Any publisher promoting content on Facebook, or other social platforms, knows that not abiding by the platform’s rules can have adverse effects on a campaign’s performance. If you take a look at the specific guidelines for each platform, you’ll see what  particular words, phrases, images, and types of content are best avoided in ads. 

However, these compliance guidelines aren’t always black and white. One main disapproval reason — withholding — can be an effective tactic to use in our ad copy. But there are compliant ways to go about it. Ways that can even boost your performance. Here, we’ll discuss when withholding gets flagged, how to write mysterious ad copy that’s policy-compliant, and how this tactic can actually help lift CTR and conversion rates.

But First … What Is Withholding? 

Let’s talk about what platforms officially consider withholding. For these purposes, we’re going to use Facebook’s policy guidelines. An ad disapproved for withholding will be labeled as a “low-quality ad,” and Facebook defines these creatives as:

“Ads that purposefully withhold information to entice people to click in order to understand the full context.”

Catchy phrases such as “You’ll never believe …,” “Try to guess …,” and “You’ll never guess,” will most likely trigger a disapproval by the algorithm, but there are ways to achieve the same intriguing and enticing tone in your copy — without violating Facebook’s compliance guidelines. Swapping these phrases for ones like “Here are …,” “See how …,” or “This is …,” can keep the mystery alive, while keeping things compliant.

Why Does Withholding Matter?

It's important to not give away too much about the article's content and still play by Facebook’s rules. Why? If Facebook finds anything that goes against its policies, the ad is disapproved. 

And racking up too many disapproved ads over time can have serious consequences on performance and your standing with Facebook. The platform can decrease the reach your ads and posts get, and in some cases, too many disapprovals even results in the entire ad account being shut down.

So if you are thinking about using this tactic often in your promoted content on social media, it’s best to remember to be smart about it. How? We’re here to help. 

The Right Way To Withhold In Your Ad Copy

When done right (and safely,) we can see a boost in performance from using withholding tactics in your copy. Let’s take a look at a few copy examples and how they performed in their respective campaigns.

Using these more subtle ways of keeping information from the user can boost clicks and conversions and can also help keep those disapproval numbers down.

Why do we consider the copy above to be compliant? Phrases like “Find out”, “Here are”, and “Some of” keep the mystery in your copy, but aren’t over-exaggerated to the point where Facebook or any other social media platform would flag the ads.

What should you watch out for or avoid in your ad copy? Here’s what not to do when practicing the art of withholding:

• “You’ll never believe what these celebrities had to say about the situation!”
• “Check out these life-changing makeup tutorials!”

Key Words and Phrases to Use in Ad Copy

Okay, so we know what to avoid, but now let’s discuss how to actually withhold the safe way. Here, we’ve compiled a list of specific words that will help you (safely) keep an air of mystery in your copy. Use these in your headlines, ad copy, or even in any image text — wherever you see fit!

And to narrow this down even more, we found that these specific content categories work best with these words:

• Health (Avg. CTR - 4.8%)
• Automotive (Avg. CTR - 3.1%)
• Fashion ( Avg. CTR - 5.8%)
• News (Avg. CTR - 3.0%)

Withholding And The Power of FOMO

Any professional copywriter knows that the key to inspiring action among customers is evoking strong emotion. There are several different routes to take with this strategy — excitement, nostalgia, desire, curiosity, concern, empathy. This list goes on and on. But one key emotion to play on is FOMO — or, the fear of missing out.

Writing copy that sparks FOMO creates a strong desire in your audience to act. Whether that be to simply read your content or make a purchase. FOMO creates a sense of urgency because you make the reader feel like they are missing a key part — they aren’t involved … yet. But they still can be. FOMO is a great tactic to use when you want to incorporate subtle withholding in your marketing copy because it naturally sparks that air of mystery.

However, it’s also important to tread carefully when using FOMO, because there is a possibility that your copy comes off a little too sales-y or pushy. 

Create The Perfect Tone With Anyword

As we can see, there’s a lot of gray area when it comes to crafting marketing copy with just the right amount of mystery and withholding. And for even well-seasoned copywriters and marketers, dancing across the fine line between safe copy and a disapproved ad is no easy feat. Because of this, a lot of professionals turn to Anyword for all of their copy needs.

Anyword’s AI Copywriting Tool uses cutting-edge technology that generates well-written and highly readable content. The data-driven AI writer helps its users save time without any sacrifice of quality. Use the platform for a wide range of needs: blogs, product descriptions, landing pages, emails, ad copy — you name it.

But Anyword doesn’t just create your run-of-the-mill, generic copy. The AI writer leverages thousands of data points to allow users to completely tailor their generated copy to their needs. What does this look like in practice? You can choose from a variety of different tones and styles and create specific customer personas to better fine-tune your messaging.

So, if you’re having trouble mastering the art of withholding, turn to Anyword to lend much more than a helping hand. Test the waters today by booking a demo.