Think of the Facebook Ad Library, otherwise known as Meta Ad Library, as a constantly updating vision board for digital campaigns for Meta.
The world’s biggest brands (some of them you know and love) and thousands of smaller brands and businesses across industries use Meta ads. And you can find their ads if you search for them.
This gives you access to ideas, angles, offers, and more elements to consider for your ad strategy.
See What Your Competitors Are Doing with Their Advertising
One of the best use cases for the Facebook ads library is to check on your competitors’ Facebook ad campaigns directly.
You can answer questions like:
- What ads, types of ads, and campaigns are your competitors running?
- How consistently do they run their ad campaigns and how long do they run campaigns for?
- What markets or locales do your competitors primarily target?
The ads, the copy on those ads, the creatives, the target audience they are trying to reach out to, and the call to action button they use are all there on a publicly available platform.
A small caveat, of course, is that it’s limited to Facebook and Instagram ads for each competitor you choose to track.
Limitation: Finding the Corresponding Email Campaign for Each Ad
The best part about the Facebook Ad Library is that it shows you live ads or ads that are currently running or at least with a time stamp of when the ad was live.
One of the best use cases for the Facebook ads library is to check on your competitors’ Facebook ad campaigns directly.
Chances are that clicking on any ad takes you through the entire post-click marketing strategy of the particular brand and/or campaign you are tracking.
However, the Facebook Ad Library only shows ads that a particular brand has been running for a while.
The brand in question may also be running email marketing campaigns along with their ads. So, how do you find those email campaigns?
With Panoramata, you can instantly search for a brand (just as you were looking up the brand on the Meta ads library) and immediately match their ad campaigns with email creatives.
Get Inspiration Outside of Your Competitors
While specifically focusing on brands and businesses related to your business niche will be the priority, your learning doesn’t have to end there.
Inspiration is unlimited if you consider hundreds of brands running thousands of Facebook ads and you get to learn from all of them, which you should.
- How do other brands in other industries position their products?
- What target audiences do other brands (or your competitors) seem to target?
What kind of creatives do they use (ad copy, headlines, images, videos, and call-to-action)? - What patterns do you see?
- What angles and approaches do you see other businesses use when it comes to running campaigns on Meta?
Create swipe lists, take notes of what seems to stand out to you, and see if you can use any of those creatives, angles, or offers for your digital marketing campaigns.
Create Swipe Files
Checking on competitors? The Facebook Ad Library certainly helps.
You can, however, also use the Facebook Ad Library to create a healthy collection of swipe files for marketing, copywriting, ad design, campaign ideas, and so much more.
While there’s no direct way to create swipe files right there on the ad library, you can make use of Google Docs, Apple Notes, bookmarks (or however you collect notes on the web) and create a curated list of some of the best running ads in the world.
Alternatively, use Panoramata to create shareable and collaborative swipe files out of ads from any ad network, not limited to the Meta network.
Panoramata for Endless Inspiration and Competitor Tracking
Start with your creative inspiration, and learning, and hit the ground running with Facebook ads. But that’s just the beginning.
With comprehensive competitor tracking tools like Panoramata, extend your learning and inspiration to a whole world beyond these ads.
Learn more about a brand’s:
- landing page design
- email marketing campaigns (including subject lines, email frequency, and email marketing design)
- website SEO profiles
- marketing technology used by competitors or other businesses.
Create curated lists of your competitors, and brands that you want to learn from, glean quick insights on several campaigns in real-time, and much more.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Facebook Ad Library, and how does it help in competitive analysis?
The Facebook Ad Library is a free tool that lets you view active ads from brands on Facebook and Instagram. It helps businesses analyze competitors’ ad strategies, including creatives, targeting, and campaign duration.
2. Can I see how a competitor’s ads connect to their email marketing?
The Facebook Ad Library doesn’t show email campaigns, but tools like Panoramata can match ads with corresponding emails. This allows you to see how brands integrate ads with email marketing strategies.
3. How can I use the Facebook Ad Library to improve my own advertising?
You can analyze competitor ads to identify successful creatives, messaging, and targeting strategies. Creating swipe files of high-performing ads helps you refine your campaigns and develop more effective marketing ideas.
