How to give an agency access to an Instagram account

You do not need to share your Instagram password. Add your Instagram professional account to your business portfolio, then give the agency partner access: in Meta Business Suite open Settings > Partners > Add > Give a partner access to your assets, enter the agency's business portfolio ID, pick the Instagram account and the tasks it needs, and click Assign assets. An agency that only runs ads needs Ads and Insights.

Before you start

Three things have to be true before an agency can get partner access to an Instagram account.

• It is a professional account. Meta only adds business or creator accounts to a business portfolio. If yours is personal, switch it in the Instagram app: Profile > More (Settings and activity) > Account type and tools under For professionals > Switch to professional account, then choose Business or Creator. Professional accounts cannot be private, so a private account becomes public.
• You have full control of a business portfolio. If you have none, create one first.
• The account is not in another business portfolio. An Instagram account can be in one portfolio only. If an old agency's portfolio has it, that business has to remove it or give you access.

Add the Instagram account to your business portfolio

On a computer:

1. Go to Settings in Meta Business Suite for your business portfolio.
2. Click Instagram accounts under Accounts in the left menu.
3. Click Add, read the information and click Add Instagram account.
4. A new window opens. Enter your Instagram username and password there and click Log in. This is Instagram's own login, typed by you; the agency is not part of this step.
5. If you use two-factor authentication, enter your security code.
6. Click Confirm.

If your Facebook Page is connected to this Instagram account and you are adding the Page too, Meta has you claim both together with Claim Page and Instagram. Switching to a professional account, connecting the Page and why the account does not show up are in how to connect Instagram to your Facebook Page and business portfolio.

Meta's help on assigning an Instagram account to people says you must be logged into the account in Settings first. If Meta asks you to log in again when you share it, select the account under Instagram accounts and log in.

Give the agency partner access

1. In Settings, under Users in the left menu, click Partners.
2. Click Add, then Give a partner access to your assets.
3. Enter the agency's business portfolio ID and click Next.
4. Select the Instagram account and choose partial access with tasks, or full control.
5. Click Assign assets.

Someone else with full control of your portfolio may need to approve the share. The partner access guide covers that and the other asset types.

Which tasks to give

Meta's tasks for an Instagram account:

• Content: create, manage or delete posts, stories and more as the account.
• Messages: send and respond to direct messages as the account.
• Community activity: review and respond to comments, remove unwanted content and report activity.
• Ads: create, manage and delete ads for the account.
• Insights: see how the account, its content and its ads perform.

Meta also lists Creator management and Creator content for its Creator Marketing Hub, which an agency that runs ads or posts does not need. Full control adds giving and removing access (except for the person who created the account) and managing the payment method used to run ads.

Pick by the work the agency does:

• Runs ads only: Ads and Insights.
• Runs the account day to day: Content, Community activity and Insights, and Messages if it answers your direct messages.

The guide to access levels sets these tasks next to the levels on your Page, ad account and Google accounts.

For ads, the agency also needs the ad account. Meta says only people with access to the ad accounts connected to the Instagram account can use it to advertise. See how to give an agency access to a Meta ad account.

Instagram and your Facebook Page are linked

An Instagram account can be connected to a Facebook Page. Meta notes that once they are connected, anyone with access to either the Page or the Instagram account can manage both. So if you give the agency your Facebook Page, assume it can also work on the connected Instagram account, and choose its tasks with that in mind.

Without a business portfolio

Partner access always goes through a business portfolio. Instagram has one other way to let someone in without the password: Shared access, in the Instagram app under Menu > Shared access > Invite people. It is only available to eligible accounts. You invite people, not a business; they get 7 days to accept, and you decide separately whether they can use your inbox and add to your story. On a Meta One plan, the plan sets how many people you can invite.

For an agency, partner access is easier to manage: the agency handles its own staff, and you remove one partner when the work ends.

With partner access or Shared access nobody needs your password, so there is no reason to send it.

Troubleshooting

Meta lists these reasons an Instagram account cannot be added to a business portfolio.

You do not have full access to the business portfolio

Ask someone with full access to add the account, or to give you full access.

Another admin has to approve

Even with full access, another person with full access may need to approve the Instagram account. They do it in Requests in Settings.

The account is linked to a Facebook profile instead of a Page

You cannot add it that way. Claim a Facebook Page and the Instagram account in your business portfolio, then connect them.

The account is already in a different business portfolio

Each Instagram account can be in one portfolio only. The other business can remove it, or give you access to it.

A restriction

A restriction on the business portfolio, an ad account, your user account or the Page can block the account. Check Meta Business Support Home. More causes are in Meta sharing errors and fixes.

How to remove the agency

In Meta Business Suite, go to Settings > Partners, select the agency, click Options in the top right, choose Remove from business portfolio and click Remove partner. Your Instagram account stays in your business portfolio.

Doing it with an access link

Our access link covers this task. You open the agency's link, sign in with Facebook, pick your Instagram accounts from a list and confirm; the agency's business gets the tasks it asked for. If you cannot share an account, the box says why and who can, and the same link works for that person.