How to set up your business Facebook and Instagram accounts

A step-by-step guide for small businesses and community organisations

Understanding Meta’s business tools

Before you start, it helps to understand the key terms you will encounter when setting up your business presence on Facebook and Instagram.

Business portfolio A container that holds all your business assets in one place, including your Facebook page, Instagram account, ad accounts and datasets. Think of it as your business’s central hub on Meta.

Meta Business Suite The platform you use to manage your business day to day. It lets you create and schedule posts, reply to messages, view insights and run ads across Facebook and Instagram from a single dashboard.

Facebook page Your business’s public profile on Facebook. This is where people find your business, see your posts and leave reviews. It sits inside your business portfolio.

Instagram account Your business’s profile on Instagram. Instagram has its own separate login credentials, even when it is connected to your Facebook page through a business portfolio.

Personal Facebook account Your individual Facebook profile. Meta requires a personal account to be linked to your business portfolio so that a real person is responsible for managing the business assets. Your personal profile is not visible to people who interact with your business page.

How these fit together: Your personal Facebook account is used to log in and manage the business portfolio. The portfolio contains your Facebook page and Instagram account. You use Meta Business Suite as the interface to manage everything in one place.

Security and why it matters

Managing business accounts on Meta involves a combination of your personal Facebook account, your work email address (for verification codes) and separate Instagram login credentials. This can feel complex, but there is a good reason for it.

Meta’s layered approach to access is designed to make it difficult for compromised accounts to be hacked, transferred to other owners or locked out entirely. Each layer of verification adds a barrier that protects your business.

Multi-factor authentication

We strongly recommend enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on both your personal Facebook account and your Instagram account. MFA requires a second form of verification, typically a code from an authenticator app, each time you log in. This means that even if someone obtains your password, they cannot access your account without also having your phone.

Recommended authenticator apps: Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or Authy are all reliable options. Download one from the App Store or Google Play Store and follow the prompts to add your accounts.

What to expect day to day

When working with your business assets, you may need to use a combination of:

  • Your personal Facebook account login to access the portfolio
  • Your work email address to receive verification codes for certain actions
  • Your Instagram login credentials (separate from Facebook) when managing Instagram-specific settings

This is normal and part of Meta’s security design.

Setting up your business portfolio

Check if your page is already part of a portfolio

Before creating anything new, check whether your Facebook page is already linked to a business portfolio.

Step 1: Go to your page access settings

Visit facebook.com/settings > Profile access and scroll to the bottom of the page. It will indicate whether your page is part of a business portfolio.

Step 2: Access or create your portfolio

Go to business.facebook.com/settings.

  • If your page is part of a portfolio but you cannot access it: Check who currently has admin access. Look at the other page admins and work with them to get yourself added.
  • If your page is not part of a portfolio: You should be prompted to create one. Use your work email address when setting this up.

Link your assets

Step 3: Add your Facebook page and Instagram account

Once inside your business portfolio settings, follow the prompts to add your Facebook page and connect your Instagram account. You will need your Instagram login details to complete this step.

Create business assets

Step 4: Set up an ad account and dataset

Follow the prompts within your portfolio settings to create an ad account and a dataset (formerly known as a pixel). These are needed if you plan to run paid advertising or track website activity.

Invite others

Step 5: Add other team members

Follow the prompts to add other admins or team members to your business portfolio. You can assign different levels of access depending on each person’s role. Each person will need their own personal Facebook account to be added.

Keep your admin list up to date. Regularly review who has access to your business portfolio. Remove anyone who no longer needs access, such as former staff or previous agency partners.

Posting and managing content

Once your portfolio is set up, use Meta Business Suite to manage your content. This keeps your business posts separate from your personal Facebook activity.

Getting started with Meta Business Suite

On desktop, go to business.facebook.com/latest. On mobile, download the Meta Business Suite app from the App Store or Google Play Store.

From here you can create, schedule and publish posts to both your Facebook page and Instagram account without needing to switch between apps or mix business content into your personal feed.

Useful links within Business Suite

Use the mobile app for on-the-go posting. The Meta Business Suite app is a convenient way to manage your business content from your phone. You can respond to messages, publish posts and check insights without needing to log in to your personal Facebook.

Additional resources

These guides from Meta provide further detail on setting up and using Business Suite.