How to Analyze Competitors with the Meta Ad Library

Competitor analysis with the Meta Ad Library means reviewing your competitors' live ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network for free and using that data to inform your own campaigns. Anyone can access the library. When you search for a competitor's page, you can see its active ads, their start dates, creative variations, copy and the pages they link to. Viewed the right way, this information shows which messages a competitor is testing, which offers it is pushing and which ads it has kept running for a long time.

Most B2B companies treat Meta advertising as "a B2C channel." Yet some of your competitors may be regularly spending budget on Instagram and Facebook for retargeting, event promotion, recruitment and content distribution. In this article, we walk you step by step through how to use the Meta Ad Library from a B2B marketer's perspective, which signals to look for and how to turn your findings into an actionable campaign plan.

What is the Meta Ad Library, and what does it show?

The Meta Ad Library is a public search tool that Meta provides as part of its ad transparency efforts. You can use it without creating an account or logging in to Ads Manager. At its core, it shows the following:

• Active ads: All ads a page is currently running across Meta platforms.
• Start date: Each ad displays a "Started running on" date.
• Platforms: Which of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network or Threads the ad appears on.
• Creative and copy: The image, video, carousel cards, primary text, headline and CTA button.
• Variations: If an ad has more than one version, a "This ad has multiple versions" label appears, allowing you to switch between versions.
• Page transparency: The page's creation date, name changes and the countries where the people managing the page are located.

What doesn't it show?

It's important to set the right expectations from the start. In markets outside the European Union, such as Türkiye, the library generally does not provide spend, impressions, targeting criteria or performance data for commercial ads. For ads about social issues and politics, spend and impression ranges are shared. For ads running in the EU, targeting summaries such as age, gender and location, along with reach information, may also be available under digital services legislation. So if your competitor also advertises in Europe, switching the country filter to an EU country may give you additional data.

Keep in mind that the library won't tell you "how much the competitor spent on this ad," but it does answer the question "what is the competitor testing, since when, and with how many different versions?" That's where the value of the analysis lies.

Why should B2B companies use the Meta Ad Library?

You can also view competitors' ads on LinkedIn, but B2B companies' activity on Meta often goes unnoticed. The library is particularly useful for answering these questions:

1. Is the competitor allocating budget to Meta? If there are no active ads, that's useful information too. Either they tried the channel and dropped it, or they haven't discovered it yet.
2. Which funnel stage are they investing in? Ads for webinar registrations, e-book downloads and demo requests point to different strategies.
3. Which messages are they testing? Price, integrations, time savings or compliance?
4. Which formats do they rely on? Short video, carousel, static image or customer story.
5. Are they making seasonal moves such as recruitment, events or product launches? These offer clues about the competitor's growth plans.

This information is valuable not only for the ad team but also for product marketing and sales teams. Seeing that a competitor has been pushing a "set up in 1 day" message for months is a good starting point for preparing how to respond to that claim in sales conversations.

Before you start: which competitors should you look at?

Searching for random brands in the library wastes time. First, put together a focused list of 5–8 pages and divide the competitors into three groups:

• Direct competitors (3–4 brands): Those selling the same product to the same segment.
• Indirect competitors (2–3 brands): Those solving the same problem with a different solution. For example, for CRM software, a consulting firm that sells advanced Excel templates.
• Sources of inspiration (1–2 brands): A larger international brand outside your industry that uses B2B Meta ads well.

Also, note down the exact Facebook page name of each competitor. The library suggests results based on page names as you search. Pages with similar names can get mixed up, so make sure you select the right one. Some companies use multiple pages by region or product. Add all of them to your list.

How do you analyze competitors in the Meta Ad Library, step by step?

1. Start your search with the right filters

When you open the library, first select a country. If you're focusing on the Turkish market, choose "Türkiye." If your competitor operates internationally, use the "All countries" option to see the global picture as well. Then select "All ads" as the ad category. The "Issues, elections or politics" category shows only ads within that scope.

Type the competitor's page name into the search box and select the correct page from the dropdown list. You can also search by keyword instead of page name. This is useful for discovering all advertisers in your industry. For example, by searching for terms like "ERP," "payroll software" or "logistics tracking," you can find competitors you've never heard of.

2. Narrow down your filters

On the results page, you can use the following filters:

• Active / inactive status: The default view generally prioritizes active ads. In some markets, inactive ads may also be listed.
• Platform: If you only want to look at Instagram, turn off the others.
• Media type: Review image, video, carousel or meme formats separately.
• Date range: Look at ads started within the last 30 days to see the competitor's current tests.
• Language: For competitors running multilingual campaigns, this helps you tell which message is going to which market.

3. Note how long each ad has been running

The most valuable signal in the analysis is how long an ad has been running. It makes little sense to keep a poorly performing ad live on Meta for months. That's why an ad that has been running for more than 60–90 days is most likely performing well for the competitor. It's not definitive proof, but it's a strong indicator.

You can use a simple classification:

• 0–14 days: New test. Results aren't clear yet.
• 15–60 days: Past the testing phase, most likely delivering acceptable performance.
• 60+ days: A "proven" ad. The competitor's core message and offer are most likely here.

4. Review the variations

If an ad indicates that it has multiple versions, the competitor is testing different headlines, copy or visuals within the same ad setup. Open each version one by one and look at the following:

• Which element is changing? Just the headline, or the visual as well?
• Which benefits do the changing messages emphasize?
• Do some versions lead with numbers while others lead with emotion?

For example, if an HR software competitor's ad has one version with the headline "Eliminate payroll errors," another with "Save your HR team 10 hours a week," and a third with "Payroll for companies with 500+ employees," the competitor is comparing error reduction, time savings and segment clarity messages. Tracking which of these three angles stays live the longest gives you insight into their message hierarchy.

Also pay attention to the label "X ads use this creative and text." When the same creative is used across many ads, it may indicate that the competitor is scaling it to different audiences or placements.

5. Infer the CTA button and campaign objective

The library doesn't state the campaign objective directly, but the CTA button and landing page provide strong clues:

• "Learn More" + blog/guide page: Traffic- or awareness-focused content distribution.
• "Sign Up" + webinar page: Event registration, lead generation.
• "Download" + e-book form: Gated content for lead generation.
• "Get Quote" or "Request a Demo": Bottom of the funnel, a direct sales opportunity.
• If the form opens directly within Meta: Meta's lead forms are most likely being used.

Making this distinction also helps you decide which objective to choose for your own campaigns. We covered this topic in detail in our article on how to choose the right campaign objective for Instagram ads.

6. Review landing pages and URL structure

Click the link in the ad to visit the competitor's landing page. Pay attention to the following:

• Is the page part of the main website or a separate campaign page?
• How many fields does the form have? (Such as name, email, company, phone, number of employees)
• How is social proof used? Are there logos, reviews or case studies?
• Are UTM parameters visible in the URL? If so, you can get an idea of how the competitor names its campaigns.

For example, if you see something like "utm_campaign=q3_retargeting_demo" in a URL, the competitor is most likely offering a demo to a retargeting audience. If your own campaigns lack this kind of discipline, take a look at our guide on measuring social media traffic with UTM parameters.

7. Check the page transparency section

The page's "Page Transparency" section includes the page's creation date, name changes and the locations of its administrators. This information is especially valuable in two situations:

• If the competitor has recently changed its name, it may be going through a rebrand or a merger.
• If the page administrators are in a different country, the ads may be managed by an outsourced agency.

What do the signals in competitor ads tell you?

Once you've collected the raw data, move on to interpretation. The following signals are the most useful in B2B competitor analysis:

• Many active ads and frequent new creatives: The competitor sees Meta as a serious channel and tests regularly. Their budget is also likely substantial.
• Few ads, but running for a long time: The competitor may be running an "always-on" retargeting or brand campaign.
• A sudden increase in the number of ads: A product launch, trade show season, year-end budget period or entry into a new market.
• Recruitment ads: The competitor is growing. Whatever positions they're hiring for indicate the areas they're investing in. For example, a large number of sales job postings signals a growth push.
• Videos featuring founders or employees: The competitor has adopted a personal branding and trust-focused approach.
• Content tagged as partnerships: The competitor is working with content creators or industry experts. If you're considering this approach, which is increasingly used in B2B as well, you can evaluate content creators suited to your industry through Brand Corner, the influencer marketing platform.

How do you organize your findings into a structured competitor analysis template?

To avoid starting from scratch every time you check the library, use a simple spreadsheet. In Google Sheets or Excel, let each row represent an ad and each column a characteristic. Our suggested columns:

1. Competitor name
2. Ad start date
3. Days running as of the analysis date
4. Platform(s)
5. Format (image, video, carousel)
6. Core message / promise
7. Target persona (estimated)
8. Funnel stage (awareness, consideration, decision)
9. CTA button
10. Offer (demo, e-book, webinar, free trial)
11. Landing page type and number of form fields
12. Number of variations
13. Notes and screenshot link

Don't forget to take screenshots. Once ads are taken down, they may not always be accessible in the library. Screenshots let you see how a competitor's messaging has evolved a few months down the line.

Let's consider an example scenario: A company selling industrial maintenance software tracks 5 competitors once a week for 4 weeks. After filling in the spreadsheet, the following picture emerges:

• 3 of the 5 competitors are running active ads on Meta.
• Most active ads are in video format and under 30 seconds.
• Nearly all ads running longer than 60 days are built around a "reduce downtime" message.
• No competitor is addressing mobile ease of use for field technicians.
• The most common offer is "request a demo"; there's no content-based mid-funnel offer.

Two clear opportunities emerge from these findings: differentiating with a mobile ease-of-use message and filling the gap left by competitors with a mid-funnel content offer (for example, a "Maintenance planning checklist").

How do you turn your findings into your own campaigns?

The goal of competitor analysis isn't to copy competitors. It's to understand what's being tried in the market and to find the gaps. Evaluate your findings under four headings:

Message gaps

If all competitors emphasize the same benefit, it's hard to stand out by saying the same thing. Drawing on your customer conversations, your sales team's notes and the reasons behind lost deals, find a benefit competitors aren't addressing and test it.

Format gaps

If all competitors use static images, a short product demo video or a customer story carousel increases your chances of grabbing attention. Conversely, if everyone is running high-production videos, a candid expert video shot on a phone can help you stand out.

Offer gaps

If everyone in the market is only offering demos, provide an intermediate step for decision-makers who aren't ready to buy yet: a calculator, a template, a short assessment or an industry report.

Channel balance

If competitor density on Meta is low, the channel may be a less competitive space for you. However, in B2B, Meta ads usually work best alongside LinkedIn. Following up on audiences you target on LinkedIn by job title and company size with retargeting on Meta is a common and sensible setup. You can find the LinkedIn side of this setup in our article on how to do B2B targeting in LinkedIn ads.

It's also important to think of Instagram not just as an ad channel but as a brand channel supported by organic content. If you notice that competitors are strong in their ads but weak on their organic accounts, that's an opportunity too. For more on this, take a look at our guide on how to build an Instagram strategy for B2B companies.

How often should you run competitor analysis?

A one-off analysis only gives you a snapshot of that moment. To see which ads competitors pause, which ones they scale and how they change their messaging, you need a regular rhythm:

• Weekly quick scan (15–20 minutes): Note newly launched and paused ads.
• Monthly deep dive (1–2 hours): Update the spreadsheet, identify message and format trends, and share them with the team.
• Quarterly strategic review: Assess competitor moves alongside your own campaign results and set the test plan for the next quarter.

Adding competitor analysis findings as a section in your monthly report helps leadership make budget decisions with more context.

What are the most common mistakes?

• Treating a long run time as definitive proof of success: Some ads stay live simply because they've been forgotten. Evaluate run time alongside other signals.
• Copying the competitor outright: Using the same message and visual language leaves your brand in the competitor's shadow and reminds people of their brand instead.
• Looking at only one country filter: Messages that international competitors are testing may reach the Turkish market a few months later.
• Skipping the landing page: What's offered after the click matters just as much as what the ad promises.
• Not recording findings: Analysis done without screenshots and a spreadsheet is forgotten within a few weeks.
• Not involving the sales team: The sales team knows best how competitor claims land in the field. Share the analysis results with them and get their feedback. If you want to build data-driven sales processes, Sales Corner, which provides data-driven B2B sales and lead generation services, can play a complementary role here.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Meta Ad Library paid?

No, the Meta Ad Library is completely free, and you don't need an ad account or a Facebook login to use it. You can access it from your browser and search for any page's active ads. Some advanced features and API access may require additional verification.

Can I see my competitor's ad budget in the Meta Ad Library?

For commercial ads running in Türkiye, spend and impression data are generally not shared. This information is provided as ranges for ads about social issues and politics. For ads running in the European Union, additional transparency data such as reach and basic targeting summaries may be available.

How can I tell which of my competitor's ads are successful?

The strongest indicator is how long an ad has been running. Ads that have been live for more than 60–90 days are generally delivering satisfactory results for the competitor. Evaluating this alongside signals such as the same creative being used across many ads and the number of variations decreasing over time gives a more accurate picture.

Can I review LinkedIn ads in a similar way?

Yes, LinkedIn also lets you view recently run ads on company pages and offers its own ad library. For B2B companies, the soundest approach is to run competitor analysis on Meta and LinkedIn together and compare the differences in messaging across the two channels.

Conclusion

The Meta Ad Library is an extremely valuable, free resource that B2B companies often overlook in their competitor analysis. You need to start with the right list of competitors and use the filters deliberately. Then, when you track run times, variations, CTAs and landing pages in a structured template, you'll clearly see which messages and offers your competitors are investing in. The real difference, however, comes when you use these findings not to copy them but to fill the message, format and offer gaps in the market.

If you want to turn competitor analysis into a regular process, plan your Meta and LinkedIn campaigns together, or rethink your B2B advertising strategy, the Social Media Corner team is ready to help. You can reach us through our contact page to discuss your goals.

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