Case Study: From Facebook Shutdown to Running Ads
A Houston Law Firm went from being frustrated that Facebook disapproved their ads and having their marketing hit a brick wall to gaining perfect clarity on what was being flagged and how to change it to become compliant with Facebook ad policies.
Sean Schmitt is the Executive Manager of Marketing & Technology at Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law. For business owners Facebook is a powerful way to transform cold traffic into sales but what happens when Facebook shuts down all your ads without telling you why?Stewart J. Guss's team were left without explanations on what specifically their ads were doing to cause Facebook to shut down their accounts. There was only the generic message from Facebook to go by:
Discovering A Facebook Ad Policy Specialist
After exhausting their searches to find answers where none were available, the law firm's Digital Marketing Specialist discovered Trevor W. Goodchild Facebook Ad Policy Specialist.
Due to Facebook's unparalleled audience targeting capabilities, it was an ideal choice for the law firm to use for creating new business. Being unable to reliably get ads through the review process Stewart Guss Attorney at Law's team needed a solution and fast.
STEP 1: Analyze the Facebook Ad
Knowing that his law firm needed to attract new business through lead gen services running, Stewart Guss turned to his team for answers, who relied on the expertise of TWG Consulting for Facebook policy secrets.
The Houston-based law firm recognized the power of Facebook advertising not just to attract eyeballs but to engage with a carefully targeted audience. But to engage, the ads had to pass through a complicated filter both automated and complete with human reviews to get an ad live.
With this as a focus, TWG Consulting took a magnifying glass, then a microscope to the Facebook ads the law firm was running over a several month time span.
TWG Consulting confirmed that in the most successful Facebook ads , the three most important elements are:
- Communicating authority (and credibility)
- Choosing a native format (video works the best)
- Compelling copy (and a great headline)
Here's an example of one of the many ads analyzed for Facebook ad policy violations:
STEP 2: Analyze the Facebook Ad Account History
While there is no way to undo past missteps with ads that break the Facebook ad policies, context is super important to find out why Facebook flagged the account in the first place to avoid making the same mistake twice.
With this strategy in mind, a Zoom session with Stewart Guss Attorney at Law's team took place. The history of every ad this year that had been disapproved was investigated. This included:
- Ad copy above the ad creative image
- Headlines and Display URLs
- Messages Facebook had sent the law firm & on screen warnings
During this process many new flags that Facebook hadn't mentioned to the digital marketing team were revealed. Some flags for violating Facebook compliance were associated with the wrong conclusions due to Facebook's complete lack of transparency.
The real root of why the ads were flagged in the first place was starting to reveal itself.
STEP 3: Have a Landing Page Fully Compliant
A key step to building a successful funnel using Facebook ads is to have a landing page that not only is optimized for conversions but also is compliant with Facebook ad policies.
Many marketers ignore the landing page, not realizing that Facebook's autobots scan copy here as well looking for reasons to flag an ad account.
The more intimately you know not just what flags your landing page has had, but possible new ad policy flags , the better prepared you are to frame new ad copy going forward.
TWG Consulting used a fine toothed comb to analyze the headlines on the landing page, the offers made, who the target audience is and even the small print to ensure there were no skipped steps for a full Facebook ad policy analysis.
The result: the law firm now had exact details not revealed by Facebook support or Facebook's ad policies page, on why their ads were taken down and what they could do to get compliant going forward, following the multiple criteria for policy flags TWG Consulting shared:
"With his invaluable insight to the inner workings of Facebook & its flagging systems & expert knowledge of Facebook ad policies, Trevor was able to go through our ad account and ad content with a fine-tooth comb and point out our strengths and, more importantly, our weaknesses. He maintained stellar communication with us throughout, setting clear expectations for what would be delivered. His content and account analysis was presented with great clarity, plus steps to take going forward. This really helped our team connect the dots and refine our process and get our ad account back in good standing
with Facebook."
Sean Schmitt
Executive Manager of Marketing & Technology Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law
Ready to generate leads & close sales without the fear of Facebook shutting your ads down? Book a free discovery call here.
In a time crunch and need answers fast for why Facebook dropped the ban hammer and how to get compliant? Skip the line.