Are you a Facebook Page owner?
Do you have a Facebook Page for your business? Or one that you use relating to your products, services, or other things you sell?
If you own a Facebook Page, then there are a few things you need to know about that role.
And now, with the New Facebook layout, some features have vanished.
So, let’s take a look at everything you need to know as a Facebook Page owner.
What is a Facebook Page owner?
According to Facebook, a page owner is a business or organization that owns the Page.
Or in your case, perhaps a blogger or small business owner.
Anyone can start a Facebook Page. That includes clubs, societies, charities, and more.
There’s also another level of Page – a Confirmed Page.With this, you’ve completed Facebook’s business verification process. You’ve also claimed the Page through the Business Manager feature.
Most of the time, you won’t need this. It is aimed at Pages running ads on topics such as politics.
But if you do need it, you can access it through Page Settings in the Business Manager.
Getting verified is pretty simple:
- Add your business details (this will be publicly viewable).
- Select your business – if yours doesn’t show, you may need to upload documents to show you are an official business.
- Confirm your business details with a phone number you have access to.
- Get the verification code sent by text, phone call, or email.
- Use the verification code to get Confirmed.
This is different from the blue verified page. That’s aimed at people like celebrities and sports stars to confirm the page really is theirs.
Can you make your Facebook profile into a Page?
If you’ve started a profile for your business, you might want to change it into a Page.
Pages give you more tools and let you reach more people. Plus, it’s against the Facebook Terms to use your profile to represent an entity other than yourself. You could permanently lose access to your account if you use a personal profile for business.
Unfortunately, in April 2021 Facebook deprecated the one-click solution that would turn your profile into a Page, and your friends into followers.
Here’s what to do now:
1 | Once you’re logged into your Facebook Profile, click create a Page.
2 | Enter some basic information for your Page: name, category, and description.
3 | When it looks good, click the Create Page button.
4 | Add a post announcing your new Page and the benefits of following it (Great info, discounts, etc, you will share).
5 | Invite your Facebook profile friends to like and follow your new Page.
6 | Post on your personal profile to notify your friends to engage with the new Page going forward. Be sure to include a link to the new Page.
7 | Flesh out your new Page soon with an engaging profile picture and cover photo.
8 | Check out the best time to post to Facebook and how often to post to social media.
9 | Keep the momentum going by creating Facebook content fans love.
Facebook Page owner vs admin
As a Facebook Page owner, you are also an admin.
But someone who doesn’t own the Page can also be made into an admin.
There are actually six roles on a Facebook Page with different automatic permissions:
- Admin
- Editor
- Moderator
- Advertiser
- Analyst
- Jobs manager
Only the admin has full access to every feature of the page.
Plus, the admins are the people who can manage page roles and settings.
In other words, they are the ones who can change the Page owner. Or they can change the role given to someone on the Page.
It can be a good idea to have another admin in your Page. But make sure it is someone you trust as they can potentially remove you as admin of your own Page!
How to add a Page owner on Facebook
When you create a Page, you are automatically the owner – unless you create it through your business.
So, you don’t need to add yourself as the owner. It’s done automatically for you.
But if you want to add someone else as an admin, you can do this too.
To add an admin, you need to be on a desktop, not the mobile app.
Go to the Page and click the ‘Page settings’ option right at the bottom of the side menu.
This opens up another set of options and you want to select ‘Page roles.’
Here you can see existing Page roles including the admins. You can also see who owns the Page.
You can assign a new Page role right here. Add the person’s name or email address and choose what role they will have.
You’ll need to add your password to confirm the changes.
Remember, admin is the top level. They can do everything a Page owner can do.
To add someone else as the Page owner, you need to follow the process below.
How to change or transfer the page owner on Facebook
So, you have given the Page to your friend who is buying your business. Now you need to transfer ownership of the Page to them.
Then you want to change or transfer the page owner.
To do this, first, add the person as an admin following the process above.
Once they have accepted the role as admin, go back to the Page and scroll down to Page Roles.
You and the new admin should now show.
But this isn’t all you need to know on how to remove a Facebook Page owner to make the transfer. The new admin still needs to be made the Page owner.
Business manager settings
You also need to add your friend into the Business Manager area for the Page.
Don’t have a Business Manager account? Go here to set it up. Look for the bright blue button in the upper right corner (as of May 2021 – you know FB might move it by the time you read this 😉 ) and click “Create Account.”
Your friend / new admin needs to go to their Business Manager account and into Business settings.
Go to Accounts and click Pages then +Add.
Add the Page name or URL and toggle the permissions as an admin. Then request access.
You can then accept this, and the person will see the Page on their Business Manager.
If you need more help with the Facebook Business Manager, you can find it here.
Removing yourself as Page owner
The final step is to remove yourself as a Page owner. You need to do this both in the Page and in the Business Manager.
On the Page settings, go to Existing Page Roles and edit yourself.
There’s an option to ‘Remove.’ Select this.
This removes you from the Page.
Next head to Business Manager to Accounts.
Go to Pages and select the Page you want to remove then click ‘Remove.’
This leaves your friend as the admin. They can then go into the Business Manager and add themselves as the Page owner.
Can you check the owner of a Facebook business page?
There are times when you want to know the owner of a Facebook business Page.
Maybe you want to buy their business, or there’s a Facebook Page ownership dispute.
Whatever the reason, it is easy to find the owner of any Page.
Go to the Page’s About section.
Here you can find information about the contact options for the Page owner.
This includes their website and email address if they listed one. You can also message them directly from this Page.
The other place to find information is the Page Transparency section.
This is aimed at checking things like ads that are running.
When viewing the page, scroll down a bit and it will appear after About, Photos, and Videos.
Click to see all and you can see some of the history about the Page. This includes who created it and when.
Can you claim an unmanaged Page?
If there’s a Page that has your business info on it, but it isn’t yours, you may be able to claim it.
That’s assuming there’s no owner.
If a Page is unmanaged, you’ll see Unofficial Page below the cover photo. You can either request to claim the Page and be an admin. Or you can request to merge it with your existing one.
Click the ‘Is this your business’ below the cover photo and follow the instructions.
You will need to verify your relationship with the business. This might be with things like a phone number or documents.
If Facebook is happy this is correct, you’ll be the owner of the unmanaged Page.
Can I unpublish my Page?
Sometimes you realize you don’t need your Page and want to unpublish it.
This hides it from public view, but you can publish it again in the future.
To do this, go to your Page Settings.
From General, click Page Visibility, then select ‘Page unpublished.’
Save the changes and tell Facebook why you are doing this.
Click Next, then Unpublish, and it is complete.
How to delete a Facebook Page completely
Finally, maybe you have decided enough is enough. You don’t want a Page any longer. You won’t be back.
To delete the Page, go to Page Settings, then General, and click ‘Remove Page.’
Click Delete [Page Name], delete page, and OK.
The Page won’t be permanently deleted for 14 days in case you change your mind. But after 14 days, it’s gone for good.
Being a Facebook Page owner
There are many roles and responsibilities as a Facebook Page owner:
→ Making an eye-catching Facebook Page cover photo.
→ Creating Facebook content fans love.
→ Keeping up with current Facebook image dimensions.
→ Checking and learning from Facebook Insights.
And so many more!
Being a Facebook Page owner is a key part of marketing your business on social media.
But times can change, and so can circumstances.
That’s why Facebook gives you a range of options to add admins, remove them, or even delete yourself from the Page entirely.
That way, you are in control of what happens as a Facebook Page owner.
Scott Sager says
Hi! Thank you for the informative article! I’ve had a page for a while now with 25k followers. My question is how to send a notification to all of them at once. I have it figured out for my group, but not my page. Having created a course for a fundraiser, I would like to contact as many as possible. I’ve searched on Google as well as your website but can’t find sufficient, up to date answers. Your insight would be most appreciated!
Thanks,
Scott
Louise Myers says
I’m not sure this is possible, and frankly I’d unfollow and unlike a page that did this. I’m in a group that’s started to do this and I left it.
Dana Kahn says
Hello Louise,
I wonder if you could help me? I have a charity FB page which has disappeared from Google. After reading as much I could on trying to get the page re-crawled, I learned about Google Console, which then wanted me to verify my ownership of the ‘site’. That is where I can’t seem to get anywhere. My page has 4 admins, including me, but I cannot find an option for changing the role to owner anywhere, the options available are admin., editor, moderator, and analyst.
I also cannot find a page transparency option anywhere, there is page visibility in settings but not transparency. Still, the page is set as public in case that’s relevant.
Please help me – I just don’t know where to go with my problem as neither Facebook, nor Google can be contacted.
Thank you so very much,
Dana xx
Louise Myers says
A few things going on here. As far as Google, they will index what they decide to, and change their algorithm daily. There’s no way to make (or request) they index a page on FB.
As far as owner, this is set in the Business Manager, not in the Page roles. Reread the sections on How to add a Page owner and How to transfer a Page owner. I’m not sure if a charity page works the same tho.
Best of luck 🙂
Dustin says
So I created a page “Youth Athletics Recreastion Development-YARD” for my business. It was attached to my personal page. I unintentionally disconnected from my YARD account and now cannot get reconnected. Facebook Customer Service is joke and has been zero help. I do NOT see any button under the profile picture to “claim” it and am out of ideas! Any suggestions of guidance would be so appreciated!
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately it seems impossible to get an actual person from FB to respond, unless you have run ads in the past. I’m sorry! Please let us know if you find anything that helps so we can pass it along.
Codi says
Hi! The entire staff of my organization was removed as editors from our charity page. There is no admin or owner of the page, but I cannot find an unofficial page or claim page button anywhere. What would you suggest as next steps? I’ve gone through support to regain access, but it kicks me out immediately every time it is restored. Pretty sure it’s just an automated system giving me access and making me change my password 100 times.
Louise Myers says
I’m hoping a reader has encountered this and can offer a suggestion.
Kelly Schultz says
Thank you for the process on how to transfer ownership of Facebook shop. We have followed all of the instructions however, how do you switch out the old EIN for a new one? Also, banking and payment? Those fields remain grey and cannot be updated. We have tried contacting FB numerous times, but have gotten no response. Obviously, when a new owner takes over you have to update EIN and payment etc.. but there is no information to be found on how to do this.
Louise Myers says
I didn’t actually mention shops. Contact the previous owner, but it sounds like it’s not possible to transfer a shop to another business.
June says
Hi, I got a message from facebook that my account is gray, and if I am an only admin of a page, the page will be also deled along with my account.
I searched for a way to preserve my page and came across your post. I tried to find ‘page roles’ to add admin but it turns out my facebook page is “new page experience”, so no page roles. Apparently new page’s people with Facebook access with full control works as old page’s admin. Then if I give another person full access to the page, can I save my page from being deleted when facebook deletes my gray accont?
Louise Myers says
Can you create a temporary FB account and take control that way? Then add your current account? Or just let that be your FB account.
Otherwise yes, I would try to give another person full access to the page.
I’m so sorry but FB is making it a full time job to keep up with their changes. Please let us know if you find something that works!
Lana says
Hi! I have a new Facebook page and I have tried to invite few people to like the page. The problem is that my friends are not receiving any notification about the invite. What should I do? Thank you
Louise Myers says
First, be sure they’re people interested in your niche. Having followers who don’t engage with your content, or worse hide your posts, will make it even harder to get your posts seen by anyone.
If you think they’d be good “fans” you could text or email them the link privately.
John S says
Hello. I’m pulling my hair out! I’ve set up a “private” but visible FB group page. I am the only admin. I have added files to the page. These files are listed under the “files” tab when I enter that section of the page, and I can see them listed— but my members cannot view these files, it just shows “no files” to members. Bizarrely , if a member adds a file, it is then visible to both them AND myself. What am I doing wrong here, there is no tab to select who can view the files, is there a glitch I need to fix? Thanks for any advice.
Louise Myers says
It sounds like you have some sort of privacy setting on the files. I don’t do groups though, this article is about business pages. Maybe someone else knows more if you can’t find the privacy setting.
Erika says
Hi, I lost admin role on my page and it don’t have more admins, only editor.
How could I recover my page? I don’t have section – ‘Is this your business’ in my page
Thank you.
Louise Myers says
Was your page hacked? Otherwise a page without any admins should have an “Unofficial Page” label under the cover image and “Is this your business?”
Your last option is the FB business support page.
DIego says
Hi, what I understand, and I have seen, is that if you create a FB page, and you don’t add it to your business manager, the owner is not showing on the page role. It just shows YOU as the administrator. However, when you add it to your business manager, then it shows that the owners is your Business.
Having said that, if you create a FB page, and you don’t add it to your business manager, but instead, you give access to another person through his business manager, you will lose ownership, and the new owner will be this new business, right?
In short, you need to add your page to your business manager in order for FB to show that your business is the owner on the Page Role section.
Louise Myers says
Those are great insights, thanks.
Martin says
Hi Louise,
I am an admin on a page owned by a business account (rather than a personal account) that Meta disabled. The reason given was “This account is known as a grey account.” And then it goes on to say that it didn’t have access to the same security features.
I need to transfer ownership to my personal account’s business manager so that I can add some store locations, etc, but there is no longer an account owner to send a request to. And, I cannot find any support email, contact form, link or forum to help.
I cannot create a new page and then merge the current one, because I don’t own the current one and its owner no longer exists.
I tried support@fb . com, but it bounced back.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Louise Myers says
Martin, I’m sorry to say this is a big problem. I’ve gotten so many comments on problems with page owner accounts that no longer exist or don’t respond. FB really needs to step up to help. If I find an answer I will let everyone who’s commented about it know by email!
And to you and all readers, please do let us know if you find a solution.
Pat says
I am interested to create a page that would offer subscriptions do you have guidance for that? Thank you
Louise Myers says
That’s a great idea, but I don’t have a resource for that yet.
Here’s the member signup page you requested – sorry that it was hard to find! https://louisem.com/free-members
Shannon says
Wow, this is such a great article! My problem is that my account was hacked into. I received an email from Facebook asking if the login was me, and I followed the steps to secure my account, but the person posted some awful content on a page I own, and my account was suspended. I can’t access my profile or my pages. I went through the process of disagreeing with their decision, because I wanted them to realize I was hacked and it wasn’t me posting this stuff. I uploaded my ID for them to verify it’s really me. Now when I log into Facebook I get taken to a page that says “You disagreed with the decision. It usually takes us just over a day to review your information…” It’s been over a month now and it still says this. When I clicked on Help, it told me that this one page was unpublished because it contained images of child sexual abuse. This is just horrifying. It was my page from when I had a yoga studio, which I no longer run and I should have unpublished the page years ago since I haven’t accessed it in years. Anyway, is there any way to get back into my profile page? I really don’t care about the pages I own but my main profile page has a lot of personal photos and memories etc… Do I just wait? I was about to log out to try logging back in, but I got the message asking if I was sure, because “This account will be disabled in 1 day… You only have 1 day left to request a review. After that your account will be permanently disabled.” I already have asked for a review. Any recourse for me, or should I just accept that my stuff is lost?
Louise Myers says
I am so sorry to hear this! I wish I could help but I don’t have an answer. Maybe a suggestion though – can you log in from a different device or different browser? I don’t know that this would resolve anything but it seems a close equivalent to “log out to try logging back in.”
It’s unfortunate that FB is so difficult to deal with 😫
Shannon says
Thank you Louise. It is so annoying. I appreciate your taking the time to respond. I think the profile has now been permanently disabled. I think I will just let it go. I’m getting rid of a lot of clutter, might as well let this be part of that process… None of the teens I know use Facebook, which makes me think it’s not going to be around forever anyway. Anyway I appreciate your commiserating with me, and all the help you’ve offered to everyone on here! 🙂
Louise Myers says
YW and thanks for coming back to leave a nice response ☺️
Karl Russell says
Hi, great post.
I came across it as I am an admin of my company’s page but not of the page that owns it.
It means I cannot run ads currently (you’d think Facebook would be interested in this).
I have tried everything to either get in touch with Facebook, find the name of the person that does own the page, or the email with no luck.
Any ideas as to how I can gain access so we can start advertising?
Thanks,
Louise Myers says
You should be able to see who owns the Page under “Page Roles” in the Page Settings. Is it not there?
Karl Russell says
Hi Louise,
On that screen I’m able to see that the ‘Page Owner’ that owns the page I am an admin of is the same business name.
What I can’t find is who has access to that business account in order to advertise for the page I am an admin of.
I’m also the admin on two other business pages, both owned by a different page owner that I have access to as well so I’m able to advertise for those two companies.
Just the one I can’t get access to.
It seems none of the board or directors or previous marketing employees have access details. And looking at some of the comments above here, it seems possible to remove yourself as the only admin leaving it as unaccessible.
Plus you can’t contact Facebook even if I wanted to spend £10k a month with them!
Any help would be hugely appreciated.
Louise Myers says
I’m so sorry. I’ve seen this issue come up before (page being owned by a business) and have not been able to find a resolution. Facebook needs to make this a lot simpler and clearer.
Louise Myers says
You may have already done this with no response but… this says you can request access to run ads.
https://www.facebook.com/business/help/183277585892925?id=420299598837059
Amanda says
Hello! Thank you for the detailed article. I have a business page on Facebook. I have been trying for weeks now to change my business name. I was able to change the user name/link for the page. Every time I submit the name change nothing happens. I get no rejection notice and the name still does not change. I have reported the issue to facebook repeatedly with no resolved solution. I am getting very frustrated and it is hurting my business. Any suggestions?
If I create another page and merge them, does the content and posts merge to the other account too?
Louise Myers says
I don’t have recent experience with merging so you’ll want to check into that thoroughly. But not sure this will solve your problem as you’ll have one page with the URL you want and one, the new one, presumably with the name you want. So I’m not sure if you can “mix and match” which get kept when merging.
Amanda says
Do you have any suggestions on how to get facebook to actually change my page name? I have been sending report issue things regularly and requesting name changes multiple times a week. I wish facebook had a direct support to help with things like this.
Louise Myers says
For starters, you need to wait at least a week between attempting name changes. Since you’ve been bombarding them, I’d suggest waiting at least a month.
More tips here: How to change your FB page name
Amanda says
I know how to do it. It is just not working. It says it should only take 3 days to approve. When I receive no confirmation or denial and my business name still does not get changed, it is frustrating. It is hurting my business. If they had a way to contact them and receive support, I wouldn’t need to consistently try request a change.
Christie says
Hi, I have a FB business page. The page is owned by the business and my personal profile is listed as an admin. I thought I should also be listed as the owner, as the page is mine, but I can’t find a way to do that. I’ve tried several ways but everything fails. Is it OK to have only the business own the page and me stay as the admin, or is that the wrong way to handle it. I’m worried that I set-up my business page incorrectly. Would love some advice. Thanks.
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately I don’t have enough data to advise on this.
Steve Splane says
Hello I am and admin on a non profit FB page. The page was set up and owned by a marketing person whose contract is not being renewed. We asked her to re-assign ownership of the FB page to our Executive Director. It appears that she removed herself as the business manager of the page BEFORE reassigning ownership and now says she can not transfer ownership. The page, in fact, no longer shows that she, OR ANYONE ELSE owns the page anymore. Not sure how this is possible, although our soon to be ex marketing person is now listed as an page admin. The Page Roles page now shows four admin.’s/ no listed owner and no listed business manager. How do we complete the ownership transfer?
Louise Myers says
The only thing I can suggest is to try the FB Business support page.
Jeff says
I’m a small business owner, and I have several assets/pages in my business account. For one of those, I no longer wish to be listed as a page admin as I’m removing myself from the day-to-day social media business. There are many other admins that will handle that. However, I DO need to remain the owner due to trademark-related issues and to ensure ease of transfer when necessary. Does anyone know if I’m in jeopardy of losing the asset in my business account if I remove my “person” from the “page”?
Louise Myers says
I understand that you won’t be doing the admin work, but what’s your reason for “not being listed” as an admin? I don’t know if this is risky but I’d beware 🙂
Jeff says
The only reason I’m considering removing myself as “admin” is to reduce the amount of notifications that Facebook sends admins (hence, me) when people like, comment, share, and message our page. This is multiplied by the number of pages I own, but do not manage.
Louise Myers says
I agree that those can get annoying. I don’t know if notifications can be set differently per admin. I hope a reader can weigh in with some advice for you!
Jeremy says
When logged into Facebook, click on Pages (in the left menu) and then click on a Page for which you’re an Owner/Admin.
Scroll down the Manage Page menu (on the left) and you’ll see Settings at the bottom. Click that and you’ll be in General settings. In the menu on the left, 4 items down from General, you’ll see Notifications; click that.
From there, you can control your Page Notifications settings. I’d share a screenshot, if I could—but, here’s a copy/paste directly from Facebook of the instructions from the Page Notifications Settings :
“These settings control which notifications you receive about [your page name]. You can still see all notifications about [your page name] by visiting your Page notifications. These settings will not impact the notifications that other Page admins receive.”
Hope that helps 🙂
Louise Myers says
That’s awesome, Jeremy, thanks for helping out!
Beth Squire says
Hi Louise, I currently have a public Facebook page (as distinct from my profile page) run by me where I sell goods. If I change it to a private page, will I still retain all my page followers?
Thanks
Beth
Louise Myers says
To make a FB business page private, you have to unpublish it. I’m not sure this is what you want to do.
The reasons to unpublish a FB page would be:
⬜ The Page isn’t finished yet
⬜ The business, brand or organization is no longer active
⬜ I accidentally created the Page
⬜ I didn’t get enough value from the Page
⬜ Other
If your “page” isn’t a business page but actually a personal profile that you’re selling from, then you are breaking FB’s TOS and are running the risk of being shut down.
Zac says
Hello,
My wife and I were having trouble with posting things on our business page and when we went to admins, realized that for some reason there is someone listed as the page owner that is not us that we don’t know.
We bought the business and the page from someone 2 years ago and transferred the page over and thought we made one of us owners, but we are just listed as admins along with 3 other people we don’t know.
How can we reclaim ownership if we don’t know the person who is listed as owner? Thank you
Louise Myers says
1. Send those people FB messages and tell them they need to release ownership to you.
2. Contact the people you bought from and tell then they need to fix this.
3. Last resort, use the FB business support page. Report the page as hacked if that’s the only option that fits.
Zac says
Thank you. I will try those options.
The people that we bought the company from are no longer admins on the page. Can they do anything at this point? They put us as admins and I thought we put one of us as the owner of the page. If we didn’t put ourselves as owners of the page, can someone come in and make themselves owners?
Thanks again for your response.
Elleena Cantrell says
Hello,
I created a Facebook business page but for some reason I was asked to prove my identity with my personal Facebook page. I didn’t and still don’t have a current id however submitted a copy of my expired id thinking it would do the job considering when I looked into it there was no mention of an expired state id. Now my personal account is restricted,my business page is restricted, and my business ads manager account was denied. Any solutions of getting around this problem as I keep trying to get a current id but for some reason the state won’t process payment and mail me one. Due to Covid regulations I couldn’t go in person to getone. I now suffer from long Covid and have at no time frame in which I do not have Covid symptoms which means I have to follow isolation procedures.i need a solution on how to get this taken care of but I’m afraid there’s nothing but somehow creating a miracle and getting a valid id
Louise Myers says
I would say you definitely need to get a valid ID, for many reasons. Get in touch with someone at that office, or even contact your senator’s office.
Mary says
Hi
I have a big issue on my fb page and I can’t find any information how to salve this. I really hope you can help me. I am the owner of my page which is verified blue tick. I have basically two Facebook one is my main profile and one is my page and both are verified. Anyway here is the problem. I have given access admin to a company and they had take over the payout. They are the admin but I m not the admin of my payout. I do not have access to my payout. This company was posting videos on my page and was getting paid from Facebook which we were sharing the revenue. Now this company did some copyright issue and now my page is no longer monetise. I have removed them as admin but my payout still in there hand. I can’t remove them. What do I do? Is there a way to get it back? Would appreciate your help
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately IDK the answer but maybe a reader does. The broader issue, though, is whether your page will ever again be eligible for payouts. Sorry, this may have been a scam.
Hedi. A says
Hello,
I have a complicated situation.
– I have my personal account and business page under it.
– I also have an account under the business name and a page under that.
Facebook disabled my business account.
So now there are 2 pages for my business and I would like to have them both under my personal account.
But can’t merge because In Facebook Business Suite each are under a different account.
Louise Myers says
Maybe a reader has a suggestion. But it sounds like you made a separate account (personal profile) for your business, which breaks FB terms of use. So I’m not sure there’s an answer.
mounir says
Thanks dear a lot for great information
i am page owner FB and i am trying to remove an admin , but keep my request on hold till he accept it ??? is there any way to remove an admin direct without his permission ??
appreciate your reply
Louise Myers says
If you have equal privileges then he will have to accept your deletion.
Sammy says
Really helpful article thanks and useful responses to questions too. I am the owner of a fb page and have managed all aspects of the page for several years. After a few years the informal group that formed around the page became a formally incorporated group, took a new name and we continued as a nonprofit service and so I changed the page’s name. I continued to manage the content. Didn’t monetise the page, just used it for promoting group hiking events, posting wildlife pics etc. (under the new name). I’ve recently left the group but I’d like to keep ownership of the page and revert it back to my old page name OR deactivate the page completely and start fresh. Am I forced to handover ownership? Or as the owner can I choose what I want to do with the page now?
Louise Myers says
Normally as the owner you should be able to change the name or deactivate the group. The wild card here is that you no longer seem to be IN the group. So you’ll have to try it and see if you can, I’m not sure as it’s an odd situation. Would love to hear if it works!
Jay says
Seems like so many of FB Help pages are outdated solutions in the past year.
I am trying to help a new client gain access to a business page that was created in 2017 and the creator is no longer on FB as well as they aren’t reachable.
The client is a new employee and has access to all info necessary to submit proof of affiliation with the non profit that the page represents.
the page wasn’t “Hacked” and the “Support” link you have provided to other replies goes to a generic “Ad Support” page.
Thoughts?
Louise Myers says
I don’t get a generic page from the support link, I get relevant options of support. Is there anyone who’s an admin who can log in and get to the support page?
Roshan says
Hi,
Our organization’s page was created by a guy who is no longer with the organization. We asked him to handover the Facebook page. After a heated conversation in the last meeting he agreed to make us admins of the page and removed himself. Now we are the admins and we just noticed that he is the owner of the page. How can we remove him of being the owner of the page ? and what else we need to do so that we can have full control of the page ?
Thanks
Louise Myers says
Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a way to remove an owner, they have to add someone else first and then remove themself. Look at the comment a few down from yours where I provided alternatives if you can’t resolve it with him, including reporting your page as hacked (last resort).
cal chaaban says
my page was created by me then an advertising company claimed ownership years ago and put me as admin. that company is no longer in business since 2019 and there is no way of contacting them. how do i claim ownership of my business page?
Louise Myers says
I suggest using any FB support channels you can. Start here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/support
If that doesn’t work, you could try reporting the page as hacked: https://www.facebook.com/hacked
(I haven’t tried this and have no idea how or if it would work).
Wes says
Hi there. Apologies if this has been covered already.
I can’t link an Instagram account to a Facebook page because FB says the page is already connected to another business. I cannot figure it out, and the Facebook Page Owner’s account seems deactivated or already deleted. Any tips?
Louise Myers says
Any Page admin should be able to go to “Instagram” under the Page settings to ensure there’s no IG account currently connected. Disconnect if needed.
Lala says
Hii, thank you for this guide, but I have a specific problem and maybe you can help. I have a Facebook page for my business, but someone hacked it. He removed all the admins but me because I’m the owner. But the problem is, he somehow made himself disappear. I can’t see him on the ”role page” and I can’t remove him that way. Is there any other way to remove him?
Louise Myers says
Report the page as hacked: https://www.facebook.com/hacked
Michelle says
Hi Louise,
Please forgive me if you’ve covered this, but I’m hoping it is a lot more simple than the comments & issues above!
I own my Facebook page which is set up as my personal page with a seperate business profile which I have to manually switch between. I also have the business suite.
My issue is connecting my online store to social media pages. They automatically link me to my personal page & profile first rather than my business profile. Is there an easy way around this or will I have to consider setting up a whole new page for business? I really was hoping to avoid that as I have 8 years of reviews, background & images etc etc.
Many thanks in advance:)
Louise Myers says
You want to link FROM your store TO your FB business page? I really don’t know what you’re asking or why it’s a problem. Or how setting up a new page would change anything. Sorry, not sure what you’re trying to do here.
Pamela Barberio says
Hello – So here is my situation and I will warn you, it’s a tricky one! I work for a restaurant that is under new ownership. The previous owner removed herself as a page admin and it appears as if there was only one other admin after that – the GM who is now no longer with the company. Well, that sole person allegedly attempted to add me as an admin, however I never received the invite / notification, and she removed herself immediately. Now, we have absolutely no one (that we are aware of) who is a page owner OR admin. I have just begun managing the restaurant’s website and social media accounts. Fortunately, because I was given the Instagram credentials, I have been able to post on Instagram and also share it to our Facebook page from there, but otherwise I have no way of directly accessing our Facebook page.
My attempts to contact Facebook have been unanswered, so I am just curious if there are ANY ways to contact Facebook to be granted admin access to this page or if I should just tell the new owners that we will unfortunately have to start a new page? Thank you!
Louise Myers says
I’ve shared a few ways to “contact” Facebook in the article and recent comments. There’s no way to make them respond, however.
Your last option may be to visit this page facebook.com/help/1020633957973118 and open the first section under “Reporting Copyright Infringement on Facebook.” You can see if that offers an avenue to reclaim the page. Proceed with extreme caution if you follow this route as anyone who might be still associated with the page could find themselves in legal trouble. If this seems like something you want to pursue you should probably consult with a lawyer.
Kevin Frith says
Hello. I am a little lost when it comes to my organization’s Facebook page and I was wondering if you could help. I work in the IT department for a business. Our Facebook page was created in 2014 by a Facebook user that is no longer with us. No one knows the password to this account and the person that created the account is no longer with us. Another user was made an admin of the page soon after the page was created. That user has since deleted their Facebook account. So our business Facebook page is floating in cyberspace with no way to manage it. Do you have any ideas on what I can do to get control of this page?
Louise Myers says
Your easiest solution is to get in touch with one of these people. If that’s not possible, see the 2 help channels I listed in the comment 2 down from yours.
Chloe says
Hi there! I apologize if the answer for this question has already been answered.
We have a Facebook page for our business. I wasn’t here when it was made and the people that were have left. With Facebook’s update in June, we can no longer access our shop. We had thought that those of us that are admins were business managers/admins and that we wouldn’t lose our shop. Well, now we can’t. The page owner is the page itself, so we don’t know how to request access or appoint business admin roles. Facebook has been zero help and I’m hoping that you might have a solution. We just want to be able to access our shop page and reconnect it with our website.
Louise Myers says
I’m sorry to hear this is happening: The page owner is the page itself. I’m starting to hear this repeatedly now and it makes no sense! I will update if I can figure out a resolution.
Chloe says
Thank you so much!
Toti says
I have the same issue! Its frustrating….
Jessica Ueberfluss says
This is a great article! The issue I am having is that I have recently taken over the Facebook and Instagram account for a local business but I cannot seem to connect the pages in order to use the Business Suite for scheduling. The page owner is listed as someone that the current admins dont know and cannot reach out to. I have read everything posted here and it seems as though I cannot switch page ownership without contacting the original page owner which is not possible. I do not understand, however, why I cant connect the pages as I am an admin. I have sent a request to the page owner to review the connection and link the page but thats all I seem to be able to do. The other page admins have also tried to connect the pages but are unable to. Any advice?
Louise Myers says
If they can’t reach the person listed as owner, they need to find another way to get them removed (and replaced with someone who should have that role).
I suggest using any FB support channels you can. Start here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/support
If that doesn’t work, they could report the page as hacked: https://www.facebook.com/hacked
Their problems could become much greater than linking IG and they should address it quickly and vigorously.
Jessica Ueberfluss says
Thank you for the reply. I have officially run out of options. I have sent a request for a transfer of page ownership and get no reply. I have reported the page owner account, as well as reported it as hacked. Also, just verified that this was all I could do from the Facebook Chat option without sending in a ridiculous amount of documentation from the business owner.
This is the first time I have experienced anything like this for a client and I’m not sure where to go from here. I have spent way too much time on trying to find the answers and haven’t even gotten to the main part of the job, which is creating content. Do I tell the client that he should start a new FB and IG where we would create the account under his personal profile so that he can be the page owner and add me as admin and we can link both the FB and IG accounts? Or do I tell him that we can continue to use this page but I will need to revise my contract to let him know it is against my recommendation to continue to use this account? And also that this is more than we agreed upon because I will not be able to schedule posts in advance to IG, causing me to spend more time manually posting. I am just not sure how to handle this from here. I do know that I dont want any risk to me or my company and I also know that I need to move on from this since I have already devoted so much time.
Louise Myers says
I know what a pain it is when detours like this come up when doing client work. I can’t advise what to do for this client, but for future you’ll know that clients have to “own” their page or you can’t work with them.
If you can find any way to fix it for them and others, you could probably get a lot of business doing that! Of course, you couldn’t guarantee results bc FB will be FB. No guarantees with anything social media.
Jessica Ueberfluss says
Thank you again. Definitely a learning lesson! Still not sure what to do from here with this client but at least I will know for future clients.
Jill says
Hi Jessica, I’m having this same exact issue rn. No one knows who previously claimed the page through their business manager so I’m unable to link it to my business manager account. I have contacted FB repeatedly through the chat and was told to provide documentation, which i did. Their response was that “they couldn’t make me an admin on the business manager” which is NOT what i was asking! I finally spoke with a new agent in chat and they are now saying the only course of action is to file an admin dispute. To do so I have to submit documentation (of course the details of this documentation is so vague and confusing) AND have it notarized. Not sure why having it notarized would matter since Im submitting it electronically…. Facebook has become so convoluted. I wish everyone would just stop using it! Anyway, i hope this helps a little.
Louise Myers says
Thank you Jill!
Makayla says
Hey Jill, were you able to gain access to the Business account after your admin dispute? We’re about to have to go through the same process.
Kristen says
I’ve been searching for Page Owner information for several days and this is the most supportive page I’ve found BY FAR!
I have an issue that I cannot seem to resolve, and it’s impossible to get support from Facebook, so I’m hoping you can provide more insight.
We created a Business Page in 2016 and had someone managing social media for us at that time. Shortly thereafter, we found that $25k in ads had been run using our Business Account and Page.
I’ve recently taken on an Executive role with the company and would like to begin running ads
HOWEVER, our Page has a Page Ownership established by the person who setup everything in 2016 — and no matter what I try to do to detach the ownership from our Page, I hit a dead end with getting support from Facebook
We simply would like to be the Page Owner of our own Page
Naturally, requests for Partnership or Ownership Access go unanswered because they’re being emailed to this person from long ago
What can I do??
Louise Myers says
I’m so sorry Kristen, but I don’t know of any resolution for this. It’s a common problem, and Facebook really needs to set up some kind of grievance process.
The only thing I know of is to get in touch with that former social media manager and have her turn over ownership to your company.
If you find any workaround, I would LOVE to hear it so we can help others in this predicament. Best of luck!
Adele Tiblier says
We have a similar issue with a page that is associated with a Business Manager account that no one at the company is appears to be connected to (that we know of). When I reached out to FB, they provided the following details on what to do :
You must have the Business document on your name not on the name who has left the organization, then only we can claim the request for you.
And what kind of business document is suitable?
———————–
A copy of a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a current driver’s license or a passport, of the individual signing the statement. See the different kinds of IDs we accept in the Help Center Article (https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185);
– What types of ID does Facebook accept? Confirm that the provided ID is in fact government-issued.
– Do numbers match?
– Did the requester provide the ID of himself? If the ask is for another person to be added as an admin, did the requester provide that person’s ID?
A SIGNED STATEMENT in the PDF file format from a person with sufficient knowledge and authority over this matter that includes all of the following:
— The Facebook email address and profile URL associated with the Facebook account that you wish to have added as the new admin
— A description of requestor relationship to the Business (and authority to request access to the Business, as applicable);
— An explanation of your request, and whether there has been a termination of the employment and/or business relationship with the named person(s)/Business, as applicable;
— The past three invoices/billing statements on the ad account(s) that the Business owns AND the last 4 digits of the credit card(s) on the account(s);
— A declaration that the information you have provided is true and accurate (e.g. “I certify that the information provided is true and accurate”) – your statement must include similar language in order to be considered compliant and must be signed by hand.
– Has the situation been explained? Is it correlated with the data? Did the requester provide eligible ownership/claim for admin rights? Did the requester provide the Facebook account that needs to be added to the Account as an admin on the statement? Does the statement declare its accuracy with the verbiage “Under Penalty of Perjury”? NOTE: While it was a requirement previously,
Proper Business documents must also be provided to confirm the requester’s connection to the Business. Does the document contain the Company name/logo/Address? Are the documents provided accepted by our policy? Are the documents provided issued by an official government organization? Confirm client’s contact email is available.
My final question was “is there is a way to disassociate the Instagram account via Instagram from the Facebook page since we have the direct account login?”
They advised NOT doing that if we were going to go the aforementioned route. It would only screw things up more.
Louise Myers says
Thanks, this seems like great info. My question is, how do you reach someone at Facebook, or where would a company submit these documents?
Bonnie says
Hi, I’m being contacted by someone who wants to pay me for placing ads on my fb page. He wants me to add my page to their business manager / ads account for verification. If I do that, is their any chance he can take control over my page and remove me as owner/admin?
Louise Myers says
This sounds very fishy. Yes they can probably take over your page, and even if that’s not their intent as I suspect, FB could close your account for breaking Terms of Use.
Shalisa says
Hi! Great article! We had an ad agency that we used to work with take ownership of our page without our knowledge. Do you have any advice for getting them removed? We have reached out to them and haven’t gotten any response.
Louise Myers says
I don’t believe there’s any way to claim ownership of a page without the current owner’s help.
William Anderson says
Loving your blogs! I am a page admin but not the owner. I spoke to the person listed as the owner but will not help. How do I get ownership changed?
Bill
Louise Myers says
Unless FB institutes some type of grievance process, I don’t think there’s any way to get ownership changed without the owner’s participation.
William Anderson says
Thank you!
joanna says
Hello! I am not sure if I own my FB page…it says it’s owned by my Instagram account…and my personal FB is an admin. I cannot seem to add my personal account as the owner. I’m wondering if this is why I’m not able to join a FB Group (as my business page). It’s not even giving me the option. Please advise. Thank you!
Anna Tetlow says
Hi there- I work for a charity and we are trying to set up a business manager account linked to our Facebook page. However, I can see there is already a business manager linked. We do not know who owns this business manager account as we can just see the ID number and no further information. Is there any way you know of to find this out? I have already reached out to Facebook who said they were unable to tell me who owns the business ID due to their privacy policy.
Louise Myers says
Go to facebook.com/[id-number]
If that doesn’t work then their profile is private so you won’t be able to find them.