Compliant Marketing That Still Delivers
When running ads on Meta for various businesses, there are always considerations around what is allowed and what’s not. None maybe more complex to navigate than the healthcare sector.
As an introduction, Meta has several advertising policies that users must adhere to run ads on their platform. These range from subjects such as finance & credit to prohibited items like smoking and alcohol. Healthcare is one that falls into Health & Wellness category, this ranges from weight loss, cosmetic products and procedures, adult products and reproductive health. There is also the Drugs & Pharmaceuticals policy, which would have influence on users promoting Healthcare products.
Whether you’re advertising for your business or an agency acting on behalf, this will be your playbook for creating and running effective and ethical ads, but also ensure they remain complaint and don’t upset anyone!
healthcare paid advertising: the human first system
Giraffe Social prides itself on being a human-first social media marketing agency and strives to incorporate the framework from “Human-First Marketing: The Art of Being Seen, Trusted and Remembered” devised by our CEO, Phil.
The paid advertising system is derived from the “marketing flywheel” which is explained in more detail in the book. Ultimately there are four stages, all designed to meet the end goal of growth but at the same time keeping your marketing customer, but more importantly human-centric.
Healthcare Meta ads – Strategy
The key to any good marketing campaign, the strategy, even if you’re planning to run short campaign or just boost existing organic posts, you will need at least a basic plan to ensure success rather than flying blind.
Firstly, consider your objective, this is the most important part of the campaign as it defines your end goal and keeps you on track from trying to get your campaign to do multiple things!
In the case of healthcare, make sure your objective doesn’t conflict with anything that isn’t allowed under the Health & Wellness policy.
If your aim is to collect data for lead generation, consider which data fields you absolutely need and which ones you could do without, these can be removed.
Targeting
When it comes to the targeting, depending on your audience and what area of the medical industry you are targeting will determine how thorough (or not) you can make your targeting.
Try to avoid personas as this could be seen as discriminatory and Meta may pick up on this. Use broad targeting where possible to make things as open as possible, and allow the Meta algorithm to find the right audience who is going to engage with your ads.
Also consider not targeting health conditions (unless this is key to your campaign), as again this may be seen as discriminatory by Meta and cause your ads to be disapproved.
Creative & Messaging
Creative is now more important than targeting on Meta, 5 – 6 years ago success on Meta ads was all about targeting, in 2025 it’s been flipped completely.
Your creative should have a strong hook that grabs the user’s attention and gives them the key information without them having to click through to your website to find out more. Did you know that 97% of Meta users don’t click on an ad, so it’s imperative to get the message right (and on your landing page for that 3% of users!)
Here’s my 3 tops tips to ensuring your creative will win against competitors but remain compliant.
- Be clear and relatable; Use simple captions like “Struggling to communicate?” or “Suffering chronic pain at home?”
- Speak to the user’s emotions & outcomes; Emphasise personal stories and results e.g. This therapy helped my child speak within 3 months.
- Stay compliant; Avoid medical exaggerations, privacy-invading content, or “guaranteed” language.
Next consider what type of ad you are going to run, as a rule of thumb, you should be testing several variations to determine what works best with your audience and then create iterations.
- Videos ads; Great for storytelling, testimonials and meet the teams.
- Carousel: Also great for storytelling, but also displaying service, features or steps.
- Lead ads; If you’re looking to collect data for an appointment for example or if you are asking the user to book something specific like a free consultation.
- Image ads: Use real images where possible, creating that human connection and stop users scrolling past un-interesting content.
Compliance
Now that you’ve created your campaign and ads, before going live, revisit it and ensure it complies with Meta’s policies, but also policies and regulations in the country/region you are targeting.
Test & Optimise
- A/B Test; Primarily your creative and copy, use different images/video, headlines, CTAs, ad types. If you aren’t using broad audiences, try this or potentially look at re-targeting.
- Avoid creative fatigue; Keep some of you creative spare so you can switch these out with underperforming creatives.
Incorporate other channels
Support your ads on Meta with your organic presence. This could be things like blog posts, videos, webinars that are shared on your profiles.
Consider updating your stories on Facebook & Instagram as this will keep your profile active and build trust with your brand. If a page doesn’t have an organic presence, it just looks like you’re out to sell something on a one-off, rather than connect with the audience long term.
paid ads for healthcare – Recap
- Strategy – Start with the building blocks and how your ads will resonate with audience. Consider Meta’s Health & Wellness policy and other local regulations.
- Targeting – Explore how you will reach your ideal audience, but don’t let this discriminate or be too specific.
- Creative – The most important step, ensure your creative resonates with your audience. Test and learn!
- Compliance – Once your campaign is ready, revisit everything to ensure it won’t trigger any red flags.
- Test & Optimise – A/B test, try different audiences, creatives. Don’t just let the campaign run until the budget is gone!
- Incorporate other channels – Don’t just rely on the ads, look at how you can support them organically.
Currently running ads in the medical sector that just aren’t cutting it? We’re here to fix that and we’d love to work with you. Contact us today!
