Facebook ads, especially instant experience ads, pump up your visibility and get more traffic to your website. But creating effective Facebook or Instagram ads can take a lot of time and resources — from researching to planning your content, copywriting, designing, and targeting. After all the time you invested, it can be disheartening to get your Facebook ad rejected.

There's still a chance that the ad may get disapproved and paused later on after approval. While a few ad rejections will not harm your account, repeat violations can result in Meta shutting down your account. Could you be doing your ads wrong? In fact, several mistakes can get your Facebook ad rejected. Here are some ad rejection triggers and how to fix or avoid them. 

Why Was Your Facebook Ad Rejected? 

The first place to start to know why your ad was rejected is at the ad level. Go to your ad and click on “edit.” You'll find that Meta gives a reason for rejecting your ad.  Some of the common reasons that can have your ad rejected include:

1. Personal Attributes

Ads that call out specific viewer attributes account for the biggest ad rejections. According to Facebook ad policies, ads should not directly or indirectly imply a person's attributes, such as age, medical condition, voting status, and financial status. The difference could be a slight wording difference. For instance, you can't use words that imply the audience's age, like “meet up with other teens.” 

A statement like “meet seniors” drives your point across without going personal. You can then target your ad to the required audience. You can also avoid mentioning personal attributes by using client stories or testimonials in your ads.

2. Prohibitive and Restricted Topics

Facebook outlines many prohibitive topics that should not be part of your ads. These include topics to do with drugs and drug-related products, unsafe supplements, adult products or services or content, sensational content, controversial content, personal health, payday loans, payslip advances, and bail bonds. Other restrictive topics include online gaming and gambling, dating, crypto, online pharmacies, branded content, cosmetic procedures, and weight loss.

However, note that any ad about prohibitive or restricted topics doesn't warrant instant rejection. It depends on the context. For instance, you can promote alcohol without advocating for alcohol misuse. 

3. Misleading Claims

It can be tempting to showcase your best scenario and make unrealistic claims or promise unachievable expectations to appeal to potential buyers. Misleading claims lead to ad rejection. 

Review the claims and stats in your ad copy to ensure and exclude false claims, especially those that are demonstrably false. 

4. Violates Community Standards

Facebook likes to make its platform a free and safe space for its users by keeping abuse off the platform. Some of the ad characteristics that violate community standards and may get your Facebook ad rejected include:

• Inauthenticity – misrepresenting who you are and what you're doing by posting the false characteristics of your products or services
• Unsafe content that threatens the physical safety of others or causes exclusion, intimidation, or silencing of others
• Content that indignifies, harasses, or degrades others

Ensure that your ads are authentic, promote safety, and protect the dignity and freedom of others.

5. Poor Grammar

Typos are a normal part of being human. There is no guarantee that your ads will always be error-free — but these unintended errors are not what may get your Facebook ad rejected. What Meta cares about are deliberate grammar and punctuation errors. 

Avoid excess punctuation, improper capitalization, and grammar errors in your ads. For instance, capitalizing random letters in your ad or unnecessarily using accented letters can trigger ad rejection. 

6. Meta Brand Names

Mention Instagram or Facebook sparingly when you want to promote content or destinations. That means you can only use these Meta brand names to clarify the ad destination.

(For example, you can mention the ad promotes a Facebook group or an Instagram account) but these names should not be the focus of the copy. Use Meta brand names correctly in the text without altering their appearance. For instance, do not change the font, text, or case. 

7. Third-Party Content

Be careful when calling out other companies and their products. Meta prohibits ads from violating third-party trademarks and other intellectual property rights such as brand names and trademarks.

Get explicit brand permission if you want to highlight your relationship with other brands. You can mention the third party's glaring characteristics and let your audience fill in the blanks if you don't have explicit brand permission.

What Can You Do with Your Rejected Facebook Ad?

1. Submit a Review for a Dispute

Meta uses an automatic system to review and flag ads. This means that it may reject one of your clean ads. If your ad doesn't violate the said rules, you can dispute your ad. There are several ways to dispute a rejected ad. You can:

• Request a review by clicking the “Edit button” on your ad-level campaign followed by the “Request Review button.”
• Visit Facebook Business Help and click on “Support,”  which takes you to the “Get Support” page. Click on “Troubleshoot rejected ad” and follow the prompts to see if you can get some help.
• Access support from Facebook, for instance, by emailing them at [email protected].

When submitting your request, submit the following details to get help faster:

• Your Business Manager business account ID
• Ad ID for the disapproved ad
• The reason why your ad was rejected and why you believe it complies with Facebook ad policies. Demonstrate that you understand Facebook term policies by articulating that when you're stating why your ad is in compliance

2. Edit and Resubmit Your Ad

Edit your ad if it doesn't comply with Meta Advertising Standards. Review the components, such as the text, video, and targeting or landing page. Update these to comply with Facebook policies, and then resubmit your ad for review. Check your review progress in your support inbox. If you don't find a message, follow up with them to know your ad status.

3. Create Another Ad and Resubmit

It's not all types you can edit. For example, you can't edit an ad for a deleted post. You'll have to create a new ad that complies with Facebook ad policies.

Get Help Creating Successful Instagram and Facebook Ads

Posting ads on social media can be complex due to strict guidelines. Meta uses an automated review process that may reject ads that should get the green light. To run successful campaigns, learn what the platforms allow and ensure that your ads comply. Request another review if you believe that your ad was wrongly rejected. Lastly, do not panic when your ad is rightfully rejected. Edit it for compliance and relaunch. At Viral Solutions, our full-service agency uses time-tested strategies to help you create Instagram and Facebook ads that get the green light and yield results. Consult with us today and learn how we can skyrocket your social media marketing.