Giving an agency access to a LinkedIn Page and ad account

A client can’t hand over the password to its LinkedIn Page, because the Page doesn’t have one. Each agency person works from their own LinkedIn profile, and the client gives that profile a role on the Page and on the ad account. Larger setups can share both through Business Manager, LinkedIn’s console for managing Pages, ad accounts and people in one place. This is a form of delegated access.

Why there is no Page password to share

LinkedIn Help says “There are no separate login credentials or passwords for pages.” A role is something LinkedIn attaches to a person’s profile, so there is nothing to hand over. The same page adds a warning: “Sharing login credentials violates our Professional Community Policies and can lead to account or content restrictions.”

The User Agreement says the same from the member’s side. In section 2.2, members agree to “not share or transfer your account or any part of it.” Section 8.2, the agreement’s list of “Don’ts,” covers the use of another’s account and gives examples “such as sharing log-in credentials or copying cookies.”

So when a client’s marketing manager offers their own LinkedIn password, the answer is no. That login is the manager’s personal profile, with their messages and connections, and using it puts the profile at risk of restriction.

Page roles, and which one fits agency staff

A Page has two groups of roles. Page admin roles cover the Page itself, and paid media admin roles cover acting on the Page’s behalf in Campaign Manager or LinkedIn Recruiter.

Content admin fits staff who post for the client. Analyst fits staff who only report. LinkedIn allows one Page admin role per person but several paid media roles, so someone who reports and also downloads leads would hold Analyst plus Lead Gen Forms manager.

Adding an admin is a super admin’s job. From the super admin view they choose Settings, then Manage admins, pick the tab for Page admins or for Paid media admins, and select Add admin. LinkedIn sets conditions on who can be added, so have your staff do two things before the client tries. They follow the client’s Page, and they check that LinkedIn shows them within three degrees of the super admin, connecting directly if it doesn’t. LinkedIn’s other two conditions are that the Page and the person haven’t blocked each other, and that the person’s account isn’t flagged for violations.

Super admin is the role to keep on the client’s side, because a super admin can remove every other admin. If the client insists on giving it to your agency, ask that at least two of the client’s own people hold it as well.

Ad account roles in Campaign Manager

Campaign Manager is LinkedIn’s advertising tool. Each ad account has its own user list with five roles.

Every role can view campaign performance. Campaign manager fits staff who build and run campaigns. Creative manager fits staff who only swap ads inside campaigns someone else set up.

To add your staff, someone at the client with the Account manager role opens Account Settings, then Manage access. They select Add user, find the person by name or profile URL, and pick a role. LinkedIn only lets them add people within three degrees of their own network, so have your staff connect with that person first.

Two details are easy to miss. First, the ad account role alone doesn’t let a person create ads. They also need a role on the Page, such as Sponsored Content poster, and only a Page super admin can assign it. Second, an ad account has exactly one billing admin, and if the client moves that role, LinkedIn holds the account until whoever takes over adds billing information. Leave billing admin with the client unless your agency pays for the ads.

Sharing through Business Manager

Check first whether the client’s ad account sits in Business Manager. If it does, user access has to be managed there, not in Campaign Manager. Business Manager offers two ways to bring an agency in.

The first is adding your staff as people. The client’s Business Manager admin invites each person by work email and gives them the Contractor role, which LinkedIn provides to mark people from outside the organization. The admin then gives each person the ad accounts and Pages their work calls for.

The second is a partnership between the client’s Business Manager and your agency’s. One admin enters the other’s Business Manager ID under Partners, which links the two and shares nothing yet. The client’s admin then shares chosen ad accounts with the highest role your agency may use, and chosen Pages with the Page roles your agency may assign. From then on, your own admin adds your staff to those accounts and Pages.

Ending a partnership share takes a support request. To stop sharing an ad account or a Page, or to lower a role it shared on either, the client has to contact LinkedIn support. LinkedIn sets one condition for each. For an ad account, the billing admin can’t be someone from your agency’s Business Manager. For a Page, at least one person in the client’s Business Manager has to be a super admin of it. Tell the client this up front. LinkedIn recommends at least two Business Manager admins so one is always active.

Removing access when staff change or the contract ends

For staff added one by one, removal has two parts. A user with the Account manager role opens Manage access in Campaign Manager and removes the person with the trash icon. A Page super admin opens Manage admins and deletes the person’s role. Doing only one leaves the other in place.

For a partnership, your agency adds its own people to the shared ad accounts and Pages, so staff changes are yours to handle in your Business Manager. When someone leaves your agency, your Business Manager admin removes them under People. LinkedIn says the person is removed at once from all of your organization’s ad accounts and Pages. It doesn’t say whether that includes accounts and Pages a client shared with you, so open each one and confirm the person is gone. One limit applies. LinkedIn won’t let you remove a person who is billing admin on an ad account, or the only super admin on a Page, until someone else holds that role.

A Page can’t be left without a super admin, and a Page’s only super admin has to name another before leaving. So before a contract ends, confirm that a current client employee holds super admin, then remove your staff. The account handover checklist covers the same step for the client’s other platforms.

Because each person signs in to their own profile, your team doesn’t need to pass a client password or a verification code around. For client accounts where that isn’t true, see handling a client’s two-step verification codes.