A Guide to Using the Facebook Advertisement Library for Research

Introduction

You can reach your customers wherever they are on Facebook. Building your Facebook custom audience, setting up your bidding strategy, and developing your ad creative takes effort and time. Research is a vital component of the most successful advertising.

Facebook Ads Library (now called Meta Ad Library) is a free tool you can use when researching your advertising approach. Using it, you can get insight into how other advertisers approach their ads.

Facebook Ad Library – What is It?

FB Ad Library provides information about Facebook ads that are running on Instagram, WhatsApp, and other platforms. Also in the database are ads about issues, elections, and politics, regardless of whether they’re active.

Facebook Ad Library – When and Why to Use

Ad Library can be used for many reasons. Check out real-world inspiration for your own Facebook ad campaign if you’re getting ready to launch your first campaign. You could want to validate an idea or optimize a campaign already running. You can also keep your finger on the pulse of what your audience is seeing by browsing through the Facebook Ad Library.

Keyword Search for Your Business

Choose some keywords related to your industry, brand, or products to see what comes up when you search them. It will help you understand the messaging already out there and identify trends you might wish to note.

If you’re looking for vegan condiments, Pazalsear might search “vegan condiments.” Other keywords might be tried, such as “vegan tzatziki” or “vegan mozzarella.”

Take a Look at Your Competitors

Instead of doing a keyword search, you can focus on specific Facebook pages and advertisers to check out the competition.

You can view your competitors’ ads by searching the brand name in the Facebook Ad Library or visiting the brand’s Facebook page.

For example, you can see what organic skincare and cosmetics brand Blendily is advertising by visiting its business page and scrolling down to the “Page transparency” section.

To see all, click “See all.” You’ll get it at the bottom of the page. If the page is running ads, you’ll be able to see it there. Click on Go to Ad Library to see what Blendily is running.

All active ads are listed on the Ad Library page for each business page. For Blendily, one ad is running. For other brands, there may be several ads available. Ad Library groups and organizes active ads by the month they were launched.

Filter Ads by Country

You likely run separate ad campaigns for customers in different locations if you sell internationally. You might focus on a specific geographical region even if you don’t sell internationally. Choosing a country from your ad search will help you find ads relevant to you and the region you want to target.

You can view ads from a specific country by clicking on the dropdown menu (on the left). The country of your choice can be found by scrolling or typing its name into the search box.

A specific advertiser’s page also allows filtering ads by country. You can visit the brand’s Ad Library page and set a filter there if you want to see ads that the natural skincare brand Common Heir is running in other countries.