Connect your Meta ad account

Sam connects to your Meta ad account by signing in — select Connect, approve it on Facebook, then confirm which ad account Sam should use. About two minutes.

Sam never sees your Facebook password, and you can revoke access at any time.

Meta Ads, Facebook Pages and Instagram are separate

Meta used to be one connection that needed your ad account, Page and Instagram account all at once. It is now three, so you connect only the parts you use. This article covers Meta Ads.

Step 1 - Find Meta Ads

Select Connect your tools at the bottom of the left sidebar, then Browse Integrations. Search meta and select Meta Ads.

Step 2 - Select Connect

Select Connect. Sam shows what it is asking for before sending you anywhere. Read it, then select Continue to Meta Ads.

Step 3 - Approve it on Facebook

Facebook takes over. Sign in if you are not already, confirm you are continuing as yourself, and approve the access. Meta Ads asks only for ads access, so Meta does not ask you to choose Pages or Instagram accounts here.

You land back in Sam with the connection marked Connected.

Step 4 - Confirm your ad account

If your Facebook account has one active ad account, Sam fills it in for you and you are done.

If it has several, Sam cannot guess which one you mean. Under Additional Settings you will see Meta returned more than one ad account id. Choose the right one from the Ad Account ID dropdown and select Save Settings.

Select Test afterwards to confirm the connection answers. Each connection works with one ad account. For a second one, select Add Another Connection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a Facebook Page or Instagram account to connect Meta Ads?
No. Meta Ads works on its own. Connect Facebook Pages or Instagram separately if you want Sam posting there too.

My connection says Connected but Sam has no ad data.
The ad account is probably not chosen yet. If you have several ad accounts, pick one from the Ad Account ID dropdown and select Save Settings — see step 4.

I connected Meta (Facebook) before the split. Do I have to redo it?
No. An existing Meta (Facebook) connection keeps working, and you can leave it as it is. If you would rather move to the new connections, disconnect Meta (Facebook) first: one ad account cannot be connected to both at the same time. Then connect Meta Ads, and Facebook Pages and Instagram if you were using those too.

Why can't I find Meta (Facebook) in the marketplace any more?
It has been replaced by Meta Ads, Facebook Pages and Instagram, so new connections use those. Existing Meta (Facebook) connections are unaffected.

Do I still need an access token?
No. Signing in replaces the whole token setup. The token method is kept at the end of this article as a fallback.

Can I connect more than one ad account?
Yes. Select Add Another Connection on the Meta Ads page and choose the other ad account.

How do I disconnect?
Disconnect on the connection in Sam, or remove the SAM business integration from your Facebook settings.

If signing in does not work - the access token method

Sign-in is the supported route and what this article leads with. If it fails you can still connect by generating an access token inside Meta and pasting it in — the Use access token instead link in step 2 opens that panel.

It is a much longer job, around twenty minutes, and all of it happens inside Meta rather than in Sam. Before you start, it is worth asking support to look at the sign-in — a connection that will not complete is usually something we can check directly, and that is faster than working through everything below.

An existing token connection is unaffected by any of this and does not need migrating.

The Two Values Sam Needs

The Connect button stays greyed out until the Access Token field has a value. Collect both values into a notes file first, then paste them in together.

• Access Token: A long string of characters, generated by a system user in Meta Business settings.
• Ad Account ID: The prefix act_ followed by digits. Found in the Meta Ads Manager browser address bar. Sam uses it to know which ad account to work in.

Before You Begin

Two things must already exist in your Meta account. None of them can be created from inside Sam, so if any are missing, set them up in Meta first. Meta's Business Help Center at facebook.com/business/help covers how.

• A business portfolio at business.facebook.com. System users live inside a business portfolio, so without one, the access token path in this guide is unavailable.
• An ad account, with admin access for whoever is doing this setup. Ad permissions on a token do nothing if that person does not have access to the ad account itself.

Step 1 - Create a Meta Developer App

Every Meta access token belongs to a Meta developer app, so you create an app before you can generate a token. This step surprises most people, and it is the reason most attempts stall.

1. Go to developers.facebook.com.
2. Select My Apps, then Create App.
3. Enter any app name. The name does not affect the connection.
4. When Meta asks what you are building, choose the ads-related option.
5. In the app's settings, open Use cases and confirm the Ads Management API has standard access.

Standard access is a hard requirement. Meta only allows apps with Ads Management API standard access or above to be installed on a system user. A brand new app starts below standard access, and permissions showing as Ready for testing will not work. An app below standard access cannot be installed on a system user at all, which is the most common cause of an empty permissions list later on.

Step 2 - Add the App to Your Business Portfolio

Creating a Meta developer app does not attach it to your business portfolio, so you have to add it separately. Skipping this produces the error "an app must be part of this business portfolio" later in the setup.

1. Go to business.facebook.com.
2. Open Settings > Accounts > Apps.
3. Select Add.
4. Select the app you created.

Step 3 - Create a System User

A system user is a non-human account that exists to hold integrations. Its tokens are not tied to anyone's personal login, so the connection survives staff changes.

1. In Meta Business settings, open Users > System users.
2. Select Add.
3. Name the system user anything you want.
4. Assign it the Admin role.

NOTE: If the Add button is greyed out, that is a restriction on your Meta account itself, not a fault in the page. Meta does not document the specific causes, and only Meta support can see which one applies to your account. Contact Meta at facebook.com/business/help rather than working through it from the Sam side.

Step 4 - Assign Assets to the System User

Assign both assets to the system user: the ad account and the Meta developer app. Missing either one breaks token generation.

1. In Meta Business settings, open Users > System users.
2. Select the system user you created.
3. Select Add assets.
4. Assign the ad account.
5. Assign the Meta developer app you created.

Assigning the ad account is not the same as assigning the app. The system user needs the app itself as an assigned asset. Without it, the permissions list comes up empty when you generate the token, even though the app exists and sits in the business portfolio. This is the most-missed step in the entire setup.

Step 5 - Generate the Access Token

1. In Meta Business settings, open Users > System users and select your system user.
2. Select Generate new token.
3. Select the Meta developer app you created.
4. Check three permissions: ads_read unblocks reading ad insights and campaigns, ads_management adds write access, and business_management covers portfolio-level lookups.
5. Choose a token expiration. See the guidance below.
6. Copy the token into your notes file before closing the window.

Meta shows a system user token exactly once, and no screen anywhere will show it again. Losing it is harmless, because generating a replacement does not break other integrations from the same system user, but it does mean repeating this step.

Choosing a token expiration. Meta offers a 60-day token and a non-expiring one, and recommends the 60-day option as a security best practice. Meta's own wording on non-expiring tokens is that you accept the risk of leaked access tokens.

• 60 days: Regenerate the token and update it in Sam every 60 days. Set a calendar reminder around day 50. This is Meta's recommended option.
• Never expires: No maintenance, but a permanent credential sits in your account. Choose this deliberately, not by accident.

Either works with Sam.

Step 6 - Find Your Ad Account ID

Your Ad Account ID appears in the Meta Ads Manager browser address bar after act=. Meta displays the bare number, and Sam needs it with an act_ prefix, so you add the prefix yourself.

1. Open Meta Ads Manager in a browser.
2. Read the browser address bar and find act=, followed by a string of digits.
3. Copy those digits.
4. Add act_ to the front. For example, 1668418117796705 becomes act_1668418117796705.

NOTE: Do not use your Business Portfolio ID from Meta Business settings under Business info. That is a different number, it identifies the whole business, and it will not work in the Ad Account ID field.

Step 7 - Check Your Token Before Connecting

Paste the token into Meta's Access Token Debugger at developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/accesstoken. It reports which app the token belongs to, when it expires, and every permission it carries. This check takes about five seconds and saves a lot of backtracking.

Confirm two things:

• ads_read and ads_management are both listed. If they are not, the connection will report itself as working and then fail on every ad data request.
• The expiry is not about one hour. An expiry of roughly an hour means the short-lived Graph API Explorer token was pasted in by mistake instead of the system user token.

Step 8 - Enter the Values in Sam

1. In Sam, select Connect your tools at the bottom of the left sidebar.
2. Select the Meta Ads integration, select Connect, then Use access token instead.
3. Paste the Access Token from the system user.
4. Paste the Ad Account ID, including the act_ prefix.
5. Select Connect.

The Connect button activates once the Access Token is in. That's it, you're done!

Keeping Your Access Token Safe

A Meta access token grants access to your ad account the way a password does, so treat it like one. Paste it straight into Sam.

Never send your access token to SamCart support in a ticket, an email, or a chat. SamCart support will never ask you for it.

Troubleshooting

• The Connect button is greyed out. A field is empty, usually the Access Token. This is field validation, not a broken button.
• No permissions available when generating the token. The app is not in the business portfolio, the app is not assigned to the system user, or the app is below standard access for the Ads Management API.
• "An app must be part of this business portfolio." The app was never added to the business portfolio in Meta Business settings. See Step 2.
• 403 error, owner has not granted ads_management or ads_read. The token was generated without the ads permissions, or the person who generated it has no ads access on that ad account.
• The connection worked, then stopped about an hour later. The short-lived Graph API Explorer token was used instead of the system user token.
• The connection stopped working near the two-month mark. A 60-day token expired. Generate a new one and update it in Sam.
• The token will not register at all. The token was likely truncated when copied. Paste it into a plain text editor and check for line breaks or trailing spaces.
• Several integrations stopped working at the same time. The app secret was reset, which invalidates every token that app issued.

What the Meta Ads Connection Does Not Do

The Meta Ads connection gives Sam access to your ad account so it can build, run and report on your ads. It does not post to your Facebook Page or Instagram — those are the separate Facebook Pages and Instagram connections. It also does not create your Meta business portfolio, ad account, developer app, or system user for you. Those all live in Meta and you create them yourself.

Sam also cannot raise your app's access level, un-grey Meta's buttons, or see why a Meta restriction applies to your account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why do I need to create a Facebook developer app just to connect Meta?

A: Every Meta access token belongs to a Meta developer app. That is Meta's requirement, not Sam's. Without an app, Meta will not mint a token, so there is no value to put in Sam's Access Token field. You create the app once at developers.facebook.com under My Apps > Create App, and it keeps working after that.

Q: The Add button for system users is greyed out in Meta. What do I do?

A: That is a restriction on your Meta account, not a fault in the page and not something Sam or SamCart support can change. Meta does not document the specific causes, and only Meta support can see which one applies to your account. Contact Meta at facebook.com/business/help, which has live chat for active advertisers.

Q: The permissions list is empty when I try to generate my access token. Why?

A: Three causes account for almost all of these. The Meta developer app was never added to your business portfolio under Settings > Accounts > Apps. Or the app was not assigned to the system user as an asset, which is separate from assigning the ad account. Or the app does not have standard access for the Ads Management API, which Meta requires before an app can be installed on a system user.

Q: Can I use my Business Portfolio ID for the Ad Account ID field?

A: No. The Business Portfolio ID identifies your whole business and will not work in that field. Sam needs the ad account's own ID, which appears in the Meta Ads Manager browser address bar after act=. Copy those digits and add an act_ prefix, so 1668418117796705 becomes act_1668418117796705.

Q: Should I pick the never-expiring token so I do not have to redo this?

A: Meta recommends the 60-day token as a security best practice, and describes non-expiring tokens as accepting the risk of leaked access tokens. The 60-day token means updating it in Sam roughly every two months, so set a calendar reminder around day 50. The never-expiring token needs no maintenance but leaves a permanent credential in your account. Either works with Sam, so choose deliberately.

Q: My connection said it was working, but Sam cannot pull my ad data. Why?

A: The token is most likely missing the ads permissions. A token without ads_read and ads_management can register successfully and then fail on every ad data request. Paste your token into Meta's Access Token Debugger at developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/accesstoken and confirm both permissions are listed. If they are not, generate a new token from your system user with all three permissions checked, then update it in Sam.

Q: Meta's screens do not look like this guide. What should I do?

A: Meta changes its interface regularly, so a screen may not match exactly. The underlying sequence stays the same: a developer app with standard access for ads, the app added to your business portfolio, a system user with the ad account and app assigned to it, then a token generated from that system user. If something does not line up, send SamCart support a screenshot and they will point you to the right place.