I like paid advertising. It’s more of a dopamine rush than SEO. You get your fix fast. And you know if something is working almost immediately.
But I get stuck when creating a new campaign. Or I used to.
Now, I use what’s working for others. And you can too.
Table of Contents
Isn’t it stealing?!
I love to see how marketers tell their brand’s story and what their goals are. Of course, you can not see anything regarding budget or targeting (you can get close).
Of course, don’t copy the ads outright. They will not work for your business and jeopardize your reputation.
Instead, use them as inspiration.
- How do they hook their audience?
- Are they using emotion?
- Are they telling a story?
- Are they comparing before and after with their product?
- What creatives are they using?
There is countless
Take into account how many ads they are running and what the goal of each is.
- Are they promoting a blog post?
- Are they generating leads to gated content?
- Are they pitching trials or free accounts?
- Are they trying to schedule a demo?
You not only see the what but you can start painting the why. You can visualize their marketing funnel.
Austin Kleon said it best with his book titled “Steal Like An Artist.”
I not only check in on my competitors (direct and detached) but I have a list of brands that always seem to crush. I’ve included a couple of them below by channel. Give me a shout if you want my full list.
Channels
Not all social media channels expose their advertisers’ ads.
Facebook shares it all. Search by the brand and click the page that’s advertising to see all ads. You can filter by ad category if you want to narrow your search down to political ads, etc.
You can further refine your search using the Filters button to identify platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger) and their ad status (active, inactive).
Click on the ads to see the variants the brand is running and visit their landing page.
Use the Filters button to compare active and inactive ads. Compare the hooks between the ads and their creatives when attempting to guess at why an ad was moved inactive.
There are a lot of inferences you can extract from reviewing a brand’s Facebook ads.
Favorite advertisers to watch
Check out Facebook’s Ad Library
Instagram ads are accessed via Facebook’s Ad Library as well. After you’ve identified a brand using the search bar, click the Filters button then select Instagram from the Platform drop-down.
Then similar to the above review of the active and inactive ads. Click on the ad details to review the variants and click the ad to visit their landing page.
It’s also good to compare the ads being run on Instagram versus the ones on Facebook.
Favorite advertisers to watch
Check out Instagram ads on Facebook’s Ad Library
LinkedIn lets you see ads by brand. While there’s no library to search through them like in Facebook, they are easy to find.
Search for the brand on LinkedIn and click on their profile.
Once on the brand’s profile, click Posts then Ads.
Scroll through the ads on LinkedIn and visit the landing page for each ad. Again make a note of the goal behind the ad and how the brand is crafting its messaging.
LinkedIn gives you a feed of the brand’s ad. Keep scrolling and they will continue to populate ads from the brand. There is no easy way to filter through the ads other than scrolling.
I like to start in the LinkedIn feed and then click over to the brands of the ads I see in my feed organically.
I also like to check these brands to see what they are doing almost monthly.
Search for a brand on LinkedIn to see their ads
YouTube
As far as I can tell, YouTube does not have a library of their brands’ ads like Facebook or a tab in the profile like LinkedIn.
However, by curiously researching competitors and your target market (as well as being a customer) you’ll trigger Retargeting ads. Or at least be targeted broadly?
And sometimes you see some incredible ads. YouTube does not link you to a place to watch those ads. Nor do they let you rewind an ad.
But they do give you everything you need to find the unlisted video of the ad.
When you find an ad that resonates with you, pause the video then follow the simple steps below.
Left-click the video and select “Stats for nerds” from the drop-down.
Copy the Video ID snippet in the box that appears in the top left corner of the video.
Replace the Video ID placeholder in the YouTube link below to watch, pause, and replay the video ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v={{VIDEO_ID}}
I’ve included a couple of YouTube ads that have resonated with me over the years.
TikTok
TikTok allows anyone to search through their ad inventory for creative inspiration. You can search by a brand or product then filter by Region, Industry, Objective, and more.
See how brands are organizing some of their influencer ads and leveraging other audiences. It’s also a lot easier to watch a bunch of ads rather than scrolling TikTok.
It’s a good idea to scroll TikTok and make note of how organic content stops you. And how ads are placed within the native content.
TikTok is different. There are not many brands creating great TikTok ads. Many of the ads are created by influencers. When I want to see what’s working on TikTok and why I look at Savannah Social (she shares a lot on Twitter).
Twitter’s ad inventory and algorithm have gone through significant changes following the acquisition by Elon Musk. I’ll keep my eye on Twitter while testing the channel myself.
If you’re interested in what I find, shoot me a note.
Wrapping up: finding your competitor ads
Now, get to farming some ad ideas and being inspired. Just remember to approach the ritual with a set of questions.
And don’t forget to visit your feeds on each channel to see how brands stop the “scroll.” Set a timer for your work (more on this in a future post) to reduce time suck and losing hours of productivity.
Flip me the brands you watch. I’d be happy to add them to my tiny database and send you a link to it if interested.