As a social media manager, almost all of us are asked to run Facebook ads for our clients at some point.
While not everyone is a Facebook ad expert, most of us in digital marketing have learned how to set up ad accounts correctly and know how to place ads.
For larger budgets and multiple ad campaigns, I personally refer my clients to a dedicated ad agency.
So how then, do we, the professionals, get our ads denied, our ad account suspended, or worse, get our ad account permanently disabled?
Why do we need Facebook ad account suspension tips?
While some managers try to push ads through that are clear ad violations – against Facebook rules and ad policies – other social media managers are baffled. They claim not to know why their ad account was targeted or flagged because of unusual behavior. Often it seems, they are randomly targeted as no Facebook ads violations were made.
If I had a penny for every social media manager complaining about suspended Facebook ad accounts…
This article will offer a few ways for you to try to recover your suspended Facebook ad account.
(Un)Intentional Facebook Ad Mistakes
All marketers who run Facebook ad campaigns should understand what is allowed as far as ads go, and what is not, per Facebook’s ToS. Knowing the Facebook advertising policies is just smart business; this assures that the ads you’re running will continue for the period of time you specify.
Let me state this clearly; it’s not enough to ‘try’ to follow the rules. You HAVE to follow the rules.
While years ago your ads would just be denied when rules were broken, as in – Facebook wouldn’t run them, or the ads running would be paused, now you can get your Facebook ad account suspended or permanently shut down for repeatedly breaking the rules.
The worst part:
- Facebook ad account suspension often happens without warning
- It seems nearly impossible to reach Facebook support to appeal their decision
Suspended Facebook Ad Accounts
There are many consequences of a suspended Facebook ad account.
- Any and all ads running will be paused
- No new ads can be placed
- Payment methods might be affected
- Access to other Facebook ad accounts could be affected
- Client could be out of money
- Clients could fire you
Therefore… you want your suspended ad account back!
Pronto. Now. Yesterday. Immediately.
But how?
Solutions from the Experts; Facebook Ad Account Suspension Tips!
We looked around and searched our Facebook group for the best advice from our experts, aka social media managers in the trenches. Those who’ve experienced it, been dealing with it, and lived through it!
Here are some of the ways they recommend proceeding when your ad account has been disabled or suspended.
- Do you have multiple admin setup in biz manager? Always have a personal and agency backup with ad permission. This way, if one shuts down you still have access.
- Request a review. Mine was suspended – and turned back on within 12 hours of an appeal
- Go through chat and don’t press the appeal button… that way you get a real person. It happens and a ton of rejections are often wrong anyway.
- Reach out to the ad support team – via business.facebook.com/help – it will prompt you to use messenger to contact support and you’ll actually chat with a human. It starts off with auto support – after a few responses that don’t match their Yes/No prompts, they will connect a representative.
- When you contact them, explain that you have deleted the offending ad and that you understand where you violated the terms. If it’s your first infraction explain that because you received no warning you would like the ban lifted as you have additional clients to help.
- Yes for those wondering the link is … https://www.facebook.com/business/help scroll to the middle of the page where it says… STILL NEED HELP? Find answers or contact support then click get started. Some people report not seeing this option. It should be noted that this option is not there all of the time and chat support is only available at certain times. But if you are lucky, that is where you will find it.
A Message From a Digital Marketing and Facebook Ads Expert
This is what Jesse Jameson, Social Media Pro's CEO has to say about it!
Keep in mind that Facebook has to police over 7 Million advertisers.
The way that it does this is with a first-line defense of bots. Bots that utilize algorithms that look for triggers the exact same way that spam filters work. There is a myriad of things that are factored. There are also numerous methods of banning. Ad accounts can be banned, and what I have seen more of lately is personal profiles being banned from using Facebook products including ads. The way to find out the nature of your specific ban is to connect with chat support if you can.
Go to https://facebook.com/business/help and scroll to the middle of the page and follow the path to chat support. It will not be there for everyone. Why it shows for some at some times and not others remains a Facebook mystery.
Once on with chat, they will be able to tell you what they see from their end, which is often very limited. Keep in mind that these folks are not very knowledgeable and based on the many of them that I have communicated with, they know the knowledge level of an intern hired yesterday and given a single page or two of copy and paste responses. Now while this may frustrate you to no end, keep in mind that these folks have a really challenging job and are doing the best they can.
The people that make the actual decision about your ad account like Julius Caesar with a thumbs up or thumbs down ruling is the policy team. Think great and powerful OZ behind the curtain, except you will never speak with them directly. The chat support people have limited access to this team as well, however, they are the conduit for reaching out to them.
The chat rep may be able to give you some clarity on the type of banned levied on you, however, the nature of the actual offense is often not available to them and only the policy team knows why.
With this limited information, they will likely tell you that your only option is to use the appeal process which takes place via the FB support inbox. https://www.facebook.com/support/ However the appeals process begins on the appeal hyperlink in the ads manager. If you can't find it the chat support person can provide it for you.
Keep in mind that on that initial appeal that the original submission can only happen once. To add more information to the appeal you will need to go to the support inbox for further communication.
When submitting your appeal, do not be emotional, remain professional, state that you are unaware of any policy violations and believe that your account has mistakenly been limited.
It has been my experience that if you have a personal profile that has been banned from FB products (go to any page that you are an admin on and see if you can boost the post) that you are still able to manage ad accounts where you have been added to the business manager. You cannot, however, create new ad accounts.
If you have an ad account banned the system most often prevents you from creating more ad accounts.
If you genuinely have not violated policy then it should be pretty easy after review to get your access reinstated. I have had to do this several times for my own account. You will get a reply that looks like this:
“Hi Jesse, we reviewed your Facebook account and determined that access to advertising features was incorrectly disabled. We’ve reinstated your access to advertising. Any ads that were affected will return to their previous status. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks, The Facebook Business Team”
Now having done nothing wrong does not guarantee you anything. Beyond policy violation specific to the ads policy there are two other factors that are as gray as the UK sky. Facebook leans on community standards https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/ as well. The combination of Advertising Policy and Community standards basically allows Facebook to take the position… “We do not support your business model” as a generic blanket statement and ban you from all Facebook products for any reason at any time.
Without going into a separate rant, this ability is dangerous to global commerce. A single entity with more than 7 Million advertisers whose reach is more than 1/3 of the world's population should not be in a position to dictate which businesses in various markets have access to this medium and which do not. Regulation to prevent this is desperately needed.
I hope that this was helpful. The best thing that you can do to be proactive to arm yourself with knowledge so that you do not unknowingly cause offense. If you do not understand Facebook marketing and best practices you can explore our courses at Social Media Pro and of course you can go through the Facebook Blueprint Certification. How much the later helps you when issues arise is unknown but it certainly cannot hurt. I hope that helps you to better understand what you are up against. ~ Jesse
Facebook Ad Account Suspension Misery; Don't Go It Alone!
While this may have been helpful to you, you might be left shaking your head! How crazy is this platform, how crazy is it dealing with Facebook and what if this doesn't work?
Here is the thing; things change often and quickly in our industry. Your best bet of staying up-to-date on all things social media is to connect with others in the industry.
How?
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I am a Certified Social Media Manager, Strategist, International Keynote Speaker, Organic Specialist and Agile marketer! Blogging is my creative outlet. Running, hiking and skiing are how I recharge. You'll recognize me on stage and online by my always present orange glasses, a nod to my Dutch heritage.
