How to See What Ads a Facebook Page Is Running

Ever wonder what ads your biggest competitors are running on Facebook and Instagram? You can, and it's easier than you think. This guide will show you exactly how to see any Page's active ads, giving you a powerful look into their marketing strategy, creative approach, and what offers are working for them right now.

Why You Should Spy On Your Competitors’ Facebook Ads

Analyzing competitor ads isn’t about copying them. It's about strategic market intelligence that can inform your own campaigns, spark new ideas, and give you a huge competitive advantage. Before we get into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why."

• Creative Inspiration: Stuck in a creative rut? Seeing what visuals, video styles, and ad formats others are using is an excellent way to brainstorm new ideas for your own content. You can spot trends in graphic design, editing styles, and user-generated content (UGC) that you might have missed.
• Powerful Copywriting Angles: Pay close attention to the headlines and primary text your competitors use. What pain points do they address? What benefits do they highlight? Are they using emotional appeals, scarcity, or social proof? This is a masterclass in market messaging.
• Uncover Their Offers and Funnels: What are they promoting? Is it a direct product sale, a free trial, a webinar, or a lead magnet download? By seeing their ads and clicking their call-to-action buttons, you can map out their entire sales funnel from start to finish.
• Audience Targeting Clues: While you can't see their exact audience settings, the messaging, imagery, and ad placements give you strong clues about who they're trying to reach. An ad featuring a young creative in a co-working space is likely targeting a different demographic than one showing a suburban family in their backyard.
• Spot Industry Trends: By looking at several competitors, you can get a bird's-eye view of your entire industry. Are they all pushing video ads? Are carousels popular? Is everyone suddenly talking about a certain feature or benefit? This helps you stay current and relevant.

The Go-To Method: Using the Meta Ad Library

The best, easiest, and most reliable way to see what ads a Page is running is by using Meta’s own tool: the Meta Ad Library. It was created to increase transparency in advertising, particularly for political content, but it's an absolute goldmine for marketers and business owners.

The Ad Library is a comprehensive, searchable collection of all ads currently running across Meta’s apps and services, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network. It's completely free to use, and you don’t even need a Facebook account to access it.

Step-by-Step Guide to the Meta Ad Library

Using the Ad Library is straightforward. Let's walk through it step-by-step.

Step 1: Navigate to the Meta Ad Library

Simply open your web browser and go to the Meta Ad Library. You can search for "Meta Ad Library" on Google or go directly to facebook.com/ads/library. You’ll be greeted with a clean, simple search interface.

Step 2: Set Your Location and Ad Category

Before you search, you need to choose two things:

• Location: Choose the country you want to search in. If you're a local business, you’d pick your own country. If you're an e-commerce brand that sells globally, you might want to check the U.S. or other major markets.
• Ad Category: For most searches, you can just select "All Ads." However, if you are specifically researching political or social issue ads, you'll need to select the "Issues, Elections or Politics" category. This provides more detailed information on spending and reach for those specific ads, as part of Meta's transparency efforts.

Step 3: Search for the Page or Brand

In the search bar, start typing the name of the Facebook Page you want to research. As you type, a dropdown list of matching Pages will appear. Select the correct Page from the list. Be careful to choose the official page, as there are often fan pages or similar-sounding names.

Step 4: Analyze the Ad Results

Once you’ve selected a Page, the library will load all the ads that Page is currently running. This is where the real fun begins. For each ad, you can see a wealth of information:

• Active Status: Right at the top, you'll see if the ad is currently "Active" or not.
• Start Date: This tells you when the ad campaign was launched. Pro tip: Ads that have been running for a long time (months or even years) are almost certainly profitable winners. Pay extra attention to these.
• Platforms: You can see where the ad is running - Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or the Audience Network. Icons for each platform will be displayed on the ad.
• The Ad Creative: This is the most valuable part. You can see the actual image, video, or carousel used in the ad. You can even play the videos with sound to fully experience what their audience sees.
• The Ad Copy: All the text from the ad is visible, including the primary text (the main paragraph), the headline, and the description. You can read their pitch and messaging in its entirety and see how they structure their arguments.
• The Landing Page: Each ad has a call-to-action (CTA) button, like "Shop Now," "Learn More," or "Sign Up." You can click on the ad's "details" or the CTA to see the exact landing page or website they are sending traffic to.

Advanced Tips for Getting More Out of the Ad Library

Searching for a Page is just the beginning. To get the most out of this tool, you need to know how to dig a little deeper.

1. Use the Filters to Your Advantage

On the results page, you’ll see a "Filters" button. This is your power tool. You can filter ads by:

• Platform: Want to see only their Instagram Story ads? Or just their Facebook feed ads? You can isolate specific placements here.
• Media Type: Filter to see only images, videos, memes, or carousels. This is super helpful if you want to understand their video strategy, for example.
• Active Status: You can filter by Active and Inactive ads. Looking at Inactive ads can show you what they've tested in the past that may not have worked.
• Impressions by Date: You can filter for ads that ran during a specific date range, which is great for analyzing their campaigns around specific holidays or events like Black Friday.

2. Look for Themes and Patterns, Not Just Single Ads

Don't just look at one ad and move on. Scroll through all of their active campaigns. A great marketer tests constantly. Instead of focusing on a single data point, look for the patterns:

• Messaging Angles: Are they running 10 different ads all focused on the same core pain point? That's a strong signal that this angle resonates with their audience.
• Creative Styles: Does the brand consistently use highly produced branded videos, or do they lean heavily on scrappy, authentic-looking UGC? This tells you a lot about their brand voice and production strategy.
• Offers and CTAs: Is their primary call-to-action "Shop Now" or "Learn More"? Are they pushing free guides, webinar signups, or discount codes? The distribution of their CTAs reveals the focus of their current marketing efforts (e.g., lead generation vs. direct sales).

3. Create a Swipe File of Winning Ads

When you find an ad that really grabs your attention - whether it’s the clever copy, the stunning visual, or the compelling offer - save it. Take screenshots and keep them in a folder (a "swipe file"). Don't copy them, but use them as inspiration for your next campaign. Note what you liked about it. Was it the headline? The way they structured their video? The unique design?

Another Way to See a Competitor’s Ads: Let Them Come to You

The Meta Ad Library is great for a big-picture overview, but sometimes you want an organic feel for how a brand's ads show up in the real world. You can actually encourage a brand's ads to appear in your personal Facebook and Instagram feeds. This is especially useful for seeing how retargeting campaigns work.

Here’s how you can trigger their retargeting pixels and get on their ad list:

1. Visit Their Website: Go to their website and browse around. Click on specific products, view the pricing page, and maybe even add an item to your cart and abandon it. This signals strong interest and will likely put you in their retargeting audience.
2. Engage with Their Page: Like their Facebook Page or follow them on Instagram. Like and comment on a few of their organic posts. This engagement tells the algorithm you're interested in their content.
3. Join Their Email List: Sign up for their newsletter. Many companies upload their email lists to Facebook to create Custom Audiences for their ad campaigns.

After taking these actions, keep an eye on your feeds for the next few days. When you see an ad from them, you can click the three dots (...) in the top-right corner of the ad and select "Why am I seeing this ad?" Facebook will give you a general idea of why you were targeted, such as "You visited their website" or "This business is trying to reach people who have shown an interest in [TOPIC]." This can provide extra context the Ad Library doesn’t offer.

Final Thoughts

Seeing the ads your competitors are running is no longer a secret art, it's an accessible and hugely valuable research strategy. Using the Meta Ad Library, you can pull back the curtain on any brand’s paid social strategy to find creative inspiration, understand their funnels, and identify what messaging is resonating in your industry today.

Once you’ve done your research and are buzzing with new ideas for your social media, you need a smooth way to plan, schedule, and manage all that brilliant new content. At Postbase, we built our tool ground-up for today's visual, video-first social media landscape. We make it simple to take those ad-inspired concepts and build them into a beautiful, consistent content calendar across all your platforms - from Instagram Reels to TikTok videos and beyond - without the headaches of outdated software.