skip to main content

How to prevent Facebook rejecting your ads in the energy sector

Energy sector ads on Facebook can be at greater risk of being taken down. Here’s why, and how you can stop Facebook removing your ads.

Facebook Ads let you put your message in front of nearly 3 billion people. For some sectors, however, there are restrictions in place about the types of adverts that you can run and how.

If you work in the energy sector, you’re more likely to run into some of these restrictions than other businesses. That means you’re also at greater risk of having your ads taken down by Facebook.

Here’s why Facebook rejects ads, why this can impact energy in particular, and how to prevent Facebook from rejecting your ads.

Meta advertising standards

Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal saw Facebook – now Meta – come under much more scrutiny for its data privacy and advertising policies. Now, Meta has a whole new set of advertising standards.

The company reduced how specifically you can target people using Facebook Ads. Facebook also made their data policies more transparent. 

Now, when you see a Facebook Ad, you can click “Why am I seeing this ad?” to see a breakdown of the reasons Facebook thought the ad was relevant to you – for example, if you recently visited the advertiser’s site or were in the assumed age demographic for the product. 

These new policies also require advertisers to list “Special ad categories” when listing an ad.

Special ad categories

Special ad categories identify ads as belonging to one of the following categories:

  • Credit
  • Employment
  • Housing
  • Social issues, elections or politics

Any ads which include these themes risk being taken down if you don’t select the correct special ad category when creating the ad. 

Sounds simple enough? There’s just one problem.

How energy companies get caught out

It’s that last one – social issues, elections or politics – that can cause problems for the energy sector in particular. 

Unlike the other three, “social issues, elections or politics” can be very broad. It’s pretty clear whether you’re advertising credit, employment or housing. It’s far less clear what qualifies as a social or political issue.

If you don’t identify ads that are related to energy and the environment or sustainability as coming under the “social issues, elections or politics” special ad category, it’s likely Meta will take the ad down.

That’s where energy companies – and any other business that’s likely to run ads with themes surrounding the environment or sustainability – can get caught out.

The good news is that the solution is simple: all you have to do is select that special ad category when you’re creating the ad. Then, you can save yourself the hassle and get back to getting your message in front of your audience.


Related articles

More help

Want to get in touch about building a social ad campaign for your business? Drop me an email at [email protected].

I’ve got plenty to say

View my other articles and opinion pieces below

Thought leadership strategy: putting your team’s expertise on your clients’ radars

“Thought leadership” has become an essential part of B2B marketing. Ever since Google’s helpful content update, it’s been more important than ever for your organisation’s team members to be producing high-quality, informed content in their areas of expertise.  What is thought leadership? Articles, LinkedIn posts, blogs, videos – all of this comes under that umbrella. […]

Maximising multi-marketing success in paid social campaigns

Understanding multi-market paid strategies is crucial to the success of any social media marketing campaign. I recently had the opportunity to speak at the International Social Summit in Barcelona, collating experiences from the past year to share some advice for organisations planning their own paid campaigns across multiple regions. The Problem Running a multi-market campaign […]

Rebecca sharing her insights at the International Social Summit

Why are so many users choosing TikTok search over Google?

When it comes to B2B social media marketing, few platforms are more misunderstood than TikTok. These misconceptions can lead to one of the most exciting platforms in social media marketing being written off by B2Bs – and huge opportunities missed. If you don’t take TikTok seriously enough, you will miss out to the businesses that […]