Why it pays to check your competitors’ ads?
Analyzing competitors’ ads will allow you to check the marketing activities of your competition. Thanks to it, you will find out:
- what products or services they promote;
- what the brand’s communication looks like;
- what advertising creations they use;
- how they engage their customers.
This way, you will improve not only your ads, but also your offer, website, or overall marketing strategy.
The way advertising campaigns are conducted will tell you which products are worth including in your offer to make it attractive to your customers. And conversely – you will find out which ones are not worth investing in. This will translate into the entire marketing strategy, not just the one conducted in Facebook Ads.
Promoting products and services that are highly popular among consumers, tailoring your brand’s communication to their expectations, and improving the website’s UX will allow you to create more accurate marketing strategies. It will no longer be a chaotic action, but a campaign based on proven methods.
Above all, however, such an analysis will tell you what works and what doesn’t work in your competitors’ advertising campaigns. You will bypass a long trial phase and some of the testing – thanks to this, you will reduce burning through your own advertising budget. Learning from your competitors’ mistakes, rather than your own, is the best way to avoid painful failures, especially financial ones.
What is the Meta Ad Library?
The Meta Ad Library was created to prevent politicians and private companies from mutually financing each other. The events of 2018 had an impact on the implementation of the ad transparency policy. It was then revealed that the Cambridge Analytica company had illegally acquired data on the activity of tens of millions of people, which was later used in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Initially, information about launched ads could only be checked from the level of a specific company’s page. However, this did not provide a full picture of the competition among advertisers, and additionally, it was time-consuming.
This problem was only solved by the Meta Ad Library, introduced shortly after. It is a tool available within the Meta system, through which one can browse all active ads published through Meta products – such as Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. In the case of ads regarding social and political topics, the Library also shows inactive ads to maintain full transparency.
The Library is available for free. It does not require registration or even logging into one’s account.
How to check competitors’ ads? Step-by-step guide
There are 3 ways to check competitors’ ads on Facebook.
Method 1. “Page transparency” option
Choose this method if you want to check a specific company’s ads. To do this, open Facebook in a browser or app, and then go to the competitor’s company page. You can view the ads created by them in the “Page transparency” panel.
Click the “See all” link. In the newly opened window, you will find the “Ads from this Page” section. Below this information, there is a “Go to Ad Library” link. It will redirect you directly to the company’s list of active creations.
Method 2. Direct access to the Meta Ad Library
You can also access the Library through the page https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/.
To check out all active and inactive ads of a specific company, enter its name in the search engine. You can filter the results by activity status, advertisers, language, display time, as well as ad type (videos, images, text).
Importantly, in the Library you will also search for ads by keywords. This will provide you with extensive comparative material, and thanks to this, also more reliable and authoritative analysis results.
On the preview of a specific ad, you can see:
- when it was launched;
- on which Meta-owned platforms it is displayed;
- how many of the advertiser’s ads use the same material;
- whether the ad has more than one version.
In the case of ads that are related to social or political topics, you have access to more detailed data. The Library will additionally show you information such as:
- estimated audience size;
- expenses;
- number of impressions;
- audience profile – their gender, age, and location.
Method 3. “Why am I seeing this ad?” function
When a competitor’s ad appears on your Facebook feed, click the three-dot icon in the top right corner of the promoted post. From the drop-down menu, select the “Why am I seeing this ad?” option.
This way, you will see what the most important features of the target audience are in terms of demographic data (gender, age, location, language), as well as user activity. If you see a specific ad, you probably meet one of the demographic conditions or have previously visited, commented on, or otherwise interacted with fanpages thematically related to the advertiser.
Sometimes the advertiser also uses remarketing for targeting. You may also see a specific ad if you have recently visited their website or one with a similar topic. In such a situation, the information “this advertiser wants to reach people who visited the website…” should appear in the “Why am I seeing this ad?” panel.
What to do to make Facebook display competitors’ ads?
All Meta-owned platforms display ads that are best matched to the audience’s profile and their activity.
For profiling, they use, among other things:
- pages liked by you and your friends;
- content you share;
- information from your profile;
- content you react to;
- activity on websites that have a conversion pixel implemented (in websites, stores, or apps – also outside of Facebook);
- general user profile.
Therefore, you can “train” the Facebook algorithm to show you creations of competitive companies. The easiest way to see ads relevant to your industry is browsing competitors’ Facebook fanpages, as well as showing activity on pages related to it both on Meta platforms and outside of them.
You can also additionally verify the topics that the algorithm has assigned to you as interests, and remove the incorrect ones. How to do it? If you see an ad that does not match your preferences, open the post menu and select the “Why am I seeing this ad?” option, and then click the “Make changes to your ad preferences” item. A list of advertisers, ad topics, and preference settings will open in a new tab. From this level, you can pause ads of a specific fanpage.
Another way that will help you eliminate unwanted ads or aid in displaying the desired ones is to use the privacy settings panel. Just go to https://www.facebook.com/privacy/checkup, and then select the “Your ad preferences on Facebook” tile. This makes it easy to specify what data from your profile will be shared with advertisers. You can, for example, restrict information about work, relationships, or education. Facebook also allows you to hide interactions with ads from your friends.
6 useful pieces of information provided by the Facebook Ad Library
From the data provided by the Meta Ad Library, you can extract many interesting pieces of information that you will later use in your campaigns. What can you find out?
What platforms are competitors using?
Thanks to this, you will be able to assess whether it is most profitable to display ads only on Facebook, or if it would be good to include campaigns on Instagram or Messenger as well. Remember, however, that sometimes it is worth doing the opposite – showing up where your competition is absent. Since Meta is an auction system that works on the “who gives more” principle, an ad in less competitive places will simply be cheaper. Besides, it will be easier for you to stand out there and be remembered by customers.
How does the competition target its ads?
This will allow you to more precisely define your target audience and expand it. You can use targeting as a source of inspiration, but also as an indication among which customer groups the competition will be smaller and the ads cheaper. This way, you will set accurate ad targeting, but also adapt your offer and overall brand communication style.
How does the competition communicate with the target audience?
This way, you will establish the desired ad style. You will also determine:
- what relationship the competition has with a given audience group (tone of voice);
- what CTAs work depending on the context – you will address a remarketing customer differently than one who is interacting with the brand for the first time;
- what words, forms, enumerations, and even emoticons to use;
- whether to use cultural references and wordplay;
- whether a simple message works better, or more creativity.
Which advertising formats does the competition use?
Find out which ad formats are the most popular among your target audience: video, text, or image. Also pay attention to the nature of these multimedia. Perhaps they are created based on storytelling? Or maybe they are videos showing the product in use or opinions of satisfied users?
You will also find out if it is worth using different graphics for the same text or vice versa. Several versions of ads that differ by only one element are usually used in the case of quite extensive target audiences with slightly different preferences. Opt for this method if you want to match the preferences of the maximum number of people.
What is the competition currently advertising and what promotions do they have?
This will help you determine when and what products are worth promoting. By observing the actions of the competition, you will distinguish a few main advertising trends. Most often, you can observe product promotion aimed at selling out lagging stock (so-called warehouse clear-out). Another popular strategy among sellers is intensive promotion of bestsellers to increase the return on ad spend.
Where does the competition direct traffic from ads?
Sometimes the reason an ad is ineffective is not its form, but the page to which you redirect customers who clicked the ad. Many elements may discourage them from making a purchase – for example, an unintuitive website UX or unclear information on the landing page.
So use your competitors’ ads to find out what a customer-friendly landing page should look like. Also check where your competition most often redirects users who click on ads. Is it a product page? Or perhaps informational or blog content that is used to collect customer data and build a mailing list?
How to use the information provided by competitor ad analysis?
There is no use in copying ads or using almost identical creations. This is not only unethical, but above all ineffective. It is important to draw conclusions in relation to your own services or products. What works for your competitors will not always work equally well for you.
How, then, can you turn knowledge about the competition into an effective advertising campaign?
- Identify similarities and differences. This will allow you to determine the weaknesses and strengths of your business. You will be able to prepare ads that emphasize your advantages and values.
- Fill the niche where you can stand out. Do you offer something your clients do not have? Are your product prices higher, but you provide a lot in return? Highlight this in your ad!
- Draw inspiration from the language, but stay original. It is good if the overall tone of the ad resonates with the desired target audience. However, do not try to replicate messages, especially if you have not managed to find a competitive advantage in other areas. Sometimes it is worth weaving one or two distinctive elements into the ad that will attract attention.
It may also happen that the analysis does not indicate any specific direction in advertising (or you meet all of the above conditions and do not know how to combine them). In such a situation, it is best to decide to test several versions of ads. After such tests in, you will see for yourself in Ads Manager which of them perform better (for example, generate completed forms at a lower cost or lead to a greater number of products being added to the cart in your store) and which of them you can safely turn off as part of optimization.
Is it possible to hide your ads from the competition?
In theory, such an action is possible and involves running two fanpages – one official and the other only for ads. However, this method exposes you to suspicions of fraud and limits advertising possibilities. In such a case, the main problem is that your official Facebook profile will not generate customer engagement, which means you will not build a community around your brand – and that is very important for business development.
It is considerably better to create ads that would encourage you yourself to make a purchase. This requires a lot of effort and time-consuming preparations, but it is a profitable path that your customers will appreciate. This will make it easier for you to build a community around your brand and establish a lasting relationship with it. Moreover, the transparency of actions, including advertising ones, will confirm your honesty, commitment to values, and professionalism. There is no advantage in saving on the image of a solid and trustworthy seller – it is your investment in the brand’s future.
Combine knowledge with creativity and create an effective ad!
Facebook’s Ad Library provides a lot of valuable information about your competition and advertising methods. However, do not expect it to show you a simple path to success through imitation. It is only a tool – effective if you properly interpret the obtained data and draw the right conclusions.
If you have doubts or would like to discuss the validity of your analysis assumptions, take advantage of our consultations. We also have something for you if you are looking for ideas for creative ads. With our training courses, you will learn how to create content that attracts customer attention. This is the final polish that will give your advertisements the desired shape!
