It never fails. We hear it all the time. One of the biggest challenges a consultant or agency can encounter in the course of trying to help a client in a mix-up over their own business account access.
We usually hear something along the lines of …
“We’re not really sure how to access our [Facebook, AdWords, Analytics, etc.] account anymore. We know it’s set up, but [INSERT NAME HERE] used to manage it and they just left the company. We’ll have to look around for the login.”
Seriously? These accounts are the lifeblood of your business and you don’t know how to access them or who is managing them?
Yep.
Happens all the time. Even with “big” companies that should know better.
This guide is designed to help you set up your accounts correctly from the beginning. It will help you organize account access for all your platforms using ONE admin company email that will be autonomous and independent of a single person or various people who may leave the company.
It will also help you grant access to your accounts to companies like Uhuru that can help you accelerate and improve your performance.
Article Contents
Correctly Setting Up Facebook Account(s)
The best way to manage access to your Facebook Page/ad account is by making sure you have ONE Business Manager account setup. Facebook Business Manager is a free tool developed by Facebook to allow businesses and agencies to securely manage their company’s Pages and ad accounts in one place, without sharing login information or being connected to their coworkers on Facebook.
Business Manager allows you to step up, run, and manage several Facebook ad accounts, business pages, catalogs, and pixels. It is essentially one space where you can manage all of your Facebook advertising and marketing efforts for multiple clients. Think of it as a command center that allows marketers to operate numerous social media pages.
Access to pages and ad accounts can be requested from Facebook Business Manager. You can also assign your team to different accounts and edit their permissions.
Getting Started with Facebook Accounts
Who should set up a Business Manager?
Choose one person from your company to set up a Business Manager. The person should currently be responsible for managing your company’s primary Facebook Page, ad accounts, and apps, and for giving other people permission to work on them. Once the Business Manager is set up, you can add as many people to it as you want.
What you’ll need:
A primary Facebook Page
Choose the Page that represents the company you work for, even if you help manage lots of Pages. You’ll need to be an admin on your primary Page to set up Business Manager. If you don’t have a primary Page for your business, you can create one.
Business Info
Make sure you have a list of all the ad account numbers and the names of Pages you’ll want to add to Business Manager.
Employee email addresses
Invite employees, co-workers, and partners to Business Manager using their work email addresses.
Creating a Facebook Page
Facebook requires all Business Pages to be linked to a personal account so that they can manage the Page. It’s also against Facebook Terms of Policy to create a personal account for a business. → You must have a personal Facebook profile set up in order to create a Facebook Page. However, when you create a Page from your personal account no one can see that you’re the admin or that your personal account is associated with the Page.
Steps to Creating a Facebook Business Page:
1. Go to facebook.com/pages/create.
2. Click to choose a Page category.
3. Select a more specific category from the dropdown menu and fill out the required information.
4. Click “Get Started” and follow the on-screen instructions.
Steps to Creating a Facebook Business Manager:
1. Go to business.facebook.com.
2. Click “Create Account.”
3. Enter a name for your business, select the primary Page, and enter your name and work email address.
4. Move through the rest of the onboarding flow by entering the rest of the required fields.
Now that you have your initial Facebook Business Manager set up, you should see a homepage with your company name.
To manage access to this in Business Manager, go to Business Settings in the sidebar on the homepage.
Now click on “People” → This is where you can add people who will be working on your Pages and ad account.
To add someone, click on “Add” and enter their work email address.
You can also decide if this person will be a business manager admin or employee. Enter a universal email that your company will use for account management (i.e webadmin@uhurunetwork.com) and give this email ADMIN access.
It’s very important that you do this since employee emails often get deactivated if someone leaves the company. Remember: Just because someone is not an admin on the Business Manager doesn’t mean they can’t be assigned an admin role on your ad account or Page.
Business Manager acts as a virtual agency and it’s best to keep Business Manager admins to a minimum. Now you have a Business Manager with a universal admin that is resistant to employees leaving, job roles changing, etc.
To assign employees roles on your Facebook Business Page, navigate to “Accounts” and then “Pages” in Business Settings, and select your Facebook Page. Click “Add People” and select their role.
NOTE: A person must be added to your Business Manager before you can give them a role on a Page/ad account in your Business Manager.
Now that you have your Business Manager set up and associated with your Facebook Page, you can go ahead and add/create or claim your business ad account. In Business Manager settings, navigate to “Ad Accounts” from there, you are presented with the option to create a new account, claim an ad account, or request access to an existing ad account.
- Create a new account: If your business does not have an ad account and you need to create a new one.
- Claim an ad account: If you already have an ad account for your business and you would like to pull it into your new Business Manager.
PRO TIP: You cannot claim an ad account that is already owned by another Business Manager. You can only have one Business Manager for your company, so make sure that this is not the case.
- Request access to existing ad account: this is used for marketing/advertising agencies, so you can ignore this.
Once you have your ad account in your Business Manager you can go ahead and give people within your Business Manager access to this ad account.
Setting up a Facebook Ad Account
When you access your Facebook Ads Manager settings in your new account for the first time, you are prompted to set up the account. You are assigned a random account ID number, and it will also set your currency and time zone based on your location at the time of setup.
It’s important to note: if you relocate or happen to set up while traveling, you can change your preferred currency and time zone at any time. When you change your currency, your old Facebook Ads Manager account will be closed, and a new ad account will be opened. This won’t do any harm but, if you have ads running on that account, they will stop running.
In Settings, enter your business information and advertising purpose. Facebook asks these questions for legal reasons, as there may be restrictions on certain types of advertising in your region. When you’re finished entering your information, select Save Changes.
Next, you’re going to set up your payment method. You must have a payment method before you’re able to start running Facebook ads.
You will need to navigate to your ad account information, which can also be found on the “Settings” page. To set up your payment method, select “Payment Settings” located in the left column. Once you have your payment method set up, you will be able to find an overview of your pending balance, update payment methods, and set your spending limit all in this section.
To add a payment method, navigate to “Add Payment Method.” You have the option to pay with a credit or debit card, PayPal, online banking, or a Facebook ad coupon.
If you so desire, you can add multiple payment methods. Once you have entered your payment information, select “Continue.” Depending on what payment method you chose, you may be asked for more details.
Once you add your payment method, you will be redirected to the Payment Settings page. You can always edit or remove payment methods on this page under “Settings” in Ads Manager.
You can also set your account spending limit in the “Payment Methods” section. An account spending limit will help control your total ad costs by pausing your ads when the set limit is reached. Your ads will stay paused until you change this limit.
To set a spending limit, select “Set Account Spending Limit.” Here, you have the option to change, remove, or reset your account spending limit. Once you are finished, click “Set Limit.”
You now know how to set up your Facebook ads manager account. Remember, you can change any of your Ads Manager settings at any time by selecting “Settings” from the menu in the top right of Ads Manager.
Providing account access to your agency or helping clients grant you access to their account can be a bit of a confusing process. Good news: we already have an article covering that topic!
So, that covers Facebook, but what about Google? Next, we’ll take a look at setting up your company’s Google AdWords Manager Account.
Setting Up a Google Ads Manager Account:
Similar to a Facebook Business Manager account, an Ads Manager account is a Google Ads account that lets you easily view and manage multiple Google Ads accounts—including other manager accounts—from a single location.
Note: This blog post utilizes the NEW Google Ads platform. Using the SAME universal email you used for your Facebook Business Manager (i.e webadmin@uhurunetwork.com) go ahead and create an AdWords Manager account.
NOTE: Make sure this email address doesn’t already have access to any Google Ads accounts or you will not be able to use this email to make a Manager account.
- Visit https://ads.google.com/home/tools/manager-accounts/ and navigate to “Create Manager Account.”
- Enter the universal email address you want to use for this account. And follow the rest of the steps on the screen.
To begin using your Manager account, you’ll need to link it to an existing or new Ads account.
To create a new Google Ads account from your manager account:
1. Sign in to your Google Ads manager account.
2. From the page menu on the left, click “Accounts.”
3. Click the plus button.
4. Click “Create New Account.”
5. Follow the instructions on the screen
Your Manager account now has admin ownership over this Ads account and you may add people to manage this account as well.
To add people to your Google Ads Manager account:
Sign in to your Ads Manager account.
1. Click the tool icon in the upper right corner of your account.
2. Under “Setup,” click “Account access and security.”
3. Click the plus button.
4. Enter the new user’s email address.
5. Select an access level
6. Click Send Invitation.
Here’s an overview of the different access levels for manager account users and what they can do:
You can also just add people to the Ads account without giving them any sort of access to the Manager account.
Sign in to your Google Ads account.
1. Click the “Tools & Settings” icon and select Account Settings.
2. Navigate to “Setup” and click “account access and security”
3. Click the blue plus sign.
4. Enter the email address of the person you want to share your account with.
5. Select an access level.
From your account access settings as the administrative owner, you’re able to revoke/grant and change your users account access levels.
Granting account access to an agency (external): Provide the agency with your 10-digit Ad account ID. From the agency’s own manager account, they will be able to request access to your AdWords account and you can control their level of access as you would your own team.
And that’s it! You now have your Google Ads Manager Account all set up.
Two down. Now it’s time to dive into LinkedIn and get you set up with a company page.
LinkedIn Company Page
To manage account access to your company’s LinkedIn page and Ads Manager, let’s first focus on the company page. 
To create a LinkedIn company page follow these steps:
- Click the Work icon in the top right corner of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Click Create a Company Page.
- Enter your Company Name and choose a URL.
- Click the Create Page button.
- Click Get Started on the welcome screen to begin editing your Company Page.
Once you’ve created your Company Page you’re now the admin. You can control who has access to your page by adding additional admins to the page, in case an admin loses access to the page or leaves the company in the future.
There are three types of Company Page administrators:
- Designated Admin access – allows employees to make edits to your Company Page, add other admins, and post company updates.
- Direct Sponsored Content Poster access – gives marketers at your company the ability to share content to the homepage feed of LinkedIn members.
- Pipeline Builder Admin access – gives users the ability to create and edit Pipeline Builder landing pages that are associated with your Company Page.
To add other LinkedIn admins:
- Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Below Manage, select your Company Page. Click on Admin Tools at the top of the page and click Manage Admins.
- Click on the type of admin you want to add at the top of the page (Designated Admin, Recruiting Poster, or Direct Sponsored Content Poster). NOTE: Make sure there is at least one other Designated Admin for this page (two admins at all times).
Now that you have a LinkedIn company page, let’s move on to LinkedIn Campaign Manager.
The LinkedIn Campaign Manager dashboard is the LinkedIn equivalent to Facebook Ads Manager. This is where you will manage and optimize your LinkedIn advertising. All of your ad campaigns for LinkedIn will exist on a platform called Marketing Solutions.
To access Campaign Manager:
1) Log into your ads account (linkedin.com/ad/accounts) and sign in using your personal LinkedIn account, which is already an admin for your company page we just created (see above).
2) Once you’re logged in, navigate to “Add account.”
3) Select a company name or URL:
- Company name: Enter the company name you want to associate with your account in the first field and select the correct page from the dropdown list. Note: If your Company or Showcase Page doesn’t appear in the list, select the URL option.
- URL: Enter the URL for the LinkedIn Company Page (not website URL).
4) Enter a name for your account and select a billing currency.
5) Click Add Account.
** You are now your company’s LinkedIn Ad Account and Billing Admin!
You can give others access to your ad account by logging into Campaign Manager, navigating to the account dropdown on the top right hand of your screen, and selecting “Manage Access.”
Click “Add User to Account.”
You can paste in the member’s LinkedIn public profile URL or type in the name of the member you would like to add.
Here are the access levels and what they entail:
- Make sure you have at least one other person as a designated account manager in case you leave the company, are out sick, etc.
- NOTE: Unlike Google Ads and Facebook, you cannot add people to your campaign manager, only to specific ad accounts. So make sure your company’s ad account doesn’t have more than 3 account managers, and make sure there are at MINIMUM two account managers at all times.
- In the case that someone is no longer at the company, here are the rules for removing account users:
- You must be an Account Manager to remove a Campaign Manager, Creative Manager, or Viewer.
- You must be an Account Manager and assigned as the Billing Admin to remove another Account Manager.
- Locate the user from the list of users in the Manage access window.
- Click the “X’ to the right of their name.
You now know how to create a Business Manager account on Facebook that owns your Facebook page and ad account via a single universal company admin login.
You now know how to create a Google Ads Manager account that owns your Ad account via a single universal company admin login.
You now know how to create a LinkedIn Company Page that is associated with your LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and understand how to grant/remove and alter access to both the page and ad account
NOTE: You want to make sure that no matter what, this universal admin login always has ownership/account admin abilities on all of your platforms. Although your universal admin login will have ownership access in your Google Ads and Facebook accounts, this is not the case for LinkedIn, so make sure you always have two account managers (as previously stated). You want to make sure that all accounts always have two admins (just in case). If one leaves, make sure you transfer their admin status to their replacement/another employee/coworker.
Was that so hard?
Actually, I’m sure quite a few of you said “YES!” Don’t worry, we’re going to show you a safe and secure method to make it easier going forward, and grant access to all of your accounts quickly.
LastPass for Account Password Management
Meet our best friend and gatekeeper: LastPass. LastPass is a password vault that lets you automatically fill in passwords and usernames for you once they’re added. And you can add people in your organization to your folder who will also have access to this.
“For businesses of all sizes, LastPass provides secure password storage and centralized admin oversight to reduce the risk of data breaches while removing employee password obstacles. With customizable policies, secure password sharing, and comprehensive user management, LastPass offers the control IT needs and the convenience users expect.”
LastPass will protect the password(s) for your admin login and make sure that you don’t lose access to your accounts.
- Create a LastPass account for your universal login email address and add your Facebook Business Manager account, AdWords Manager account, and LinkedIn account to these.
a) Install LastPass extension for your browser.
b) After you download LastPass, you’ll find the LastPass button in your browser toolbar. (You can use LastPass on Safari/Firefox/Chrome) → Navigate to Create Account to get started!
c) Create a strong master password. Write this down somewhere, preferably offline or an encrypted Google document.
d) Once you have your account set up, you can navigate to your LastPass vault from the same extension icon in your browser. 
e) You can fill your vault with passwords for your admin account platforms manually or automatically using the extension.
From your vault, you can share passwords for specific websites. Hover over the website and click on the “share icon.” You can share the password without having them see what the password is. This way, they can log in without having the ability to change the password, giving you full control.
There you go!
All of your accounts are under a centralized email ID that can control your most important accounts, without disappearing every two years. You won’t have to stay on hold with Facebook or play 20 questions with Google ever again.
