Facebook Business Manager, while powerful, can also be a major headache to navigate and understand. If you’re stuck with Facebook Business Manager – you’re not alone.

Many businesses need help navigating this powerful tool, but fear not – we’ve got you covered. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll break down everything you need to learn about Facebook Business Manager, making it easy to implement for your business’s future growth.

What is Facebook Business Manager?

Let’s start with the basics.

Facebook Business Manager is a centralised platform designed to help businesses manage their Facebook marketing efforts more efficiently – and in one location. It’s like a control centre for all your Facebook assets, including pages, ad accounts, and user permissions.

Let’s first dive into the key features and benefits that make it a game-changer for centralising your META accounts, user permissions, and advertising campaigns.

Why should we use Facebook Business Manager?

• Centralised Management: Manage multiple Facebook pages, ad accounts, and Instagram accounts from a single dashboard.
• Streamline your workflow and maintain a clear, organised view of your marketing activities.
• Advanced Targeting and Audience Building: Create custom audiences based on demographics, interests, behaviours, and website activity.
• Use the Pixel and Events Manager to track user actions on your website and optimise your ads accordingly.
• Detailed Analytics and Reporting: Access comprehensive analytics on your page performance, ad campaigns, and audience insights.
• Use the ‘Creative Hub’ feature to create and test your ad creative before you push it into your campaign. This is perfect for small businesses or marketing teams needing to gain sign-off.
• Collaboration and User Management: Assign specific roles and permissions to team members, agencies, or partners.
• Collaborate effectively without sharing personal Facebook login credentials.
• Facebook Ad Campaign Management: Create, launch, and monitor your ad campaigns with the integrated Ads Manager.

Setting Up Your Facebook Business Manager Account

Setting up a Business Manager account separates your personal and professional Facebook activities. It’s like having a work phone and a personal phone – no more mixing business with pleasure!

Ready to get started? Here’s a step-by-step guide to set up your account:

1. Visit the Business Manager website (business.facebook.com) and click “Create Account”.
2. Enter your business information, including your company name, your name, and business email.
3. Provide additional details such as business address and website.
4. Link your existing Facebook page(s) to your Business Manager account.
   • If you don’t have a page, you can create one during this process.
5. Add your ad account(s) to Business Manager.
   • You can create a new ad account or add an existing one. You’ll also need to add all your essential payment details to your ad account to start running ads.
6. Access your new Business Manager dashboard.

Navigating the Facebook Business Manager Interface

Now that you have your account sorted, it’s time to understand the Facebook Business Manager interface.

It might seem overwhelming initially, but it’s designed to be user-friendly (as much as possible anyway!) Here’s a quick tour of the features you’ll likely need to understand:

• Main Menu (left sidebar): This is where you’ll want to access all significant tools and settings:
• Business Settings: Your business settings are the central hub where you’ll want to manage your business info, the people who have access to the Business Manager account, ad account or pages, and the partners (like marketing agencies) that you’re allowing access to your META assets.
• Business Info: You want to ensure that the section is filled out in as much detail as possible and that you get the big green tech next to the business verification status.
  • Business Settings
  • Ads Manager
  • Pages
  • Ad Accounts
  • Audiences
  • Pixels
  • And more…

Adding and Managing Your Facebook Pages and Ad Accounts

One of the best features of Business Manager is the ability to centralise all your Facebook assets – and control who has access to them. If you haven’t added your page or ad accounts to your Facebook Business Manager, here’s how to do it:

1. Adding Pages:
   • Go to “Business Settings” > “Pages”
   • Click “Add” and choose to add an existing page or create a new one.
   • Follow the prompts to confirm ownership or request access.
2. Adding Ad Accounts:
   • Navigate to “Business Settings” > “Ad Accounts”
   • Click “Add” and select to add an existing account, request access to an account, or create a new one.
   • If creating a new account, set up billing information.
3. Managing Assets:
   • Once you have the page created, click the assigned people button to assign members of your team access to it. You can also assign people to manage specific pages or ad accounts.
   • You should do the same with your ad account. Select the account and then select ‘Assign People’.
   • You’ll need to use the Partners section if you’re working with the marketing agency. Click Users on the left-hand menu, then click Partners. You’ll need to grab your agencies and Partner ID, and then you’ll be able to assign them to your Facebook page and your Ad account.

Remember, you can also request access to pages or ad accounts owned by other businesses. It’s like having a universal remote for all your Facebook marketing channels.

Collaborating with Team Members and Assigning Roles

Business Manager shines when it comes to team collaboration. Here’s a more detailed look at how to link your team to your account:

1. Adding Team Members:
   • Go to “Business Settings” > “People”
   • Click “Add” and enter your team member’s email address.
   • Assign them to specific assets (pages, ad accounts, etc.)
2. Assigning Roles:
   • Choose from pre-defined roles like Admin, Advertiser, or Analyst.
   • Each role comes with its own set of permissions and access levels.
3. Custom Roles:
   • For power users, you can create tailored roles with specific permissions for your unique needs.
   • Go to “Business Settings” > “People” > “Create Custom Role”
4. Partner Access:
   • Grant access to agencies or external partners without compromising security
   • Use Business Settings’s “Partners” section to add a partner and specify their access level. As mentioned above, you’ll need to ask them for their Partner ID. They should know what you’re referring to – if not, see it as a red flag!

Remember to regularly review and update user roles to ensure proper security and efficiency. It’s like being the casting director for your marketing team’s roles!

Unleashing the Power of Business Manager Tools

Let’s explore some tools you’ll likely want to test and test with your business.

• Insights: Access detailed analytics on your page performance and audience behaviour. Track metrics like page views, engagement, reach, and conversions, and use audience insights to understand your followers’ demographics, interests, and behaviours.
• Ads Manager: This is your home for creating, managing, and analysing your Facebook ad campaigns. Here, you can choose from various ad objectives, formats, and placements. You can also set your budgets, schedules, and targeting options, monitor real-time performance, and make adjustments on the fly.
• Audiences: Build custom audiences based on customer lists, website traffic, or app activity. This is where you’ll create your ‘lookalike audiences’ to reach new people like your best customers or your remarketing lists to ensure that users are moving down your funnel as you’ve designed.
• Pixel and Events Manager: Set up and manage your Facebook Pixel for website tracking. In this section, you can create and track custom events to measure specific actions on your website. You can then use this data to optimise your ad targeting and measure conversions. This section is critical for you to understand and get running right away.
• Creative Hub: A workspace to create, preview, and collaborate on ad creatives. This space allows you and your team to test different ad formats and see how they look on various placements. It’s also great for marketing teams to gain sign-off before pushing a campaign and creative live.

Check these tools regularly to stay on top of your marketing game. Are your audiences up to date? Are events and conversions still tracking?

Creating and Managing Facebook Ad Campaigns

The next most requested feature is to start advertising and use the Power of Facebook and Instagram ads. Here’s how you can use Facebook Business Manager to start the process. Below, we detail a fundamental setup, but it should give you an overview of how the platform looks and what each section means. Follow this guide when your marketing team (or agency) takes you through your campaigns:

1. Accessing Ads Manager:
   • Open Ads Manager within Business Manager.
   • Click “Create” to start a new campaign.
2. Choosing Your Objective:
   • Select from options like brand awareness, traffic, engagement, app installs, or conversions.
   • Your choice here will influence the available ad formats and optimisation options – plus the overall results.
3. Defining Your Audience:
   • Use detailed targeting options to reach your ideal customers.
   • Leverage custom audiences and lookalike audiences for more precise targeting.
   • Leverage META’s Advantage + technology – do the ad targeting sparingly.
4. Selecting Ad Placements:
   • Choose where your ads will appear (Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, etc.)
   • Or, Opt for automatic placements using Advantage+
5. Setting Budget and Schedule:
   • Define your daily or lifetime budget
   • Set start and end dates for your campaign
6. Creating Your Ad:
   • Select your ad format (image, video, carousel, etc.)
   • Upload your creative assets (or pull the ad created from ‘Creative Hub’ – see above for more details)
7. Reviewing and Launching:
   • Double-check all settings and preview your ad
   • Click “Publish” to launch your campaign

Remember, the key to successful ads is continuous optimisation. Monitor performance metrics and be ready to adjust your strategy.

Tracking and Analysing Ad Performance

Data is your best friend, and the META Business Manager will give you access to the best report so that you can quickly assess your campaign (and page) performance.

The key is setting up custom reports to focus on the metrics that matter most to your business. Quickly identifying ads and campaigns that aren’t working can save a lot of time and potentially money.

Here’s a quick guide on what to look out for:

1. Key Metrics to Track:
   • Impressions, reach, and frequency
   • Click-through rate (CTR)
   • Conversion rate
   • Cost per result (e.g., cost per click, cost per conversion)
   • Return on ad spend (ROAS)
2. Using Ads Manager for Analysis:
   • View performance data at the campaign, ad set, or ad level
   • Customise columns to see the metrics most relevant to your goals
   • Use the breakdown feature to analyse performance by age, gender, placement, etc.
3. Creating Custom Reports:
   • Build tailored reports to focus on specific metrics or compare multiple campaigns
   • Schedule automated reports to be sent to your email regularly
4. Utilising Insights for Broader Analysis:
   • Understand your audience demographics and behaviors
   • Track page performance metrics like engagement and reach
   • Analyse the performance of individual posts
5. A/B Testing:
   • Use the A/B testing feature to compare different ad elements
   • Test variables like ad copy, images, audiences, or placements
   • Use the results to refine and improve your advertising strategy

Best Practices for Facebook Business Manager Success

To truly master Business Manager, here’s a quick list of what you need to ensure you’re doing:

• Centralise Everything: Add all your Facebook assets to the Business Manager for streamlined management. This includes pages, ad accounts, Instagram accounts, and pixels. Keep it all secure in one place.
• Define Clear Roles and Permissions: Use the permission settings to maintain security and efficiency. Regularly review and update user access as needed. And add two-factor to your account NOW! There’s nothing worse than trying (and failing) to get a Facebook account back.
• Leverage Advanced Targeting: Take full advantage of the audience-building tools. Experiment with custom audiences and lookalike audiences.
• Optimise Your Ad Campaigns: Continuously monitor your ad performance. Use custom reports to make data-driven adjustments to improve results. Save the reports so you can easily locate them anytime.
• Use the Facebook Pixel: Implement the pixel on your website for better tracking and optimisation. Set up custom events to track specific actions (i.e. CONVERSIONS!)
• Keep Your Account Secure: Enable two-factor authentication, regularly review account access, and remove unnecessary permissions.
• Stay Updated: Facebook is constantly evolving, making keeping up with Business Manager tricky. Look for new features and best practices.

Facebook Business Manager: Confusing, Yet Powerful!

Facebook Business Manager is a robust platform offering many tools and features to enhance your marketing efforts.

While it may present a learning curve, the benefits of centralised asset management, advanced targeting capabilities, and comprehensive analytics make it an invaluable resource for businesses of all sizes.

As you implement the strategies and best practices outlined in this guide, remember that effective Facebook marketing is ongoing. Continual learning, testing, and optimisation are crucial to achieving and maintaining success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Need Additional Support?

Navigating Facebook Business Manager can be complex, and every business has unique needs and challenges. If you need assistance or have specific questions about implementing these strategies for your business, our team is here to help.

Our experts can provide personalised guidance and consultation on:

• Setting up and optimising your Business Manager account
• Developing effective ad strategies
• Interpreting analytics and improving campaign performance
• Troubleshooting issues you may encounter

Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for support.