1 (Asset Types): Choose a category (e.g., Pages, Ad Accounts, or Pixels/Datasets).

• Column 2 (Select Assets): Check the box next to the specific assets you want to share.

• Column 3 (Permissions): Toggle the level of access required for those assets.

For active campaign management, toggle to Full control based on your working agreement. Please be assured: we cannot delete the page as a full access partner.

6. Save Changes and Confirm: Finalize the access. Repeat the asset selection for each category needed. Once all necessary permissions are selected, click the blue Save Changes button in the bottom right corner.

Verifying the Connection

Once confirmed, the connection is live instantly—the partner does not need to accept an email invitation.

Verification Check: Click on the partner’s name under Users > Partners at any time. The center panel will display a clean list of every asset they can see, along with their explicit permission levels.

To revoke access down the road, simply select the partner's name from this screen and click Remove next to an individual asset, or click Remove Partner to sever the entire connection instantly without losing historical data.

Getting past Meta’s aggressive redirects to Meta Business Suite can be incredibly frustrating. Meta loves to force everyone into Suite, but if you are managing complex ad accounts, pixels, and partner permissions, you need the backend structure of the actual Meta Business Manager (now officially called a Business Portfolio).

Standard Operating Procedure: Adding a Business Portfolio in Meta Business Manager

This document walks through how to create or add a new Business Portfolio (formerly called a Business Manager account) using Meta's advanced backend settings, completely bypassing the standard Meta Business Suite interface.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• A personal Facebook profile to verify your identity. (Note: Your personal profile details and feed will remain entirely hidden from anyone inside the business account.)

• A valid business email address that hasn't been blocked or flagged by Meta.

• The exact legal name of the business or agency.

Step-by-Step Creation Process

1. Bypass Meta Business Suite. Access the direct creation link

• Open a clean browser tab and navigate directly to business.facebook.com/overview

• Do not go to the standard home page, or Meta will automatically redirect you to the Suite dashboard.

2. Initiate Account Setup

• Click Create Account

• Click the blue Create Account button located in the top right corner of the overview landing page.

3. Enter Portfolio Details

• Input business credentials

• A modal popup will appear requesting your credentials. Enter the following exact details:

• Business and Account Name: This should match your official business or agency name. It will be visible across your portfolios.

• Your Name: Enter your actual name as it appears on your personal profile.

• Your Business Email: Enter the primary email address where you want to receive Meta notifications, asset alerts, and verification links.

4. Submit and Process

• Finalize initial creation

• Click Submit. Meta will process the request and create the underlying business container. If you receive an error stating you have reached your account limit, you must have an existing admin delete an unused portfolio first.

5. Verify Email Authenticity

• Crucial for asset assignment

• Open the inbox of the business email address you provided. Look for an email from Meta/Facebook with the subject line "Confirm your business email". Click Confirm Now.

Accessing the Business Settings Backend

Once the portfolio is created, you must manage it from the classic Business Settings panel rather than Suite.

Direct Access Link: Bookmark business.facebook.com/settings to jump straight to your asset and team management backend without seeing the Suite feed. From this dedicated settings dashboard, you can cleanly manage your primary core assets:

• People: Go to Users > People to invite team members via email and assign them strict asset-level access.

• Pages: Go to Accounts > Pages to claim or request access to Facebook business assets.

• Ad Accounts: Go to Accounts > Ad Accounts to set up lines of credit or create new advertising profiles.

Sprout Social

If Meta accidentally drops you back into the Suite interface at any point, look for the Gear Icon (Settings) in the bottom left corner, then click More Business Settings to force the classic view back open.

A Quick Note on "Inherited" Page Ownership

We frequently onboard clients who have inherited a Facebook Business Page from a previous owner, agency, or former employee. If you find that your page is permanently locked inside a Business Manager account you cannot access, please don't panic—this is an incredibly common hurdle, and we know exactly how to navigate it. Here is how we can tackle this together:

• If you are still in contact with the previous owner: We can provide a quick, simple set of instructions to help them cleanly release the page to your new Business Portfolio.

• If they are completely unreachable: Our team will help you gather the necessary business documentation to open an official ownership dispute directly with Meta Support to reclaim your asset.

How we keep your launch on track: While we work on sorting out your long-term backend structure, we don't have to pause your momentum. You can temporarily add our team directly as Admins to your Facebook Page.

This gives us the immediate clearance we need to get your ad campaigns up and running right away, while we quietly work in the background to secure the permanent, correct access that will protect your brand and your Meta assets for years to come. If you need additional assistance, we’ve got you covered every step of the way:

Submit A Support Ticket