Facebook advertisements are one of the most critical marketing channels for enticing a target audience to perform an action. Not only do you have excellent flexibility to design your advertisements with freedom, but also the goodness of many targeting filters to go niche on your requirements.
Crafting the perfect ad which drives results takes research, creativity, and time. But that’s not the end of the road. After you’ve designed your ad, Facebook reviews it. If approved by the Facebook team, then only you can run it.
While this process usually takes 24 hours, sometimes Facebook ads get stuck in the review process…
In this article, we’ll discuss how to fix Facebook ad stuck in review and learn techniques to improve your chances of getting get your Facebook ads approved the first time.
Why does Facebook review ads?
Facebook gives you the creative freedom to create ads for your target audience. You have complete control over the text, visuals, CTA, and more to craft the perfect message.
But this also means some advertisers might create ads which are sensitive to some users, impact Facebook’s reputation as a harmonious social platform or simply break laws laid by governments where the ads will run.
Perhaps some advertisers might post misleading content to scam users, or spread hate for political or social agenda.
To avoid such situations, and safeguard the intentions of both the advertisers and users, Facebook asks you to follow a set of Facebook ad policies and reviews every ad to ensure honest and high-quality creatives by all and for all.
How does the ad review process work?
Once you have crafted your advertisement, Facebook reviews it to either approve or disapprove.
But the behind-the-scenes process is a little complicated. Therefore, some ads get approved within 24 hours of submission while others take longer to appear as “Pending in review.”
Facebook uses a process comprising both automation and manual review to validate the ads’ compliance with the ad policies.
Over the years, the social-media giant has trained its automated systems to quickly review submitted ads. But a team of specialists also rechecks ads manually to ensure all the elements of your ad are compliant.
This is why sometimes ads which get initially approved by the automation system later get disapproved upon recheck by a specialist.
Reasons why Facebook ads get stuck in review
Now that you know why Facebook reviews ads and how the process works, let’s understand why some ads stay stuck in the review process.
Having your Facebook ad stuck in review can be frustrating. Imagine spending hours of research to create the perfect ad with an expertly crafted copy, visuals, target audience, CTA, only to realize your campaign might not get approved. This can not only affect your campaign timeline but also access to potential leads and customers.
Hence, it’s critical to understand the underlying reasons for the same. This will help you edit your ads and resubmit for another review if they get disapproved by the Facebook team.
Ad policies violation
One of the most common reasons certain ads get stuck in the review process is an ad policies violation.
Facebook has carefully crafted a set of guidelines for all advertisers to follow. By adhering to these rules while creating your ad, you can quickly get your ads approved and avoid getting stuck in the review process for long.
Where most advertisers, especially beginners, fail is when they come across a few ads and think if they follow the same approach or tone or structure, they’ll have winning ads at their disposal. While this approach works, Facebook has unique guidelines for unique content types, visuals, topics, and target audiences. Hence, following someone else’s approach mightn’t work for your brand.
Hence, understanding the ad policies for the message you wish to promote not only helps you create better ads for the platform, but also avoids the long approval process.
Using a brand-new Facebook ad account
While reviewing ads, Facebook considers the previous review results of an ad account. An account with a clean record of approved ads and timely payments weighs in as a factor.
Hence, if you have just created a brand-new Facebook ad account, the review time of your submitted ad might take a little longer than the normal duration.
Issues with business page or multiple ad accounts
It’s common to have multiple ad accounts with many registered business pages. Facebook also considers the health of your business pages and ad accounts during the review process.
Hence, to fasten the review, check your ad account history and the business page to ensure they follow all the guidelines and are up-to-date with your current information.
Unmatched card and account information
If you are using unaccepted payment cards or the information on the card doesn’t match your account information on the platform, your ads can get stuck in the review process.
Facebook doesn’t recommend using Virtual Visa Cards for your ad account. You must also ensure all the information like the date of birth, name, ID is up-to-date as per your account information.
Targeting of sensitive topics
The topics you are targeting through your ads determine the time of your review process. For instance, if your copy speaks on sensitive political, social, or conversational topics, the Facebook team is going to take all the time in the world to ensure your content treats the subject within guidelines, without affecting the sentiments of the audiences involved.
Misalignment of text and image
Facebook wants to promote authentic content to its users. During the ad review process, the team rejects misleading ads, which sometimes happen with the misalignment of your text and images. Hence, recheck your creative to ensure all the elements are in sync.
Misleading landing page promises
One of the most common reasons Facebook ads get stuck in the review process or get rejected is misleading landing page content. In simple words, if your ad promises users to redirect them to a particular landing page, it must do so.
For instance, if your ad is about a specific product, then clicking on it must redirect the users to that product page. Hence, ensure the delivery is the same as advertised.
Editing ads while under review
Another mistake which leads to an ad getting stuck in the review process is editing the ad while under review. Well, after submitting the ad, if you edit elements like the targeting, creative, location or the visuals, Facebook will consider it as a new ad and take another 24 hours to check the edits.
What to do if your Facebook ad gets stuck in review?
If your ad is stuck in the review process, there’s not much you can do until Facebook delivers a verdict. But what if Facebook is taking an awful amount of time? This can affect your scheduled campaign delivery timeline and hence miss out on opportunities.
There are two experienced-based ways you can tackle this issue.
Duplicate your ad
Sometimes, you’ll find Facebook says your ad should get running soon, but even after waiting a few weeks, the ad is still stuck in the review process. Many advertisers, while their ads stuck in the review process, confirmed duplicating the submitted ad and resubmitting it has helped.
Turn your ad off and on
Another method which has helped advertisers get their ads out of the long review process is turning the ad off and on again. But if your ad requires manual checks, it mightn’t work.
Strategies to get your ads approved quickly
Creating a high-quality Facebook ad takes time and there are always high exceptions to drive results and deliver to the campaign objective. But if your ad gets stuck in review, it can affect your goals and force you to change the entire campaign.
Hence, here are a few pointers to keep in mind while creating your campaign to get your ads approved quickly.
Follow the Facebook’s advertising policies
We discussed many reasons for ads getting stuck in the review process. But most of the time, this happens when advertisers think their ads are fine without consulting the guidelines laid out by Facebook. Hence, if you wish to get your ads approved quickly, carefully read all the advertising policies.
Well, to be honest, this is a tiring task, but it’s necessary. Another advantage of taking the time to go through the policies is an authentic ad history.
In simple terms, if a few of your ads get approved quickly, the Facebook team would consider you as someone who follows the policies religiously and knows what they are doing.
Carefully craft your ad copy
Given the sheer competition in the marketing, it’s natural if you wish to experiment with your content to make it pop-out. But every-so-often it can lead to a little too much.
For instance, while trying to make your images attention grabbing, you may end up color correcting it to the point it appears shady or misleading. This can also happen with the body of your ad.
Creativity is your friend to beat the competition but keep the content and the visuals simple. This is because if your ad doesn’t offer a coherent message of what it’s about and what it wants from the customers, Facebook will scrutinize it for long. Hence, recheck all the elements before submitting for review.
Use the visuals wisely
Visuals are the principal attraction of your ads, but they are also the trickiest element. Selecting misleading images and videos can get your ad stuck in review. Facebook also gives guidelines to pick and use visuals correctly on their platforms. Hence, ensure you are choosing visuals relevant to your message, aren’t misleading and they are aligned to the text. This can get your ads approved quickly.
What if Facebook rejects your ad?
Well, we have discussed all the reasons your Facebook ads get stuck in review. We also went through the pointers which you can follow if you find yourself waiting for too long and get quick approval. But after ensuring all the precautions, if your ad gets disapproved by Facebook, don’t panic.
Don’t panic and understand the reason
Many advertisers either jump to the conclusion that Facebook has made a mistake with the review or simply panic, when their ads get disapproved. Well, you needn’t do either of them.
The first thing to do is to remain calm. It’s completely natural if your ad gets disapproved. This only means Facebook has discovered an issue which you might have missed. Hence, take this as an opportunity to create a better ad by understanding the reason behind the disapproval.
Make the required edits and resubmit
Now that you have understood why Facebook disapproved of your ad, make the required edits and resubmit. Analyze and change the ad copy to convey the same message, but in different words. You can also change the name of the Adset or slightly bump up or reduce the campaign budget to register a change.
Ask Facebook for help
If you aren’t sure of how to edit your ad or what edits to make, ask Facebook for help. Open your Ads Manager Account and at the bottom-left of your screen, press on the question-mark icon. Now, click on the “Contact Support Team” button and follow the on-screen instructions to understand how you can improve your ad for a quick approval.
Conclusion
There you have it. Now, you know all about the Facebook ad review process and why ads get stuck in review. You also know how you get your ads quickly approved and make edits after a disapproval by the Facebook team. You must always remember following the ad policies is tiresome, but critical to get your ads approved seamlessly. At all cost you should avoid getting your Facebook ad account restricted.