When a number of enquires came to us regarding the Facebook advertising & Business Manager, I am pretty sure, its poor support led people to search somewhere else for support. This thought made me write this blog.

The Facebook Business manager is helpful but the process to make it work for us is very complicated.

Does your business use Facebook in any way? Let us understand what Facebook Business Manager is and why it is essential for your business. Here, I’ve also discussed the process of setting up Facebook Business Manager. Let’s get started.

What is Facebook Business Manager?

Well, for starters, Facebook explains Business Manager as 

A one-stop-shop to manage business tools, business assets, and employee access to these assets.’ Facebook Business Manager is a platform that allowed me to manage my Facebook marketing and advertising activities. What’s more? It also allowed me to control multiple users’ access to various resources, such as my Instagram account and product catalogs. Isn’t that exciting?

Facebook Business Manager is responsible for the following essential functions:

• It allows you to keep your business separate from your profile. 
• It is a central platform to keep track of Facebook ads. It provides detailed reports about how your ad is performing.
• It allows you to give partners access to your page without giving them ownership.
• It does not reveal your personal Facebook data. 

Why do we Use Facebook Business Manager?

I know you may be wondering why you should use Facebook Business Manager. There are so many reasons why!

I received some benefits once I started using Facebook Business Manager, so will you. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Here are a few reasons I would like to bring to your notice :

Control Over Ads

Recently, it came to my notice that Facebook started making Facebook Business Manager compulsory for all the accounts that use custom audiences created from email lists. Also, if I must talk about it practically, I think it is a must-have tool for your business.

Any advertiser who wants to extend their performance should be using custom audiences. Keeping a separate audience and other assets for each client will be the very first advantage we get from the business manager.

You could avoid using an excel sheet for keeping track of the amount spent on each client by using different ad account for each client. But please note most of the time Facebook allows only 4 or 5 ad accounts in one business manager account. I tried contacting Facebook for increasing it, but the response I got from them is. It’s an automated system that decides the number of allowed ad account in a business manager account and they don’t know the eligibility requirement for increasing the base number.

So, if you want to make the most out of advertising, I suggest using it. 

Prevents the Need for Grey Social Media Accounts

It can be difficult to separate your profile from the business assets that it controls. There are times when you want to keep your profile separate. In such a case, it becomes difficult to add other people to business assets. Because of this, many companies create grey accounts, i.e. a fake profile.

I’ve seen that Facebook disables fake profiles and blocks the companies to access their account. But things won’t be the same if you are using Facebook Business Manager.

You can always switch to Facebook Business Manager, which allows you to keep your profile, and business assets separate. Isn’t this a great feature?

Support from Facebook (Even though not useful, Yea they do have one)

Facebook Business Manager offers several types of assets and tools for your business. All I had to do was to integrate those to work correctly. While using Facebook Business Manager, if you face any technical issues, you can connect with  Facebook Business Support Centre but in my experience, their support was the worst. I hope Facebook will improve their support in the upcoming years.

Facebook Business Manager can be quite complex for someone who is starting out. I came across some difficulties in understanding all the functions, all the different options. Setting up ads and viewing the performance of my posts also took me some time to understand.

The Facebook Business Support Centre confused me rather than giving proper solutions. So in my experience, the support is really very poor.

I’ve observed that, if you just have a Facebook page and an ad account then switching to Facebook Business Manager is a simple process. But if your company holds several assets, it may become difficult. Even if you have just a few assets, I understand it can be a lot complicated to work on it, to give access to every employee, and to maintain how much access a person must get.

That is why I think if you switch now, it will be much more comfortable than waiting for it to be complicated in the future. So what are you waiting for? Switch now and enjoy unlimited benefits!

Secure

We can agree that online businesses come with security risks. But take it from me, Facebook Business Manager ensures that your account is secure and protected all the time! Here, one member of the staff is the in-charge of the Facebook Business Manager and is responsible for conducting an audit every month. In this audit, by having all the assets, staff members, and agencies in a portal, it ensures that only the authorized people have the correct level of access.

Whenever an employee leaves or a new client comes up, the employee and agency list needs an update. Facebook Business Manager also includes a Security Centre where they provide two-factor authentication for all the staff members. According to my experience, it will also help you in your audits if the employees are active or inactive.

Free to Use

When I used it, I found that it allows you to access Enterprise-level tools that are free for all Facebook advertisers. There are several tools and assets that Facebook Business Manager provides free of cost. The variety of tools is the best part! Am I right?

How to Set up Facebook Business Manager?

Well I hope now you got a brief idea about Facebook Business Manager, Now let me help you with some steps in order to set up a Business Manager Account.

Step 1: Create a Facebook Business Manager Account

The first phase of setting up Facebook Business Manager is to create an account. For that, you need your personal Facebook profile to confirm your identity. As mentioned above, your staff members cannot access your details. Follow the steps below:

1. Go to business.Facebook.com.
2. You will see a “Create Account” option available on the top right corner. Click on it.
3. Enter the required details (Your name, Business name, Business email address) and click on the “Next” button.
4. Enter the required details of your business (Address, Phone number, Website) and click on the “Submit” button.
5. You will receive an email to confirm your business email. You will see an option such as “Confirm Now” in the said email. Click on it.

Step 2: Create or Add your Facebook Business Page

Now you can proceed to create a new Facebook page or add an existing one. You can also request access to someone else’s Facebook page if you are managing pages for your clients. To add your Facebook page to Facebook Business Manager, I’ve given the following steps:

1. Navigate to the Business Settings Dashboard and click on the “ Pages” menu. (A pop-up box will appear.)
2. Click on the “Add Page” button again.
3. Enter the name of your Facebook Business Page in the provided text box.
4. Then click on the “Add Page” button. (Considering you have administrator access to the page that you are adding, you will find your request automatically approved.)
5. Similarly, if you have more business pages to add, you can add them by following the same process.

Step 3: Create or Add your Facebook Ad Account

Naturally,  you would need to know that if you add your ad account to Facebook Business Manager, you can’t remove it. So, I recommend that you add accounts that you own. 

Case 1: If you are already using Facebook Ads, you can link your account by following this process.

1. Navigate to Business Manager Settings.
2. Click on the “ Accounts” button.
3. Click on the “Add Ad Account” option again.
4. Enter the Ad Account Id. (You can find it in Ads Manager.)

Case 2: If you don’t have a Facebook Ads Account, follow these steps to set one up.

1. Navigate to Business Manager Settings.
2. Click on the “Add Ad Account” button.
3. Click on the “Create Account” button.
4. Enter the required account details and then click on the “Next” button.
5. State that you require an Ad account for your business.
6. Click on the “Create” button.

Every business account can create one Ad Account. You cannot request for more ad accounts. Once you start spending on your first ad account, you can add more later depending on your advertising spend.

Step 4: Claim your Facebook Business Assets

To claim your business assets, use the “Claim Assets” menu. You can select the assets, which adds them to your Facebook Business Manager. Then you can use them as per your needs.

What’s more? You can also add other people to manage your Facebook assets. current account admin must approve before adding the assets to the business manager.

Step 5: Request Access or Claim the Page/ Ad Account owned by others

You can also request to access other ad accounts. If you want to obtain a client’s account, just follow these steps:

1. Click on the “Request Access” option. 
2. Enter the ad account ID.

An alternative to this is to have others assign you as their partner using custom code.

Step 6: Assign People or Add Partners

To add partners or ad agencies, follow these steps. You might not need it right away if you are getting started with Facebook advertising. However, you can always come back

1. Navigate to Business Manager Dashboard.
2. You will see “Business Settings” Click on it.
3. Click on “Users ” -> “Partners” option present in the left menu.
4. Click on the “Add” button to add your partner with whom you want to share assets.
5. Ask your partner for the Business Manager ID. (Your partner must have an existing ID. They can find it in their Business Manager Dashboard > Business Settings > Business Information.)
6. Enter the ID and click on the “Add” button.

You don’t have to manage permissions for all the partners you add. The partners you add can lead their teams from their Facebook Business Manager account.

Step 7: Set up your Payment and Billing method

To add your payment and billing method in Facebook Business Manager, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Business Manager Dashboard.
2. Click on the Business Settings option.
3. Select the “Payments” option.
4. Click on the “Add” button to add your payment option.
5. Enter the required details.
6. Click on the “Continue button”. (Check all the details before getting started.)

How to set up your First Campaign in the Facebook Business Manager?

For setting up a campaign, navigate to the “Campaign” tab. To create a campaign, simply choose the “Create” option. Follow the steps below to set up your first campaign in Facebook Business Manager.

Step 1: Select the Campaign Objective and give the Ad Campaign Name.

In my experience, I’ve seen that selecting a campaign objective helps you to get available ad formats and bidding options.

The campaign objectives that Facebook provides are – Brand Awareness, Local Awareness, Reach, Traffic, Engagement, App Installs, Video Views, Lead Generations, Conversions, Product Catalog Sales, Store Traffic, and Messages. Choose an objective that best reflects your business.

After you select your campaign objective, I think it’s best to give your Ad campaign a name. Also, you can add more elements to your campaign name like Client Name, Client Website, Target Audience, Target Location, Custom Audiences, Creative Type, Facebook Page, etc., which will further enhance your Ad campaign. I’ve tried it.

Step 2: Set up your Audience

You need to use the Audience Manager tool for setting up your audience. Follow the steps below to set your audience:

1. Navigate to “Business Manager Dashboard”.
2. Select the top-right menu.
3. Click on the “Audiences” option. (Your screen will display the Audiences page.)
4. Select your preference. Facebook provides three options for you to select your audience – Create a new Facebook Target Audience, Use a Saved Target Audience, Lookalike Audience.

Step 3: Set up the Ad Placement

To set up Ad placement, I’ve given the process given below:

1. Click on the “Placements” option. (“Automatic Placements” gets selected by default.)
2. Click on the “Edit Placements” option.
3. Select your preferences and save changes.

Placement options available are as follows:

• Facebook – Stories, Feed, Instant Articles, Marketplace, Right Column, In-stream videos.
• Instagram – Feed, Stories.
• Audience Network – Native, Banner and Interstitial, In-stream Videos, Reward Videos.
• Messenger – Inbox, Sponsored Messages.

Step 4: Set up the Campaign Budget and Bidding

Follow this process for setting up campaign budget and billing:

1. Navigate to “Campaign and Schedule”.
2. Enter the details like – Budget, Schedule, and Optimization for Ad Delivery, Conversion Window, Bid Strategy, When You Get Charged, Ad Scheduling, and Delivery Type.
3. Check all your details and then save your changes.

Step 5: Set up your Facebook Ads

If you choose “Lead generation” as your objective, then you can continue the process of ad creation normally. 

While I went to the Ad level, I came across the following Lead Form section. I’ve noted down the steps to follow to set up.

1. Click on Create New Form 
2. Add images, videos, etc. by clicking on the “Insert” button.
3. You can select custom questions from the comments. (Whether everyone can see them or only you can. Also, you can limit them.)
4. Copy the link and add it to the privacy policy.
5. Set up a thank you screen at the end.

I hope it’s clear now how to set up your Facebook Business Account, use the Facebook Business Manager and run a campaign. Feel free to post your queries in the comment section.