Written by ContentPowered.com
I’m sure if you try, you can come up with a scenario where you might want to transfer ownership of a Facebook page. If you can’t, how about this; someone buys your company and you no longer need to control the page. It’s a surprisingly common scenario, and yet a lot of people don’t know how to give over control of a page.
I don’t blame them. The process isn’t difficult, and it makes sense, but it isn’t the easy “assign ownership of this page” button or the arcane “contact Facebook and get them to do it” method you might expect.
So, here’s the basic process.
Step 1: Be the admin of the page.
You can’t transfer ownership if you’re not an admin, for obvious reasons.
Step 2: Make the other person an admin.
There are a number of different page roles, each with different capabilities. Analysts only get Insights and the ability to see who posted as a page. Advertisers get access to the ads manager. Moderators can ban people, remove comments, and send messages as the page. Editors can make posts as the page, and edit page apps and data. Admins are the only role that can manage page roles and settings.
In order to make someone an admin, you need to click the Page Roles section in the settings menu on your page. Click the Admin drop down and select a role for the person, and then save your changes. You’ll be prompted to enter your password, to confirm it’s really you making the change.
Step 3: Remove yourself as an admin.
To do this, click settings and go to Page Roles. Find your name on the list and click the X next to your name. This is if you want to remove yourself entirely. If you just want to demote yourself, you will have to click the drop down and select your new role. Again, you’ll be prompted to input your password when you save.
In some cases, you won’t be able to remove yourself as an admin. No worries! Just have your newly appointed admin and business owner remove your permissions.
Step 4: Unlike and unfollow the page.
If you’re going to completely remove yourself from association with the page, you should also make sure to unlike and unfollow the page. Otherwise, it will still be on your list of followed pages, and you will still see updates.
Note that you do have to have someone else in the admin role before you can remove yourself as an admin. You cannot have a page with no admin.
There’s another possible way to get ownership of a page, specifically without going through this process. The admin who wants to be in charge needs to enroll in Facebook’s Business Manager. From inside the manager, an admin can claim the page and take ultimate ownership of the page.
This only works, however, if no one else has claimed the page through the Business Manager. If someone else has, you won’t be able to claim it, and you will need to go through a longer process.
Business Manager has more roles than normal pages, and correspondingly more functionality. It’s typically used as a sort of master role over a bunch of managed Facebook pages, such as a franchised business with numerous local pages. The roles are:
- Business Admin: the ultimate top manager, able to access and modify any aspect of the account, including deleting it.
- Business employee: an account capable of seeing all of the information in the pages, but unable to make changes.
- Ad account admin: an account capable of managing everything about ad campaigns, including reporting, billing and account permissions.
- Ad account advertiser: an account that can create ads using the payment information already set in the account.
- Ad account analyst: an account capable of viewing ad performance and analytics.
Additionally, all of the page roles – admin, editor, moderator, advertiser, and analyst – still exist in business manager.
In order to change ownership of an entire business manager account, you will need to follow roughly the same steps as the process above, only for the business manager section itself.
Step 1: Go to the business manager itself. Once logged in, go to settings.
Step 2: Click the “people” section on the left side of the screen. This will give you a list of page accounts. You can add people to this list using a different process.
Step 3: Click the name of the person you want to give ownership to and click to change roles. You will want to make them a Business Account Admin, which is distinct from a page admin role.
Step 4: Make the person an admin and notify them of their new status. The will then be able to log in and remove your admin permissions. You may be able to do this yourself, or you may not; it seems to vary based on how old the business account is, since Facebook has made changes over time and some features get lost.
Once again, once you’re removed from the admin role, you’ll want to remove your like and follow from the business page if you want to completely divorce yourself from it. If not, you’re free to keep your like if you desire.
Note: if you find yourself removed as an admin and you didn’t authorize the change, you will have to contact Facebook. You may be the victim of a hacked social account, and one of the other admins was compromised. Make sure you always follow proper security procedures to avoid this sort of event.
Ahmad Sulaeman
says:Great, but now that I’ve changed the ownership of my business account to somebody else, can I then open a new business account for me?
leigh
says:I do not want to use my main private page anymore. I want to get rid of it and only use my business page. How can I make my business page my main page and my admin. If I delete my private page, it will delete the only account I want. I only want my business page that my private page is the admin for. Help! I want my business page to be my only page and admin of itself.
James Parsons
says:I don’t think you can delete your personal profile without also deleting your page, but you can make it super locked down and private so that less people see it. This is probably the way to go. Enabling restrictions on who can see your page will accomplish this so it is no longer public. You can request that search engines no longer crawl it as well, so it will be removed from Google.
Denis
says:I need urgent help. i do not know how to contact facebook. a few months ago i deleted my old account completely, with this account was also a page connected I had a moderator with me. I told him to continue until I come back. Now I’m back with a new account but my site has no administrator, and the moderator can not add me. we currently have over 3000likes and I would like to have my side back Please help, btw. I’m from Germany
James Parsons
says:I believe you can contact Facebook’s developer team and have them look into this for you. Also, are you sure your old profile is permanently deleted? Usually you can re-activate a profile if you delete it and decide to come back. Try that first, and then contact Facebook’s dev team if there’s no luck recovering the old profile. I’ve seen people who no longer have access to a page gain access to it by contacting Facebook directly. Good luck!
Michelle Kappeler
says:This exact same thing is happening to us as well. Please write back if you found a solution or facebook contacted you!
Madan Mohan
says:I have my shopify dropshipping store, and I want to create facebook page for this business. If I have to create the facebook b’ness page that is linked to my personal FB account, what if I want to sell my shopify store in future and give access to all social media account (including Facebook) to the new owner…I can follow these steps you explained in the blog post to add someone as admin and then removing myself, unlike the page and unfollow it… Now… After completely removing myself from this business, what if I delete my personal profile (my original fb account), will that affect the business page I originally created? if yes, then isn’t that a big glitch in how facebook currently operates?
James Parsons
says:Hi Madan! Yes, you can’t delete your personal profile or your page will go along with it. It’s tied to your profile, unless you transfer it to a different admin completely and absolve ownership.
Kumara Sampath
says:Hi, I have created a new facebook account and the page. Then I named one of my friends as Admin and another as Editor. Later the page created by the account has been disabled by Facebook security and I couldn’t recover it until today (tried with every option). After all that happened, I asked my friend (who has an admin role) to grant page admin role to my personal Facebook account and he the added admin role. I got that invitation but when I accept it nothing happened, it appears again and again when refreshing the notification page; also when seeing the page settings from my friend’s account, it shows as pending. We tried with several other Facebook accounts, but the result was the same. I want to add an admin role to my personal account, so please help me if anybody knows. Thanks Sampath
Bidan
says:I am an admin of a page, can the admin who is transferring the ownership of a page transfer; currently running ads that he/she has initiated, the insights for those ads and his/her saved audiences? Thank you.
Sarah
says:So will the new admin be able to get access to my personal page in doing so.
James Parsons
says:Hi Sarah! No, if you grant somebody admin access to a Facebook page, this will be completely seperate from your personal profile, and they will not have access to it.
Laura H
says:Do you have to give the new admin your username and password to the account you use to manage under your personal account? I manage 7 accounts. Tomorrow I am handing over a vet office account to a new admin. The vet FB page was started under my account. I have the name and email address of the new admin but want it to go seamlessly in the transfer. What info do I give her to access and add this vet FB page into her FB account? Thanks so much for your help!
Tina
says:If I have multiple FB pages under the same account and I transfer one of those accounts to another individual, will they have access to anything other than the account being transferred and how will I know for sure?
Natalie Glover
says:Hello, I understand how to transfer ownership of the page, but how do I transfer an ad account from one business to another? When I make the transfer of the ad account, billing will transfer as well correct? For example, I’ll need to remove my credit card prior to transferring the ad account so that once the account is transferred my card can no longer be used correct?
Amy
says:I just joined a company and need access to the Facebook page however, the former employee’s personal Facebook account is connected to business page and they are not cooperating to transition. What are my options? Thanks, Amy
Gary
says:Did you find an answer for this?
Dan
says:So if you have multiple Admins of a page, how do you determine who the owner is? Delete the other Admins so it’s just me and the new Admin that will be the owner? Then delete myself and unlike/unfollow the page?How does that affect the email address associated with the page? So many questions…. Thanks!
steven clark
says:I have the same issue, how can we get control of a page if the former “employee” isn’t playing nice. Thanks, Steve
Amy Stires
says:The administrative assistant at our church created a Facebook account for our church using her personal account. How do we separate her from the church account? Also, should we be creating a business account instead?
James Parsons
says:Is it a page or a personal account? It should definitely be a page. To get access you’ll need to ask her to give you (or someone else) full admin rights. She’s the owner of the page, or profile, so the only way to gain access is for her to give it to you.
Melody Mena
says:What if I deleted my account and set someone else as admin of an organization page. Will they still have access to the page even after my account has been deleted? Also, if I make a new account, can I access the page again? I can still find the page when I search it.
James Parsons
says:Hi Melody, the page will still exist after closing your account. If there’s another admin and you create a new account, they’ll have to add you as an admin to the page for you to be able to access it again.
Chee Kuan
says:Hi, I am trying to assign anotherother role to my company page which is tied with my personal FB account. Can the other roles assigned be able to access my private page?
James Parsons
says:Hi Chee, no, those permissions will only be for your Facebook page and they won’t have any control over your personal profiles.
Hailey
says:Hi there! I work to manage a company’s facebook presence, but I have learned that the business page is linked to a facebook page in the name of that business and not an actual person. I know it’s not allowed, and I don’t want everything to be deleted should facebook find it one day. What’s the best course of action to maintain the business page but link it to one of the owner’s actual facebook pages. I feel that the current set up is detrimental to our growth, so I’d like to get it optimized asap. I appreciate your advice! Thanks!
James Parsons
says:Hi Hailey! You’ll have to add your boss or administrator as the admin of the page with full privilages, then they can remove your privilages later if they so choose. This would be the best course of action. Hope this helps!
Adele
says:How do I gain access to the a business page when a former employee is the admin? Have no way of contacting them as they no longer ‘use’ Facebook and aren’t seeing messages that we have sent requesting permissions.
James Parsons
says:Hey Adele! Try your hardest to get in touch with them; without them, your last resort is filing a copyright or trademark claim with Facebook and trying to get the page surrendered to you, since it is your business and you don’t have control of the page. This should be a last resort option, though – hopefully you can get in touch with your old employee by other means; maybe social media. Good luck!
Charlotte Brooks
says:I created a page for the church under my name. Now we have left. They want to keep the page. How do I do this?
James Parsons
says:Hi Charlotte! You have to add them as a page admin with full permissions, then they’ll have the option to remove you as an admin if they so choose.
Kathie
says:What about the password? Since the same pw is used for my personal page and one other page I want to keep but what me off the third page, how do I handle the pw after I make them admin and delete me??
Jesse Estrada
says:I created a Facebook page for a client. I used my personal account to create it. I have successfully granted the client admin access. HOWEVER, now when they go to boost posts it automatically links to MY ad account. I do not want them spending my money on their advertising. Also, I already have clients campaigns running in this ad account so it would be a major pain to transfer all my clients to a new biz manager so I could delete my payment info. Is their an easier way to remove my ad account/credit card info from their page?
Nicole
says:I recently sold my business. I created a business page 7 years ago and have an excellent following. During the changeover I made the new owners editor’s to the page until I can figure out how to remove myself without giving them my personal profile password. The business account was made from my personal profile. If I change roles and remove myself, wont they need my password? I dont want anything to do with the page. Aside from deleting the page entirely and making them start their own page, is there anything I can do?
Zdravko Polevski
says:Hi guys. Please help me. I am the admin of my page. Unfortunately when i give to a company page ownership i accidentally remove my self from there. And now, the company post what she want on my page and i cant remove it, i am not in people in the bussnies manager of my page. I try to claim it back but the company dont allow it. Please tell me how remove them and to get full ownership my myself again.
Andrew
says:James thank you for publishing this help article and responding to questions. There are so many searches out there it has been confusing for me. When I go to FB pages for help the answer for transferring one page from your personal account to another’s personal account is never given. I believe I understand what you have stated but just want to clarify because is if I do not do this right I may lose the page since FB will probably be deleting my account. Its another story. I do not have FB Business Manager. What I have done has added the other individual personal account to the page roles and made them a Admin. The have access to already assigned email account. Do I need to do anything else? Do I need to have them remove me as Admin to verify the page will exist without me tied to since I created it? Do I also need to unlike the page to fully test it will survive if FB does delete my account? Just to be open about my personal account FB has identified I am not using a real name (its not like a real persons name either so I wasn’t trying to be somebody else) but I wanted to remain anonymous from the page. I employ 6 people at a business who run and manage it without me. And I am OK with losing my page because I am not going to submit a ID picture to FB. Thanks for your time and efforts. Hopefully will respond soon. 🙂
dalibay
says:Hi James Our company Facebook page is run by an agency which no longer serves us, however, the page is owned by the same agency and we are only admins. What’s the easiest way to pass the ownership on to us, is it possible? My understanding is even the agency does not know how to do this. What would you suggest? Regards
Katerina
says:I have a similar issue! We have a company page of which i am an admin, but the ownership of the page belongs to a business manager account that nobody in the company can access. First, how can i find out the contact information on the business manager account that owns the page, and second, how can i change the ownership without having access to that account? Is there a way i can contact Facebook for support on this? Thank you in advance!
Johanna
says:I have 2 business pages in addition to my personal page. I created both and I’m trying to merge them but it says it’s under 2 different business accounts. How is this possible and can you help me merge these pages?
James Parsons
says:Hi Johanna! See if you can add your other account as an admin, and try once more.
Kerry
says:I need to transfer ownership of a Page from a FB Business Manager owner to an individual. The business owner has added me as Admin but how do I transfer the page ownership away from the business it’s connected with (it’s a page for a volunteer org he no longer is involved with)?
David
says:Hello. I purchased a business that has a main Facebook Business account. I am set up as the owner and admin. However, the previous owners had 3 separate business pages under the main business account. I actively use my business page and they are using their pages, but because they are all under one main business account, we have access to each other’s pages. I would like to change that. Is there a way that I can transfer ownership the 2 pages that I won’t be using to them while retaining control of the primary account and business page that I am using? Thank you!
Jacinta John
says:Hi James, I bought a business 8 months ago and we cant work out how to change it! It says that her business page is the page owner and im only the editor. Can you please help us?! So I went to – Settings – Page Roles – then it has (i tried to attach a pic but it wont let me) Page Owner: ‘Her business name’ Existing Page Roles: ‘Editor’ with my name and profile under it I cant find anything on the support page or no email to contact facebook direct I dont want to start a new page and loose my following thats all 🙁 TIA – Jacinta
Debbie
says:I created a FB page for the school I worked at. I was admin and there are 3-4 other admins also. I left the school and took myself off as admin (or they deleted me I do not remember). They are now wanting to transfer the FB page to the District people. There has been some issues with the transfer. The district has asked for an “ownership request”. They could not grant it so they thought it was because I was the one who created the account. They added me back as admin to see if I could grant it. When I try to grant it, it comes up with the error message “Something went wrong. Please try again later.” I have tried again and again and it will not work. Any ideas on what I need to do in order to transfer this over?
Adelle
says:Hi, @Debbie did you get sorted with this error message? I am struggling with the same problem. Thank you
J
says:Thank you!! I have been trying to figure this out for weeks!
Sam
says:I am admin of my page. Page owner is a business account. How can I remove it as a page owner? There are some vulgar posts everyday. I don’t know which person is posting it. How can I get rid of that page owner ? Thanks in advance
David
says:Hi Sam, did you manage to find a way? I Have the same problem. Thank you.
Monique
says:Employee made herself owner of my facebook business page. She has since been fired and is giving excuses (refusing to help) How do I remove her and make myself the owner?
Gina Sledge
says:Hi James. I am having trouble helping a past employee (we call Jane) transfer her ownership without deleting the Company’s page. When I go on the page, under page roles, I do not see Jane as Admin or anything. However Jane sees herself still as Page Admin. The ownership has the company’s name, however, Jane still gets the notification on her FB account (personal). Jane says she has the option to remove her as Page Admin, however, will this delete our company’s page? Can you help?
Bryan Fry
says:My Facebook account got hacked and Facebook wouldn’t send my phone a login code, so I had to make a new profile. I had a business page attached to my old profile. How do I get that page switched to my new account without getting into my old one?