20 Nov 14 2:36 pm
Facebook Marketing - How not to get banned
This was originally posted in Facebook by Justin Brooke who has been talking to the head of Facebook's ad integrity team.
You can find it at
https://www.facebook.com/justinbrooke/p ... 3396338192 (I hope the link is ok).
I thought it was worth sharing on the forum here for anyone who is currently advertising on Facebook or considering it. It gives a pretty clear explanation of what activities will cause your Facebook account to get banned.
Justin Brooke's conversation with Facebook follows:
I SPOKE WITH FACEBOOK AGAIN TODAY!!
This was call #2 with their policy team aka "the police" who are responsible for all disapprovals and terminations.
I got VERY clear answers...
First let me tell you who I was on the phone with because it even surprised me.
No it wasn't Zuck!
It was Brian Hopkins, head of the ads integrity team and a few of his top team members.
So this wasn't some low ranking FB tech on the phone. This was one of the policy makers.
The 2nd thing you should know is what he told me is very polarizing. It is going to draw a line in the sand and many marketers are going to have to make big changes or go elsewhere.
Here are my takeaways...
1.) Their Agenda
They strongly believe that advertising can improve the Facebook user experience. That is the over arching mission they have set out to prove as well as enforce.
He specifically said multiple times that they have no issue with direct response or affiliates. Only an issue of proving that advertising can and should improve the Facebook user experience.
So when creating your campaigns think of Brian and ask yourself "Would Brian think this campaign improves the FB user experience or detracts from it?"
2.) Trust is #1 for policy team
His exact words were "We have a zero tolerance policy for advertisers who break the trust relationship between FB and it's users."
Examples he gave were ads that use images that have nothing to do with the offer or ad copy. Ads that use fear or hype. Landing pages that don't disclose the business model. Videos with no player controls and force the user to wait.
3.) FB ads for affiliate marketers
He mentioned multiple times that they have no issue with affiliate marketers. The issue they have is when affiliates use misleading ads, hypey copy, irrelevant images, fake images, low quality images, and landing pages that don't disclose their business model or trick the user.
He even said that they believe FB ads are one of the strongest tools for affiliate marketers and they care a lot about keeping it that way.
4.) How they handle user complaints
He said that when a user X's out your ads or requests to hide them they use that as a signal to investigate your account.
If they get complaints but your ads aren't misleading and your landing pages clearly disclose your business model and you're not doing anything to trick/mislead/deceive/frustrate the user then you're fine.
However, he also made it sound like his team rarely sees complaints on campaigns that are trustworthy and transparent.
5.) Vague acct termination notices
They are working on a better system. However, he explained that from their side there are soooo many different scenarios. Tens of thousands. That they just don't have the resources to give an accurate detailed reasoning for every termination.
He said acct terminations are usually a result of something you are doing is breaking the trust relationship and in their eyes that's not a business model issue it's an ethics issue.
6.) Moderating comments
It is ok to remove nasty or spammy comments. However, deleting all negative responses is frowned upon. It looks like you are hiding something or trying to deceive the users.
7.) VSL'S and squeeze pages
They are ok with list building and sales videos. They are not ok with list building pages that do not clearly identify the business and it's model.
Same with VSL'S that make it hard to immediately identify the business name and model.
When I explained what a VSL was (page with just a video, autoplay, no player controls and order button hidden) he said all of that breaks the user trust relationship.
So there you have it. Clear answers to what causes acct terminations.
I have another call planned. The next call is to discuss better training and how to get our accounts back after a termination.
Will keep you updated. Please help me spread this information. I could have kept this all to myself for a killer competitive advantage. However, I care very deeply about improving the quality of information and education in online marketing.
I'm not asking for money. Just please help me get these words to every online marketer.
END.
