Facebook Business Manager Explained

As a business owner we are expected to wear multiple hats and be an expert across various specialty areas business manager. When it comes to digital marketing it can feel like once you finally have a firm grasp on a platform, it changes making it entirely foreign once again.

If you have ever dabbled in the Facebook marketing world, you would have more than likely heard of Facebook Business Manager. You probably expressed some colourful language about having to manage yet another digital platform.

If you take one thing from this article I hope it is that you, brave business owner, are certainly not alone in the overwhelm that occurs when running your own business. This is the very reason why I now have a bookkeeper, because we can only stretch ourselves so far. I hope that this article may also give you the confidence to navigate the Facebook Business Manager world not only with ease, but with absolute gusto!

I don’t just love social media, it really is my life. I manage multiple client accounts, I have trained over 200 people on how to dominate it, I subscribe to the newsletters, I participate in the groups, and I am even in the process of writing courses on social media marketing. In fact Poppy Seed Media is actually an official agency partner with Facebook. So if I were writing an article on how to reconcile your accounts, I would be a little worried for you. But when it comes to the world that is social media I like to think you are in quite good hands.

What is Facebook Business Manager?

So what is Facebook Business Manager anyway, you ask? In its most basic form Facebook Business Manager is a tool that helps businesses implement Facebook marketing, and organise and manage business assets in one place. This free platform can be used to run and track your businesses ads, add and manage users to help run your business and so much more.

You might be asking what these social media business assets are? Well that’s a very good question! These include things like your Facebook Business page, Instagram account, your advertising, audiences, shop (if you have one), and the list goes on.

As mentioned above, Facebook Business Manager is also a great way to assign different roles to different people in and outside of your organisation to help manage your social media presence. As an example, you might hire *subtle hint* Poppy Seed Media to manage your advertising and assign us a certain level of access to your advertising account, while an internal team member may get a different level of access to your business page.

It can take some time to get used to using Facebook Business Manager, but from an organisational side of things it really is quite useful, not to mention the added security Business Manager provides - but more on that shortly.

Do You Need Facebook Business Manager? - Why it’s Important!

No one technically has to have a Facebook Business Manager account. However, if you manage your own business on Facebook and you have an ad account (or plan to advertise), you have multiple employees or outside hires that need access, or you are just looking for added security, then it is a vital asset for any business owner.

Facebook Business Manager isn’t just for big corporations, there are a range of benefits for even the smallest businesses.

Business Manager is a central space to manage your business separate from your personal Facebook profile. This means you don't have to worry about mixing your business and personal content.

Facebook Business Manager also lets you add an extra layer of protection for your business assets. This means you have the option to set up two-factor authentication for your account.

Regardless of how long you have been in business, it just makes sense to use Facebook Business Manager. Small to large businesses use the platform to organise their business assets and information in one place because it is not only convenient, it is also best practice from a security point of view.

What are the Benefits of Using Facebook Business Manager?

I would have to say the biggest benefits of Facebook Business Manager has to come down to its convenience and security.

Business Manager allows you to see all of your assets in one place and easily manage the various accounts and the people who have access to them. It also provides an added level of security that should offer some comfort in knowing your online presence is secure.

Just for a moment, let’s imagine we choose not to use Facebook Business Manager and instead have our various assets managed by individual accounts.

So what happens if you get locked out of your personal account, which is your only way to access your Facebook Business page?

What if the company advertising account is connected to a personal Facebook profile and that person leaves, meaning you would lose all access to historical data?

These are worst case scenarios of course, but they are also very real possibilities when you don’t have the correct foundations of your Facebook business account setup correctly. When you implement Facebook Business Manager you have the opportunity to set up strong foundations for your business.

Oh and did we mention that Facebook Business Manager is completely free!

How do I access Facebook Business Manager?

Accessing Facebook Business Manager is actually quite easy. You just need a Facebook profile to create a Business Manager account.

1. Go to business.facebook.com/overview
2. Click Create Account.
3. Enter a name for your business, your name and work email address and click Next.
4. Enter your business details and click Submit.

As you step through the setup of your Business Manager, adding in your Business Page, Ads Account, colleagues, etc. you can rest assured that this does not allow your colleagues access to your personal Facebook profile, unless you approve their friend requests.

Facebook Business Manager Setup

Facebook provides a great overview of their Business Manager here but let’s walk through a few of the key areas of the account together!

Head to https://business.facebook.com and if you haven’t already, you will need to login to your personal Facebook page. The next step will be hitting the ‘Create Account’ option in the top right and inputting your Business Name, your name and the business email address you want associated with the account.

Once logged in you will see a huge range of options like the above. The first step is to Add your Facebook Business page. If you are already an admin on the page this should be pretty straight forward. Under ‘People’ you will also be able to add your employees and set their access accordingly.

Once you have added in your main assets make sure you visit your ‘Business Info’ (see above) and ensure you update your business information as this does not populate otherwise.

There are a wide range of other options available in Facebook Business Manager, such as Facebook Business Manager for Instagram, Audiences, Advertising, and the list goes on! We will bring out additional blogs on these focus areas over the coming weeks, but one important area we can’t skip past is brand safety.

Facebook business manager brand safety

You may have heard about the looming iOS update that will be changing the way advertising is carried out on Facebook? If not here is a great article from Facebook about this update.

By jumping into Facebook Business Manager you will be able to verify your domain to help avoid any future disruption of your website campaigns.

Domain verification helps make sure that your content isn't misrepresented. By verifying your domains, you claim and control the editing privileges of your content and links.

Domain verification should be prioritised for domains with pixels used by multiple businesses or personal ad accounts. This will enable you to configure pixel conversion events when Aggregated Event Measurement becomes available.

The other important area of brand safety is that you can now select domains that you would like to block, preventing your ads from running on specific websites or apps within Audience Network, Instant Articles and Facebook in-stream videos.

If you need assistance managing your brand safety, please reach out for help to review your settings.

Is there an app for Facebook Business Manager?

The Business Suite app is Facebook’s mobile version of Facebook Business Manager, but it really doesn’t offer the full range of services available on the desktop. I find that often when people attempt to set up or use Facebook Business Manager on the app who aren’t familiar with the platform they become extremely frustrated. Because of this reason I will always recommend clients jump onto the desktop version to set the account up initially as it is much easier and more intuitive.

The app is great for checking in on your business page, responding to engagement and managing advertising campaigns while on the go. It is important that as a business on Facebook or Instagram that you show up and actively engage with your audience. The app makes this easily achievable and just like the main Facebook Business Manager platform, is completely free!

Do You Need a Facebook Business Manager Expert?

Navigating the world of Facebook Business Manager is no easy feat, especially when the platform is constantly changing. So if you still have lingering questions or would like an expert to set your account up, please reach out as that’s what we are here for!