How To Run Effective Facebook Ads Without Getting Your Account Shut Down
To create and run ads on Facebook isn’t rocket science. It’s actually pretty easy.
You just need to have a Facebook page, which is also easy to set up if you don’t have one, and then you get access to Facebook Ads Manager and you can start creating and running ads on Facebook!
However, what many marketers and business owners discover when they are just starting out with Facebook ads is that their ads don’t always get approved by Facebook. And sometimes it’s difficult to figure out why.
And this can be really disappointing and frustrating, especially is you’ve decided to run a couple of ads in the last minute for a special promo or event you have, and you want the ads start running asap.
Before you start creating and setting up Facebook ads you must do THIS
Before you start creating and setting up your ads, it’s really important that you read and understand Facebook’s ad policies and rules (=> click here).
Because, if your ads don’t comply with the policies, they won’t get approved and in worst case scenario: you may find that your Facebook account gets shut down.
Should that happen, you can hopefully sort it out by contacting Facebook. But this may take some time, even days to fix. And there are many cases where advertisers do NOT get their accounts back.
So to avoid that, here are three basic but really useful tips from Tyson Zahner, a successful online marketer.
3 tips how to run effective Facebook ads without getting your account shut down:
1) Give the ad network what they want (= happy users and no liability)
As mentioned before, you must read and be familiar with Facebook’s ad policies and do your best to comply with them before you start creating and publishing ads. It will save you both time and money.
Ad networks like Facebook want to protect themselves from liability, and they also want to give their users a good experience so they are happy spending time on the platform. Facebook doesn’t want to show ads with content that their users find annoying, disturbing, misleading or irrelevant.
Therefore, you must avoid to promise too “big things” that are misleading or not realistic in your ads, like e.g.:
“Lose 10 pounds in 7 days without dieting” or
“Make €500 a day with this system – no experience needed”
These statements are not realistic and an ad with a headline like that would not be approved by Facebook. You might even risk to get your account shut down.
2) Focus on the “After State” more than the current problem
When you start creating Facebook ads, it’s very likely that you want to state your target audience’s problem in the ad copy.
Let’s say your target audience’s problem is low energy levels, and your product is a solution to this problem. Then to get your audience’s attention you might want to start with:
“Do you suffer from low energy?…”
Or
“Do you feel tired all the time?…”
This may surprise you – but these are two examples of ad copy that would probably NOT be approved by Facebook in an ad.
The reason for this is that you’re not allowed to call out or imply things about a person’s attributes in ads. You can read this in Facebook’s Policies => Advertising Policies => Prohibited content
“12. Personal Attributes
Ads must not contain content that asserts or implies personal attributes. This includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, age, sexual orientation or practices, gender identity, disability, medical condition (including physical or mental health), financial status, membership in a trade union, criminal record, or name… “
However, there are ways around this, if you want to use the pain or the problem in your ad.
One way is to re-phrase it into e.g.:
“For anyone who suffers from low energy or who feels tired all the time… this is a great solution….”.
Or
“If you know anyone that suffers from low energy,…..”
This should be ok with Facebook.
But instead of doing this, another strategy is to focus on the after state or the end-result from using your product.
This means that instead of just stating or talking about the problem your target audience have, you focus on how they will feel or look after the problem is solved.
Here’s an example of using the after state or end-result. The problem is still “low energy” and let’s say that you target people who are also interested in golf – then your ad copy could be something like this:
“ 5 simple ways to boost your energy levels so that you can play golf with your friends after your 9 to 5 and still feel like a younger version of yourself…..”
Or if it’s a video you can start with:
“Hey guys, in today’s video I’m gonna tell you how to achieve instant energy so you can…. “
In the above examples, you don’t mention the problem. Instead you try to get your specific target audience to envision the happy “after” state (= play golf after your 9 to 5 and still feel energetic), when the non-mentioned “problem” (= low energy) is solved.
The majority of people hanging out on Facebook will prefer to see this kind of content in their newsfeed, because they will find it useful. And when they are on Facebook, they don’t want to be reminded about their pains and problems.
Therefore, Facebook also favours this kind of content, since they want to please their users and keep them happy.
3) Save the sales pitch for after the ad and landing page
Facebook ads are better used to pre-qualify and pre-sell your audience than to sell anything directly.
The reason for this is that the majority of people are not on Facebook looking to buy something. Therefore – in most cases – your ads will be more effective and give you better results if your purpose with the ads is to create awareness, interest or desire for your products (or company).
This is also a more “safe” approach to be Facebook compliant.
Facebook ads can be a great strategy to build your audience, to peak your audience’s interest and desire, but it’s usually better to save the actual sales pitch till after the ad and landing page. Present your sales pitch on a sales page or in a webinar or presentation instead.
You can also say in the ad: “Message me for more information” and you can send it either via Messenger or email to them.
Like I mentioned in the introduction, these useful Facebook tips are from Tyson Zahner, to watch his video about this click here => Tyson Zahner Live
These tips – and also other tips from Tyson – have helped me a lot to create and run more effective Facebook ads.
And usually my ads also get approved by Facebook on the first time I publish them. I’m sure these tips can help you too to create and run effective – and compliant – Facebook ads!
Are your Facebook ads and posts not getting enough attention and engagement?
Now that you know more about how to create ads that are Facebook compliant, I’d like to give you 10 powerful tips how to effectively grab your target audience’s attention on Facebook and get more views, clicks and engagement! These tips work on other Social Media platforms too.
=> 10 Powerful Tips How to Catch Your Audience’s Attention on Social Media
Let me know in the comments or send me a message if you have any questions about Facebook advertising or if you’d like some tips when creating your Facebook ads.
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Published: 15 January 2018 Updated: September 2019
This blog contains affiliate links for tools I use and recommend which means at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.
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