How to view your competitors ads on Facebook
In this post I am going to show you how to see your competitors ads on Facebook. This is something that has not always been available, rather something Facebook have developed in response to the push for more transparency on the platform – namely a response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
I will show you how to access this information.
Share tips on what you can do with this information.
So firstly, how can you see what your competition is up to?
Jump onto Facebook, and search for your competitors Facebook Page using the search bar. I myself have searched for Nike, and will be using this as the example.
Once on their Facebook page, scroll down the page until you see ‘Page Transparency’
Click ‘See All’ towards the right. This will open up a pop up, so you may need to temporarily disable your ad / pop up blockers to view this.
Scroll down to the bottom until you see ‘Go to Ads Library’
You will now be in the ads library. Toggle the filters as you wish (platform, geo location) to view the ads that your competitor is running on Facebook / Instagram.
You will now be in the ads library. Toggle the filters as you wish (platform, geo location) to view the ads that your competitor is running on Facebook / Instagram.
You can also click into ‘See More Details’ to view some additional basic details on the ad. This includes the potential reach of the ad, amount spent, delivered impressions, and whether the ad has multiple versions of copy / creative (using dynamic copy feature for instance).
You cannot however see a breakdown of who they are targeting.
So what can you do with this information?
Firstly take a look at what your competition is up to, and how they engage their audience.
Do they prospect audiences based on price, or on value? Do they have a re-targeting strategy geared towards reaching website visitors that did not convert, or those who place items into their baskets but don’t check out?
Do they use some of the advanced e-commerce features on Facebook, such as the Dynamic Product Catalogue? If so you may also want to explore this before your competitor gets too far ahead of you!
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