You’re trying to add someone as an admin or moderator to your Facebook page and it just… won’t work? Like what is happening here! You type their name, hit add, enter your password, and then you get a red error message or the button just stays grayed out. Or worse – they accept the invite but nothing actually changes.
This is making me lose my mind…
And Facebook gives you zero useful information about WHY it’s not working. Just vague errors or silent failures. You’re left sitting there wondering if you’re doing something wrong or if Facebook is just being its usual broken self.
Why Facebook Won’t Let You Add Admins
Real talk – there’s like a dozen hidden requirements for adding admins that Facebook doesn’t tell you about. Miss one tiny thing and boom, the whole process breaks. And they change this stuff constantly so what worked last year might not work now.
They Haven’t Liked the Page Yet
This is the most common reason and it’s absolutely stupid. The person you’re trying to add HAS to like your page first before you can make them an admin. If they haven’t liked it, Facebook just blocks the whole thing.
Makes no damn sense! Why would someone need to publicly like a page before they can admin it? What if it’s a sensitive business page or they’re doing backend work only? Doesn’t matter – Facebook says like it first or you can’t be admin.
So before you try adding anyone, make absolutely sure they’ve gone to your page and clicked that like button. Then wait a few minutes for Facebook’s systems to register it. THEN try adding them as admin.
They’re Not Your Facebook Friend
Facebook also requires that the person is your friend on your personal profile before you can add them to manage your business page. I’m not gonna lie, this pisses off a lot of business owners who want to hire professional social media managers without friending them personally.
But that’s how Facebook does it – you gotta be friends first, at least initially. Once they’re added as admin you can unfriend them if you want (though that’s awkward as hell). But for the initial add? You need to be Facebook friends.
If you’re trying to add someone who’s not your friend, send them a friend request first, wait for them to accept, THEN try adding them to the page.
Their Account Doesn’t Exist or Is Restricted
If you’re typing in someone’s email and it’s not working, they might not actually have a Facebook account with that email. Or their account might be new, restricted, or in Facebook jail for some violation.
Facebook won’t let you add people whose accounts are flagged or restricted. So if the person you’re trying to add has been hit with temporary bans or community standards violations recently? Yeah, you can’t make them admin until their account is back in good standing.
The Add Button Is Grayed Out
You’re in the page settings, you see the admin section, but the add button just won’t click? So frustrating! This usually means one of these things:
- You don’t have admin rights yourself – only admins can add other admins, not editors or moderators
- The page is managed through Business Manager – you need to add people there instead
- There’s a temporary glitch – Facebook’s systems are having a moment
- Your personal account has restrictions – check if you’re in Facebook jail
If your page is connected to Business Manager, you CAN’T add admins through the regular page settings anymore. You have to go to business.facebook.com, find your page under Pages, then add people there with the right access levels.
They Accepted But Nothing Happened
This one drives people absolutely insane. You send the admin invite, they get the notification, they click accept, and… nothing. They’re still not showing up in the page roles section. The invite just sits there or disappears.
What’s actually happening is Facebook’s sync is broken. The notification goes through but the backend doesn’t process it properly. Try this:
Remove the pending invite completely. Go to page settings, find their name in pending invites, delete it. Wait like 10 minutes. Then send a fresh invite. Sometimes the second attempt goes through when the first one got stuck.
Have them check directly on the page. Tell them to go to your Facebook page itself (not just notifications). Sometimes there’s a banner at the top that says “Accept admin role” that they need to click on the actual page.
Quick Fixes That Might Work
Try adding by email instead of name. If searching for their name isn’t working, use the email address connected to their Facebook account. Sometimes Facebook’s search is just broken but email lookup still works.
Make them like the page from a desktop browser. Mobile likes sometimes don’t register properly in Facebook’s systems. Have them go to facebook.com on a actual computer, like your page, then try adding them again.
Remove and re-add yourself first. If you’re the only admin and stuff is broken, add a trusted person as admin temporarily, have THEM remove you completely, then have them add you back. This resets something in Facebook’s systems that can fix weird permission glitches.
The Workaround Nobody Talks About
Here’s a trick that actually works when everything else fails: Use an email address that’s NOT connected to any Facebook account yet. Send the admin invite to that email. The person creates a brand new Facebook account with that email. They accept the admin invite through the new account. Then they can add their real account as admin from the new one.
Yeah it’s convoluted as hell but I’ve seen this work when nothing else does. Facebook’s system accepts the brand new account easier than existing ones sometimes. Just make sure the new account likes the page first obviously.
Business Manager Is a Whole Different Beast
If your page lives in Facebook Business Manager, the whole process is different. You can’t just add people through page settings – you gotta go through Business Manager’s user system.
Go to business.facebook.com/settings, click Pages on the left, find your page, then look for Page Access on the right. Add people there and assign them either Full Control or Partial Control.
Full Control = they can do EVERYTHING including removing you (be careful!) Partial Control = they can post and respond but can’t mess with settings
Business Manager is more secure but also way more complicated. If you’re having trouble even creating your Facebook page in the first place, fix that issue before worrying about admins.
When Nothing Works At All
If you’ve tried everything and still can’t add admins, Facebook’s systems might be having issues. Check if other people are reporting the same problem by searching “can’t add Facebook admin” on Twitter or Downdetector.
Sometimes Facebook rolls out updates that temporarily break admin functions. If that’s the case, you just gotta wait a day or two for them to fix it. Annoying but there’s literally nothing you can do.
You can also try reporting it through Help & Support > Report a Problem but don’t expect a response. Facebook support for free pages is basically nonexistent. Oh and if your page isn’t showing up in search results either, that’s a separate problem you’ll need to fix too.
What Actually Works Most of the Time
After dealing with this problem for years across dozens of pages, here’s what consistently works: Make sure they’ve liked the page. Make sure you’re Facebook friends. Try adding by email not name. If page is in Business Manager, add them there instead. Remove and resend invite if first attempt fails.
Like 90% of admin problems come down to the person not having liked the page first. Check that before anything else. Save yourself the headache.
If this finally let you add team members to help run your Facebook page after Facebook kept blocking you, share it with other frustrated page owners 🙁