Facebook Ads Library- What it is and how to use it
Facebook, which started as a social media app, has now become a marketer’s archive with its own Facebook Ads Library.
From likes and stories to ads, Facebook has continued to consistently evolve. With its everchanging algorithm, social media and digital marketers seem to have a lot to keep up with.
In 1836, a French newspaper called ‘La Presse’ was the first ever platform to have an advertisement space. Thus started the engine of advertising and marketing via print and other broadcasts. It was then followed by magazines, journals, radio and television.
In the late 2000s and 2010s, when the internet took up the world by storm, marketers seized the opportunity. Advertisements became digitized. In 2000, Google launched its first Ad service- Google AdWords. It shortly became very common and reachable, especially for small businesses, budding entrepreneurs, and start-ups.
As Facebook predominantly identified as a social platform, it had a larger interference- which basically meant that more valuable data could be extracted. This forged to be the perfect opportunity for Facebook to create an indispensable advertising platform.
For a deeper understanding, here is a timeline that depicts Facebook’s growth as an advertising platform.
2004– Facebook was launched. It was primarily a social media platform for Harvard students, followed by other ivy league students. The initial ads consisted of university merchandise and other small companies.
2005– Facebook marketing soars with the help of CPM and cost per group member agreements.
2006– Banner ads and sponsored links were exclusively provided by Microsoft.
2007– Facebook officially releases Facebook Ads. It basically comprised of business pages and the insights tool. These ads showed up as sponsored ads in the ‘News feed’ section or in the ad space along the left side of the website.
2008 to 2009– Facebook established engagement ads and also starts to offer advanced ad targeting.
2012– By now, it had over 1 billion users. It introduced promotion posts, mobile ads, etc.
2014– Facebook takes over WhatsApp. Introduces campaign structures and carousel ads.
2015– Facebook brings in Leads ads and Dynamic product ads. As it had taken over Instagram in 2012, it also integrated Instagram ads.
2017– It redesigned the delivery insights tool and launched ad split testing, collection and dynamic ads, and integrated with Google Tag manager.
2018– Facebook creates story ads and its own Facebook Analytics.
Facebook ads basically refer to advertising on the Facebook app or website. Facebook currently has over 2 billion active users and as a result, has stood out to become an optimal platform through which businesses can discover their target audiences. It offers an all-inclusive and effortless and effortless approach for businesses to reach out to their prospects at various stages of the sales funnel. It has become one of the most accessible and profitable means for digital marketing and aids companies to gain more visibility. As there are hundreds of thousands of ads being posted on Facebook every day, it has its own ads library.
Now that we know how Facebook ads came under the spotlight and what they are, let us understand what Facebook ads library is and how entrepreneurs can use it for their businesses.
What is Facebook Ads Library?
Facebook ads library was launched in 2018. The main idea behind the ads library was to facilitate transparency. It gives access to all the advertisements related to your industry and expertise. This also means that you can see competitor ads. You can also gain access to all the ads without necessarily having your own Facebook account.
Now, Facebook Ads Library has its own API. The Application Programming Interference of Facebook Ads provides you to make custom keyword searches of ads from the library. One can find out about all the active or inactive ads related to politics, social issues, finances, etc.
Here are 3 easy steps to get access to the Facebook Ads Library’s API:
- Log into Facebook through your Facebook ID. You will need a confirmed ID. It takes about 1-2 days to get your IDs confirmed.
- Go to the ‘Meta for developers’ page and click on ‘Get Started’. You will need to agree to the terms and policies before getting started.
- Lastly, once your ID is confirmed and an account is created, go back to the Ad Library API page and click on ‘Access the API’. You can now have access to the API.
With the API, you now have access to data about ads regarding social, economic, and political issues even from countries where the ad is live. The API returns results which include:
- Dates on which the ad ran
- Creatives of the ad
- Data regarding the performance of the ad
- Total amount spent on the ad
- Demographics such as age, gender, location, etc.
The ads library also gives access to the ‘Ad Library Report’ which gives detailed information about the overall spendings and expenditure by particular advertisers.
How to use the Facebook Ads Library
If you want to know more about a specific type of ad or advertisers, here is a guide on how to use the Facebook ads Library.
- Select the country and category:
First, go to the Facebook Ads Library page. Select the country you want to search ads about. You can also opt for the ‘current location’ option. This will enable Facebook to show ads based on your current location.
When selecting the category, you will have the following options:
- Issues, election or politics
- Employment
- Properties
- Credit
- All ads
You can the go ahead and select the appropriate category from the drop-down option.
- Enter the Keyword
Next to the categories section, you will see a search bar. In the search bar you can enter a specific keyword and get results based on that. For instance, you can type ‘houses’ and select ‘Properties’ from the category. You will now see ads related to houses from the country you have selected or based on your current location.
- Get Ad details
Once you get your results, you can also get additional information regarding any advert you want. Just click on ‘See ad details’ under any individual ad and you will get information regarding whether it is active or inactive, its run time, on which other platforms it is running, etc.
- Filters
You can further improve your ad experience by applying appropriate filters. Some of the filters include:
- Active status
- Advertiser
- Running date
- Language
- Media type
This will give you more specific results and also simplify your experience.
Why Facebook ads Library?
There are numerous platforms that that run sponsored and unsponsored ads. Then why should anyone opt for Facebook Ads Library?
Here are some of the benefits of Facebook Ads Library that highlight why one should use it.
- It is accessible to all
Like we mentioned above, one does not need to necessarily have a Facebook account to get access to any of the ads posted on Facebook. One does not need to pay a special subscription fee to get access to it. It is completely free of cost.
- Custom searches
As it has its own API, one can make custom keyword searches. One can search for any advertisement or any advertiser and get results accordingly.
- Effortless experience
One can find exactly what they are looking for by applying relevant filters. This makes the whole process easy and straightforward, making it uncomplicated for the user.
- Know your competition
As it is accessible to all, you can search for and research about your competition’s advertisement. This will give you the opportunity to be much ahead of your competition and let your company soar.
You can research on what the audience likes, what ads are trending, what type of ads get the most leads, etc. This will enormously help you in strategizing your advertisements and overall digital marketing content.
With Digital Marketing establishing a solid foreground on the future of the marketing industry, the Facebook Ads library has cracked the code to be completely transparent and unequivocal. Virtual advertising now has now become an imperative and vital platform that proves the fast-pacing growth of social media advertising.
Our thoughts
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