I think I am just going to have to accept the fact we are going to be remaking the Facebook Advertiser Guidelines video every week in the ShoeMoney System.
Just got a email from my Facebook rep about a new policy change going in tomorrow on ads:
Hey Jeremy,
Our policy team just made a change that I don’t think will affect you at all, but I figured I should give you a heads up anyways.
We’ve received significant negative feedback over the past few weeks about ads promoting free offers which, in reality, are not free to the user. Ă‚Â As noted in section 8 of the Facebook Ad Guidelines, “Prices, discounts, and free offers: Ads cannot be deceptive or fraudulent about any offer made. If an ad includes a price, discount or ‘free’ offer the ad must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer.” In addition, advertising is not permitted on Facebook where the business model or practice is deemed unacceptable. Some business models and practices that may violate thisĂ‚Â policyĂ‚Â include unclear billing or participation practices. For these reasons, ads promoting deceptive free offers run contrary to Facebook’s ad guidelines and overall advertising philosophy and are no longer permitted to be advertised on Facebook.
The policy team is giving advertisers by end of day Thursday (3/11) to delete these ads and is requesting that you do not submit any new ads promoting these types of offers. Ads that remain active will be removed. They have also cautioned that advertisers who continue to create ads that violate any policy or generate strong negative feedback may have their ads disabled or face account penalties up to and including the loss of beta tools and permanent loss of advertising privileges.
As always, let me know if you have any questions about this change.
I have not seen this published “officially” anywhere on their site but thought I would pass a long the heads up.
FaceBook started off as an easy to advertise platform, over the months and years that platform has become so stringent that it makes it difficult to even bother spending the time to submit ads.
Protecting their user base makes sense however when does it stop? It’s a tough call however affiliates make a percentage of the advertisers on FaceBook. As they tighten the rope, affiliates will look elsewhere to other self serve ad networks that realize and understand that people need to read and have some common sense.
Thank God I don’t spend my days submitting ads to FaceBook just to get dissaproved.
Thankyou.
No way man we all use programs to submit ads. FB Ads Manager 🙂
I was wondering about this as well. I have seen a rather large assortment of the Free iPad email submit offers floating through Facebook lately and was wondering how in the hell they got those ads through. Facebook has always shot any of my ‘free’ offers down in a heartbeat stating that I need to reference that other purchase participation applies.
Atleast now I won’t have to look at them and be jealous anymore.
facebook is really getting very tough these days.
All for “user experience” bs they wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for some of us affiliates. I find it funny that now since they are profitable they can choose and dictate what we can and cannot allow. Again its theirs to do what they want with but meh take our money and then forget about us. All facebook will become now is local advertising.
It’s hilarious everytime one of you affiliates thinks Google or Facebook wouldn’t exist without your money. Get over it, scam rebills are a tiny part of online marketing.
Just like Google, FaceBook wants their users to know good experiences, and not deceptions. It makes sense.
I don’t see why not. Adapting the rules to a cleaner experience is always better in the long run.
Thanks for the heads up shoe! appreciate it 🙂 i was just working the the fb ads, sweet
Thanks for the heads up …always pays to be proactive
I have to say … it’s about da## time!
FB has always had a reputation of being tough to get ads through. I could never understand how the free iPod, DSLR camera etc. ads even made it on to Facebook.
I don’t see it as a policy change, more like an enforcement of the rules no matter how much money the advertiser is willing to pay.
… Scott
This won’t kill the free offers. You just have more restrictions. I don’t see this being fully enforced
Its going to take a lot of work to verify all advertisements worldwide. I get the feeling that with all web monoliths (Facebook, Yahoo etc)….they talk a good policy but don’t have the capability to properly monitor. Oh, and they’ll turn a blind eye when it suits.
I forgotten what free actually means! Here in Yorkshire we say “you don’t get owt f’nowt” (you don’t get anything for nothing)
I think that is very good news. There was a couple times that I was tricked and click on “get a free ipod” only to find out they wanted everything including credit card number. It was easy to see that what they were offering was not free.
It’s about time!
Wait. So do these count every submit in existence? Since these are free on the cover. But more than likely on the backend they will end up having to enter their CC or something to that effect if there is not enough offers to go around.
Thank God, they finally did what they should have done months back. Better late then never.
Right now I am totally ticked off with Facebook. I tried to log in over a week ago, only to receive a message that my account had been disabled. I had not broken any of their rules, so if there was a problem with my page then someone else had caused it (from what I gather, not an uncommon situation). I have been trying since to get Facebook to contact me, but they have simply ignored my e-mails. Facebook: boo, hiss!!!!
It was just a matter of time before this happened. FB wants to be like Google SO BAD it’s sad. Although I find many more things about Facebook Advertising to be more “hypocritical” than Adwords.
Affiliate Marketing is dead. Now it’s time to go back to your day jobs! LOL
Haha! Thought you were serious ’till I checked out your website.
That’s hilarious!
Facebook is the fantastic world of community networking… I also have account in Facebook and i love to meet new friends here….
A good move by Facebook. Should be interesting fallout within the affiliate industry though.
Facebook advertising policy changes!http://www.shoemoney.com/2010/03/10/facebook-advertising-policy-change-taking-effect-tomorrow/
There are way to many freebie ads. I hope they get it under control.
I think that both Facebook and Youtube are by far some of the best ways to market any business and meet new people! I think that this is a good thing facebook is doing! people may click these ads more!
I found that facebook ads is not effective at all, it is only quantity of impressions but not quality traffics, the bounce rate is high and low conversion rate, if it is free,perhaps i will consider.
This is good news, I have seen some pretty suspicious ads. I think it is a great ad platform because of the targeting. I just have figure out how to dial it in…
I see aloot of people complaining about. This, but ultimately facebook makes the rules. You should have seen it coming.
Besides, a true IM’er will get creative and find a better way.
I have had several ads denied, could not figure out, yesterday the 19th I finally have one accepted. Perhaps I am finally compliant. Go figure. Used a different product. Wish they would make up their minds. I am am still puzzled as to what the heck are the clear guidelines.
Thanks for the info shoe. I don’t actually run these types of ads but it’s good to know about the changes that are going on.
I think FaceBook, like Google, are all over the map with their inconsistency in actually implementing their own policies. I do agree with tougher restrictions on the so-called “free” or forced-continuity offers. An ad or offer that is not crystal clear to the reader, might be doing it’s intended job of getting a click or submission, but many of the “fine-print” offers just feel wrong to me. BTW…Anyone ever succeed in reading the fine print on the car & truck ads on TV?
As a Facebook user, I like what Facebook is doing. I’ve seen lots of “free this”, “free that” ads in the past few months, and I’ve also seen friends joining fanpages that claim to offer free stuff. I never bought it, to be honest. I understand the products are not completely free. You always need to do a bunch of things: register for something, give them your email, buy something, or spread the link to 100 people.
It seems Facebook really does listen to user feedback. By the way I have a question for those who submitted ads in Facebook: how are the results? Are you making money? I’ve heard a mix of good and bad reviews from Facebook advertisers. I want to know if following the strict Facebook ad guidelines is worth it.
I’ve tried signing up for those freebie ads on Facebook, like free laptop and free iPhone. But they’re not free at all! I don’t mind if they ask for my email, but if they ask for my credit card, now that’s a problem. And usually they have these steps that I have to follow. They say that if I follow every step on the list, I could get the free item. But the keyword here is COULD. That means they’re not sure if they’ll give it to me.
So anyway, I think Facebook is doing the right thing with this new guideline. Advertisers need to be honest, and when they say “free” they should give away the item for free.
As a user I was sick of these ads appearing on my page. It is pretty obvious that they were scams. I am glad that facebook is more user friendly than add-friendly.
Interesting. I’m glad that those ads are gone though. I wouldn’t want to sign up to get something free, then end up having to get a 3 month subscription to something or other to receive said free thing. That’s just plain annoying.
I put an ad in facebook with a $50 credit and before I knew they took $250 out of me.
I call and all they have is a messsage. You can’t even leave a voice mail. I remove the
rest of my money before they could take it all. I setup it up where once the $50 was over that the add should be oveer. Now they saying that is my faul. My bank is trying to get my money back but I like to know if there are more people out there that this has happen to. I know peope are not happy with people not geting shoes and etc. Any info is great.
An ad or offer that is not crystal clear to the reader, might be doing it’s intended job of getting a click or submission, but many of the “fine-print” offers just feel wrong to me.