Facebook recently released a statement saying that they were going to focus on reducing the number of low-quality ads on their platform. (What is a low-quality ad? Review their list.)


The main reason for this is that Facebook doesn’t want to produce a bad user experience, as this would drive away users and ultimately lose them money. And just as another statement from earlier in 2018 resulted in massive changes to the News Feed, this announcement has implications for how you operate your business on Facebook.


So that they can start to reign in low-quality ads, Facebook is now requiring the use of Business Manager if advertisers want to market to “customer file custom audiences,” a.k.a your database. And since we recommend the use of customer file custom audiences in almost every type of campaign we run, this is a big deal!


Business Manager is simply an access portal. It’s a new way to access business pages and ad accounts that is easier and more secure. From Business Manager, you’ll be able to run and track your ads, manage assets, and add an agency or marketing partners to help enhance your business.


Download a PDF of this guide here (you must be logged into your Paperless Agent account).

Create Your Facebook Business Manager Account


1. Go to business.facebook.com/overview and click the blue “Create Account” button in the top right corner



2. Fill in your business name and email in the pop-up screen and click “Next”

  • Tip: We suggest naming your Business Manager the same as your business page. We’ve found that makes it more likely for Facebook to recognize your page when you try to connect it in later steps


3. In the next screen, fill in your business details and click “Submit”

 


4. Click "Confirm Now" in the email sent by Facebook. Give it time for the email to appear... it took over 10 minutes for ours to come through.



5. Click on “Move Account” to move all your ad history and information to your new specialized Business Manager ad account.



Setup Your Business Manager Account


Step 1: Add Your Facebook Business Page


1. Go to business.facebook.com/home/accounts 

2. Click on “Add Page”



3a. On the popup that appears, you’ll see three options. Choose the one that most closely fits with what you need to do.

  • If you’re adding a page that you own, click the button on the far left that says “Add Page.”
  • If you’re adding a page that a partner or someone else owns, that you are not an admin of, click on the middle button “Request Access.”
  • If you don’t have a business page, then you can create one by clicking the far right button “Create Page.”


Get our tips for setting up a Facebook Business Page for real estate in this guide.


3b. Assuming you already have a business page, click on the "Add Page" option. Start typing your business page name in the popup that appears, select it from the list, then click "Add Page."



Step 2: Add Your Instagram Business Account


If you have a business Instagram account, you can add it to Business Manager as well, which will allow your ads to be shown on Instagram. Learn about Instagram for Real Estate here.


1. Go to Business Settings

2. Under "Accounts," select “Instagram Accounts”



3. Enter your username and password for your Instagram account, then click “Next”


Navigating Your Facebook Business Manager Account


Business Manager will now be your hub for managing your business on Facebook, so refer to the link below whenever you want to access your business page or Ads Manager.


Bookmark: https://business.facebook.com/home/ 


You will be able to see “quick stats” about your ad accounts and business pages right from Business Manager, such as how many active campaigns you have or how many page likes you’ve gotten in the last 7 days.

  • To access your full Ads Manager, click on the name of your ad account.
  • To access your full business page, click on the name of your page.
  • To change anything in Business Manager, click on “Business Settings” in the top right corner.



Perhaps one of the most initially confusing things about setting up Business Manager is that now your personal Facebook profile is no longer attached to your business pages. So if you were to try to access your business page like before, you’d see that you can only interact with it as a member of the general public would.


To post to the business page as the page, you will need to go through Business Manager.