How to Escape Facebook Jail

By Anne Popolizio

​Rolling out of bed one morning, you instinctively check your phone. You’ve got a Facebook notification, saying your business’ account has been compromised. Somehow, you’ve “been disabled for violating [Facebook’s] policies.” (Or not.) And now, you're stuck in Facebook jail, desperate to get out so you can properly run your page and ads.

Unfortunately for us all, having your Facebook or Instagram business accounts get disabled is really common. Whenever Facebook suspects the behavior on your profile of being suspicious (or, far too often, when it makes a major change to the platform), Facebook can shut you down to air on the side of caution.

Lucky for us jailbirds, we can get our accounts back up and running. On my minicast with marketing guru Lynn Gregorski of Rapunzel Creative, we go over the basics of what to do when your accounts get blocked and how to prevent them from being blocked in the future. Watch the video and read the highlights below.

What to do when your account is disabled.

1. Give Facebook what it wants. When Facebook disables your Facebook and/or Instagram accounts, they’ll ask you to verify your account. You may need to send in a copy of your business license. They may ask you to take a photo of yourself holding a hand-written copy of a numerical code, like they did Lynn. (Seriously!)
2. Know how Facebook provides support. If you’re ever concerned about whether or not a communication from Facebook is legit, remember that their support staff always emails or uses their Business Manager chat. Don’t trust a message from a page claiming to be support. If you’re worried about a specific email address, check out their published list of domains. If the email is coming from one of those verified domains, it’s the real deal. 
3. Don’t be afraid to send in multiple tickets. Persistence is key. If you don’t check in consistently with Facebook on your issue, they may just brush it aside.
4. If you’re stuck, get help. When Lynn hit a wall with support, she reached out to me. By granting me admin access to her accounts, I was able to contact support on her behalf. And through my experience managing multiple accounts, I was able to get a higher level of support that, in Lynn’s words, “saved [their] account.” You really don’t have to go at it alone!

How to prevent your account from being disabled.
Now that you’re on parole, you’re probably eager to stay out of jail. One straightforward way to avoid Facebook banning your accounts: play by their rules. These include:

• Don’t promote unacceptable business practices
• Never make misleading claims
• Don’t send people to a non-functional landing page
• Don’t use adult content in your ads
• Don’t repeatedly violate the rules

​In addition, there is something you can do to make it easier when your account is compromised: Get everything set up in Business Manager. By associating all your accounts with Facebook Business Manager, you gain more access to Facebook support, who has the power to restore your account. (Likely after multiple help tickets, long support chats, and weeks of waiting. But still a win.)

Lastly, stay away from unauthorized publishing and other tools, like third-party follow/unfollow tools. While these tools may be convenient in the short-run, they have a tendency to disable accounts. (Very inconvenient in the long run.) Make sure the tool is an official Facebook Marketing Partner or Instagram Partner, like AgoraPulse. 

So there you have it! You now have the tools to dig your way out of Facebook prison! (And they’re way better than a spork!) Stay tuned for future marketing minicasts with Lynn!