Facebook is an excellent platform for advertising, but many people are unaware of how easy it can be to run afoul of the rules. It is important that you know what they are so that your account doesn’t get shut down!
When things go wrong with your Facebook ads, it typically falls into two categories: disapproved ads or disabled account. If you’ve received an ad disapproval, it’s likely due to a Facebook review error (since our ads are designed to stay within Facebooks rules), whereas a disabled account is due to repeated ad violations, personal account violations or highly negative feedback on your account.
Facebook ad accounts getting disabled can be a gut punch for Agent CRM users. If this happens to you, don’t fret–we’re here to help. Here are a few reasons why your account may have been disabled and tips for reactivating it:
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You do not have two factor authentication setup (this is the most common)
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You have the same credit card on multiple Facebook ad accounts (this is the second most common)
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Your account is associated with other Facebook accounts that violate the rules
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You sent spam messages as part of an ad campaign (If Facebook users report back a bad experience Facebook will shut you down. This includes comments on your posts both paid and organic)
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The content in your ads doesn’t comply with our policy. This especially comes up with “boosted posts” or ads run outside of the Agent CRM system. Even old ads from agencies you are not even working with anymore could get you into trouble. The best thing to do with old ads not in use anymore is archive them so Facebook no longer views them as potential campaigns.
As these examples show, there are many ways your account can be flagged. Sometimes all it takes is one small oversight for things to go wrong. Even more frustrating is Facebook offers little to no information as to why you went afoul of the platform. One thing to note, your account is not disabled due to Agent CRM ads.
All our ads follow Facebook guidelines and while they may at times get disapproved due to review errors on Facebook’s end, they always end up getting approved upon manual review.
Facebook gives you one single chance to appeal their decision to disable your ad account. If your ad account is not in good standing when you send in the appeal, Facebook will permanently close the account.
Make sure you do the following before you request a review of your Facebook account.
#1 – Make sure you have two factor authentication turned on your Business Manager and your personal profile.
#2 – Go through your ad account and look at past campaigns. If you think the campaign has even a slight chance of being afoul of Facebook’s rules (especially those related to “Personal Attributes” make sure in your appeal you state that you believe campaign X or Y is the cause of the account getting flagged and you will delete the campaign once you have access again.
#3 – Make sure your business page and personal profile has nothing in there that would throw red flags. Avoid at all costs on your business page anything related to politics, Covid-19, the CDC or the WHO. It doesn’t matter where on the political spectrum you fall, just don’t.
Once you have cleaned up your account you can request it to be reviewed by a human by going to www.facebook.com/accountquality. Submit your appeal and then wait. It usually takes only a couple of days, however it has taken upwards of three weeks (depending on how iffy your account is).
Should the worst happen and your Facebook ad account get permanently closed follow these steps to get back to advertising:
#1 – Open a new ad account under a staff members profile or a spouse or partner. DO NOT OPEN A NEW PROFILE! This is in direct violation of Facebooks rules and you are likely to not only get your business permabanned on Facebook, but you are risking your personal account being closed as well. Make sure you are added to the account as an Admin so you have full access to it.
#2 – If you are using a landing page, change the domain name. Facebook logs this information and you are likely to get your new account closed if you use the same domain name.
#3 – Avoid running the same campaigns that got you banned in the first place.
#4 – If your Facebook business page has negative comments or a number of bad reviews, it is best to start a new Facebook page. The bad score will follow you to your new ad account and put it in jeopardy.
If it wasn’t a personal ad account that got shut down, but a Business Manager ad account, ignore the steps above. You’ll simply need to create a new ad account in your business manager, a new Facebook page, and set up a new payment method. In some cases, you may not have to create a new Facebook page.
This is a great time to note that it’s infinitely easier to get a new account set up when you start by using the business manager, rather than running ads from a personal ad account. If you’re a business owner, set up your business manager as soon as possible and stop using a personal ad account.
If you’re certain you didn’t break any rules, be kind and persistent. Very persistent, as it could take several days to get someone from the Facebook policy team to review your account. When you do get in touch with someone, if you’ve invested a good amount of money in Facebook ads, you like the platform and play by the rules, let that person you’re speaking with know that.
Finally — and it goes without saying — if you had your account disabled because you legitimately broke the rules, it’s time to review Facebook ad policy or find another way to advertise!
Whether you’ve had your hand slapped or not, here are some tips to keep you from having to deal with losing your account:
1) Be very familiar with the policies:
2) Have multiple administrators on each account for back-up.
3) Don’t set up ad accounts with payment information until you’re ready to use them.
4) Only have payment information on the account you’re actively using. Your account will be flagged for fraud if the same card is on multiple accounts.
5) Use the Business Manager and stop using your personal ad account.
6) Watch the comments on the ads carefully and if you see negative feedback, address it promptly.
7) Don’t let the frequency get too high on the ad (meaning users are seeing the ad multiple times). This increases the risk of negative feedback. Agent CRM’s system will automatically detect high frequency and attempt new ads, however we do not (at this time) have a way to monitor comments for negative feedback.
8) Do a final sweep of the ad copy, ad creative and the landing page it goes to before you try to get it approved in the first place.
Spend time nurturing your page and your ad account. Don’t go too crazy and try to post risky ads or a bunch all at once. Ultimately, if your account is shut down, don’t dismay; it’s happened to many of us.