PPCChat | Getting Support From The Platforms (Or Elsewhere) | 23rd June 2020

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This week’s PPCChat session had PPCers evaluate the ad support system of the various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads.

Here is the screencap of the entire session:

Q1: Which platforms do you find have the best support right now? (Worst is the next Q).

I feel like all platforms have seen a major decrease in customer support in the last year. I can’t think of a good experience I’ve had in that time. I guess Google though, since I’ve actually been able to reach someone there. – @jord_stark

I like the documentation available on most of the platforms, but dealing with a person (named or otherwise) nightmare. – @SarahPixelHappy

I have dealt with both FB and Google reps and they are both horrendous tbh. Not sure about LinkedIn, Bing and Quora. – @rougecrown

LinkedIn has great support. Adwords support is ok. It can be great if you’re working on a client who has major marketing dollars invested. If not, it’s eh… – @aprilbrownco

weirdly, it’s the smaller kids in the gang. Twitter for Gov, LinkedIn is OUTstanding, and even Pinterest is doing not back. FB is their usual eye-roll self, and Google is all over the place. – @JuliaVyse

I feel like all platforms have seen a major decrease in customer support in the last year. I can’t think of a good experience I’ve had in that time. I guess Google though, since I’ve actually been able to reach someone there. – @jord_stark

To me, the best support is the kind that doesn’t require a reach-out to anyone Google’s support docs have been stellar as they’ve been revamping them over the past couple years. – @ferkungamaboobo

Microsoft Ads has great support. I think Quora does too. – @NeptuneMoon

Microsoft Ads support has been better than avg recently for me – @jennifer_lash

“right now” we have good support availability with Google Ads – @ynotweb

I’ve found StackAdapt to have great service so far – @AskYisrael

Snap. No question they have the best support team. Not loving their stance on diversity or lack there of …I will give them credit for building an org that cares about advertisers. TikTok is solid too – @duanebrown

Microsoft Advertising as it’s not always about spending more money – @mindswanppc

I want someone to clarify if this is truth or not (because we haven’t dipped into them) but I’ve heard Snap Ads have great support. – @RyBen3

Q2: Which platforms do you find have the worst support right now?

Google, because their reps have blatantly lied to my clients. Facebook support is non-existent, which is better than dishonest support. – @RobIannone

Ugh, Facebook support is almost non-existant and when you do get help, it depends on who you get. Instagram has none. – @aprilbrownco

Facebook. – @jord_stark

Hands down Google. Even with a rep, we can never get a straight answers. – @CourtEWakefield

ive found the obvious in the past: the more you spend, the “better” the support. That being said: G and FB sucks… their reps never want to help, only sell – @Maiglisreal

Facebook by far. If anyone has a way to get an actual person please share. our client’s account gets suspended just about once a month – @selley2134

Facebook’s support (without a rep) is tough. And when you have a dedicated rep, it varies case by case. – @DenneyDara

Google. Which is surprising because I’ve always found them slightly better than Facebook – @AskYisrael

Google & FB. I work with specialized vertical teams, = a lot of contact, but as usual, FB won’t actually do anything, just lots of calls. Google takes a lot of hand holding to get to what is needed. sympathetic because they & we are all understaffed. – @JuliaVyse

For me it is a tie between Google Ads and Facebook for worst support. G Ads either has no idea or takes FOREVER to get back to you after initial interaction. FB – can’t get an actual person to help with anything over there. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but the level of support for paying advertisers is shameful. When Comcast has better customer service than you do, it is time to fix that mess!- @NeptuneMoon

Facebook has support? LOL – @ynotweb

Google. It seems like it’s been all over the place and takes such a long round about process to get to an answer – @jennifer_lash

Facebook doesn’t even really have support anymore. If you can even call what they had before support. Google has gotten better for us, in the last year, when we need them. it’s still not like 2012 – 2014 – @duanebrown

Facebook, hands down. No competition. – @adwordsgirl

Hands down Facebook. – @bufoting

Q3: If you need support for a Google Ads issue, what do you do? Anything outside the platform?

I start with their docs, then my agency rep, then the support live chat. I’m lucky enough to be in a big family, so my office teams channels connect me to lots of other people who can help. – @JuliaVyse

usually I wait for chat to come online, but first I just Google it and see if anyone else has had the issue. I reach out only if desperate and time sensitive. I never do email if I can avoid – @AskYisrael

We actually have a pretty good rep on the Google side. I usually reach out to him. If he’s unresponsive or dragging his feet I look it up or contact default support contact. I like to reach out via email for general support. – @jord_stark

I Google everything first. Then I’d ask our Director, who is great at PPC, then the Google account rep. #ppcchat I try to avoid them to speed things along. – @aprilbrownco

We go straight to our agency, @SeerInteractive as they can often leverage their larger overall relationship with the platforms to make things happen more quickly than we can as an individual advertiser. – @CourtEWakefield

Start to ask old Google contacts for help. Their global support is horrendous and they have no accountability. Not everyone had dedicated reps remember. – @jdb426

We do tend to raise them with Google Support as it’s useful to log these things with them – particularly when it’s their automated approvals. I tend to look at the documentation, forums to see what other people have done in the same situation. – @SarahPixelHappy

Reddit r/ppc for non urgent matter. Got dedicated account manager for urgent matter. – @adibhazlami

Q4: If you need support for a Facebook or Instagram issue, what do you do? Anything outside the platform?

Was never a problem when I worked for big brands. For smaller brands, the support options are horrific and I pretty much just use personal network to find someone to manually intervene and help – @Ankit_A

Request manual review and pray. If that doesn’t work, watch videos or read articles until I figure out how to fix it myself. – @jord_stark

cry for 5 minutes and then a few hours of research, generally with the result that we start over with something simpler. Hahaha – – @ynotweb

I contact our FB rep but then I get referred to FB Ads Help Center. For example, a brand was using our images in their ads and rather than escalating it, they made us go through the copyright process. It’d be nicer if they were more hands on sometimes. – @RyBen3

Q5: If you need support for a Microsoft Ads or LinkedIn Ads issue, what do you do? Anything outside the platform?

I usually look into what the community has said about the issue if it’s something that has come up before. If I can’t find anything at that point I’ll reach out to support. Does anyone have a favorite source of info. Like a YT channel or blog they go to for answers? – @jord_stark

I’ve had a few Qs answered from Stack Exchange lately. Other than that, no. If you hear of a YT channel for these I’d love to know that too! – @aprilbrownco

counts for any network: support from friends and communities usually works best. As for Microsoft: right now we are lucky to have a rep there who really wants to help us —> thus I am willing to spend more if performance remains good – @Maiglisreal

I try Google but otherwise I pray to Imhotep. It seems to be having more success than getting support. – @AskYisrael

I don’t do a lot with LinkedIn currently, so don’t run into issues. Microsoft, I have a great dedicated rep who is incredibly responsive and helpful when I need it. – @lchasse

for Microsoft Ads – straight up chat to our Account Manager – i get good and quick responses. – @mindswanppc

this one is tricky. Havent had much go wrong on these, except overspend (MS) but feel a little ignored by MS due to our spend level. – @ynotweb

Microsoft I call support. LinkedIn I ask @wilcoxaj and or chat in Slack Groups – @duanebrown

call my rep, but they usually just send it to support as well – @JonKagan

Q6: If you need support for other networks (Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitter, Quora, etc.) what do you do? Anything outside the platforms?

I always Google first, then YouTube it. Reddit and Stack Exchange are helpful too. – @aprilbrownco

so far it’s reps reps reps. not a lot of helpful documentation in those cases. and of course, this hashtag – @JuliaVyse

Ive never needed support from most of those. Quora, StackAdapt, & Spotify, I just usually message rep. They are good and well trained. – @AskYisrael

I have tweeted this before amd it’s true. Snap has a great documents support site. I always find my answers there….takes some digging at times as search can be off but it’s there. Have to put in the work at times though – @duanebrown

Q7: If a genie could grant you one wish for ad platform support, what would you wish for? I know many of you will have more than one wish to share too!

I would wish that every customer support rep would have past experience managing accounts. – @jord_stark

Better self resolution – So a clear error message, pointing to documentation about how to sort the issue, and then an escalation process – @SarahPixelHappy

Was going to say something similar. Beyond frustrating that support might not even know the feature you’re inquiring about exists – @cjsoldwisch

Have actual people available, who know the platform, to your advertisers. I’m ok if you have low level people as the first contact, as long as things can get quickly escalated to solve more complex problems/issues that we often face. In short, provide real support. – @NeptuneMoon

that Google ads cared about support as they care about making money off advertising and as much as their clients – us, care about getting good results for our clients – @AskYisrael

longevity for good partners, and simple, plain-language details on support docs. – @JuliaVyse

An error code lookup page – @ferkungamaboobo

More transparency. Think how fast we could all learn if we were more transparent about what’s working and allowing us to be more proactive instead of reactive. We are doing “what’s working” instead of “this will work because we’ve been working on improving this” – @RyBen3

Treat advertisers as the ad tech platforms would like to be treated. There is enough money to go around for everyone – @duanebrown

for Google Ads – actually have people who know what digital is about to deal with our problems! It always seem to be someone who needs to take 10minutes to ask someone who actually has more knowledge – @mindswanppc

For all platforms: Go back to ~2003 Google, where we got dedicated reps who actually learned our business and sometimes even came out to meet with us. Give us their direct # so we can call them. – @Mel66

oh my goodness! I wouldn’t know where to start. I’m with Julie, more availability across the board. – @ynotweb

it work like the old days where my rep was the support person who did the resolution. – @JonKagan

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