The Meta Ad Library is a powerful tool for marketers. It helps you understand what your competitors are doing and gives you ideas for your own ads.
What Is the Meta Ad Library?
The Meta Ad Library is a big online catalog where you can see all the active (and in active) ads on Meta’s platforms. You can see what the ad says, when it started, who it’s trying to reach, and sometimes how much money was spent on it. This helps people know more about what companies are advertising.
The Ad Library started in 2018 as a tool to show political ads on Facebook. Over time, it grew to include all kinds of ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and other Meta platforms. This tool is important because it shows you the ads that companies are running, helping you understand their strategies.
Who Uses the Meta Ad Library and Why?
- Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Brands: These are brands that sell directly to customers, like online stores. They use the Meta Ad Library to see what their competitors are doing. For example, they might check what products others are advertising and what kind of messages they use. This helps them come up with new ideas for their own ads.
- Business-to-Business (B2B) Brands: These brands sell to other businesses. They use the Meta Ad Library to see how other companies are trying to reach decision-makers in their industry. This helps them understand how to better market their own products or services.
Here’s how to use it:
1. Accessing the Meta Ad Library
The Meta Ad Library is easy to access and use. You don’t need a Facebook account to get started.
Steps to Access the Library:
- Visit the Website: Go to the Meta Ad Library website.
- Search for Ads: Use the search bar to look up ads by brand name, keyword, or specific topics.
- Filter Results: Narrow down the search by using filters like country, platform (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger), and ad category.
Why It Matters:
- Quick Insights: This gives you a quick look at what’s working for others.
- Broad Search Capabilities: You can look at ads from your direct competitors or explore trends in your industry.
Best Practices:
- Regular Monitoring: Check the library regularly to stay updated.
- Note Patterns: Look for patterns in ad strategies to see what might work for you.
2. Analyzing Competitor Ads
Once you find the ads, it’s important to know what to look for. Analyzing competitor ads can help you understand their strategies and find new ideas for your own campaigns.
Steps to find the competitor
- Select your target market (say “United States”, “United Kingdom”, or “Australia”)
- Select the type of ads (usually “All Ads”)
- Select the Facebook / Meta page or account of your competitor
In this example I have selected United States, All Ads, and Popl – as I am doing competitor research for the digital business cards category for Profyle, an up and coming provider in that niche.
Now we can see Popl’s latest ads. And if you scroll down you can see them categorized by launch month.
For ads that look interesting and you would like to explore more, you can click on “See ad details”. That opens up a full-browser width pop-up that shows the ad in a larger format, plus it gives you the Instagram and Facebook account names and follower amounts for the brand.
Key Elements to Analyze:
- Ad Creatives: Look at the visuals—photos, videos, colors, and layout.
- Ad Copy: Pay attention to the language used. Is it formal or casual? What is the tone?
- Call to Action (CTA): See what action the ad is asking people to take, like “Shop Now” or “Learn More.”
Why It Matters:
- Understand What Works: Seeing what others do can help you decide what might work for your ads.
- Find Inspiration: If you’re stuck, this is a great way to get new ideas.
Best Practices:
- Detailed Notes: Keep track of what you find useful in a document or spreadsheet.
- Look for Trends: Notice if certain ad styles or messages are common among successful ads.
3. Leveraging Advanced Search Techniques
The Meta Ad Library offers advanced search tools that can help you dig deeper. However, be aware, that unlike what many inexperienced blog writers tell you, you cannot filter or sort by Engagement Metrics.
Advanced Search Techniques:
- Boolean Operators: Use AND, OR, and NOT to refine your search. For example, searching “fitness AND protein powder” will show ads that mention both.
- Filtering by Platform or other criteria: You can filter by language, platform, media types (which includes even “memes”) and whether an advertising is active or inactive.
Here’s an example of using the AND Boolean Operator
Scrolling a bit, I found this ad:
What I can then do is filter it down a tad bit to only Instagram ads as this D2C category is very heavily focused on that niche:
And, then I only want to see videos as I know these tend to be more engaging for this audience.
Ah! Now, I am finally finding protein powder brands just like I intended too. Now I can truly kickstart my competitor research.
Why It Matters:
- Precision: These techniques help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
- Quality Insights: You get more focused results, which can be more useful.
Best Practices:
- Combine Filters: Use multiple filters to get very specific insights.
- Test Different Searches: Experiment with different combinations to uncover hidden gems.
4. Spotting Industry Trends
The Meta Ad Library isn’t just about looking at individual ads. You can also spot broader trends in your industry.
Steps to Spot Trends:
- Search Across Multiple Brands: Look at ads from several competitors.
- Note Common Themes: Are there recurring messages, colors, or styles?
- Use Machine Learning Tools: If possible, use tools that analyze text and imagery trends over time.
For example, in my initial research – I did see quite a lot of pink for the wider fitness category.
Remember, the guy in the video above also wore pink. However, as I zoom in on the protein powder category. We see one product ad for protein powder kind of emulating that too:
Other aspects that I observed while examining different search results for this category were:
- Facebook caters more towards services versus products and is targeted towards older audiences from their 40s onwards (e.g. “get fit in your 40-50-60s, here is my program”).
- Instagram trends towards more the millenial buyer with a lot more products like protein powder that I was doing competitor research for.
- The most prevalent ad formats for the protein powder category were UGC video testimonials and product image ads.
Why It Matters:
- Stay Ahead: Spotting trends early helps you stay ahead of the competition.
- Better Planning: Knowing what’s trending can guide your future campaigns.
Best Practices:
- Regular Review: Make trend-spotting a regular part of your research.
- Act on Trends: Don’t just spot trends—use them in your ads.
What I usually do is I create a Notion, Confluence, or Anytype folder where I can store my competitor research and then I update it at least quarterly. These are all
5. Geographical Performance Analysis
Analyzing ads by region can help you create more targeted campaigns.
How to Analyze Geographical Performance:
- Filter by Location: Use the location filter in the Ad Library.
- Compare Regions: Look at how different regions respond to similar ads.
- Use GIS Tools: Combine this data with geographic information systems for deeper insights.
So, say, I want to not only sell protein powder in the United States but also in the United Kingdom.
How could I change my approach to be more successful? Doing a bit of ad research can give us a hint or two.
- I can instantly see far fewer ads ( 21 in the UK vs 221 in the US – so almost 10x fewer). Thus the competiton relative to the market size (comparing the population of the US vs the UK).
- There were more UGC videos in the US – while in the UK, there are some, but product images with benefit callouts are more prevalent. Either that or product-oriented videos.
Why It Matters:
- Targeted Marketing: You can create ads that are more relevant to specific regions.
- Increase Effectiveness: Localized ads often perform better because they speak directly to the audience.
Best Practices:
- Test Locally: Before a big campaign, test ads in specific regions to see what works best.
- Adapt Quickly: Be ready to adjust your ads based on regional performance.
How to Combine Meta Ad Library with Other Free Tools
To get a better picture of what’s happening in the market, brands often use the Meta Ad Library with other free tools like Google Trends and the Google Ad Transparency Tool.
- Google Trends: This tool shows what people are searching for on Google. Brands can use this to see if certain topics are popular and then check if ads about those topics are running on Meta’s platforms. This helps brands decide if they should create ads around these trending topics.
- Google Ad Transparency Tool: This tool shows ads on Google’s platforms. By using it along with the Meta Ad Library, brands can see how ads are being used across both Google and Meta. This helps them understand where they might need to focus more of their advertising efforts.
What You Can Do with the Meta Ad Library and Other Tools
- Stay on Top of Trends: By knowing what’s popular, brands can quickly change their ads to match what people are interested in.
- Spend Money Wisely: Seeing how competitors are spending their money helps brands decide how to use their own advertising budget.
- Make Ads Better: Combining information from different tools helps brands create ads that work better and reach the right people.
