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#3 Tricks That Will Change The Way You Advertise On Facebook

Introduction

Did you know that Facebook gives you the tools to snoop on your competition?

Yes, you can spy on your direct competition. Not only competitors, but you can also investigate others who you want to learn from and get inspired by.

Competitive intelligence is a vital component of your research into what's working (and what's not) in your target market.

Read on to discover how to become the newest Facebook "Spy Master".

3 tricks

#1 - Scroll Your News Feed


We are all familiar with the Facebook news feed.

You might scroll past lots of ads without really looking at them. But... next time you can use these ads to benefit your battlefield business.

This spy tool works both on a desktop and mobile.

Next time see an ad you want to investigate, click on the 3 dots in its top right-hand corner.

Then click on the option "Why Am I Seeing This Ad?"

Facebook will tell you the criteria that advertiser used to put that ad in front of your eyeballs.

It will let you know if you are on a list. It will tell you which country that advertiser is targeting. It will also show you what age range and interests the advertiser is focusing on.

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Master Spy Tip:

Grab someone else's phone (with their permission, of course!) and check out their feed. Notice the different advertisements which are shown to them, as they will have a different surfing history. In other words, the ads shown to women can be quite different from those shown to men. More, ads shown to parents differ from those displayed to teens. 

#2 - Snoop Any Business Page

Know a business in your niche that's likely advertising on Facebook? 

Most likely there is a business (or several businesses) in your niche that has a Business Page on Facebook. 

Now you can find out exactly what ads they are running. 

You can use #hashtags in the search field or simply write in the name of your competitor to find their Facebook Business Page. 

Then search for "Page Transparency" on their page. This is usually positioned on the left (but Facebook has been changing its layout recently, so just look out for it). 

If you click on the link "See All" it will show you some interesting things. A little pop-up shows, then click on "Go to Ad Library". This way you can see what ads other businesses are spending money on.

If you don't see some ads immediately you might need to change the filters. For example, businesses might only want to show their ads in the USA or only in the UK. You can also select to only see the Facebook ads versus Instagram ads.

And you can filter by date.

You might suspect that this business is going to run some special ads leading up to Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Changing the date range might just reveal their end-of-year campaigns.

Notice the date that their ad started. Long-running ads are likely to have some cut-through.

Check out the:

  • Headline
  • Image or Video
  • Description (are they using emojis? If so which ones.)

Yep, it's 💯% possible! 

This way you can emulate elements that you like.

Obviously, do not copy them!

Master Spy Tip

You can also go up to the top of the page and insert a keyword like "Tree Top Challenge" which shows other advertisers in this niche.
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#3 - Put Them On The "Watch List"

Say there are a few competitors that you want to watch.

Think if of it as kinda like a virtual stake-out. :-)

You can.

You can find the Business Pages of the other guys in your niche in your city.


For example from my @BrisbaneTableTennis page (I volunteer at my local sports club).


I can track what @TableTennisAustralia and @TableTennisVictoria and @TableTennisQueensland and others are doing.

Click on these pages and you can see which is the most popular post this week.

You can see:

  • Total Page Likes (and if they are growing or shrinking)
  • How many posts each page has made this week.
  • Their total engagement this week.


watch list

To add a Business Page to your "Watch List" then click on the button "Add Pages".

Check out their top posts and see what seems to be working.

Are they posting videos or a photo or a collage of photos?


Conclusion

So there you have it, three tricks to help you become a new Facebook Spy Master!

With these three tricks, you can channel your inner spy and change the way you advertise on Facebook.

Let us know what your investigations reveal.


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