Using Facebook Ad Library to Improve Your Facebook Ads Campaign

The Facebook Ad Library is a must-have resource for competitor research and creative inspiration. It acts as a legal trojan horse to see the strategies behind our competitors’ ads and how they are able to market them so well. 

Luckily for marketers and advertisers like us, Facebook Ads library search updates have provided us with some new data that we can use to reverse engineer our competitor’s advertising success.

With over 10 million businesses advertising on Facebook, there is a massive dataset for anyone to consume. But what if you could tap into that information and improve your Facebook Ads campaign? Well, now you can, with Facebook Ad Library.

In this blog, we will discuss proven strategies in detail and their step-by-step implementation that you can use right now for better campaign results.

What is Facebook Ad Library?

Facebook Ad Library (now called Meta Ad Library) is a searchable public database where you can find details on all active ads running on Meta’s platforms (FB, Instagram, Messenger, etc).

You can search ads on Facebook and get access to extensive details that include ad creative, targeting parameters, ad spend, and more. This level of exposure and details is great for any advertiser, but FB Ads library was originally launched as a transparency tool after a political scandal of Cambridge Analytica in 2016.

Even though its origin is a bit dark, it has turned out to be a positive game-changer for advertisers. This tool has made it possible for advertisers of all scopes to compete on a level playing field.

The Facebook Ads search will give you access to thousands of ads which can be sorted by country, ad type, and the advertiser.

Once you have set up your search parameters, you can then select and See Ad details like ad ID, start date, and platform, along with creative and ad copy.

Now that we have established a basic understanding, we can delve into the inner workings of Ad Library and how you can use it to improve your social media ad campaign.

How to Access the Facebook Ads Library?

There are two ways to access the Facebook Ads Library:

Method #1

The simplest way is to go to the URL of Facebook Ad Library and add your geographical location and other parameters in the search bar to further narrow it down (Facebook Ad search by criteria).

Method #2

Another way to access the Fb Ad Library is to go to Facebook, view any page, and click “See All” under the Page transparency section.

Once you are on the page, select “Go to Ad Library” under the Ads from this Page section.

Both options lead you to the same destination, but we have described both of them to make it more convenient for you to access the Ad library in any way you like.

Additional Info

We recommend that you log into your Facebook account while you do this. Although the library is accessible without logging in, if you are browsing as a guest, you will not be able to see the ads targeted for 18+ audiences amongst other restrictions.
Also, disable your Ad blocker if you are using one (before searching).

How to Use Ad Library to Improve Facebook Ads Campaign?

The Facebook Ads Library is a goldmine of valuable information for advertisers, but you need to know how to use Ad Library to its fullest potential to make it work, and not just as a utility. 

Here is a step-by-step breakdown of how to get started on the Ad library and use that information to improve your marketing campaign:

Select Country and Category

Before you get your hands on any ads, you need to pre-define your search criteria.

First, you can search for ads in a single, specific country of your choice. This is extremely helpful if your product/service varies with the location. You can narrow down your FB ads search with both areas of operation and then with the ad category.

Select the country:

You can opt for localized search, or you can click on “All Countries” if your business operates globally. This allows you to match your ad strategy with the global competitors.

Select the Ad category:

Now, click on “All ads” for a complete list of ads. Facebook All Ads is for every user in any region of the world.

However, if your ads are related to:

• Issues, elections, or politics
• Housing
• Employment
• Credit

These are included for some countries, so if you happen to be looking for such categories, click on them.

Search for a Brand, Keyword, or Industry

There are two ways you can spy on competitors ads.

Search for Brand:

This option is more focused on selecting and reviewing the ads of the brands that you look up to. By entering a brand name, you will get a dropdown list where you can select the exact thing you are looking for.

After you click on a certain brand, it will show you a list of ads that are currently being run under that account. The only slight restriction is that those ads by larger brands will be different for each Meta Ad account (concerning each geographical market) as you can see from the example.

For example, if you go for Coca-Cola, you will see accounts like CocaColaBr, CocaColaUnitedStates, CocaColaMX, CocaColaFrance etc.

Looking for Ads Inspiration:

For ad inspiration use Facebook's Ad Library, and in a more broad way, you need to have a list of Facebook keywords that align with the product/service you are trying to market.

You can type in those Facebook advertising keywords and select the most relevant ads that pop up.

For Example, if You search for “fat burning” or “vitamin supplements”, you get a ton of noisy results. The best way to do it is to use keywords like “WeightLoss” to finetune your search and find FB Ads with the most relevance.

Plus you can see what keywords competitors are bidding on, what other brands have this keyword in their name, and how they approach this market.

Additional Info
There is a feature called “Exact Phrase Search” in the Fb Ad Library. To use it properly, put quotes around the search term to see results containing the same words in the same order. 

You can access this pop-up window by clicking on the “Filter” button. 

Filter your Ad Search Library

As of 2024, Facebook has updated and added some extensive filtering features to the Ads Library Meta. By using these filters, you can easily segment the information you are viewing. 

With these filters, you can clearly see your competitors’ posting time, their recent ad activity Facebook, their choice of platforms, and the styles of creative they use to produce their ads. 

You can access this pop-up window by clicking on the “Filter” button.

By filtering FB ads search results, you can locate the hidden gems for your Facebook ad inspiration. We have listed the available filters to check FB Ads starting with what filter provides the highest value downwards:

Active Status:

Active Status will show you what ads are currently visible to users. This is an indicator that these ads are being displayed to interested audiences, and also a reminder that Facebook does not show inactive ads forever.

If you are interested in a certain Ad that you think can be of use to you later, you can always Save Ads from the Facebook Ad Library.

Impressions By Date:

Use impressions to see when that ad was run and how successful it has been.

For example, 

• Set data like 1st March 2024
• Then create a filter for On or before: 1st Jan 2024

The search results will show only those ads that started running 3 months ago and their social media impression.

And now when you pair this with the Active Status filter, it will further narrow down those active ads that have been running since our set filter date (in this case, January 1st). 

This filter will tell you the active Facebook ad impressions brought into awareness, meaning how many people are currently being exposed to this brand ad.

This indicates that the ad is working & is still relevant to this date, or that the brand is pushing its luck by burning money on that ad.

Media Type:

The media type filter allows you to see results by their ad creative style. Their choice of content category and Meta advertising formats.

• Images: Pictures with little or no text
• Memes: Funny illustrations with text or relatable issues
• Images and Memes: This combines the first two filters
• Videos: Adv video search results for ads with your keywords in their transcript or ad copy
• No image or video: Ads with just text posts – a very rare and un-preferred format

Advertiser:

Use this multi-select filter to show ads from only a few selected advertisers. This dropdown will be shown only when you are doing a search with Facebook ad keywords.

Platform:

Facebook (Meta) has multiple different platforms for displaying ads. This one is also a multi-select filter that allows you to narrow down your search to a specific Meta ads platform. It can either be Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, or Messenger.

Language:

Simply filter ads by language. Just remember that ads with more than one language will not appear when the filter is applied.

Analyzing your Findings for Ads Inspiration

After the filtering process, you might be left with dozens if not hundreds of ads to review.

To bring this information to good use in our Facebook PPC competitor analysis, we are going to provide you with a helpful cheat sheet to draw insights:

Check the Ad’s Running Date

Ads that have been running longer than others indicate that they are driving positive results for their advertiser.

When you review your ads for analysis, whether active or inactive, check for their start date. If an ad has been running for several months or years, it's most likely generating higher conversion rates and maintaining utmost relevance to the user.

Evaluate the Ad Creative and Copy

Determine which design elements or visual graphics the advertiser used for its high-performing ads.

In the example below, the brands ‘JustFit: Lazy Workout & Fit’ & “Herbicure Naturals” use customer testimonials, reviews, and UGC to promote their fitness app. Their personal interaction with the customers and relatable content is a great strategy that could work for you as well

We have provided some insightful questions for your competitor advertising analysis:

Q: Did he include images, videos, or animation? 

A: Check for their choice of elements that support the ad better

Q: Is the tone formal or casual?

A: Look for their use of tone depending upon the type of ad

Q: Do their videos feel more authentic or more like a TV Commercial?

A: Use the Facebook video search engine to see if those ads are UGC (user-generated content) or did they put time and effort into their video production to make it seem more natural and relatable. Or if they find it better to do it in a TV- commercial manner.

Q: Did they select Manual or Automatic placements?

A: Look for a note that says “Multiple Versions” which means that the ad is using dynamic features. This includes multiple formats, visuals, copy, or dynamic ads being used. If it’s missing, it’s not a dynamic ad.

You can use these insights to draw your conclusions and use them in your ad campaign.

Additional Info

If you are unsure, or getting mixed signals from different competitor’s ads, then conduct CRO AB Testing to see which ad creative and copy gets the highest conversion rates. 

It helps select the best one via performance comparison.

Q: Who is the Ad targeting?

A: Locate the UTM parameter at the end of the link, it can tell you some information about the ad set, or the target audience.

For example, if you see something like “utm_campaign=mof-retargeting” it means that the retargeting ad is a MOF or “Middle of funnel”. 

Some other keywords that you need to be looking for would be TOF (Top of Funnel), BOF (Beginning of Funnel), etc.

Additional Info

Look for patterns in these targeting parameters across multiple ads by the same advertiser. You can locate and identify their broad audience strategy which can help you finetune your targeted Meta Ads search.

These are the most insightful questions and strategies that you can use to make a difference and perfect your ad campaign.

Save Ads from the Facebook Ad Library for Later Use

One of the restrictions and the best thing about FB Ad Library is that the ads are not available to view forever. Inactive ads get thrown out of the competition after a certain time, allowing other competing ads to make their entrance.

So what you can do is, save, organize, and share your favorite ads forever without the links ever being expired. So you can view Facebook ads without any hassle.

EU Transparency Information (2024 Update)

The Facebook Meta Ads Library is constantly evolving — with better and more advanced search features every time. That being said, one of the best perks of using Ad Library is that you can collect much more info on your competitors that are running ads in the EU.

The whole of Europe with its massive population, interconnectivity, and purchasing power makes it a goldmine for advertisers.

You can now dive into audience breakdowns, demographics, precise targeting, and more. This particular information is what takes up more time and effort for advertisers to track down, but now you can get all that with one click. How cool is that?

Click “See Ad Details” on any asset to view advanced information.

The Ads transparency center will show you the following sections:

• European Union Transparency
• About the Advertiser
• Beneficiary and Payer

Upon clicking, a pop-up section will appear labeled as “European Union Transparency” and you will see a message specified by Meta, "We provide additional information for ads that were shown on Meta technologies anywhere in the EU."

So to get all the juicy details, you might need to only focus on this particular section (European Union Transparency), where you will find information like:

EU Ad Audience

This section displays all the EU countries and regions targeted by that ad. You will also find two filters, “Included” and “Excluded”, which will further narrow down the specific locations targeted or excluded by the ad.

Age and Gender

In this section, you can see the ad’s target age and gender specifications. Advertisers can select a minimum and a maximum age slot for ad viewers, and specify genders. 

Look at this example, where the advertiser has targeted women between the ages of 18-65+.

EU Ad Delivery

This section tells you how many accounts saw the ad at least once in each country. It also gives you a detailed view like location, age, and gender, to give a better presentation of how the ad performed across all these demographics.

This might be the best Facebook Ads Spy tool you can use for precise targeting.

In the example below, you will see that Germany has the highest reach of 24 in males & females between the ages of 45-64.

You can also target these specific groups if you have a similar campaign in mind, this is to give you an idea of how you can check how other ads are performing that are similar to yours.

Facebook ads transparency works wonders if you can learn how to use it optimally to your advantage. Let's look at some of the experts’ advice on using Meta Ads Library to its maximum potential.

Expert Tips to Get the Most out of Facebook Ad Library

Meta Ads Library might seem like a massive database of ads. But if you can learn how to use it to its full potential, it can prove to be a treasure chest of creative insights and valuable data for advertisers.

Here are some of our expert advice on making the most of Ad Library:

Analyze Competitor’s A/B Split Tests

To win this game of ad competition, advertisers should perform rigorous A/B split tests on several ideas before they actually invest in them.

Luckily for us, Facebook Ads Library provides us with an option to see the A/B testing social media details that our competitors are performing on their ads.

While viewing ad creatives, you will see a message appear saying, “This ad has multiple versions”. This means that the competitor is running AB split tests on that ad to see which one will perform better.

Click on “See Ad Details” to view each variant and analyze the elements your competitor is using.

Or you can always choose to conduct your testing by using the A/B test tool in Facebook Ads Manager.

Keep up with Emerging Trends in Marketing

You should keep an eagle’s eye on emerging trends in marketing. Although it's not possible for one person or an agency to search all of Facebook, but you can make the most out of our search experience by viewing recent trends in marketing.

For example, you can type in FB Ads Trends 2024, to see the most popular ads and their content type, which you can use to your advantage for flash sales or however you see fit.

Speed and action are the key. It is always a good idea to hit the iron when it's hot. Join in on the advertising industry trends, or you could lose your spotlight if you wait too long to act.

Contact WebDigitalSphere for a tailored report on social media marketing trends 2024 to help you in your Ad content creation.

Get more Precise Data with Reports

here is a report feature in Facebook's Ad Library, which gives you more granular data points. Instead of a broad search, you can get hard-hitting & precise information on ads related to politics, elections, or other significant social issues.

Using this feature gives you details on:

• The Advertiser
• Competitor pay per click (CPC, Ad spend)
• Geo-targeting
• UI/UX design Approach

This is a useful piece of information to get an estimate of what’s working and what’s not. 

Create a Swipe File

In short, a Swipe File is a digital folder on your system where you keep all the advertising ideas that you have accumulated over time. When you begin a new research on ads, you can always recall your findings.

You can use Google Drive for a more secure location for your ad ideas, in case of a local system crash, or emergency. Cloud storage is good for quick and global access with backup in case of unseen circumstances.

Additional Info

• Create Page like ads on Facebook so you can reach people who may like and follow your content (For a more expansive reach)
• Make sure to use Audience Manager Facebook to create, manage, and apply precise strategic targeting.

Get the Most out of Facebook Ad Library with WebDigitalSphere

Leave the research process to us – and we utilize every resource at hand to improve your Facebook Ads campaign. 
Our seasoned experts know the ins and outs of Facebook Ad Library and can deliver the most productive & insightful report tailored to your brand.

WebDigitalSphere also offers services in Facebook Ads management, monitoring, Advertising, Content Creation, and FB eCom Store.