You’re looking to get into advertising on Facebook, and you’ve done the hard work of creating a Facebook campaign, you’ve created ads, set objectives, and identified your target audience. Now, it’s time to submit it to Facebook for review before your ads go live. We know you’re excited to get your ads out there and we want to make sure they’re up and running as soon as possible! But first, there are some things you need to know about successfully passing the Facebook Ads review in the first place.
There’s nothing quite as frustrating as spending hours on a killer campaign only to have them rejected by Facebook. Luckily, Facebook will tell you WHY your ads are rejected, but it’s better to avoid this rejection in the first place. And that’s exactly what we’re going to help you with within this post.
Why Facebook Ads Review Matters
Facebook Ads review matters because without your ads being approved, no one will see them except for you! Once you submit your ads for review, they’re put into a “pending review” stage, then generally approved or disapproved within 24 hours. (To see the current status of your ads, head to the Delivery column in your Facebook Ads Manager)
Your ads need to be in line with Facebook’s policies to be approved. We’re going to tell you more about passing the review in a minute, but first, let’s talk about what changes trigger these reviews in the first place.
Anytime you create a new ad it needs to be reviewed. Once your ads are approved, there are still changes you might want to make down the road. Some of these changes will trigger the review process again, while others will not.
Changes that trigger a review
These are some of the changes you might make that will mean going through the review process again:
- Targeting
- Creative (including images, text, links, or videos)
- Optimization
- Billing event
Changes that do not trigger a review
You can change these things in your ads without triggering the Facebook Ads review process:
- Changes to your ad’s bid amount
- Changing your ads budget
- Changing your set schedule
Whether you’re creating a whole new set of ads or you’re just making some changes, let’s talk about making sure you pass the review process!
23 Quick Tips For How to Pass a Facebook Ads Review
Your ads need to be in line with Facebook’s ad policies to pass the Facebook Ads review. To give you the best chance of passing the review on your first try, read these 23 quick tips before you create your first Facebook ad:
- Showcase high-quality images
- Refresh your creative
- Use the correct image specs (including a minimum height and width of at least 600 pixels)
- Minimize text in your image (audiences tend to respond better to image-based ads)
- Grab your audience’s attention (Eye-catching graphics and colors)
- Use a good headline
- Include your product in the headline
- Describe your uniqueness (What makes YOUR business/product/service special?)
- Keep it short and sweet (Too much content and your audience will lose interest and focus)
- Feature discounts in your ads
- Mention the product or service price
- Use a number in your copy (for example “7 ways to…”)
- Inspire action
- Stick to one CTA (We talk more about creating compelling calls to action in this post)
- Talk to your customer directly (Use “you”)
- Comply with Facebook’s policies
- Stay on brand
- Tie the image to the message
- Match your creativity to your landing page (This kind of cohesiveness is also important for brand awareness)
- Sequence creative to tell a story
- Align with your goal (Do you want to drive clicks? Get sign-ups? Boost sales?)
- Measure your results using KPIs
- Test and learn from the results
5 Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make with Facebook Ads
Now we’ve covered some of the Do’s for passing Facebook’s Ads review, but now let’s talk about some of the Don’ts.
You’re advertising content that is prohibited
There are a number of content types that Facebook prohibits both in advertising and in having their users post. Setting up ads that include this prohibited content is a sure-fire way to fail the Facebook Ads review process.
Here are some examples of prohibited content on Facebook
- Drugs and drug-related products
- Weapons, ammunition, or explosives
- Unsafe supplements
- Ads with unproven claims
- Adult products or services
- Penny auctions
- Bad grammar and improper punctuation
- Multilevel marketing (MLM)
- Spyware or malware
To see a comprehensive list of prohibited Facebook ads content, click here.
You’re advertising content that is restricted
In addition to prohibited content, there are a number of content types that Facebook deems as restricted.
This includes:
- Ads that promote or reference alcohol without following local laws and guidelines
- Online pharmacies
- Online gaming and gambling
- Promoting OTC drugs
- Branded content
- Dating services (unless prior written permission is given)
You can find the full list of restricted Facebook Ads content right here.
You aren’t following community standards
Facebook has certain community standards they expect its users to live up to. If your ads aren’t in compliance with these community standards, they’re bound to be rejected.
The values associated with their community standards are:
- Authenticity
- Safety
- Privacy
- Dignity
When you submit your ads for review, each of these values is taken into account. If the ads go against any of these standards, they won’t pass the review.
You’ve made a mistake with your Ad creation
Do your ads contain spelling errors or missing/improper punctuation? These are a few of the creation mistakes you could have made that will mean your ad is rejected.
You’ve made a mistake with your landing page
Facebook also looks at the landing page your ad links to before approving your ad. If the landing page “isn’t fully functional, doesn’t match the product/service promoted in your ad, or doesn’t fully comply with our Advertising Policies” it won’t pass the review.
What to do if you don’t pass the Facebook Ads review process
If your ads are disapproved, all hope is not lost! Often, it just takes some little tweaks to get your ad in better shape. Facebook sends you an email outlining the reasons your ad wasn’t approved, and this makes it a lot easier to fix what needs fixing!
In the event, you’re sure no mistakes were made and you believe your ad should have been approved, you can also appeal the decision with Account Quality.
How to master Facebook Ads
Whether you’re frustrated with the Facebook Ads review process or you don’t know where to begin with ad creation, we’re here to help. Blue Water Marketing in Stuart, FL., prides itself on our Facebook ads services and getting our clients the results they want. We follow a four-step process to help you increase revenue with Facebook ads and ensure your ads are approved.
We’ve increased sales by over six figures for our clients per month through our digital marketing services and we want to do the same for you! In addition to Facebook Ads, we offer other digital marketing services including SEO, pay-per-click, and content marketing.
Want to learn more about all things Facebook ads? Here are three posts to read next:
- How to Make Your Facebook Campaign Worth it
- 5 Powerful Benefits of Facebook Video Ads
- 3 Tips for How to Start a Successful Facebook Marketing Campaign
