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What does it mean to have your Facebook ad stuck in review for days? And what can you do to speed things up a bit? Hi, my name is Francisco. I own a digital marketing company by the name Planet Marketing. We specialize in Facebook Ads, Google Ads and Remarketing. I have been doing what I do for over a decade. In that time, I have had countless people approach me regarding Facebook Ads that seemingly get stuck in review. What do you do should this happen to you? And what does it mean? I thought I would help you out in this article. The post has the following sections;
- The Facebook ads process.
- What causes Facebook ads to be rejected?
- What can you do to speed things up?
Is your Facebook Ad Stuck in Review?
The Facebook Ads Process
Most people think that ads get automatically approved the moment they hit the Publish button on Facebook. But that is not the case. Getting your ad live is a long process.
You need to understand this process because some of the things that can go wrong do so here. If you botch things up while setting up your Facebook ad, you risk having the ad stuck in review for ages.
Creating your Ad
First, you need to create your Ad. If you go through this blog, you will notice that there are a lot of Facebook Ads marketing articles. The process of creating an ad on Facebook has the following basic steps;
Choosing a campaign objective
Campaign Objectives for Facebook Ads
There are 11 Campaign Objectives. You can only have one per Campaign. You should think of a Campaign Objective as a reflection of what you wish to achieve with each ad. The following are the available Facebook ads Campaign Objectives;
- Brand awareness
- Catalog sales
- Conversions
- App installs
- Video views
- Messages
- Store traffic
- Reach
- Traffic
- Lead generation
- Engagement
Setting up your Ad Set
The Ad Set is probably the most important section when doing Facebook ads marketing. It’s where you define your target audience. It’s also where you lay out your budgeting and schedule.
Regarding the target audience, you need to be as precise as is possible in your definition of who you wish to reach. Do you wish to reach people in a particular country and of a particular age range.?
Which demographics are you targeting? How would you define your audience’s interest and behaviors? These are all important parameters that you can use to define and refine your audience. Getting it right here ensures that your ads have a greater success rate.
Creating and publishing your ad
That’s the final step in the Facebook ads marketing process. It’s usually at the end of this process that people realize their Facebook ads are stuck in review for days. Anyway, the ad is what your target audience will see.
So, it needs to be good. You have the option to create video, single image and carousel ads. I need to note here that you should not shy away from experimenting regarding your ad. Don’t throw in the dice the first time around. Work on your ads till you have hit the right formula.
Facebook now reviews your ad
When you are done with your ad, it doesn’t automatically get published. This is something that we have already noted. Your ad goes through a review process. But what type of review process takes place?
Automated reviews
The Facebook ads review process is mainly automated. So, if you have an ad stuck in review for days or if your ad has been rejected, you can sure that there is a very high probability that it’s the Facebook bots that are checking it out.
That’s not really surprising. At any given point in time, millions of ads are running on Facebook. So, it would be impossible to have them all reviewed manually.
Manual reviews
Facebook also has a team of people whose task is to manually review an ad. Their task is to ensure that each ad that’s running on the platform is in sync with the laid out ad policies.
These policies cover a wide range of areas. But it’s important to go through them if hope to seriously pursue Facebook advertising. That way, you won’t risk having your ad rejected or stuck.
What gets reviewed?
It’s not only your Facebook ad’s content that gets reviewed. The Facebook ad review process also goes through your landing Page to ensure that it does not violate any of the company’s policies.
So, this is something that you are going to have to keep in mind. Your landing page is important. You will not get away with having proscribed stuff on there, no matter how tame your actual ad may be.
How long does it take for Facebook to review an ad?
Your Facebook ad has been stuck in review for days. Hence you are here trying to get an answer. But how long is it supposed to take to have your ad published?
Facebook points out that under normal circumstances, most ads get reviewed and either approved or rejected within 24 hours. Some ads will go beyond this time frame.
So, at what point should you press the panic button. Generally, I advise people to be patient for at least 48 hours. If your ad hasn’t been approved after that, then you should begin taking the remedial actions outlined here.
Your ad is either approved or rejected
This is the final step in the Facebook ads process. Once it has gone through the review process, your ad is either approved or rejected. If it is approved, then everything is fine. You can start watching your metrics to see if you are getting the desired results.
I need to repeat that it can take time to reach the correct formula, so stick in there. Other than getting approved, your Facebook ad can also be rejected. But what causes this and what does it mean?
Why Does Facebook Reject Some Ads?
You may be interested to get some of the reasons why Facebook rejects some ads. Knowing these reasons can help you avoid the Facebook ad in review for days issue. If you have had a Facebook Ad rejected, the following are some possible reasons why that could have happened;
There is too much text in your image
If you are running an image ad, one reason why you could end up having your ad rejected is if you have too much text on your image. But how much text should you have? Well, text on your image shouldn’t be more than 20%.
Facebook is mostly about visuals. People do not have the time to spend reading text on your ad. They go to Facebook mostly for the visuals. You should keep that in mind when creating your Facebook ad.
Your products are age restricted
That’s another thing that may get your ad rejected on Facebook. There are many age restricted products. These include adult, alcohol and tobacco related products.
If you are advertising such products, you need to be very very careful that you keep in line with Facebook’s requirements.
It can be done. Check out our Facebook Ads for Adult stores article to see how to overcome the challenges associated with running such ads.
You have mentioned Facebook in your ad
There are restrictions to the way that you can mention Facebook in your ad. As an example, you cannot use the Facebook log and you cannot mention Facebook with a small “f.” Neither are you allowed to alter the Facebook logo in any way.
Solutions to the Facebook Ad in Review for Days Issue
So your Facebook ad has been stuck in review for days, but what can you do? No doubt the entire experience can be rather frustrating. But, is there a way that you can speed things up a little?
As a business, any time that you spend with your ad not running translates into lost potential revenue. And most ads are run for particular events. It won’t do therefore to have your ad run after the event. Fortunately, there are some steps that you can take to speed things up a bit;
1. Create your Campaigns on time
Here is the thing; you should never bargain on your Facebook Ads getting approved at once. We have already noted that each ad goes through a review process. And as Facebook itself notes, the review process is not infallible.
Either the bots of humans at Facebook are liable to making an error. So, don’t create an ad for an event that’s due to take place tomorrow. It’s way better to give yourself a couple of days. I usually like to create ads for events that are a week away.
You can pause and ad
If you believe a week is a rather long time, here is a bit of good news, it’s easy to pause a Facebook ad. In fact, you can create an ad and then pause it even as it goes through the review process.
This gives you a measure of control. Once your ad has been reviewed, you can then launch it at an appropriate time. That may be several days or an hour before the start of your event.
2. Chat live with Facebook
Get live support
That’s another possible solution if you have a Facebook ad that’s stuck in review for days. Most people do not know that Facebook actually has live support to which they can chat. To get there, follow this link.
Go to the STILL NEED HELP? Find answers or contact support section and click on “Get Started.” From there, it’s a matter of following a fairly convoluted process to chat with support. If you are lucky, someone will be there to talk to you.
3. Wait 24 hours
This is something that we have already mentioned. There is no need for you to panic about your Facebook ads not being published before 24 hours. That’s the stipulated time that it takes for an ad to be reviewed.
So, you are going to have to be patient. Again, it boils down to what we have already mentioned; every ad on Facebook goes through a review process.
That process doesn’t happen at once. That’s something that you are going to have to keep in mind when creating campaigns.
4. Complete the Ad Pending Review for more than 24 hours form
Fill out this form
This is another thing that people are not aware of. There is actually an Ads Pending Review more than 24 hours form. Use this if your Facebook ad has been stuck in review for days. You are required to provide a number of details, including the AD Id and case number.
5. If you feel there is nothing wrong with your ad, do not edit it while it’s being reviewed
One thing to note is that the moment you edit your ad, the clock gets reset to zero as far as it getting reviewed is concerned. So, if after three days you do even the smallest of edits, you will have to wait 24 hours before you can complain about your Facebook ad being stuck in review for long.
Of course, that’s assuming that everything is fine with your ads. Creating ads on Facebook is replete with pitfalls. Most ads take long in review if there is something wrong with them, as flagged by the Facebook bots. So, you may as well edit the ad if you think that’s going to get it approved.
6. Make sure that each ad is in line with Facebook’s Ads Policies
Facebook is very stringent about what can and what cannot be advertised on the platform. That’s not really surprising, considering the diverse audience types that are present on the platform.
As an example, it would be remiss to advertise alcohol in Saudi Arabia, or to show such ads to people under legal drinking ages in any country. Complicating matters is the fact that these limits vary from country to country.
That’s just an example of how complicated the terrain through which Facebook has to navigate is. Anyway, we are not making excuses for them here. But before you create an ad, those are things that you need to take into consideration.
Who are your target audience? What products or services are advertising? Are there restrictions to advertising such products? Being very knowledgeable about the terrain is a good way of ensuring that your ad will get approved fast. Otherwise, you will end up with your Facebook Ad stuck in review for days.
Summary
In this article, we showed you what to do in the event that your Facebook ad has been stuck in review for days. We noted that Facebook says most ads get published within 24 hours.
So, if your ad has been pending for more than this, you may need to take steps to remedy the situation. If you need help, feel free to get in touch with me.
This is what I do on a daily basis. I can get you Facebook ads approved in no time. Also sign up for my Facebook ads marketing course using the form below.