02⁰⁹
2019

80% of all internet users today use Facebook, out of which 65% are older adults. Most of them check the social media platform several times a day. Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, you don’t really reach your audience until you advertise on Facebook.

Facebook advertising allows you to geo-target, helping you reach your exact audience, based on their lifestyle, interests, location, gender and age. It is inexpensive, costing you just $5 to reach 1,000 people in seconds; drives traffic to your website effectively, and helps you build brand awareness and consumer relationships quicker than traditional advertising media. It is extremely important for businesses to leverage the power of Facebook advertising, measure the results and develop future strategies with all the insights you acquire. The tricky part is, how do you go about it? Where do you start?

It’s simple! Just take a peek at your competitors’ Facebook campaigns to get ideas for your own. The insights help you identify their strengths and weaknesses, and device ways to create brand strategies that are distinctive from theirs. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

#1 Competitors’ FB Page:
Facebook has a transparent approach to ads that allows viewers to browse through campaigns of a company’s business page.

• Go to your competitors’ Facebook Business Page.

• Select the section titled “Info and ads” from the menu on the left.

• You will be able to scroll through a list of all the ads the business is running.

• Study the ad’s creative approaches, brand colours, messages, tones and style to get a good idea about their tactics.

• See how you can take a different route with an improved approach.

• Avoid copying at all costs. It will go against your company and business ethics.

#2 FB Page Transparency:
• Navigate to the right of the page and click the Page Transparency box.

• Click View in the Ad Library in the Ads section of the Page box.

• Track the targeted locations from the drop-down list.

• Check the Call-To-Action in the ad to figure out the brand objective for the ad. Is it “Shop Now” for an in-app purchase or “Learn More” to drive traffic to the website or something else?

• Is the company split-testing for different audience segments with different messaging strategies or is the same message going out in different ways?

# 3 Facebook Ad Targeting Insights:
• Your competitors’ FB pages give you additional insights with other valuable options such as “Why am I seeing this ad?”

• Click the three dots on the upper-right corner of the ad to access this feature from the menu.

• The window will explain why you are seeing the ad which gives you a clearer picture of the audience they are targeting or retargeting.

#4 Third Party Tools:
• There are third party tools available for collecting information on your competitors’ FB ads, such as Evernote or Airtable.

• Evernote offers free and paid plans to help you create a “swipe file” where you can make notes about the ads, store ads for reference and browse through the saved FB ads.

• You can track the ad campaigns, brand messaging, best selling products and more on Airtable or Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.

All of this will help you identify gaps and weaknesses in their marketing approach and get the best insights for optimizing your own ads. If it all sounds too complicated, just give the experts in digital marketing, BreezeMaxWeb, a call.

At BreezeMaxWeb, we give you the edge with various online strategies. Our social media consultants can help you create a powerful presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest. Call us to unleash the true strength of your brand and help you stay ahead of the competition.