How to Block Facebook Ads
Facebook drives the majority social traffic – more than any other individual social media channel. With over 1.71 billion monthly active users, it is important for brands to have a solid Facebook strategy in place. This includes organic (free) posts and possible paid Facebook and Instagram placements as well. Facebook started allowing ads in the newsfeed in 2012. Since then we have seen more and more innovative ad ideas and placements. Facebook now has carousel ads, local awareness campaigns, video ads, newsfeed on mobile and desktop, and right-rail.
Advertisers know that users can opt out of interest and behavior targeting. What some may not know is that Facebook is making its user base aware that they can opt out of seeing advertisements from specific companies as well!
Recently, Facebook served me with a notification to manage my ad preferences. Facebook allows advertisers to target users based on behaviors and interests. Behaviors are something a user has done – i.e. visited a certain website with the past 30 days. Interests are topics Facebook thinks a user may be interested in based on the type of content they react to.
Recently, I saw this notification on Facebook [Figure 1]
“We want the ads you see to be useful and relevant. Let us know if you’re interested in these topics”
Facebook users can click on “Manage Ad Preferences” to see a list of interests that Facebook is using to tailor the ads a particular users sees. Also included in this list are the names of companies. Facebook users may be targeted because they like a brand’s page. They also may be targeted because they like a page related to a brand.
To block a Facebook ad based on interests:
- Drop down the category name [Figure 2]
- Click on the “X” to the right of the interest
To block a Facebook ad by a particular company:
- Drop down a category name
- Click on the “X” to the right of the company you don’t want to see ads from
