How to Use Meta Ad Library to Improve Your Ads

Think of your competitors’ ads as an open book. They’re publicly available, offering you a peek into their messaging, creatives, and strategies.

Now imagine being able to read that book anytime you want, for free!

That’s the offering of ad libraries. And Meta ads took it up a notch by creating the most user-friendly ad library with advanced filtering features.

Meta ad library, previously known as Facebook ad library, is a powerful yet underrated resource that performance marketers often overlook. By offering full transparency, it allows you to view Meta ads of all businesses running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network, alongside their performance summary.

Although the initial use case of Meta ad library was to resolve transparency issues around the US elections, currently it’s being used for marketing research to gain competitive advantage.

It’s no wonder that marketers who analyze competitor ads for their own advertising see 30% higher campaign performance. So, whether you’re looking to refine your own Meta ads strategy, seek creative inspiration, or derive some success hacks for your next ad, the Meta ad library can be a great place to get started.

How to access the Meta ad library

There are two ways you can search for your competitor’s ads on Meta. Here’s how you can do it without creating any account on Meta:

1. Go to: https://www.facebook.com/ads/library‍

2. Select your preferred location, ad category, and type in the company name of your search candidate.

3. You can also search by a specific term, such as “e-books”.

4. You can further filter your results for more targeted research.

You can also search for ads for a specific competitor by using their Facebook Page. For this, you’ll need an account of your own to search from:

1. Go to their Facebook Page.
2. Click on “About”.
3. Go to “Page Transparency”.
4. You’ll find the option to see the ads from any page by clicking on “Go to Ad Library.”

Some other underrated features of the Meta ad library include the following:

1. It allows you to download the Ad Library report to see overall spending totals and details about spending by advertiser and location. This is specific to ads about social issues, elections, or politics.
2. There’s an Ad Library API that can be used to build custom searches using parameters such as an ad's estimated audience size, country, or language.
3. You can search for branded content to find posts, stories, videos, and reels on Facebook and Instagram that involve a paid partnership.

How to use the Meta ad library: A step-by-step guide

The Meta ad library is like a rich database that allows you to make your Meta ad strategy more successful and give you a competitive advantage. Here’s the step-by-step approach to making the most of its capabilities:

Step 1: Define your purpose

Before starting any research, it is important that you set your objectives for using the Meta ad library.

Are you seeking creative inspiration for your ad? Or do you want to see what type of ads your competitors are running?

Having your purpose defined in the beginning will help you focus your efforts, avoid getting overwhelmed, and reduce your research time.

Step 2: Use filters for targeted results

You can refine your search results with these filters:

Here’s an example: you own an AI content writing software. You want to see what your competitors are doing in terms of video ads and seek some inspiration for upcoming video content. Your target audience is based out of the US. So you search for companies like Surfer SEO and Copy.ai, narrow your search for the US, select video as media type, and narrow your search results.

Step 3: Analyze the structure of top-performing ads

Once you have a list of ads, break them down into their core components:

• Headlines and ad copy: What type of narrative or tone do competitors use to grab attention? Look for what type of hooks they are using and how they are structuring their value proposition.
• Visuals: What type of content are your successful competitors using in their ads? Does the majority of their ad contain images or videos? What type of graphic elements they are using? Getting answers to these questions can help you uncover the secret sauce to make your next campaign perform better.
• CTAs (Call-to-Action): Identify the CTAs driving engagement.

Besides these, here are some additional differentiating points that are worth focusing on:

• Are they emphasizing discounts or benefits?
• Are visuals focused on storytelling or product features?

Once you’ve gathered answers to these questions, try to spot a trend or pattern among the ad activities of your most successful competitors. That should be your next Meta ad campaign strategy.

Step 4: Examine ad timing and duration

Pay attention to when ads were launched and how long they’ve been active. Ads that have run for weeks or months are likely performing well, as advertisers tend to extend the time period of successful campaigns.

This can further give you information about:

• Seasonal campaigns e.g., holiday discounts your competitors are leveraging on.
• Evergreen strategies that work all year round.

Using these information, you can plan and run ad campaigns during the conversion season like black Friday, or you can fill in the gap when your competitors are inactive.

Step 5: Identify patterns but tailor them to your brand

Once you’ve gathered enough insights, it’s time to align your own strategy per their success stories. For example:

• If competitors’ video ads consist of product or feature demos, create a series of instructional videos of your most successful and unique features that are already popular among your customer base.
• If competitors are using testimonials or are using quantitative figures to explain benefits, you can incorporate case studies into your next batch of creatives and start including numbers in your narrative too.

However, it is always advised to take all these learnings from competitor analysis and research with a grain of salt. Every business is different. What works for your competitor won’t directly work for you. Blatantly copying and pasting your competitor’s ad strategy is something that shouldn’t be in your playbook.

Step 6: Experiment with variations

By picking up a few trends that have worked for your competitors, you can experiment with them to find what works best for you. Such as:

• Experiment with different ad formats for bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) content to see which performs the best for you.
• Test multiple CTAs to see which brings the most clicks.
• A/B test different messaging styles inspired by competitor ads.

Regular testing ensures you’re not just following trends but validating them with your audience.

Case study: How Spotless Materials leveraged Meta ad library insights

spotLESS Materials, a YC-backed startup specializing in nanotech coatings, wanted to test out Meta ads to expand their customer base. Before they came to Kaya, they had already worked with multiple agencies. However, this had led to fragmented strategies and slow results, on top of hefty price tags.

When spotLESS finally came to us, we designed a cohesive ad strategy for them combining all the insights we could derive from its competitors on Meta ad library. We analyzed competitors’ campaigns to identify successful messaging and creative trends, particularly focusing on video ads and clear benefit-driven CTAs, and helped them see the following results.

• 8x increase in conversion rates
• 72% decrease in customer acquisition costs (CAC)

This shows how the Meta ad library can convert raw insights into actionable strategies that drive real growth. You can learn more about spotLESS’s success story here.

Bonus tips on using Meta ad library

Here are some additional hacks that can help you make the most out of this free ad library:

1. Maintain a doc where you note down the key trends that you are picking up from competitors and update it regularly.
2. Take screenshots of your favorite ads’ visuals and create your own curated library.
3. Note down the patterns you have seen in terms of ad copy structure of successful ads and share them with your copywriters.
4. Make a list of keywords that your successful competitors have been repeating in their ad copy (other than their USP or unique selling point).
5. Make another list of different call-to-actions that your competitors are using.
6. Make note of the video length of the video ads.
7. List down all the different content ideas, not only for your paid ads but also for your organic ones.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Over-reliance on competitors

As we have mentioned before, it’s always advised to take your competitor’s ads with a grain of salt. Directly copying and pasting your competitor's strategies might not work for you and eventually dilute your brand’s value. Check out this blog to learn the right way to take inspiration from competitor’s ad copy.

Ignoring your audience

Every brand is different. What works for others might not work for you or resonate with your audience. Hence, it is always advised to validate your derived ideas through A/B testing and audience feedback before scaling.

Misinterpreting trends

Not all trends are universal. A format that works for a B2C brand in the same industry might not resonate with the audience of a B2B brand within the same industry. This is where you need to utilize your marketing knowledge and choose which trend to pick and which to leave.

Benefits of using Meta ad library

We have already covered how you can set yourself up for success using Meta ad library. Let’s reiterate the benefits once more:

Smarter way to do competitor analysis

Meta ad library literally unveils all the ads your competitors have run so far. Thus, even if you may not know what’s there in the success playbook of your competitors, you can easily uncover their strategies by studying their ads. You don’t need to toggle between multiple tabs and can find all the insights at one place.

Spot trends in creative and messaging

While not all ads guarantee success, those that have been active for a while often indicate they’re performing well. Pay attention to recurring themes, messaging styles, and visuals to inspire your next campaign.

Inspiration mood board

There’s no denying that starting out a campaign from scratch can be tough. Meta ad library solves that problem for you by working as your ad mood board. You can pick creative content ideas that you haven’t done before but have worked out well for your competitors and easily start from there.