The fight for eyeballs on your social media content is more competitive than ever. The closest thing to guaranteeing a space on your audience’s feed is with paid ads – that’s what you’re paying for. But for an ad to really stand out and give you a good return on investment, there’s an essential step that a lot of businesses miss out, and that is researching your competitors. If you’re not entirely sure what this means, or how to do it, keep reading, I’ll explain all.
Why do competitor research?
Before buying something, you probably read reviews and do a bit of searching to compare pricing etc, against other brands. It’s the same with ads; before you spend money, do your research so you can make sure you use your ad spend wisely.
Checking out your competitors to see what ads they’re running and figuring out what’s working for them is the best place to start before running an ad. They have already spent the money, and with a bit of know-how, you can assess their results and pinpoint areas to avoid – saving you learning and money!
By understanding the wider picture of your industry competitors, you build more knowledge to inform your own ad strategy.
A very important point before we go any further – research does not mean simply copy what others in your line of business are doing. That would be highly unethical, damage your brand reputation and quite frankly, it’s euww! (Plus, copying what works for another brand might not work for yours!) No, instead, think of research as a way to gather inspiration, build knowledge, research ideas and find ways to be a little different so you can stand out to your audience.
How to get started with competitor research for paid ads
How do you actually do your competitor research? First, go to your competitor’s websites, visit their social media accounts and check out their offers. Perhaps, open up a spreadsheet and keep track of them in there. Add in columns for things like content format and the call to action they’ve used.
Next, have a scroll through your own social media feeds. Keep an eye out for any ads (it probably won’t take long until one pops up!). When you spot one, try looking at it analytically – imagine you’re a potential customer or don’t have a huge amount of knowledge about the business. (Or, even better, ask someone you know who doesn’t work in your industry to tell you what they think when they see the ad – partners who don’t really understand your business or what you ‘do’ come in very useful here, ha!).
Once you’ve found some ads to analyse, you’ll want to ask yourself a few questions:
Questions to ask yourself when researching
- What made you stop on this ad?
- What is it about the ad that attracts you?
- Does it make you want to click?
- What does an audience need to know before clicking through?
- What do you not like about it?
- What’s missing?
- What hooks are they using?
- When do you start to lose interest in any video content?
- Is the video too short or long?
- Does it have an engaging enough beginning?
- What information are you left needing to know?
- Is there enough in this ad to make you want to click through?
- Do ads from competitors feel a bit samey?
- What could you show that is entirely different?
- What content formats keep coming up? (E.g., video, carousels, static images.)
- Where is the ad?
- In the feed, on stories, down the side?
- Does that make a difference to how it captured your attention?
- How are the ads written? Pay attention to the tone of voice and messaging.
- What words are used often?
- Can you shake up your language to stand out against these?
- Are people engaging with the ads? Do they like or leave comments?
- What comments are people leaving?
- What questions are people asking?
- Could your ad answer some of these questions in your ads?
- What are your competitors NOT saying about their products that you think is important?
Looking at ads analytically helps you build a picture of what you do and don’t want your ads to say and do. And all of this helps your creative thinking, giving you ideas to try in your own ads.
Breaking down your research by platform
Many of the social media platforms have a built-in capacity to explore ads, making it even easier to do your research.
Facebook Ads Library
Meta offers one of the most comprehensive competitor analysis tools out there – the Ad Library. You can search all the active ads a business is currently running across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger. You can also use filters to refine your search by location, ad category, and even the type of media used in the ads.
TikTok Ads Centre
TikTok’s Ads Center shows all the ads a business is running on the platform. It offers features like Facebook’s Ads Library, allowing you to filter by location, ad category, and media type. TikTok also has a ton of resources to help you with ads in their Creative Center.
Third Party Tools
There are also tools like this one that helps you research ads across multiple social media platforms, niches and locations. It also helps you to build briefs for passing on to a creative team. I use this regularly, it’s a dodgy name for software, but it works!
What to use your competitor research for
Once you’ve gathered the ads and assessed them, now what? Don’t just leave your research to gather dust. Make sure you actually use the data in your own ads.
Look for any patterns or trends across the ads you like, and try using these in your next ad. Use your findings to inform your own ad strategy and build these ideas into your own campaign planning, and keep a note of the creative ideas you want to test in future.
The world of ads can change quickly, so you’ll want to stay on top of any trends and repeat your research regularly, at least every 3 months.
Remember, competitor research isn’t about copying others. That’s lazy, uninspiring and honestly, people CAN feel when you’re parroting someone else rather than coming up with your own authentic messaging in ads.
Instead, great competitor research comes down to finding different ways to appeal to an audience that is interested in similar products.
Want help getting your competitor research done right? One of my Ad Building Block packages might be perfect for you if you’re looking for a full review of your ads. It’s ideal if your current ads are just not performing for you, and this package includes competitor research, plus lots more. Get in touch today to get started.