When a company runs LinkedIn with several people, several pages and perhaps an external agency, it is easy to lose control: personal logins, ad accounts owned by former colleagues, permissions given to “everyone”. LinkedIn Business Manager was created to solve exactly this problem.
In this guide we look at what it is, what it is for, how to set it up step by step and which best practices to follow to manage pages and campaigns securely.
What LinkedIn Business Manager is
LinkedIn Business Manager is a free tool that lets an organisation manage its people, company pages, ad accounts and audiences from a single platform. The principle is the same as Meta’s Business Manager: assets belong to the company, not to individual personal profiles, and access is granted and revoked centrally.
In practice it allows you to:
- bring the company’s ad accounts (Campaign Manager) and pages together in one place;
- control who can do what, assigning different roles to employees and collaborators;
- connect with the Business Manager of agencies and partners, sharing access without giving up ownership;
- share audiences (such as contact lists or website visitors) across several ad accounts.
Why use it
- Security: when someone leaves the company, simply remove them from Business Manager. No need to recover passwords or personal accounts.
- Clear ownership: pages and ad accounts stay with the company even when agencies or contacts change.
- Easy collaboration with agencies and consultants, with permissions limited to what they need.
- Order: multiple brands, markets or business units can be managed from one dashboard.
Roles
Inside Business Manager each person has a role that defines what they can see and do. Broadly:
- Administrators: have full control, invite people, add pages and ad accounts, manage partnerships.
- Employees and collaborators: access only the accounts and pages assigned to them, with more limited permissions.
The golden rule is to give everyone the minimum access they need and always have at least two in-house administrators.
How to set up LinkedIn Business Manager in 6 steps
- Create the Business Manager from LinkedIn’s dedicated section, entering company details and a business email address.
- Invite people using their work email and choose a role for each. Once accepted, everyone signs in with their own profile.
- Add ad accounts: link existing accounts you own or request access to accounts managed by others.
- Add company pages, including any showcase pages for products or business lines.
- Connect partners: add your agency or consultants as partners and share only the assets they need to work on.
- Share audiences across ad accounts if you run campaigns for multiple brands or markets.
Best practices
- Review access regularly, at least every six months, removing anyone no longer working on the project.
- Do not use personal accounts to manage company advertising.
- Set up tracking (Insight Tag and conversions) at ad account level to measure campaign results correctly.
- Combine paid and organic: a well-kept company page, active employee profiles and campaigns work better together.
Business Manager, Campaign Manager and Sales Navigator: the differences
| Tool | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Business Manager | Managing people, permissions, pages, ad accounts and partners |
| Campaign Manager | Creating, running and measuring ad campaigns |
| Sales Navigator | Finding and contacting prospects for B2B sales (read our guide to LinkedIn Sales Navigator) |
FAQ
Is LinkedIn Business Manager paid?
No, the tool is free. You only pay for the ad campaigns run through Campaign Manager.
Is it required to advertise on LinkedIn?
No, but it is strongly recommended when several people or an agency work on the same accounts and pages.
Can I give an agency access without transferring ownership?
Yes, that is one of its main advantages: the agency is connected as a partner and works only on the shared assets.
Want to grow on LinkedIn?
E-Business Consulting supports companies with LinkedIn marketing strategies: Business Manager and Campaign Manager setup, company page, content and campaigns for B2B lead generation, as part of a social media marketing strategy. Get in touch with us for a conversation.
