Here’s a quick trick for you people running Facebook or Instagram ads (or thinking about running Facebook ads).

While Big Brother #2 (the other being The Googz) often frustrates us marketers to no end…  

… like how you have to pay to reach people in your own private group who have already told The Face that they want to hear from you…

… Sometimes they do fun stuff that gives us new toys to play with too. 

They’ve just rolled out a new feature in the name of transparency and marketing disclosure that now lets you take a sneak peak at your competitor’s PPC ads. 

You can see the creatives, ad copy, the headlines, everything. It’s pretty snazzy. 

This feature is rolling out in stages, so if you don’t see it right now, then it should be coming to you soon. 

Before we get into it, let’s just preface this by saying you should only use this information for inspiration and ideas… 

.. NOT to steal other people’s copywriting or ads. 

Not only is that just plain mean, but it’s a small marketing world out there and stealing other people’s schtuff is just going to come back and bite you in the patootie. 

So keep it clean and don’t be a jerk-wad. 

Use this trick to get your brain juices flowing, then come up with your own big ideas and themes to test test test and find out what works best for your business. 

It’s dead simple, so here’s a quick look at how to become a FB Ad super-spy.  

How To See Your Competition’s Facebook and Instagram Ads in 3 Easy Steps

  1. Go to the Facebook page of the company you want to analyze and click on “Info and Ads in the sidebar.

    – We’ll use the language-learning program Babbel as an example since we broke down some of their native ads a few weeks ago. 
  2. Next select the region you want to target:

  3. Here you can see ads that you may not see in your newsfeed if you aren’t part of the advertiser’s target audience.These are ads that the company is currently running on Facebook and it’s partner programs (like Instagram).You’ll be able to see headlines, ad copy, creatives (pictures), as well as other ads on related pages. 

And that’s it! Pretty simple, right?

The only catch is – this feature DOESN’T show you any engagement metrics. So you won’t be able to see how many people are liking, sharing, or commenting. 

So this tool is best used to help generate ideas for your swipe file, or inspiration when creating your own ads. 

BUT, now when you see these ads come up in your newsfeed (which is likely since you’ve visited their page and will be retargeted) you can get a glimpse of those engagement metrics. 

And while TESTING is the only way to know what works for sure (I know… I sound like a broken record on this. There’s a good reason.) you can guesstimate how well an ad is doing by looking at how much engagement it’s getting. 

If an ad has thousands of comments and shares, then that’s a pretty good indication that the company is pumping a ton of money into it. Which, in turn, is a good indication that the ad is performing well.

Get it? Got it?

Good. 🙂

I hope this quick trick was helpful for you guys looking to drive traffic to your funnels through Facebook ads. 

If you have any questions about analyzing ad copy (or writing your own ad copy), then let’s jump on a call!

I’d love to chat with you guys and learn more about what you’re working on. 

And while I only have a limited number of spaces available for ongoing coaching students, I’m always glad to help out with one-time critiques or copy analysis. 

So don’t hesitate to reach out if you need some help. 

Until then! Ciao Bellos and happy ad hunting!