How to add an agency as a partner in your Meta business portfolio

On Meta, the agency is added as a partner of your company’s business portfolio. Being a partner doesn’t grant access to everything: the agency can only access the assets you select, with the access level you choose for each one. The assets keep belonging to your company: only the organization that owns an asset can share it with another business portfolio.

• Your company needs a business portfolio in Meta Business Suite, and the person doing the steps needs full access to it (formerly full control).
• The agency also needs a business portfolio and must give you its ID. To find the portfolio ID, open Meta Business Suite Settings and select Business portfolio info in the left menu. The number is shown below the portfolio name.
• Before sharing assets with partners, Meta asks you to turn on two-factor authentication for the business portfolio if it isn’t on yet. Verification codes are yours alone: never send them to the agency.

If your company doesn’t have a business portfolio yet, create one:

1. Go to business.facebook.com and log in with your Facebook profile or a managed Meta account.
2. Click the dropdown menu below Home in the top left, then click Create a business portfolio.
3. Enter a name that matches your company’s public name. If you logged in with your Facebook profile, also enter your name and business email.
4. Click Create (or Create portfolio) and confirm your business email using the message Meta sends you.

1. Open Meta Business Suite Settings for your company’s portfolio and click Partners in the Users section of the left menu. If you don’t see Partners, you may not have full access to the portfolio (formerly full control): only people with full access can share assets with partners.
2. Click Add and select Give a partner access to your assets. Enter the agency’s business portfolio ID (ask the agency for it) and click Next.
3. Choose the assets you want to share and the access level for each one (see the next section). If you choose partial access, select the tasks. Then click Assign assets.
4. Someone else with full access to the portfolio may need to approve this action. After that, both you and the agency can see the shared assets in each portfolio’s Settings.

Meta has two access levels for assets: full access (formerly full control) and partial access, where the agency can only do the tasks it has been assigned. Giving only the permissions needed helps keep your business portfolio and assets more secure.

• Ad account: prefer partial access and select only the tasks agreed with the agency, such as Manage campaigns and View performance. Full access (formerly full control) includes the account’s settings, finances and permissions: grant it only if the agency explains why it needs it.
• Page and Instagram for ads: prefer partial access with the Ads and Insights tasks. The Ads task already lets the agency create, manage and delete ads; grant full access (formerly full control) only if the agency justifies it.
• Page and Instagram for social media: prefer partial access with the agreed tasks, such as Content, Community activity, Messages (for the Page, this task may appear as Messages and calls) and Insights. With full access (formerly full control), a partner can’t delete the Page or remove it from your portfolio, but it can give access to others and remove anyone from the Page. That’s why you should grant full access only if the agency justifies it.
• Dataset (Meta Pixel): prefer partial access (Use events dataset), which lets the agency view data and analytics and create conversion ads. Full access (Manage events dataset) also allows changing settings and events, editing user access and creating audiences: grant it only if the agency will handle that.

In the partner flow, select every asset the agency needs. To share another asset later, make a new assignment with the same agency business portfolio ID. The ad account can also be assigned in the Ad accounts tab (Assign partner), and the dataset in Data sources > Datasets (Assign partners).

To find the ad account ID, open Ads Manager: the account name and ID number are shown in the dropdown menu at the top of the page. You can also look for act= in your browser’s address bar.

• The Partners option doesn’t appear: you may not have full access to the business portfolio. Ask someone who has it.
• The assignment is pending: someone else with full access to the portfolio may need to approve this action. After that, both you and the agency can see the shared assets in each portfolio’s Settings.
• There is no ad account yet: create the account in your company’s business portfolio, not in the agency’s. A new ad account stays permanently in the portfolio where it was created.

If the Instagram account doesn’t appear in the list of assets, it may not be in your company’s business portfolio yet. Meta’s official article explains how to add it. During that process, Meta may ask you to log in to Instagram in its own window: do it only there, and never send the password to the agency.