If you run your own Facebook or Instagram ads you’ll already know it can be quite a job to get them up and running.

So when your ads are rejected, it hurts! How very dare they!

It happens to the best of us from time to time but having to do the ads all over again is a time-sap. How can this major annoyance be avoided?

It can happen to anyone

Let’s take the fictitious example of Melissa who runs an organic, ethically-sourced make-up business.

✅ She’s been perfectly crafting her Facebook and Instagram adverts to run for her online shop selling organic make-up.

✅ She’s arranged beautiful shots that took ages and linked them to her website.

✅ She carefully wrote about how great her makeup is because it’s beauty with a conscience.

✅ She just knows that her ideal clients, women aged 18-30 interested in environmental issues, will go crazy for its worry-free, transformative powers!

Melissa hits the Publish button, her ads go into Review mode…

Then the dreaded words: Your ad has been rejected.

Melissa has violated Facebook’s Advertising Policies.

OK so we all know that Facebook’s guidelines are in place to stop wrongdoers from using adverts to con us or expose vulnerable people to dangerous content.

And that’s good.

But in all fairness, it can be daunting reading through all the rules we need to follow. And quite often they’re open to misinterpretation.

So how are we supposed to know whether the ad we’ve crafted is going to be accepted?

Did you know the review process covers elements like your ad’s text, image or video, even your targeting and landing page?

Let’s use our character Melissa and take a look at her (not real) ad below.

It shows how keeping a few of the principles front-of-mind will help you when you’re putting together your own ads. ?

On the face of it the ad isn’t too bad but it could be breaking a few ads policies.

Let’s dig deeper.

1️⃣ Melissa opens with a symbol-laden line <<<YOUR GUILT-FREE MAKEOVER>>>

Bad grammar and over-use of symbols are frowned upon because they’re seen to be disruptive or trying to disguise banned words. Too many of these, like in Melissa’s text, might get spotted. Avoid this style in your ad text.

2️⃣ She then goes on to say, “Most young women like you love great make-up, am I right?”

Using the word “you” too often or referring to age as Melissa has will raise a red flag. Personal attributes are a big one for Facebook. Pointing out that it’s women “like you” and indicating age, as well as race, gender and other attributes just isn’t allowed.

3️⃣ Adult content? Surely not – this is a make-up ad!

But even showing too much skin as the ad’s image does (albeit tastefully) could fall under this violation.

4️⃣ It’s nice to see Melissa getting so enthusiastic about her product: “Our organic, ethically-sourced foundation, using the best quality guilt-free ingredients, will transform you from tired and dull to bright, fresh and beautiful in just 1 application!”

Is this a misleading claim? Well maybe not as we’re talking about foundation which does only take one application to make a difference. She could find another way of conveying the same enthusiasm without potentially falling into the rejection trap.

5️⃣ Now let’s talk about the destination page of Melissa’s ad.

She’s decided to make things easy and link to her homepage. That way people can have a good old browse around to choose the product they want. Hopefully they’ll find the foundation and buy it.

Uh-oh, the bots are crawling her homepage and shaking their heads disappointedly!

Melissa’s homepage heavily features her new range of cotton facemasks. There are also some lipsticks, make-up bags and vouchers featured. No obvious sign of the foundation promoted in her ad.

This bears the hallmarks of low quality or disruptive content: a landing page that says something different to the ad or covers lots of other stuff. Basically it makes things difficult for someone to find the info they expected.

7️⃣ It’s fab that Melissa’s brand is raising awareness of ethical, organic beauty products. And she mentions this in her ad: “You’re saving the planet when you buy from us. Beauty with a conscience. Visit our website to buy guilt-free make-up now.”

Social issues in Facebook-land keep changing. At the moment, in the UK, Melissa might accidentally use restricted content if she talks about environmental politics in relation to her green products.

This policy is under review by Facebook right now. They realise that people selling products and services that relate to social issues aren’t directly advertising about that issue. So whilst it should be fine for Melissa, she should still take care with this one if her brand advocates environmental topics.

Poor old Melissa!

She had all the best intentions but without doing a bit of homework before hitting Publish, her ads were rejected, and she now must re-write them.

Yes, but what about us real people?

Obviously my example is totally made up and I’ve used my own interpretation of the rules to create an inoffensive yet rejectable advert.

Spend a little time scrolling through the rules.

Many of them will have nothing to do with your own business and you can ignore them. Once you’ve highlighted those that are relevant to your niche, check back on them when you’re creating new ads.

Facebook’s ad policies simply aim to represent the main principles of good marketing: being relevant and authentic, transparency, integrity and generally being the answer to your audience’s prayers.

And another thing! Sometimes the bots that crawl the content of your ads and landing pages can get it wrong. So you can appeal if you’re certain no violation has been made.

You don’t want to be lumped in with the same crowd who ARE being misleading, deceptive and underhand on purpose, so do take those few moments to review the policies relating to your niche, apply them to your ads PRE-publish and all should be fine and dandy!

Need a review of your ads?

You’re in the right place! ?

You can book an online 1-to-1 with me to thrash out any ads challenges for just £197. Take a look here.