Meta Business Manager's Partner system is one of its most useful features for businesses that work with outside agencies, freelancers, vendors, or technology partners. Instead of adding individual people from an external organization to your Business Manager — and then managing each of them separately — you connect two Business Managers together and share specific assets between them.
This guide explains the two sides of the partner relationship and walks you through how to add a partner in Meta Business Manager, whether you are the business giving access or the agency requesting it.
Why It Matters
Managing external access to your Meta assets is one of the trickiest operational challenges in digital marketing. The wrong approach — sharing passwords, creating fake team accounts, or giving outside parties full admin control — creates security risks and messy offboarding situations.
The Partner system is built specifically to handle this cleanly. When you add a partner, each organization retains control over its own Business Manager. You share specific assets (Pages, ad accounts, pixels) with the partner, and the partner can manage those assets from their own environment. When the business relationship ends, you remove the partnership and access is immediately revoked on both sides.
What You Need Before You Start
Both parties need active Meta Business Manager accounts. You need the partner's Business Manager ID (or they need yours, depending on which direction the access flows). The person performing the setup must be an Admin of their Business Manager. You should agree in advance on which assets will be shared and at what permission level — this makes the setup faster and avoids having to redo permissions later.
Step-by-Step Guide
Understanding the Two Scenarios
There are two directions a partnership can go:
Scenario A — You are sharing your assets with a partner (e.g., you are the client and an agency will manage your ad account). You will go to your Business Manager and invite the agency as a partner, then assign your assets to them.
Scenario B — You are requesting access to a partner's assets (e.g., you are an agency and you need to access a client's Pages and ad accounts). You will go to your Business Manager and request access from the client's Business Manager.
This guide covers both.
Scenario A: Sharing Your Assets With a Partner
Step 1: Get the Partner's Business Manager ID
Ask the agency or partner for their Business Manager ID. They can find it in Business Settings → Business info.
Step 2: Open Business Settings
Go to business.facebook.com → Business Settings (gear icon).
Step 3: Go to Partners
In the left sidebar, find and click Partners.
Step 4: Add a New Partner
Click Add → Give a partner access to your assets. Enter the partner's Business Manager ID in the field provided. Click Next.
Step 5: Assign Assets and Permissions
Select which assets to share. For each asset (Page, ad account, Instagram account, pixel), choose the appropriate access level. Common configurations:
- Pages: Employee with full task access (or Admin if the agency needs to manage the page fully)
- Ad accounts: Advertiser (to create and manage campaigns) or Admin (for full control including billing)
- Pixels: Analyst (to use the pixel for targeting) or Admin (to manage the pixel itself)
Step 6: Send the Invitation
Click Send request. The partner will receive a notification in their Business Manager. They must accept the invitation before access is granted. Follow up with them to ensure they do.
Scenario B: Requesting Access to a Partner's Assets
This is the flow for agencies requesting access to client assets.
Step 1: Get the Client's Business Manager ID
Ask the client for their Business Manager ID. They find it in their Business Settings → Business info.
Step 2: Open Business Settings in Your Business Manager
Log into your agency's Business Manager and go to Business Settings.
Step 3: Go to Partners
Click Partners in the left sidebar.
Step 4: Add a New Partner
Click Add → Ask a partner to share their assets. Enter the client's Business Manager ID. Click Next.
Step 5: Specify What You Need
Describe what assets you are requesting access to. You can include a note or message to the client. Click Send request.
Step 6: Wait for Client Approval
The client will receive a notification to approve your request. They will then decide which assets to share and at what permission level from their Business Manager. You will receive a notification once they accept.
Step 7: Verify the Partnership
Once the invitation is accepted, go to Business Settings → Partners in your Business Manager. You should see the partner listed. Click on their entry to see which assets are shared and what access level was granted.
Common Issues and How to Fix Them
The partner's Business Manager ID is not found. Double-check that the ID is a purely numeric string with no spaces, letters, or special characters. If it is still not found, the partner's Business Manager may be deactivated or restricted. They should check their own Business Manager status.
The partner accepted the invitation but cannot see the assets. After acceptance, it may take a few minutes for access to propagate. Ask the partner to refresh their Business Manager. If the issue persists, go back to your Partners settings, select the partner, and confirm the assets are properly listed with the correct permissions.
I accidentally sent an invitation to the wrong Business Manager. If the invitation has not been accepted yet, you may be able to cancel it from the Partners section. If it has been accepted, remove the partnership immediately from Business Settings → Partners and send a new invitation to the correct partner.
The invitation expired before the partner could accept. Meta's partner invitations expire after a period if not acted upon. Send a new invitation if the original expired.
Tips to Get the Most Out of Partner Management
Always use Partner access for external organizations. Do not add individual external people directly to your Business Manager if they work for an agency or vendor. The Partner system is cleaner, more secure, and easier to manage at scale.
Document each partnership. Keep a record of which partner has access to which assets, when the access was granted, and why. This documentation is invaluable during audits and when offboarding partners.
Set an offboarding trigger. In your contracts or service agreements with agencies, include a clause that requires both parties to complete Business Manager offboarding (removing the partner relationship) within a set number of days after the contract ends. This prevents lingering access issues.
Periodically test that the partner can access what they need. Shortly after setting up a new partnership, verify with the partner that they can see and manage the assets you intended to share. Better to catch configuration errors early than after a campaign has been delayed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a partner agency create new assets (like new ad accounts or pixels) in my Business Manager?
No. A partner can only manage the specific assets you have explicitly shared with them. They cannot create new assets in your Business Manager or access anything beyond what was granted. Only your own Business Manager admins can create new assets.
Can I share the same asset with multiple partners?
Yes. A single ad account, Page, or pixel can be shared with multiple partner Business Managers simultaneously. Each partner will have access according to the permission level you set for them individually.
If I remove a partner, what happens to the campaigns they created?
Campaigns, ads, and other work created within your ad account remain in your account after the partner relationship ends. The content and data belong to your ad account, not to the partner. However, the partner will no longer be able to manage or modify those campaigns once access is removed.
Can a partner agency add their own team members to manage my assets?
Yes. That is one of the key advantages of the Partner system. Once you share your assets with the agency's Business Manager, the agency manages their own team's access internally. You do not need to manage individual agency employees — the agency handles that from their side.