There’s no doubt that Facebook is an essential channel for every digital marketer. With millions of people on the social media site, it’s ripe for finding, engaging, and converting the ideal customer for almost any brand.
However, Facebook is also notorious for suddenly banning advertiser accounts without any warning. There have been several horror stories of digital marketers suddenly waking up to locked Facebook Ads Manager accounts, not knowing if they can ever retrieve access. Not only does this lead to hours of wasted work, but it can also impact sales.
But, why exactly does this happen, and can it be avoided?
Why Facebook Bans Advertising Accounts
There are dozens of potential reasons that Facebook ad accounts get banned. However, most of the reasons fall under three categories: violating guidelines, bad customer experiences, or a questionable advertiser profile. Let’s talk about each one.
1. Violating Community Guidelines & Ad Policies
When it comes to guidelines, Facebook has a ton of them. Generally, Facebook does not approve of anything illegal---including counterfeit products or fake official documents. In addition, pharmaceuticals, tobacco (except for anti-smoking campaigns), sex toys, and weapons are all no-gos for adverts on the platform.
Also, products and services that are questionable by nature or aim to take advantage of people are not allowed. Common examples of banned content include multilevel marketing schemes, cryptocurrencies, and payday loans.
Although some topics get more leeway; such as nudity, political posts, gambling, and CBD; it is best to avoid them if they have nothing to do with your core business. If they are, make sure you have the right permits from your local government and Facebook to advertise certain products.
2. Bad Customer Experiences
While you can’t please everyone, making everyone annoyed or angry is sure to raise a red flag on your advertiser profile. Good customer experience is the lifeblood of every great campaign, and Facebook won’t hesitate to cut yours short if you fail to meet its standards.
Bad customer experience often comes from a disconnect between your brand, the product or services that you are selling, and the channels where you promote these. This may come in the form of irrelevant content or ignoring customer’s issues that are raised directly on your ads.
Next, the last possible source of bad customer experience is your website or landing page. While this experience happens outside of Facebook’s bounds, it does affect the overall trustworthiness of the social media site and could result in a ban.
This is especially true if your site contains malware or advertises illegal or misleading products.
3. Questionable Advertiser Profiles
The last reason why Facebook bans ad accounts is something that many people overlook. Even the most well-intentioned advertiser can appear questionable under the right circumstances.
Some common reasons why Facebook ad accounts appear questionable include skipping payments for released ads, not verifying business details, or even appearing to access your account from multiple countries within a short period due to a VPN.
How to Protect Your Facebook Ads Manager Account
As with most things, prevention is often better than a cure. Here are a few pieces of advice that you follow to avoid the headache of a banned Facebook advertiser account.
Stick to the Facebook Guidelines
When it comes to Facebook guidelines, make sure to read both the advertiser and community versions. Due to evolving government regulations, security changes, and even cultural shifts, Facebook guidelines can change without any warning at any given time.
Before launching a campaign, make sure to review country-specific and age-specific guidelines that may affect it. For example, selling products or services such as CBD or gambling is not legal in all areas. Also, selling products like alcohol, cosmetic procedures, and supplements will require age restrictions that vary per region.
Provide a Great Customer Experience
Users want a cohesive customer experience, which means everything about your interaction with them should make sense. To do this, it’s not enough to have relevant ads; the ads must also relate to your Facebook page and landing page.
Additionally, if you direct users to an external website, make sure that the link is working and that the landing page is related to the ad that brought them there. Make sure that your landing pages are SSL certified and don’t contain any malware or spyware.
You should also respond to irate comments or swiftly remove Facebook ads that attract too much negativity. To help user feeds remain free from gore or violence, Facebook removes accounts that generate too many negative sentiments.
Keeping the customer experience enjoyable is key to an engaged audience, and an engaged audience is more likely to convert. With this, it’s important to stay vigilant with guidelines, produce good content, and keep making customers happy. If you take this to heart, keeping your ad account in good standing should come naturally.
Build a Trustworthy Advertiser Profile
Lastly, build a trustworthy ad account. To do this, you need to verify your business through Facebook Business Manager and apply for whitelisting if you are part of a regulated industry.
Additionally, avoid using VPNs when accessing your ad account so that the account shows a consistent location. Always keep your payment methods up-to-date and pay your ad account billings on time.
Keep Your Facebook Ad Account Safe
While it negatively impacts you to have your ad account banned, it is good to remember that Facebook is doing this to keep the platform safe for users and brands alike. Temporarily banning suspicious accounts can protect you from scammers, hackers, and people looking to ruin your brand.
Though moderating content has its hurdles, creating a healthy community requires protecting its users from malicious intent. While Facebook does not always get it right, they’re often doing what it thinks is best.
For every real advertiser banned every day, there are thousands of other dubious accounts removed for everyone’s benefit. If you find your ad account routinely compromised, it may well be a sign that you should consider advertising on another platform.