Navigating Ad Policies: Staying Compliant with Facebook

Running Facebook ads can be a game-changer for your business—but only if you stay on the right side of Facebook’s ad policies. Nothing is more frustrating than having your ads rejected or, worse, your account suspended.

In this episode, we’re diving into Facebook’s ad policies—what you can and can’t say, how to avoid common pitfalls, and what to do if your ad gets disapproved. We’ll also cover what might get flagged, plus practical tips to keep your campaigns running smoothly.

If you want to maximize your ad success while staying compliant, this episode is a must-listen! Tune in now and make sure your ads don’t get caught in Facebook’s red tape. 🚀

Connect with me

Website: www.newschoolofmarketing.com
Facebook: @newschoolofmarketing
Facebook group: @newschoolofmarketing
Instagram: @bianca_mckenzie

Learn from me:

🟣 FREE MASTERCLASS: Sell more of your online course with Meta Ads
https://www.biancamckenzie.com/masterclass

🔵 AIMFUL ADS ACADEMY: Tools, resources & 1:1 support to attract more ideal clients and make more sales with proven, easy to follow Facebook & Instagram ad strategies for any budget. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/aimful-ads/

🟢 FACEBOOK ADS PREP SCHOOL: Find out what you need to know and do before spending money on ads. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/prep-school/

🟡 INVISIBLE AD FUNNEL PLAYBOOK: A practical step-by-step guide to making a big impact with a tiny budget. https://www.biancamckenzie.com/playbook

🟠 FUNNEL FUNDAMENTALS: Building effective sales funnels that drive conversions and grow your business. ...

Transcript

Hey, welcome back to the new School of Marketing podcast. I am so grateful to you for tuning in. Before we dive in, I would love to pay my respect and acknowledgement to the Palawa people of lutruwita who are the traditional owners of the land on which my business operates.

And I pay my respects to their elders, past and present.

All right, welcome back. Or welcome if you're new to the podcast. My name is Bianca McKenzie. I've been an entrepreneur for over 10 years now, and I'm really excited to dive into this episode.

I mostly specialize in Facebook advertising, meta advertising, Instagram advertising, whatever name you want to give it. But I am a marketing and funnels all rounder. I have over 10 years of experience in Facebook ads and I've been a marketer for 20 years now.

I know, makes me sound old, but I'm super excited to talk to you about.

Well, sort of excited. You know, it's not necessarily the most exciting topic, but it's one that I get a lot of questions about. So it's a bit of a necessary evil for anyone running Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and that is navigating ad policies.

And let me start with a quick story. And there's been multiple of these stories, but early on in my advertising journey, I thought I had created the perfect ad.

I hit publish. I was feeling really great, only to see it get rejected within minutes. I was so frustrated, I was so confused.

And I was also a little bit embarrassed. And I know that you can probably relate or if not awesome, if you haven't been in that situation yet.

But yes, if you've ever had an ad rejected or heaven forbid, your account restricted, you know how overwhelming and frustrating it can feel. But here's the thing. Facebook ads policies, they're not here to ruin your day.

I know it feels like that sometimes, especially when you cannot get on a chat with a real person or like nobody's there to help you.

They are created to protect users and to somewhat create a fair playing field for all advertisers. Even though I do think that the bots get it wrong quite often.

And it is super, super annoying that you cannot get on a call or on a chat, even with a real person. And over the years, it's actually gotten harder and harder to get.

To get to talk to someone and to get at least someone or something. I don't know if it's a bot to look at why something's restricted and things like that.

So I want to talk about ad policies, common mistakes, and hopefully give you some strategies that will help you stay compliant.

So let's dive in. And I want to put a little disclaimer here, though, because ad policies change a lot.

And I think this is why people get so surprised when things. When they, like when either the account gets shut down or the ads get rejected. I think it's because people actually do not stay up to date with the policies because they change.

And recently things have changed again.

So that's my little disclaimer. You need to stay up to date. You need to look at the ad policies before you hit publish.

First, let's talk about why these policies exist.

And it is because Facebook's primary goal is to keep its platform as safe as possible and enjoyable for users. Now, their take on that is very different to someone else's take on that.

So, you know, it's not necessarily a kind of like a blanket. It's safe for everyone to use or even enjoyable for everyone to use. But they need to have some rules.

I mean, we have rules of society. I guess they need to have some rules, too.

So that means that they need to make sure, in a way, as much as they can, that ads aren't misleading, that they're not offensive, or that they're harmful.

So for advertisers, policies are also a little bit of a roadmap. They, in a way, show us what's acceptable and what isn't. And like I said, can be super frustrating because Facebook's bots don't necessarily recognize the difference between A and B.

And sometimes A is harmful and B is not.

But it is up to us to know what's acceptable, what is not acceptable, so that we can create campaigns that resonate with the audience and get them approved.

But the kicker is, if you don't follow the policies, the consequences can be quite harsh. And like a rejected ad, yes, you waste your time, you waste your money, but to get your whole account restricted or banned, that kind of, like, wipes out, in a way, your business in, like, yeah, you kind of have to start again because most of the time, you don't get it back.

So understanding the rules is kind of an essential thing.

Now, let's talk about some common pitfalls that lead to policy violations most of the time. And one of the biggest ones is misleading claims. So saying things like guaranteed results in 24 hours or lose 10 pounds overnight, they will almost always get flagged.

Like if you make really big bold promises that you may not be able to deliver on, that's kind of like really a flag. Another one is using banned words or banned phrases and we don't always know what they are because like I said, things keep changes.

But things like phrases that call out personal attributes, like, are you struggling with debt?

They are a no go.

Also, personal attributes in terms of, you know, physical attributes and things like that, we cannot talk about those.

Then there are also banned products and banned services, so adult content, certain supplements, or even promoting alcohol in certain countries.

So you need to be really aware of what is allowed and acceptable in the country or you know where you're going to run these ads.

There's a really big change at the moment in the wellness space. There's recently been some changes there. So you really need to know what, what's allowed and what's not in a way.

And finally, there's some targeting practices that can trip you up. So for example, excluding groups in a discriminatory way is a red flag.

So really part of it is, I would say, the rules of society, but part of it is also Facebook making its own rules.

All right, now for the good stuff. How to stay compliant. First, like I said, read the policies. I know it's not the most exciting thing, but it is so important.

And they get updated regularly, so staying in the loop is kind of important. Now, all the things that I've mentioned that are common pitfalls, they've been around for quite a while.

So definitely don't go near any like misleading claims calling out personal attributes or banned products and services.

Secondly, create ad content that is honest and that's transparent.

Avoid exaggerations and definitely avoid overly dramatic claims. Okay, kind of almost. If you're not sure stuff, stay in the middle, keep it very neutral. I know it sounds super boring because generally advertising needs to stand out and be super bold.

But if you are working in a space that sort of like, yeah, it's really tricky because if you're in the wellness space, again, you can't use any claims. You can't call out things like even here in Australia, if you APRA registered, you can't use testimonials and things like that.

Like just so just.

You might need to just be a little bit sort of vanilla.

Third, make sure that you test your ads in small batches because that way you can catch the issues before they, they escalate.

Also use things like Facebook's policy checker or look at the ad library. They can actually help spot some potential problems before you hit publish.

And finally, if you're unsure, just play it safe.

Like I said, err on the side of caution when you're writing your copy, when you're creating or choosing your visuals. Maybe you just need to be a little bit more vanilla if you want to be able to advertise.

And you know, I've actually worked in the past with someone who did sex education. Like not for children, but like grown ups, you know, like adults.

And it was, it was tricky. Like we had to look, it was not, I wouldn't say it was like, you know, too crazy, but we had to just get really creative.

And this person had written a book so we could promote her book because that was, you know, quite in a way on unobtrusive. Like it didn't have a bold kind of headline.

It wasn't using any of the words that, you know, you can't use on Facebook ads. So it's not like if you're in an industry, you are automatically out of, you know, being able to advertise on Facebook.

Sometimes you just gotta be a bit more creative and just be a little bit more vanilla. Just, you know, play it safe in terms of advertising. It doesn't mean that you can't advertise, but, but you might just need to get a little bit more creative.

Obviously if you're, for example, if your Facebook name, your Facebook handle has the name of your business and that's like something that you can't do, then you might need to change your Facebook name or have a specific account where you can run ads from.

So, but again, if you think that it's going to be shut down and you're not entirely sure, either connect with someone like me or an ads manager, I'm an ads manager too.

But yeah, an ads manager to sort of, you know, run it by them, see what they think.

And if you feel like it might all be shut down, maybe literally just don't go there or get creative and find another way to promote what you do. It might be, you know, you might have to have some separate funnels set up and maybe a separate page set up where you do some more vanilla stuff to get them into working with you.

Now, let's say you follow the rules, but your ad still gets rejected. What should you do?

Step number one, take a deep breath. Don't panic.

Look at the rejection reason. Facebook usually provides you, like, a brief explanation of why the app was rejected. Now, sometimes it is so mega vague that you honestly can't even tell, but have a look at it.

See, step number two, make edits based on that feedback.

And sometimes small tweaks can make all the difference. Literally, I've had to change ads based on, like, one little word.

And it's like, it's a little bit of digging and going around it. Sometimes even asking some of my peers going, you know, can you see what's wrong with this? What do I do?

Sometimes making like, literally a small tweak or sometimes the call to action. It's really strange, but it can make all the difference. Step number three, resubmit your ad.

And if you're confident that your ad complies but it's still getting rejected, reach out to Facebook support if you can, because mistakes do happen and you 100% have the right to appeal.

Plus, sometimes it actually is just a mistake and it needs, like, a human intervention rather than the bot responding.

Because I've had that too. I've literally gone, I do not know what's wrong with this. Can you please have a look at it? Because. And then often they come back with, well, there's nothing.

We can't see anything wrong. There's nothing wrong with it.

But then the human can intervene, intervene with that and, you know, take the ban or the rejected ad off rejection.

So to wrap up, I know that ads, policies, sounds mega boring. If you're not a lawyer and I'm not a lawyer, it can feel daunting, but it doesn't have to be.

I like to think of these rules as, like, guardrails that guide you towards, like, better, more effective advertising.

They have to stay within the rules, you know, rules of society, rules of Facebook. We have to have rules. And remember that every great ad and every great campaign, it starts with an understanding of the platform that you're working on.

And you just need to take some time to learn, to adapt, to grow, learn what you can and can't do and just, you know, make changes along the way. And if you're absolutely not sure, reach out to someone who knows about this stuff.

Like, I have 10 years experience in doing Facebook ads. I've seen the changes. I've seen things come and go.

Some things, you know, are still the same.

So if you really, like, struggle with it, then reach out to someone, because we are here to help you learn the platform or even run ads for you.

So with that said, I want to thank you for joining me on this episode. I hope you found it helpful. I hope you will never need this.

I hope your ads will get, you know, approved straight away and you'll never face your account being shut down and stuff like that. But if you do, feel free to reach out.

You can find me on Instagram. I'm Bianca underscore McKenzie.

Or you know, find me on new school of marketing.com

Anyway, I'm always excited to share marketing tips with you and I am here to help you. I can't wait to be back next week with a new episode. And remember, you can get free resources.

So if you head to new schoolofmarketing.com you can find my free resources. I have a guide where you can literally get your first ads up and running, your lead ads up and running in hours and there's free videos to watch all sorts of things.

So with that said as well, if you want to grow your business but you don't want to spend all your time on slow and unpredictable organic social media, then the Aimful Ads Academy is for you.

It is the place to learn how to be seen by your audience, how to attract the right people as leads and turn them into paying customers. All with my proven for Ad Stack method.

Plus as a part of the program you'll have one on one access to me and I'm a marketing strategist with over 10 years experience so that you don't have to navigate ads alone.

I'm here to help you be seen to attract leads and to get more paying customers. And as always, make sure you subscribe to the podcast so that you never miss an episode.

I can't wait to keep this journey going with you. Until next time. Take care and market your business every day.