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Facebook Disapproving All My Ads - Anyone Else?

John V.

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Jan 15, 2015
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Hi John,

I've put together some information about our Advertising Policies and the actions you can take.

Here's what's preventing this ad from running:

It looks like this ad is for credit opportunities, but you didn't declare it as such during campaign creation.

What to do next:

If you'd like to run this ad, you'll need to go back to the ad creation flow and choose the correct Special Ad Category. I also suggest reviewing our Help Center article in order to gain a better understanding of our Advertising Policies.
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Anyone else keep getting this message on their ad account? Every single ad I've tried to post in the last month has been flagged this freaking robot at facebook and they will not give me any recourse on how to fix it. I've attached some examples that they wont allow me to post without classifying them as "Credit Opportunities" which essentially removes all targeting that I would want to use. I can't use my custom audiences, pixels, demographics, etc.

It is extremely frustrating!!!

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I was told that even linking your ads to a page where credit is discussed will flag it as a credit ad. With that said, have you tried linking these ads to your homepage (or another page where monthly payments/credit aren't mentioned). It's not ideal but worth a shot. If that doesn't work, I'm not sure what else to do other than using the new targeting for credit-based ads (no gender, age, or location - the only location you will be able to do is a 25 mile radius around any given point).
 
Yeah, the new Special Category classification rolled out recently so this has been a problem! You'll have to select the "Special Category" option under the campaign level, and then select the credit option. Ryan is correct, landing on a page that discusses financing or offers, even if your ad says nothing about those things, will cause it to decline if the ad isn't under the correct category.

I believe the radius is a 15 mile radius instead of 25, and you can't Target by zipcode, gender, age, or some other demographics.
 
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John, this change happened several months ago. Our team shared your frustration back then but now that the smoke has cleared we have been seeing even better performance out of those ads. Our targeting is crucial so we jumped through the hoops that Facebook is offering you. Using Facebook data or only going geographic is a mistake and won't perform well at all.
 
John, I rushed out my reply as I was corralling my dog in the park! A little follow up... These changes rolled out as a way for Facebook to protect itself since it's struggled with data interference and meddling. Special Categories ensure advertisements don't discriminate against anyone; you may notice with this feature you also cannot use Lookalike Audiences.

It sounds like you're creating and posting these ads yourself... Do you work with a vendor who has a partnership with an approved 3rd party data provider? This is how I'm able to still hit in-market buyers based on make, model, body style, etc. for my clients. If Facebook serves as a bulk of your advertising and/or you get a lot of leads from it, it may be worth looking into finding a company that can provide you with access to similar data.

I'd be happy to talk more with you about it if you're interested.
 
Without diving down the rabbit hole completely, I wrote a topic on this exact issue HERE, which addresses general concerns and information on how to stay compliant.

In short, HUD sued Facebook for violating the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which prohibits any ads promoting car loan opportunities from using basic and advanced demographic targeting such as:

* Age Targeting

* Gender Targeting

* Behavior Targeting

* Targeting Less Than a 15mi Radius

* Zip Code Targeting

Let's talk about how to stay compliant, and what steps you should take to re-optimize your advertisements.

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It's quite simple to adjust your campaigns for this change, I even posted a GIF with visual instructions on how to do this. Further, below is a simplified list of instructions on how to do this yourself:

1: Navigate to the Facebook Ads Manager.

2: Navigate to the correct Ad Account using the drop-down menu located under the "Ads Manager" text on the left.

3: View your campaigns by selecting the "Campaigns" tab on your screen.

4: Once you're at campaign level, select all campaigns you'd like to adjust, and hit "Edit". Right beside the words "Create" & "Duplicate".

5: Once you're in the editing dialog, tick the checkbox regarding running ads in the Special Ad Category.

6: Select the "Credit" option from the drop-down menu.

If you've followed the simple steps above, your ads SHOULD be in full compliance with Facebooks Special Ads policy. KEEP IN MIND, some advertisements in the subprime lending space may be automatically flagged by Facebook, even when in full compliance. I've found Facebook does this to prevent affiliate-related promotions... which can be contested for re-approval. (more times than not Facebook will review your ads and approve them for running)

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Let's talk about the big elephant in the room.... What about re-optimizing?

If you've been running Facebook Ads for quite a while, and have recently been acquainted to this message, you among many others may be concerned with losing all data and optimization of your ad campaigns.

I'm here to report, these new Special Ad Audiences are KILLING it:

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This is just one of our clients campaigns we've built and are managing. Generating "semi long-form" leads for less than $3.50 each. All mostly in the subprime & prime lending spaces.

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Contrary to belief, you may use pixel data to build Special Ad Audiences, very similarly to how you would build Look-a-like audiences. I will post a tutorial on how to do this shortly... so stay tuned.

Best takeaway from this topic is.. due to these new ad categories weeding out the big competition, it's making the automotive space on Facebook that much more lucrative. So if you're reading this.. congratulations... you're quite literally a step ahead!
 
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Thanks all.

Yes, I do this all in house myself. I was able to get the Beetle ad approved by emailing Facebook directly but it didn't work with the Jeep Wrangler. I will try linking to the homepage and see if that changes anything. It's crazy because i have a 25% Off Ram 1500 ad that got approved not problem, $0 Down Honda ads get through just fine, but it seems that my other two ad accounts just keep getting tagged.

I appreciate the walk through on using the special ad categories for credit but that type of targeting is just not what I am after. Not a slight in anyway towards the results you are getting but those credit leads are going to be all get-me-done bouges that will just demoralize the staff. I find I get the best results when I treat facebook as a targeted billboard, not a form lead generator.