Guide: What is Facebook Ads Library & How Do I Use It?

Welcome to the Facebook Ads Library.

How it started: As a way to increase ad transparency on Meta’s platforms.

Vs. How it’s going: It’s a pretty SWEET way to find inspiration for your ad campaigns!

As a savvy marketer, you don’t want to miss the Facebook Ads Library when brainstorming new campaigns or writing briefs for UGC creators.

Don’t believe us? Keep reading. ⬇️

What is Facebook Ads Library?

Thankfully, there are no surprises here. As you’d expect, the Facebook Ads Library is simply a digital library where you can see all the ads currently running on Meta’s platforms–Facebook and Instagram.

If you go to the Ad Library, you can search for ads by location (country) and ad category. A good place to start *might* be to check on your competitors and see if they’re running ads!

TikTok and LinkedIn have ad libraries, too, but we’ll discuss those in a separate article because they’re not the same as Facebook's ads library.

Okay, now that you know what it is (and can pull it up in another tab, if needed!), let’s talk about how you can USE it for your brand.

How can brands use Facebook library ads?

There are two main reasons you’ll want to use the Facebook Ads Libary:

To understand your competition better

If you search and see that your competitors are running ads on Meta, they’re likely using it to acquire customers.

Sure, their success will depend on how many ads they’re running and how long they’re running them, but if they’re constantly running multiple ads, you can be PRETTY DARN SURE that they’re seeing results.

One great way to understand the kind of messaging and creative working for your competitors is to look at the ads they’ve been running for a long time–usually for a few months. In theory, if they’re running an ad for months, it’s a profitable ad. (Because if it’s not profitable, they’d turn it off and try something else.)

Of course, you can’t *guarantee* that they’re seeing conversions from these long-running ads. They most likely are, but if they’re leaving the ad campaign running at a smaller budget for months, it may be because they’re using it to build brand awareness instead.

Either way, pay attention to ad campaigns running for multiple months. They probably have great ROAS, even if you’re not sure what their goals are for the campaign.

Another thing to note–if the brand has 1-2 recently launched ads on Meta and nothing else, that doesn’t mean it’s a fully integrated channel that’s working for them. They may just be experimenting. So, treat what you find with caution.

To get inspiration for your ads

Understanding that your competitors are running ads isn’t super useful. The most helpful part is looking at their messaging and seeing what appears to be working for them so you can put your spin on it.

But that’s okay because the BEST use case for the Facebook Ads Library is as an inspiration tool.

Look at the ads that different companies are running. See the creative and copywriting they’re using, and take notes. The ads you discover can be a little goldmine of ideas. You’ll never run out of new ones to try in your pipeline!

And obviously, it’s best to take INSPIRATION from these ads, not plagiarize them. Put your spin on the creative and copy. (If you need help with that, that’s okay–you can send example videos you LOVE to the content creators you work with, tell them what you love about it, and ask them to put their spin on it. See? Easy. 😉)

The simplest way to find this inspiration is to create a shortlist of companies in your industry (or even outside your industry) and check what they’re running. For example, if you’re running a SaaS business, look at brands like Shopify, Spotify, or HubSpot.

If you’re an e-commerce brand, you’ll want to draw inspiration from other e-commerce brands. Create your list of companies, and do some detective work! 🕵️

Limitations

Unfortunately, when you’re doing research, you can’t see the metrics of the ads featured in the ads library on Facebook. It’s fantastic that you can look at the ads themselves for inspiration–but at some point, they must keep SOME information private, right? After all, you wouldn’t want your competition to see how your ads performed, either!

However, as we pointed out above, you can make some good guesses by paying attention to how long the ad has been running. The Facebook Ads Library also allows you to do quite a bit of filtering, which is helpful. For example, if you’re wondering how other companies advertise on Instagram, you can narrow your search by platform, and ta-da! You’ll see the ads companies are running on Instagram.

Ideas for days

Now it’s your turn! Use Facebook library ads to inspire you the next time you run out of ad ideas or brief ideas for UGC videos. Seeing what’s working for other brands might help you see your own in a new light.

And, of course, you don’t have to limit your search to the Facebook Ads Library! You can also check out the TikTok Creative Center (their version of the ads library on Facebook) and LinkedIn’s Ad Library.

Give it a try, and let us know how it goes!