Common Mistakes to Avoid When Advertising on Facebook

Did Facebook change their ad policy? Are facebooks ad policies the same as instagrams? Facebook ad policy can be challenging to understand! I worked at Facebook in ads, and in this article, I’ll be helping you avoid common mistakes with Facebook ad policy. 

You’re running ads and making money advertising on Facebook. Until an innocent error ends up getting your Facebook ads flagged and shut down. Does this sound familiar?

You spend a ton of money on a Facebook ad campaign when advertising on Facebook. You’re hoping to generate a lot of leads but after the ban hammer drops you end up with little to no conversions. All because you made a common Facebook ad mistake that you should have avoided.

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It seems like you just flushed your whole advertising budget down the drain. You are not the only one! Businesses can make a lot of revenue from Facebook ads. But, how do you do this without losing money if Facebook shuts you down?

I’ve worked at Facebook in ads and can help. In this blog, I’ll walk you through a few of the Meta ad policies and common mistakes to avoid when advertising on Facebook.

Read: Facebook Advertising Guidelines You Need to Know 2024 here

Failing to Monitor Ads Consistently Advertising on Facebook

If you put your ads on automatic pilot and don’t check to see if you have a competitive CPC and CTR you could be wasting money on the wrong audience or using the wrong creative and ad copy.

Ensuring you have ROI is necessary for a campaign’s success. But you probably forgot something equally important: are new Facebook ad policies limiting your ads reach?

It’s no secret Meta suppresses ads they don’t like. When your Facebook ads aren’t fully compliant, Facebook won’t spend your ad budget and won’t show your ads to as many Facebook users. That’s a common mistake to avoid when advertising on facebook. You don’t want your ad accounts disabled.

For more info read: How to Recover Facebook Ad Account

Even if you went to Social Media Week by AdWeek, featuring rapper Megan Thee Stallion…


You’d still struggle to get answers for avoiding common mistakes with Facebook ad policy as they haven’t worked in the tech department at Facebook like I have. Or have first-hand experience helping get Facebook backonline after a global crash – which is one of the things I did working at Facebook.

The reason I say this is just a word of caution who you trust when seeking advice on mistakes to avoid with Facebook ad policy when running ads on Facebook. My clients include social media marketing agencies of Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man – because Facebook ad policy is challenging for those who weren’t working at Meta.

Regardless of celebrity status, Facebook ad policy automations can and will ban your entire funnel in the blink of an eye, which is why you should avoid these common mistakes with Facebook ads. And trust actual authorities on the topic who have been deep in the trenches inside the actual machines running the show.

Book your discovery call here.

I gave Wu-Tang Clan’s marketing agency tips on staying compliant yesterday, including making sure that your dynamic product ads are fully compliant.

If you’re selling thousands of products and some product pages are noncompliant, it can lead to a domino effect, and shut your entire funnel down. So, be sure you know what you’re attaching to a Facebook ad before submitting it for review.

Choosing the Wrong Type of Ad for the Intended Action

Another thing to look out for is the type of ad you’re running. Are you promising a result that sounds unrealistic? You may get flagged for Misleading Business Practices. That’s a common mistake. Last year there was also a glitch that Facebook had where the automations confused leadform ads with app download ads.

Free eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook

Things You Should Know Before Running Facebook Ads:

Facebook Ad Policy Spam

And unless you paid attention you could have gotten shut down by mistake. Reporting that to Facebook ad support in less than 24 hours will fix that if you got that glitch. Of the many advertising options available, make sure you don’t come off as spammy, overselling your product or service. Facebook could flag you for that too. Successful Facebook advertising means understanding the risks not just the rewards.

(Check out: Top Reasons Why Facebook Disabled Ad Accounts)

Learn The One Mistake You Should Never Make With FB Flags:

Testing Too Many Things at Once Advertising on Facebook

If you’re an experienced ad agency owner you know the ins and outs of AB testing also called split testing when advertising on Meta. Another frequent Facebook advertising mistake is forgetting to test your ad copy and creative with different audiences.

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A lot of advertisers get hung up on one audience they test multiple ad variations to, instead of testing multiple ad copy and ad creatives on multiple audiences to see what has the potential to go viral in ad sales.

Search Engine Land advises to experiment with Advantage+ placements, which can help boost reach. At the same time, sometimes if you’re targeting Global, instead of a specific country, or state, the Advantage+ option gets a bit buggy. The AI will migrate towards cheap, low quality clicks, if your regional targeting isn’t more specific.

As Facebook Ad Expert Jon Loomer blogs, you can’t run Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns for special ad category ads like:

• Credit
• Employment
• Housing
• Social Issues, Elections, or Politics

You may want to test creatives, ad copy, audiences, and more. But, if you run a ton of ads at the same time, without a full understanding of Facebook’s automations, there’s a chance that your split test will split your head if you trigger another Facebook ban.

On the Facebook ad policy level, there’s another risk at testing too many things at once:

One flag – which by itself wouldn’t be a big deal – when repeated across dozens of ads at once, will get your entire Facebook ad account disabled. That’s because the automations count each flag – even if it’s just a minor one – as a separate blackmark for each ad it’s in.

Read: How to Navigate Facebook’s Advertising Policies as a Business

Facebook Ad Policy Infographic

Here’s the issue with the automations – they don’t see one flag in 100 ads as one violation, but 100 violations. So, if you aggressively tested an ad without checking compliance first, not only will you get those noncompliant ads rejected, Facebook may assume you knew they were against Facebook ad policy.

When that happens they’ll slam the Circumventing Systems flag on you too. But, I’ve made a guide for you to help with Circumventing Systems:

Circumventing Systems Guide 2.0

Maybe you didn’t get your ad account disabled, perhaps you just got your ads blocked or rejected. That’s not as bad as getting your Facebook ad account disabled, but if you resubmit the same Facebook ad (because you didn’t understand why it was flagged) Facebook will then hit you with circumventing systems flag.

That’s because in Facebook’s mind, by resubmitting the same ad with the same flags, you are attempting to sneak around the automations. You’ll want to avoid that common mistake when advertising on facebook.

Have your Facebook ads been blocked? Read this blog here.

Let’s face it, since the Apple’s introduction of iOS 14, gaining traction from retargeting ads has been more challenging. It’s a common mistake when advertising on Facebook to ignore how this has changed the ad landscape. Not only that, but later operating systems were not friendly towards advertisers either.

When iOS 17 rolled out, Link Tracking Protection was included but it blocks the standard tracking of link clicks. This further limits how effective your retargeting is, given the fact that it interferes with collecting vital user interaction data.

Facebook Ad Policy Fix

Meta introduced the Conversion API or CAPI, as a response to Apple’s iOS. When it comes to customer attribution, I’d say CAPI is helpful, given the all out war waged against anyone running ads from GDPR and Apple iOS updates. The performance of Facebook ads has nosedived since iOS 14 in regards to targeting, reporting and optimization.

As far as targeting goes, the vast majority of iOS users are opting out of tracking which means retargeting audiences are a lot smaller. Following the release of iOS 14.5, most advertisers have seen big inaccuracies in metrics like ROAS and CPA.

Apple now limits Facebook advertisers to eight conversion events per website, providing fewer data points for the algorithm to use in its optimization processes, and impacting smaller advertisers who don’t have lots of data points from large budgets.

I’d say if you want more accurate customer attribution, CAPI is a must now. Use advanced customer matching (send all the data you can) and the conversions API.

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Facebook Pixel Secrets

The Facebook pixel can’t set cookies as well (not to mention Facebook’s tracking abilities have been limited by the EU/EEA). So, it’s a good idea to use CAPI and send browser and server events. These will work when using CAPI. Browser side events are not as unreliable these days.

On top of this, with new facebook ad policies also rolling out, you can get banned in a split second from just one word the automations flag. Want to avoid costly Facebook bans?

Even software engineers AT Facebook AND Twitter have reached out to me, asking for help with their disabled facebook ad accounts. That’s how bad the automation banning has gotten.

Want the same white glove treatment solving Facebook bans?

Click here, to schedule a complimentary discovery call.

Making Decisions About Future Advertising Plans Too Hastily 

You’ve got the whole of Q1 mapped out. Maybe you’ve even created all the ads you’re going to run and they are in drafts in Ads Manager or you’ll duplicate well performing ads you have running now. This is great except…

If Facebook changes their ad policies and you didn’t know this or aren’t with a Facebook ad policy expert like me, whose worked at Facebook – your entire world can come crashing down. Maybe the Facebook ad policy is the same, but what if there’s another PR fire Mark Zuckerberg has to put out. I was at Facebook in the ads department when Cambridge Analytica affected the advertising strategies
of millions of marketers.

Facebook Ad Policy Lessons

What’s the lesson here? Create a plan B. Then a plan C and D. Silo a few Business Managers from your main accounts so if one goes down it isn’t a stack of cards ending your spending and earnings for the quarter. Or because you only checked your Facebook ads for possible violations of ad policies instead of also looking at your landing pages.

For top tips on making a landing page compliant read this.

Using the Wrong Facebook Ad Type

I see this all the time: businesses advertising on Facebook for a restaurant or entertainment center that serves alcohol who don’t gate their Facebook Business Page. Now those conversion ads are being shown to 18 year olds who can’t legally drink, or gamble and your ads get rejected.

What does it mean to gate your Facebook Business Page? It means you go into the settings and make sure the right audiences have access to your Page. Also make sure that you get the correct Facebook ad sizes because if your Facebook ad image doesn’t fit an Instagram scroll but is targeted for both platforms, and you have cut off words – that will flag for spam too.

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Facebook Ad Policy Abandoning Your Ads on Facebook

There are two big reasons you don’t want to abandon your ads after they’ve gone live and forget to check back:

1. Facebook may not be spending your budget or Facebook users start hiding your ads

2. Your Facebook ads are accumulating micro flags that lead to a shutdown

That’s a common mistake to avoid when advertising on Facebook. Those micro flags will add up to a shutdown eventually.

Here are some basic metrics to keep track of:

• Ad frequency
• Click-through rate
• Conversion rate
• Number of leads generated
• Ad performance by type and placement
• Clicks by interest

Did you know you can customize your Ads Manager columns as well as use the Breakdown button to see what regions, ages, and even time of day you get the most responses are? You can.

It helps to not target audiences who aren’t responding. If the audiences you target aren’t responding, and you are hard selling them – they may hide your ads which increases your cost per action (CPA).

Using Ads for Sales Funnel Only When Advertising

A lot of marketers get into Facebook advertising because they want to make money. That’s cool but…

Don’t focus on just making a sale or creating clickbait ads on Facebook. One draw back is Facebook will flag you as like an MLM if you sound too skeezy. The other is you lose brand loyalty by just hard selling all the time (like those annoying LinkedIn messages that hard pitch you).

Telling a story (on video ads for instance) is key to building that attractive character your audience grows to know like and love. Like Flo from Progressive or the Gecko from Geiko. Or if you’re old school like me, the Kool-Aid Man busting through some bricks.

But you aren’t just trying to get your target audience’s trust here if your aim is longevity and building repeat business. You want Facebook’s trust. And Facebook won’t trust you if you come off as too much of a greasy car salesman.

This is why it’s crucial to build brand awareness – for Facebook ad policy as well as retargeting a warmer audience. Here are 15 Facebook post ideas to increase engagement from Sprout Social to jump start your brand building journey.  

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Facebook Ad Policy 2024

In 2024 the degree of nuance in being compliant actually does involve the character of your Ads Manager. And Business Manager’s perceived image to Facebook when it comes to reputation management (to the machines that flag your ads). Ignoring this is a common mistake to avoid when advertising on Facebook.

So, don’t just focus on sales, include engagement and building brand awareness when you’re running compliant Facebook ads (Common Facebook Ad Policy Violations [Explained])

Facebook Ad Policy FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to fix ad account disabled on facebook

Your first step should always be to stop active ads running with the same copy as the rejected ad, then audit your funnel for flags, and appeal using the strategy outlined in the appeal section of the FAQs

2. How to enable my disabled facebook ad account

If you have a spare ad account in your Facebook Business Manager that you can run ads from, feel free to. BUT, identify the micro and major flags FIRST, so as not to repeat the same mistake. 

3. How to appeal a disabled facebook ad account

As far as how to appeal a disabled Facebook ad account, you’ll get 48 hours to make your appeal. The best strategy is to communicate to Meta | Facebook that:

A. You understand WHY you were banned.
B. You are committed to following the policies from here on out.
C. You have identified and REMOVED the offending content from your funnel.

You can also get some top tips on facebook ad policy in this complimentary eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook

4. how to get disabled ad account up and running

Depending on how long your ad account was disabled, sometimes, if your appeal is written correctly, the appeal itself CAN potentially get you reactivated, if you understand to communicate with Facebook ad support correctly. 

5. How Many Policy Violations Before Account is Shut Down?

Typically, it’s a 1 to 10 ratio. For every single rejected ad that you get, you’ll want 10 Facebook ads that are approved. After a pattern of behavior is established by machine learning, from Meta’s automations, you may spiral rapidly into Facebook jail if your ratios aren’t correct. 3 consecutive ads getting rejected risks your ad account getting disabled. But, it also depends on how severe the ban is. 

And, if this still all seems too confusing, your clients are yelling at you to get ads live to bring in money, simply schedule a complimentary Facebook discovery call here

6. How to remove restriction on facebook ad account

As far as removing a restriction on a Facebook ad account, if we’re talking about a disabled ad account, well, you can rehabilitate your funnel and then appeal, possibly getting it reactivated if you do this SMART (I have methods that work if you’re in the appeal window). But as far as removing a restriction from Facebook ads, see the previous FAQ answer: you need to get in a positive approval-cycle ratio.

7. how long does facebook take to review restricted ad account

Now, ask yourself, is it an election year? Have there been over 20,000 Meta employees laid off? Did you word your appeal using specific language Facebook ad support can and will respond better to? These are the factors in play. Typically, you get an answer within a week. If you have a more severe ban or are in the special ad categories, you may get an answer faster but it won’t be one you like. Severe bans end up as permanent restrictions and they deliver that ban hammer faster than other lighter Facebook ad policy restrictions. 

8. how to fix your access can’t be reinstated because too much time has passed since we restricted your account

In a situation like this, your recovery options depend on what is banned:

a) Facebook Ad Account
b) Facebook Business Page
c) Facebook Business Manager
d) Facebook profile

So, each one may have a different recovery option, depending on your situation, and type of ban it is, as well as your particular niche or business’s vertical, and the health of the accounts before the ban. Want to get a pathway to get Facebook ads live? Schedule your complimentary discovery call here.

9. How To Get Your Disabled Facebook Ad Account Back 

First, let me also address the elephant in the room: personal and emotional attachments to disabled ad accounts. I’ve worked with tons of Fortune 500 level companies, and the amount of hair pulling and FML-ing over ONE ad account being disabled, is incredible. Sometimes, it’s faster, and cheaper, to just start a new ad account, and relaunch, rather than recover a tainted asset.

That being said, the same answer applies here to the instructions above, for appeals

10. How to unblock your Facebook ad account

Now, unblocking an ad account, may be possible if you get in fast enough with the right kind of messaging to Facebook ad support. While they are the gatekeepers, and don’t have any real power, they CAN talk to the right folks who, if you word your appeal right, can unblock your Facebook ad account. And of course, if you need next-level assistance, I’m always available to chat and see if it’s a good fit here. 

Failing to nurture top of funnel audiences to bottom of funnel

Let’s say you are starting 2024 off with some killer sales copy you know converts and your ads are making money. But, you aren’t getting much CTV for the lifetime value of loyal customers.

Ryan Holiday wrote a great book called Perennial Seller about how to create a classic piece of literature. Seth Godin in Tribes also discusses the value of building a community for your product not just making a quick buck. You know who the easier person to sell to is?

People who have already purchased from you. So, after you’ve made those sales continue to nurture those leads. Make sure to include Reach, Engagement, and Video Views campaigns to gain brand awareness. The most money is made from retargeting mid to bottom-funnel audiences with a clever call to action.

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On the Facebook ad policy front – the more you build a loyal fan base, the more those Facebook users will stay on Facebook. And interact with your Page both organically and through ad placements. If you don’t build a community – that’s another common mistake to avoid when advertising on Facebook. Meta rewards businesses who have high engagement rates with a little more lenience if you do happen to get flagged.

(What to Do If Your Facebook Ad Account Gets Disabled – Everything You Need To Know [2024 Updated])

But bad things sometimes happen to good people. So what do you do if your Ad account is disabled and Facebook goes silent? Or you have a bunch of ads that are rejected and you’re afraid to run more because you don’t want to risk your Business Manager getting disabled?

How do you prevent Facebook ad accounts from getting disabled in the first place?? Keep reading for more info:

Facebook Disabled Ad Account Solution

Ad agencies: tired of getting the silent treatment from Facebook after a shut down, when all you want to do is get your Facebook ads live and revenue in the door?

I’m a Facebook ad policy specialist who worked at Facebook and I’m trusted by high level brands that take accuracy and results seriously.

I can show you how to resolve FB bans even if Facebook ad support is useless to resolve ad account restrictions.

Don’t lose any more money from Facebook bans and schedule your call with me now.

Don’t take my word for it, let my clients tell you what it was like working with me:

It shouldn’t be a mystery on what to do to recover from a ban. I strive for customer satisfaction, being a business owner myself.


My clients have included the social media marketing agencies of Tony Robbins, Harv Eker, and Dean Graziosi. How much is it costing you to have a disabled Facebook ad account? Talk today. 



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If you want to skip the line before this offer ends, immediately secure expert-level Facebook consulting. Book a call with me now!

If you’re ok with waiting a bit longer, and entering the waitlist to see if you’re eligible – Schedule a call or contact me via email.

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