The short answer
Put every Facebook Page and Instagram account the group uses into one Meta business portfolio that the group owns. Give two people at the group full access, give everyone else only the access their job needs, and add your agency as a partner instead of sharing logins.
Then pick one Page model and stick to it: one brand Page for the whole group, a main Page with store Pages if Meta offers them to you, or a Page for each patient-facing name your offices use.
Review who has access every quarter, so a former employee or an old agency never keeps the keys to an office Page.
Who owns the accounts
A business portfolio (once called Business Manager) holds a business's Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts, ad accounts, and Meta Pixels in one place. Each of those assets can belong to only one portfolio. Whoever owns the portfolio controls the assets in it.
For a dental group, that owner should be the group. Name the portfolio after the group's public name, because Meta makes that name visible across its products. Create it under someone who will be with the group for years, and add a second person with full access right away.
Start with an inventory. List every Page and Instagram account that carries an office name, including old ones a front desk set up years ago, and note who owns each one today: the group, an agency, a former owner, or a staff member's personal profile. That list is your work plan.
Plan the account moves
List each office, where its Facebook Page and Instagram account sit today, and how the group handles access. The planner turns that list into the moves, Instagram connections, and access fixes this guide describes. The form starts with a sample group of three offices, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Access for your team
Meta has two levels of access, for the portfolio and for each asset in it. Full access can manage everything, including people, settings, and deleting assets. Partial access covers only the assets or tasks someone is given, such as posting content, running ads, or answering messages.
Group marketing lead and one backup
Full access to the portfolio. Meta recommends two active people here, and ideally no more than 10.
Office managers and coordinators
Basic access, with partial access to their own office Page and Instagram account for content and messages.
Finance
A finance option added on top of basic access, to view or manage invoices and payment methods.
Short-term contractors
Temporary access, which is basic access for 3 to 75 days and ends on its own.
Invite people with email addresses on the group's domain where you can. Meta's security advice is to remove people whose email addresses are on public domains and not related to the business.
Access for an agency
An agency gets access as a partner. Someone with full access to your portfolio opens Settings in Meta Business Suite, goes to Partners, chooses to give a partner access to your assets, and enters the agency's business portfolio ID. Then you pick the Pages, accounts, and ad accounts to share and the tasks the agency can do.
Partial access is enough for most agency work: content, ads, messages, and insights. If you give partial access, the agency can only pass those same tasks to its own staff. Even with full access to an asset, a partner cannot share it with another business. Only the owner can.
When an agency relationship ends, remove the partner. The Pages and accounts stay in your portfolio with their followers and history. The agency switching guide covers the rest of that handoff.
Page models for a group
There are three common ways to set up Facebook Pages for several offices. Each one works if the group keeps to it.
Model 1
One brand Page
One Page and one Instagram account for the group. Posts name the office when it matters, and the website's office pages carry each address and phone.
Fits groups with one name on every sign and one team that posts.
Model 2
Main Page with store Pages
Meta's store Pages setup: one main Page and a store Page per office, each with its own address, phone, hours, and store code. Store Pages take the main Page name with a location descriptor such as the city.
Meta says store Pages are only available to managed Facebook clients.
Model 3
A Page per patient-facing name
Separate Pages and Instagram accounts for offices that kept their own names after joining the group, all owned by the group's portfolio.
Fits groups that kept local names. Each Page needs someone to keep it current.
With store Pages, the admin of the main Page also becomes admin of every store Page under it. Offices can be added one at a time in Store Locations, or with Meta's spreadsheet, which Meta suggests once you have more than 10. Each store's ZIP code has to match its street address, and two stores cannot share an address.
Whichever model you choose, match the names to the office signs and website. The rebrand vs co-brand guide helps settle the name question first.
Page model picker
Answer four questions to see which model fits your group and what to do next.
Instagram accounts
Each Instagram account the group uses should be a professional account, connected to the Facebook Page for the same name. To connect them, you need full access to the Page, and the Instagram account has to be in the same portfolio as the Page. Meta says Instagram accounts linked to a Page should be owned by the same portfolio, and that portfolio should belong to the business they represent.
Two things surprise groups. Once an Instagram account is connected to a Page, anyone with access to either one can manage both. And a connected account can share its posts to Facebook only through that one Page.
Putting a Page and an Instagram account in the same portfolio does not connect them on its own. Make the direct connection from the Instagram profile, under Edit profile, so cross-posting, the shared Inbox in Meta Business Suite, and combined insights work.
Bringing in an acquired office
An acquired office often arrives with a Page owned by the seller's portfolio, an agency's portfolio, or a personal profile. Because an asset can belong to only one portfolio, the current owner removes the Page and the Instagram account from their portfolio, and the group adds them to its own.
Plan this before closing, alongside the Google Business Profile and website handoff in the post-acquisition transition guide. Meta's Page transparency section can show who owns a Page, which is one more reason to get ownership right.
After the move, check the Page name, address, phone, hours, and website link against the office page. If the office is taking the group name, change the Page name when the sign changes, not before.
Quarterly security review
Meta's Security Center lists recommended fixes for people with full access. A short routine each quarter covers most of them.
- Require two-factor authentication for everyone, under Business portfolio info in Settings.
- Export the people permissions file from the People tab. It shows each person's access, when they were last active, and whether two-factor is on.
- Remove anyone who has not logged in for 90 days, anyone on a public email domain, and anyone who has left.
- Close ad accounts you no longer use, starting with any that have not run ads in the last year.
- Turn on peer approval so a trusted person reviews ads before they publish.
- Download the business history file and look for changes to people, assets, or details that nobody on your team made.
Checklist
Twelve checks for the whole group. Your ticks are saved in this browser so you can come back to them.
Facebook and Instagram checklist
12 items
Related guides
The same ownership rules for Google are in Business Profile governance for dental groups. Apple Maps and Bing listings are in Apple Business and Bing Places for groups.
For what to post, see which social platforms fit your practice and Instagram ads vs Facebook ads.
For a multi-office group
DDS Web Solutions builds websites and runs social media and local search programs for dental practices. Our team has been building websites since 2014, we have served 100+ practices, and our offices are in Sacramento and San Mateo.
For a group, we can take the account inventory, set up the portfolio and partner access, and run posting for each office, with your group owning every Page. We do not promise followers, calls, or new patients. See dental social media and DSO and multi-location marketing, or request a quote.
FAQ
Should our agency own our Facebook Page?
No. Meta's guidance is that the business should own its Page in its own business portfolio, then add the agency as a partner and give it access. That way the Page stays with the group if the agency changes.
What are store Pages, and can a dental group use them?
Store Pages are Meta's setup for businesses with many physical locations: one main Page with a store Page for each location, managed from Store Locations in Meta Business Suite or Ads Manager. Meta says store Pages are only available to managed Facebook clients, so many groups will not see the option.
Can one Instagram account sit in two business portfolios?
No. Meta says an Instagram account can only be in one business portfolio at a time, and any business asset belongs to one portfolio. To connect it to a Page, both need to be in the same portfolio.
How many people should have full access?
Meta recommends two active people with full access, so sensitive changes get a second approval and someone else can step in. It also suggests keeping full access to those who need it, ideally 10 or fewer.
A former employee still has access. What do we do?
Someone with full access removes the person under People in Meta Business Suite Settings. Removing a person takes away their access to the portfolio and every asset they had. Then export the permissions file and check for anyone else who has left.
We hire a contractor for a short project. How should we give access?
Meta offers temporary access when you add someone to a portfolio. It gives basic access for between 3 and 75 days and removes the person automatically when it ends.
Is two-factor authentication required?
A person with full access can require it for admins only or for everyone. Meta also turns the requirement on automatically for some portfolios older than 90 days, and then it cannot be turned off.
Sources
- Meta Business Help Center: Create a business portfolio
- Meta Business Help Center: Business portfolio and business asset permissions
- Meta Business Help Center: Add people to a business portfolio
- Meta Business Help Center: Give a partner access to business assets
- Meta Business Help Center: Page management in Meta Business Suite
- Meta Business Help Center: About connected business assets
- Meta Business Help Center: Connect or disconnect Instagram and a Facebook Page
- Meta Business Help Center: About stores on Facebook
- Meta Business Help Center: Global Pages with store Pages
- Meta Business Help Center: Manually add, edit and remove stores
- Meta Business Help Center: Adding stores to a Pages structure
- Meta Business Help Center: Making a business portfolio more secure
- Meta Business Help Center: Require two-factor authentication
- Meta Business Help Center: Remove people from your business portfolio