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GEN1: How to Minimize FB Account Bans (21)

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Before we even start our first campaign, there is something important that needs to be addressed first:

Running whitehat does NOT mean you'll NEVER lose an account again.

Even if you adhere to all the advertising policies, you may still lose accounts.

However, here's the plus side: When running whitehat, even when you get banned, the chances of getting the account reactivated when you appeal are way better than when you're caught running blackhat.

(It would be the difference between saying "I did my best to adhere to policies - please tell me what I did wrong!" vs. "Sorry I was cloaking to deceive your reviewers while misleading your users with my farticles - I won't do that again I swear!")

And even if you do get all your accounts banned, there are ways to get more (we'll talk a little bit more on that later on).

Here is what I would suggest in general when it comes to accounts and running on FB:

Don't let the risk of account bans stop you from running on FB.

Know that account bans will likely happen. Be prepared to deal with them. But don't be so scared that you never start.

There are risks to every business model, and different battles to fight and hoops to jump through. For FB, the risk of losing accounts is one of the hoops.

Let's do everything in our power to avoid bans in the first place - this is what this lesson is about.

Disclaimer: It would be extremely difficult to say for sure that doing X or Y will or will not decrease the likelihood of an account ban. Even if you know how FB's algorithm works, there are human reviewers - and each person will interpret things differently to arrive at different decisions.

So I feel that the best approach would be to present you with a list of ways that MAY help to avoid bans, that I've come across.

Either through spying + my own speculation, or from talking to or reading on trusted sources.

I would suggest - if you're an FB newbie (which you probably are if you're going through this tutorial) - that you heed as many of the suggestions in the following list as possible, just to "play it safe".

As you gain experience, you may want to push the envelope to see how far you can go without getting the banhammer.

Or not. Your call.

Without further ado, here's my list (which will be updated as needed)...



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Study FB's Advertising Policies

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1)Study FB's advertising policies, straight from the horse's mouth.

Find them here: https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/

Don't just read this general page - click into all the links in each paragraph and read those pages as well.



Read everything a few times slowly and carefully. Then re-read again as needed (e.g. when deciding on products/services to promote, when crafting ads, when you get ads rejected, etc.)


2)Read articles from FB's Business Help Centre, that are related to ad policies:



Ads Policy on Personal Health (Click on links in the left side bar and read those too: Ads policy, Prohibited content, Example ads, What to do for rejected ads.)

Ads Policy on Prohibited Financial Products

Facebook's Non-Discrimination Policy

Advertising Attributes to Avoid to Improve Ad Quality and Performance


3)Facebook Blueprint Courses

I'm talking about this: https://www.facebook.com/business/learn



These can be useful, but not only in the way you may be thinking.

Please hold off on going through these for now - I have a better suggestion on how to leverage them when it comes time to appeal deactivated accounts.

If you'd like to browse through them to get a basic working knowledge of FB (which would be a great idea if you have the time), I would suggest to do so after logging out of your FB account, so that progress is not tracked.


4)Facebook's List of Disapproval Reasons

@tijn, our long-time member and moderator, discovered a complete list of ad disapproval reasons while doing some digging:

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...-of-12-May-18)

Browsing through that list will give you a better idea on what FB frowns upon, so you can avoid them to stay on FB's good side.

(Although that list is over a year old, if I know FB at all, the current list would only include the older list plus more - not less.)



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Be Picky in Choosing What to Promote

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This is a biggie. I will definitely expand on this topic in a separate lesson.

But what you choose to promote can play such a big factor in whether or not accounts get banned, that I want to start the discussion here.

Obviously, you'd want to avoid verticals that are prohibited by FB: Nutraceuticals, dating, crypto, etc. - stuff you've read in the ad policies linked to above.

Another major consideration is how FB can ban by association.

@Mr Baffoe alerted us to the fact that FB will ban new pages that are associated with a page that was banned in the past, or new pages that are associated with the same group of administrators:

https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/01...e-transparent/

This is the post where Mr Baffoe talked about this:

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...l=1#post364619

Although that newsroom link above refers to FB pages and groups, there is no doubt in my mind that Mr Baffoe is correct in his speculation: That FB extends the same treatment to links we promote in ads.

If we are correct in this assumption, then it would only take a couple of affiliates (or even a single affiliate) that are ALSO promoting the same offer, to get caught and banned for non-compliance, for us to get banned too when we try to promote the same offer.

I talked about this in the introduction - in section "Affiliate Links - and the Risks Hierarchy":

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...l=1#post387512

In a separate lesson, I will suggest some safe business models / campaign setups for you to consider, that will minimize the risks/frequency of account bans.

Also: When promoting an affiliate offer, be sure to ask your affiliate manager to turn off geo-redirection. Otherwise, if a Facebook reviewer clicks on your offer link and gets redirected to an irrelevant offer (or worse, one that doesn't comply with FB ad policies, such as a crypto or adult offer), you can say bye-bye to your ad account.



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Avoid Getting Banned by Association

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The "banned by association" mentioned above can be applied not just to FB pages/groups and links we promote in ads, but also to other campaign elements.

When you get one or more accounts banned, and appeals are rejected, and you subsequently start running on other accounts you own:

-Don't use any of the ad elements - images, videos, ad copy - that was used in ads in a banned account.

-Don't use any of the pixels that were used in a banned account.

-Don't use the same landing page domain that was used in a banned account.

-Better, don't even promote the same offer/business/service you did in a banned account. Doing so would be risky - unless you're sure that the account was banned as a result of your ads and not the product/service you were promoting with that account.

This is all assuming you're still running on accounts you legitimately own, from your facebook profile. If you start running from purchased accounts, then there'd be lots more things you need to do to cover your tracks. Unfortunately, stuff like this is beyond the scope of this tutorial, as I'll explain in a subsequent lesson.



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Look Legit

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I'll probably go into this topic more when it comes time for us to create an FB page. But again, I thought it would be good to start talking about this here, as it's highly relevant to avoiding bans.

I've been using FB spy tools to try to figure out what types of setups have ads that can run for long periods - at least a year or longer. (I'll go into spy tools in later lessons.)

And I've noticed that practically all of them have the common attributes of 1)a legit-looking FB page, 2)a legit-looking website.


Legit FB Page:

Complete with address and phone number, and linked to a legit website (or, for online businesses, at least a link to a legit website - more on that below), page posts published on a regular basis that get good engagement, and followers.

Also: It must help if the page has been around for a while. And I'm sure positive customer reviews on the FB page can't hurt either.

Here's an example of a legit FB page: https://www.facebook.com/princeedwardislandrealestate



Another example is our (STM's) FB page: https://www.facebook.com/stmforum/

Our FB page and website have been around since 2011. Fellow affiliates have wondered how we've been able to get ads approved that contain income claims (we have to - proof that our members are succeeding is our biggest selling point). Our "secret" is what I'm telling you right now - that we have a legit FB page and legit website. We continue to run ads today from the same ad account. Point made.

@Mr Baffoe has put together a very insightful FB guide, in which he talks about the importance of having a good FB page, among other things. I would encourage you to read the whole PDF - there's quite a lot of useful insights in there:

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...l=1#post361731

(It HAS been a little while though since he posted that PDF, so please be aware that some things may have changed in the meantime. I just took another quick glance at it and everything still looks relevant as of February 2020, but things can change in the near future.

Do please keep the same thing in mind when reading ANY information about FB posted ANYWHERE. Info can become outdated as soon as it's posted. A combination of reading and then testing to verify the information would be a good approach.)


Legit Website:

First of all, the overall look-and-feel and content needs to look professional and honest. No outrageous claims or farticles etc. This should be basic and obvious.

Also: It's no secret that FB's been using WoT (Web of Trust) to identify "bad" websites, so we need to make sure that the website we're linking to from our FB page (and also from our ads!) are not flagged by WoT.



To check the WoT rating for your lander site or offer site, simply paste it into the search field here:

https://www.mywot.com/

There are also browser extensions you can install from the same site. The chrome extension can be found here.

Other things that can make a website look more legit: Age, amount of content, transparency (address + phone number + privacy policy + terms of service etc.).

Here's an example of a legit website (the one linked to from the example FB page above): https://michaelshomes.com/



Note the professional-looking site, the amount of content, the contact info. Whois.net tells us the domain's been around since 1998 - I'm guessing that may be helping as well.

Obviously, if you're just starting a new FB page and website right now, you won't have the age advantage. But all the more reason to do everything else you CAN do to make your page and site look legit.



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Other Tips For Avoiding Bans

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-Make sure you know how and when FB charges you for ad spend, and make sure those payments never fail. (I'll go into details on how billing works in a later lesson.)

-Watch engagement on your ads like a hawk. If an ad gets more than a few negative comments or angry emojis, consider pausing it.

In the very least, either hide negative comments, or reply to them to address users' concerns so other users don't follow suit.



If it's the offer/service/product you're promoting that is getting a lot of negative reaction and not just specific ads, stop promoting it.

When people get angry, they would click "hide ad" or "report ad". Enough people do that and an account ban can happen.



-Make sure the ad frequency isn't high. Ad frequency is the number of times each person in your target audience has seen the ad.

When this number gets too high, not only ad blindness would set in to increase your cost per conversion, but people would get pissed off at seeing the same ad over and over again.

And when people get irritated, they click on "hide ad" or "report ad" - and we already know what kind of fun can ensue.

-Don't use public proxies or VPNs when accessing FB. Two considerations here:

a)If another user, while connected to FB using the same IP, gets caught doing something non-compliant to get the IP blacklisted, you would become suspicious by association for using the same IP.

b)If the proxy/VPN IP is from another country, and you access FB from your actual IP right before or after using the proxy/VPN, FB may flag that as suspicious activity because it's unlikely for someone to travel between countries in a very short time.

-FB does not like dormant ad accounts that are sitting around not doing anything. To avoid getting accounts deactivated due to inactivity, either avoid creating more accounts than you need, or keep a low spend running - to a PPE campaign to your page for example which can give more authority to your page.

(The latter may be a better option if you run volume and want to create backup accounts while it's still possible.)

If you're wanting to save some money, you don't necessarily need to leave that campaign running ALL the time. FB's criterion for inactivity is no ad spend in 60 days. So just run that PPE campaign once in a while so the period of inactivity doesn't exceed 60 days.

I even found this article which suggests you don't need to spend any money at all, and still keep those backup accounts alive:

https://davidlye.net/latest-facebook...ok-ad-account/

I haven't tried this personally though, so can't comment on effectiveness.

-This tip isn't about avoiding bans, but I see a lot of advice on how we shouldn't use our personal ad account to run campaigns, but should instead set up ad accounts under Business Managers. I haven't yet found a compelling reason to do so (if you have one please tell me), aside from that running under a BM may "remove" your personal profile a bit from your campaigns, so that risks of FB banning your profile is reduced. If you want to play it safe, don't run from your personal ad account.

-I haven't really gone into how to create compliant ads - will provide more details in later lessons when we talk about how to create ads.

-Also: Here's a great thread by @stickupkid that lists more possible reasons for account bans:

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...s-Your-Account



I'll update this post to add to the list above as needed. Heeding the reasons already listed should go a long way in minimizing the frequency of account bans.

In the next lesson, we'll go into step 2 of the 4-step plan: How to Appeal Banned Accounts.


Long live our FB ad accounts!




Amy

@janijmoney has very generously shared a google doc with a lot of tips on how to create ad accounts and keep them compliant - see this post for details:
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...l=1#post394204


FB Beginner Tutorial: Index

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Update: Added a blurb on dormant accounts, plus a few minor things.

Lesson on appeals will be posted in a little bit...



Amy

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I'm really glad you added that, as I've often worried about leaving my account dormant. I only use FB for testing random shit and scaling successful camps. Which isn't as often as I wish it were.

While I never get insta-banned, every time I pull it out of storage and blow the cobwebs off, it takes 3-5 days for any campaign to start actually getting traffic.

So it sounds like running a random camp with $1 spend a day may actually help with that.

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For sure! Actually, since accounts get flagged at 60 days of inactivity, you could just run a $5 PPE campaign every 60 days or something (probably shorter to be safe).

This guy even suggests you can do it for free:

https://davidlye.net/latest-facebook...ok-ad-account/

Although I haven't tried that personally.



Amy

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Added tip regarding running from personal ad account.



Amy

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Thank you for these. Great stuff.

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thanks for this great guide!

I recently wrote this google Doc to share my steps for creating and keeping a compliant account on FB, origionally created this for myself to refer back to, but please do check it out and i hope it helps.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

I have not had an account shut down yet fingers crossed, using this process.

Jani

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Thanks for great tips. Thx

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Oh wow Jani! This is an incredibly generous share!

Thanks a million for your contribution!


Amy

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Added: Warning about turning off geo-redirection for affiliate offers.



Amy

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Dear Vortex,

I recently got an account banned. I think there are 2 causes:

1.I've used a deep link in the "Website Url" to open automatically on spotify app the playlist I'm promoting (The Campaign is about a friend music album), I've used this service:https://app.urlgeni.us/

2.I've put a Instagram IGTV link on the "Website Url", I did it only after changing the campaign objective from Traffic (which from IG Official Guide should work) to "Video View", because before I always got this message "

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Hi @riccardo! Unfortunately I don't have experience promoting these services. As such, I have no idea whether they'd cause problems with compliance.

The difficult thing about getting account bans is they almost never tell you exactly WHY. Often we're left to play guessing games among ourselves. But if you could find some people that have been promoting the same "something" without issues, then that would be an INDICATION that that "something" may be safe to promote.

The app.urlgeni.us is a great idea! Have you contacted their support to ask whether they have any experience in using their deep links in ads, or whether they've heard from users that have tried? It would be a long shot though, because it'd be unlikely for them to divulge any negative experience. Do they have a user forum or facebook group or group chat or something similar, where users can exchange experiences? Wouldn't hurt to ask!

As for the IGTV link: I wouldn't put too much thought there for now - because whether it's a technical bug or not, you're not able to make it work now anyways. And even if it was a technical bug, it's not likely for it to be fixed if you reported it to FB support.

(I'm guessing though that it must be a deliberate arrangement, because FB owns IG so must be very aware of how advertisers are promoting both platforms, and must have controls in place to ensure maximum benefit for both platforms in the process.)

Speaking of FB support - 99% of the time they're not helpful, but it wouldn't hurt to contact them anyway to ask these questions. Who knows - you may be the lucky 1%.

Also, were you running other campaigns before you started promoting deep-linking to spotify? Any issues with campaigns or the account prior to that point, such as previous account bans?

Lastly: Did you appeal the account ban? And if so, did you get it back?

Really wished I could be more helpful than this. I hope you get that account back!



Amy

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Dear Vortex,

i have a doubt if it is best practice to put the credit card on the BM, or on the Ad Account payment info.
Maybe is better to put it in the accounts, so in case of ban i can switch the card later?

Thanks

R.

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I actually don't know whether it would be better to add billing to the BM or individual ad accounts. Personally I've gotten individual ad accounts banned but have continued to use the same credit card for other ad accounts in the same BM without any apparent issues.

Either way, Facebook knows you and a specific credit card are linked, and that all the ad accounts and the BM are linked to you. So it's not like by assigning a different credit card to a new ad account in the same BM as a banned ad account, Facebook wouldn't be able to associate you with the new ad account.

A shorter way of saying this is that either way, FB would know you're linked to everything.

Having said that: Only heavens knows what FB's exact criteria are for banning accounts. If you feel that using a different credit card for each ad account may lead to more longevity, don't let anyone stop you!



Amy

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@vortex Not sure if you've done this but ...
1)Is it better to submit your business documents on a BM?
2)Would this help with preventing bans?
3)Would you get flagged if you're using the same business with multiple accounts?

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I feel that it would increase FB's trust in the account, which may decrease the risk of getting a ban. Again, this is speculation.

As for getting flagged: I haven't tried to use the same business documents for multiple BMs. I feel that it would be a HUGE footprint and wouldn't suggest this if there are risks of losing any of the BMs - it could very well bring down the others.

Personally I've only submitted documents for a very safe business where I'm not running affiliate campaigns through. When I was churning and burning using bought/rented accounts I actually never even asked whether those accounts were verified in this way. There are sellers providing this as a part of the service and you're encouraged to ask them for more info. But I've ventured into blackhat talk and since we're a whitehat forum that doesn't encourage blackhat practices, I'll stop here.



Amy




Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums

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Just had this talk with someone I know lol. Thanks for response and all you do!

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what actually happens with money thats left on a banned account?

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I've only ever dealt with postpaid accounts. In that case, you're billed the outstanding amount as soon as it is disabled. There is nothing more concerning that a random amount billed that isn't on your monthly billing date. You can be certain you just got disabled.

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this is great information thank you!

I have been speaking to a few larger ecom brand owners as well, they mention they have a system of profiles by using softwares like multi login paired with residential proxies to house the accounts, so if one account goes down, they have another account warmed up ready to go! Hope i can provide some sort of value back!

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Yes that would be the typical "blackhat" setup:

-Either farm accounts or buy/rent personal accounts from existing users, or both

-[Optional] Use a cloaker (don't know how feasible that is today - FB has been getting better and better at detecting cloakers)

-MLA for browser profiles/settings

-Residential proxies for IP

-Credit card


I haven't done this in years - I've gone to the "light side" (i.e. whitehat) since. AFAIK this kind of setup has gotten less effective as FB got better at identifying and banning accounts faster.

For sure there are still blackhatters making big money, but (again, AFA I've heard) the ROI has been decreasing, so running at scale with lots of accounts is the way to go.

Honestly, I personally feel that going forward, blackhat will only get harder, so running whitehat would be the better way to go.



Amy

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