How to Fix a Facebook Ad Account Restricted & Leverage UGC for Brands

Dealing with getting a Facebook Ad Account Restricted?

It’s happening A LOT these days.

And when you reach out to Meta they give you a wall of silence or misinformation.

Pretty helpful isn’t it?

What’s one of the best ways to generate product interest, trigger conversation, and increase revenue? User-generated content (UGC).

It’s a marketing goldmine, and knowing how to use it properly can create a snowball effect of higher engagement and more social media followers.

But if Facebook ad bans are causing the cost of marketing to get expensive, how do we fix this?

[Full article here]

I’ve worked with top brands both in my private practice and when I was working at Facebook, before and after it renamed the company as Meta.

I don’t write filler or fluff but industry-backed solutions so, stay tuned to learn some secrets to increasing sales with UGC and reducing the risk of getting banned when running ads on Facebook.

Facebook Ad Account Restricted:

Facebook doesn’t approve your advertisements due to violating Facebook’s advertising policies

I confess, I drank the kool-aid my first days working in ads at Facebook back in 2016.

I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to discover how great a company Facebook was from the inside.

But what I found was different.

Facebook will punish you for ad policies you can’t even read on their transparency center online because the automations are programmed to flag for much smaller policy violations without notifying you.

It’s a shock seeing things like “Your account is restricted ” and the truth about Facebook restricted ads is that it is not a human making the final decision restricting your ad account.

Even as you’re reading this your phone already has notifications for Instagram or Facebook but I guarantee 9 out of 10 times those notifications won’t tell you that you have a restricted account or why it happened.

Would you like to make $10,000 a month from Facebook ads without ever dealing with Facebook jail?

Well I’m about to knit you a patchwork quilt with a map out of Facebook jail.

I’ll tell you what can help – learning more about how Facebook’s bots enforce advertising restrictions, so you don’t get caught and sent to Facebook jail for breaking their rules.

Certain ad policies like Personal Attributes flag they have gutted their website of all images showing you what to beware of.

In fact, this blog has those images on my ultimate guide to personal attributes here.  Want to save time and money?

Just schedule a complimentary discovery call

Up next, I’ll dive into how to leverage UGC for your company. 

This marketing strategy is great for any business: big or small, B2C or B2B.

It’s one of the best ways to generate interest, trigger conversations, and increase revenue.

I’m talking about user-generated content, or UGC.

UGC is considered much more authentic and trustworthy.

• According to Stackla, 79% of people say it has a big impact on their purchasing decisions.
• Millennials in particular put a lot of stake in UGC: EveryoneSocial reports that they trust it 50% more than other content created by brands.

UGC comes in many forms.

For a B2B brand, it could be testimonials and reviews on their website.

For a B2C brand, it might be product photos or videos shared by users on social media.

The User-Generated Content Guide for Facebook Advertiser

UGC TLDR

• User-generated content is content published by consumers. It includes photos, reviews, videos, and blog posts.
• Give consumers fun content to respond to and ensure images you share are high-quality and original.
• UGC is cost-effective and saves your creative team time. It’s also more authentic, which can create loyalty.
• Launch contests, create shareable content, and email customers a few days after they’ve purchased to encourage user-generated content.
• Make the most of UGC by defining your goals, finding the best platforms for your brand/audience, actively promoting content, and tracking stats.

Decide on Your UGC Campaign Goals

Before you can start calling for and collecting content, you need to know your goals. Do you want to:

• Increase conversions?
• Boost brand awareness?
• Publish informative content that influences buying decisions? 

Prioritize the Right Channels and UGC Types

First things first.

You’ve got to figure out the best spots to post your UGC. You don’t need to be on every social media site — you just need to post where your audience hangs out.

I’m sure you’ve got a good sense of that already. But if not, develop a customer persona to understand where different demographics are most likely to gather.

Now it’s time to think about content types; Selectivity is key to any winning strategy.

Ask yourself what type of user-generated content will work best at each stage and test it out. For example, clothing brands could do well with photos and videos shared on more visual channels like Instagram and Pinterest.

Or a B2B brand may want to prioritize testimonials and reviews and post those. Collect testimonials regularly to add them to your content bank. You can also use this social proof in your emails, Instagram Stories, and landing pages.

Hotels are another good example of this strategy.

Reviews and testimonials are the perfect type of UGC for their booking and product pages. On the other hand, photos and videos of customers enjoying their stay would work really well on Instagram.

You must also analyze what works at each touchpoint to get consistent results and make changes accordingly.

Promote Your User-Generated Content

Once your UGC starts rolling in, it’s time to use it!

• Schedule your photos and videos for Instagram and TikTok. 
• Use the content to create ads on Facebook.
• Share reviews on your next email blast and add your best testimonials to your sales pages.

The more you promote with UGC content marketing, the more you’ll incentivize your followers to participate.

A big part of UGC is the community. It brings you and your audience closer together and makes everyone feel like they are a part of something. 

User-Generated Content Examples

Big brands regularly encourage user-generated content to promote their products. Here are some examples to inspire you.

1. Starbucks

What’s one of the best ways to get user-generated content? Hosting a competition.

A few years ago, Starbucks launched the #RedCupContest.

The coffee brand created the competition to promote its holiday-themed beverages and new red cups.

Starbucks encouraged coffee drinkers to decorate their red cups and submit their shots to win a gift card.

Why does this UGC campaign work so well?

It incentivizes customers to participate by offering a prize, increases brand awareness, and boosts sales because you have to buy a red cup to enter.

If you’re struggling to get UGC from your audience, offer an irresistible prize for participation.

It’ll get those social media lurkers to take action, and you’ll get the content and brand engagement you’re craving.

2. Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke

Remember when Coca-Cola launched its “Share a Coke” campaign?

Featuring bottles named after people in every destination took the world by storm.

The brand asked customers to share photos of themselves with their personalized Coke bottle, resulting in 496,000 uses on Instagram and 89,000 tweets on Twitter.

Plus, more than 1.25 million teens tried the drink, and sales rose by 11 percent in the United States.

User-generated content doesn’t need to feature your products. Stand out from everyone else in your industry and use your brand values to make a statement.

3. REI #OptOutside

A few years ago, outdoor retailer REI launched an anti-Black Friday UGC campaign. REI shut down its stores nationwide, encouraging customers to swap the shopping hysteria for time outside.

Using the hashtag #OptOutside, people shared user-created content of themselves in nature, and the idea spread like wildfire. 

Within 24 hours, the brand’s social media impressions went up by 7000 percent, and 1.4 million people spent Black Friday outdoors.

UGC Key Takeaways

To encourage users to create UCG, try the following tactics:

• Use strong calls-to-action
• Host a UGC competition
• Tap into influencer marketing
• Add your social media handles to packaging
• Create a brand hashtag

To try this out, think about your brand’s values. Then brainstorm real ways people can showcase your values out in the real world, and share them online.

BUT I guess none of these winning UGC strategies will matter if Facebook has banned you, so let’s address ad restrictions. 

Facebook Ad Account Restricted:

About advertising restrictions

Often a Facebook ban happens because Facebook already had their eye on you. Getting an ad account restriction on Facebook happens when FB ad policy automations build a character profile of your ad account based on ad approval vs ad rejection basis.

Get too far in one direction for rejections, and the red alert goes out to the bots to shut you down. 

Your advertising access is restricted – what does it mean? Facebook account restricted what to do

Want to know the secret to escaping Facebook jail?

Thought so.

Now let me explain…

I’ve seen folks banned for how they phrased their shipping and handling policies. It was a skincare company, so they had to watch out for getting hit with the Personal Attributes flag.

And yet, that wasn’t even what got them under fire when they found me and asked for my help.

It was the small print in their S&H policy that violated a big policy they had no idea Facebook was punishing them for.

When you get your advertising access restricted it means the Facebook bots found something big or small somewhere in your funnel against policy.Ready to stop guessing and stop losing money and time?

Click here for a complimentary discovery call.

I’ve worked side-by-side with the software engineers at Meta, and offer better answers on this topic than many blogs you’ll find after googling facebook ad account restricted.

All white hat.

It’s 2049, and you’re jumping rooftop to rooftop, you’re running from the evil Facebook replicants attempting to shut down your Facebook ads and steal your ad profits with unnecessary bans, what should you do?

Ban the banners? Hulk out like Bruce Banner?

How did I get myself restricted from advertising on Facebook?

Bad habits. Everyone has habits and the habits you have when creating ads can get you in trouble if your habits don’t include a compliance check up or sometimes you can get banned for simply acting too quickly. I’ve seen a series of quick thoughtless actions lead to a facebook ad account restricted before.

How can I tell if my account was restricted?

Facebook is supposed to send emails to your email account associated with your personal Facebook profile every time you have an ad approved and rejected. BUT, they end up in spam sometimes.

You may not see these emails if your gmail has filtered these out to the promotions tab or social tab. 

Logging into Meta Business Suite or Facebook Business Manager and going to the ad accounts you own on the Ads Manager page, you’ll typically see red letters detailing the warning you have gotten or ban.

Facebook ad account restricted: Trust the right answers

A big hurdle to overcome with dealing with a Facebook ad account restricted is who to trust online. Most articles you’ll read come from outsiders, who have not worked at Meta and are shaking a Magic 8 ball to come up with best guesses.

Even worse, chatting in to Facebook ad support, you talk to people who don’t seem to understand your questions.

I’ve heard stories from clients who got in a worst ban after talking to Facebook ad support before finding my blog.

And Facebook has a spotty track record for providing reliable advice on how to solve a facebook account restricted.

I’ve heard some people say that Facebook ads aren’t worth using anymore and don’t turn a profit – every week my calendar is booked with calls from businesses running high converting ads on Facebook making hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

So, while Nas may have rapped that Hip Hop is Dead (with the recent beef with Kendrick Lamar and Drake you know hip hop is alive and kicking) Facebook certainly isn’t dead either.

Per Sprout Social, Facebook is the third most visited website following Google and YouTube, respectively.

This puts it ahead of other leading platforms like Twitter and Instagram. The platform boasts 3.065 billion active users on a monthly basis.

This makes it the most used social media platform worldwide.

In 2023, Facebook’s total ad revenue amounted to $135 billion, up from $116 billion the previous year. Don’t leave money on the table just because you don’t understand the way the bots flag for policy, I can help you there.

Is your Facebook ad account already disabled?

Don’t get ripped off!

Read How to Recover Facebook Ad Accounts now!

Just like my client Dr. Emi benefited from my funnel audits for compliance, you can too. It all starts with a discovery call here.

By the way, Dr. Emi was featured on the Today Show on NBC.  (In a rush? Skip the line with prepaid funnel audits with VIP Access).

Facebook ad account restricted: Reasons

Why is my Facebook advertising account restricted?

Still asking what to do when seeing, “You are restricted from running ads”?

If you want to get to the bottom of why your Facebook advertising account is restricted, you’ll want to audit your funnel.

This is to identify what was the biggest risk that got you on the radar and eventually shut down. Have your Facebook ads been blocked? Read this blog here.

Here’s the deal, even if you read all of the Transparency Center policies on ads, you still wouldn’t know how to prevent a ban.

In reality, there are 1000s more that you are policed on by the automations but never told about. Want access to a funnel audit to ensure you are compliant? Click here for a discovery call.

How to appeal advertising restrictions

There is a right way and a wrong way to appeal getting a Facebook ad account restricted.

The wrong way is to mash buttons, click request review, and wait for the Facebook gods to grant you clemency.

With staffing shortages, and reliance on automations, the first approach won’t get you far. But identifying what got you flagged, and what is the hierarchy of risks in your funnel and replacing the offending content with compliant copy is a much better place to start before appealing. 

Facebook ad account restricted: Fixes

How do I fix my restricted Facebook account?

No one wants to see: “You are restricted from running ads.”

If you googled disabled facebook ad account or Facebook ad rejections you’ll find a number of bullshit articles out there – even by major brands – that will just tell you to “Request Review.”

That CAN help if you have already removed ALL the flags from your funnel. But if you have not…Full stop, no pass go, don’t click it.

What you’re doing here is saying to the automations that shut you down:

“Hey bot, I know you are machine, but can you decipher human empathy and context? Even better can you send this Appeal to ANOTHER robot? And put my fate in the next bot’s hands?”

Really the best chance you have is to appeal within 48 hours of getting shut down AFTER identifying the EXACT source of the Facebook automation flag.

Anything less than that, and your chances diminish by A LOT.

Now, if you’ve found me within that time period, I can possibly help you, depending on your type of business and other factors.

Click here to schedule your call and avoid a further shut down and avoid a permanent restriction. Want a better answer than Facebook ad support gives? Keep reading.

Learn more

Facebook ad account restricted solution

I’ve worked at Facebook in ads, tech and project management, and my zone of genius is helping ad agencies get Facebook ads live again and preventing future shut downs.

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 won’t, and solve issues like advertising access permanently restricted.

Schedule a call with me and learn how to stop the domino effect when Facebook starts banning your entire funnel after a simple ad rejection. Don’t take my word for it, let my clients tell you what it was like working with me.

My clients have included the social media marketing agencies of Tony Robbins, Harv Eker, and Dean Graziosi. How much is it costing you to not know why Facebook is shutting you down? Talk today.

I’m featured on the Queen of Facebook Mari Smith’s Marketing Essentials Course. If you want to skip the line before this offer ends, immediately secure an expert-level Facebook consulting call from someone at Facebook. Book a call with me n

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.

Free eBook: Top 5 Reasons Agencies Fail at Facebook

If you are in a country that has a high level of clickbait farms and hackers like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, or the Philippines, you will be removed from my email list as soon as you sign up and I will delete any discovery call you book with me, as I do not work with spammers, only legit ad agencies and businesses running facebook ads.