15+ Best Spy Tools for Facebook Ads [2024]
Whether you are an expert marketer or you are just starting out, staying up to date with ongoing market trends is crucial to make sure that you are doing the right thing. You might find yourself experimenting with different kinds of ad copies and landing pages to get maximum results. At the same time, this also means that you end up spending a lot of money, time, and effort on experimentation without a guarantee of a return on investment. What if we tell you that instead of experimenting, there is a better and more effective strategy to get better results? Yes! You have read that right.
Allow us to introduce you to the world of Facebook ad spy tools to monitor your competitors’ strategies.
In today’s dynamically changing industry, marketers are no longer afraid of their competitors in their niche. In fact, having competitors in a niche indicates that there is a market to target, which subsequently implies that there are marketing strategies that can help attract more audience than what the rivals are attracting. To boost revenue and sustain their business in a competitive environment, brands and companies use spy tools to analyze the methods working for their competitors and where they stand in comparison. This includes competitor analysis of websites, ads on social networking sites, and social media profiles.
When it comes to Facebook, advertisements generate a significant amount of leads which results in a higher return on investment and instant traffic to a marketer or brand’s main website. This statistic has resulted in growing competition for ad placement at the top of Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page). So, if you are interested in increasing your results exponentially, let's get started on ad spying tools:
What Is an Ad Spy Tool for Facebook Ads
An ad spy tool is software that affiliate marketers and Pay-Per-Click marketers use to improve their website’s ROI (ROI) and earnings from their advertising expenditures. Both affiliate marketers and social media marketers use the technologies provided by ad spying tools to gain an advantage over their competitors by monitoring their Pay-Per-Click advertising campaigns on various social media platforms.
When marketers need exclusive information on their rivals’ Facebook ad campaigns, they turn to different tools for the purpose. If you are a marketer or you run the marketing for a brand you might have noticed a lot of tools claiming to be the best Facebook ads spy tools. However, before you proceed to buy any of those tools, it is important for you to figure out what insights or metrics you need and whether those tools provide those. Whether you want to see which pre-landing pages and banners are the most efficient, which targeting solutions you should use, or what content you need to display in your ads to increase your sales conversion, it is crucial to clearly understand why you need an ad spy tool in the first place.
Keep in mind that some ad spy tools help users download the creatives used by other brands and businesses in their Facebook and other social media ads. However, we do not recommend copying and using the same ads and their content. We live in a digitally connected world where people are smart enough to recognize any form of plagiarism or content stealing. Therefore, if your audience catches you copying templates, content, or creatives, you might end up with a lower conversion rate and even lower clickthrough rate (CTR).
Why Should You Buy a Facebook Ads Spy Tool
At the end of the day, ad spy tools are basically just visualization, analysis, and web data scraping tools. You need one of them to collect data and insight into how your competitors showcase and market their products on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
Let us provide you with a few convincing reasons to get on the ship that is ‘Ads spy tool for Facebook’:
- These tools help users overhaul their existing digital media plans into better ones.
- If some of your ad campaigns become stagnant at some point, a good tool will help you bring them to the mainstream again.
- You can get access to all kinds of Facebook ads’ data when it comes to your rivals.
- Or you can use these tools to come up with a better-performing creative strategy than your competitors.
- Last but not least, a good ad spy tool can enable you to create an integrated social media strategy without spending a lot of money by importing data from a trusted source.
In a nutshell, you need to get your hands on one of these tools to strategically plan your social media ad campaigns and ultimately grow your brand’s revenue via direct conversion by leaps and bounds.
What To Look for in the Best Ads Spying Tool for Facebook Ads
Investing in a spying tool for Facebook is a serious endeavor. It’s not an easy feat so one must tread carefully. Before you pull the trigger on a Facebook spying tool, here's what you need to keep in mind:
- What Filters Are You Looking For
When looking for a tool, make sure that it offers filters to narrow down search results, so you can save time sifting through an array of irrelevant ads.
- UI and UX
How are the user interface and ease of navigation of the tool you are considering buying? Does it allow you to easily access the information you're looking for? Is it quick? Is it regularly updated with any new ads surfacing on the platform? If the answer to all of these questions is yes, buy that tool before someone else does!
- What Extra Features Does the Tool Offer
Any tool that offers additional features is always a good choice. For example, some tools offer extra features like saved ad collections and competitive analysis. Such features can enhance your advertising strategies and improve your performance.
- What Are Your Personal Needs
Your personal needs matter. After all, you are going to be the one using the tool. Take your time to determine your personal leads and specific goals for using an ad spying tool. Do you want to target a specific audience? Or are you looking for a particular ad that you saw on Facebook? Do you want to spy only on Facebook ads? Are you looking for a tool that lets you spy on other social media platforms as well?
- What Is the Database Status
It is important to consider the diversity and the size of the ad database offered by an ad spying tool. If the database is extensive, it means you have access to more ads which consequently means more information. On the other hand, if the database is more diverse, then you get to see ads from different platforms.
- What Is Your Price Range
We do not recommend creating a hole in your pocket just to get your hands on a tool. Make sure that the cost of the tool fits within your cost budget. A cheap tool might not last for a long time. A higher quality, more comprehensive tool, on the contrary, can save you money and time in the long run.
- Reviews
Do not underestimate the importance of reviews. The internet can let you know how good a tool is if you know where to look. While you can look for reviews on Trustpilot and Google Reviews, one of the best sites for reviews on spying tools is Get App. Here’s what Get App has got to say about BigSpy:
What Features Do Facebook Ad Spying Tools Offer: a Case Study on PowerAdSpy
Ad spying tools allow you to access an ad library with millions of advertisements from all over the world. You can access these advertisements country-wise as well as you can look for ads using various filters.
Here are the features you can enjoy if you get an ad-spying tool:
- "Sort By" Feature
This feature allows users to sort their ads based on the comments, shares and likes they got.
- "Lander Properties" Feature
The Lander properties feature is extremely useful for marketers. They can use it to look for ads that are already live in certain locations, keywords, streams, etc. Moreover, Lander Properties feature allows users to sort ads on the basis of their funnel type, marketing platform, source, and E-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, etc.
- "Filter" Option Feature
Another feature that ad spiers offer is the “Filter” option that allows users to search for an advertisement based on the ad type, ad position, and action buttons like call to action (CTA). Users can also search for ads by country using this feature.
- "Search By" Feature
The search by feature allows users to search for an advertisement based on the object in an image, celebrity in image, text in image, and brand in image option. These options allow users to explore ads readily.
What Are the Pros of Using an Ad Spy Tool for Facebook
- Have you ever wondered what sets Facebook ads spy tools apart from other tools? These tools help users gain a new perspective on the whole advertising landscape. You get a whole other level of awareness and understanding about what is going on in social media apps right down to the granular level. You can easily find out what landing pages your competitors are using, what GEOs they are targeting, what is the quality of their products, what their sales page copy looks like, and how good their customer service is.
- In other words, these tools give you the advantage of analyzing your competitor’s marketing strategy down to a T. Once you have all the information that you need you can create your own custom strategy and beat your rivals at their own game. Give them a taste of their own medicine, right? You can borrow ideas from them and see what's working for them in the long run. Plus, if you know what is trending at a certain moment, you can create a better strategy for your own brand. All you need is a handful of statistics to devise ad campaigns that help you establish your unique brand persona and position in the marketplace.
- Every marketer knows that reverse engineering content and campaigns from competitors is a proven shortcut to success. Reverse engineering content helps you discover new design opportunities and new offers that you may not have thought of when creating content, yourself. You can lock in this advantage for years if you use a Facebook ad spy tool.
- Furthermore, Facebook ads by tools also enable users to study what kind of content their rivals are posting on Facebook. This includes the CTAs they use and the links they insert to send people to other pages. Lastly, you can also see how well their audience is engaging with the links, CTAs, and content they are posting.
All of these features and opportunities offer an incredible advantage that you can use to forge your pathway to success.
How to Use a Spying Tool (Using SocialAdSpyder as an Example)
Using a spying tool is not that difficult. And if you think it's a bit daunting, we are here to explain it to you. We will be using SocialAdSpyder as an example to take you through the process step by step. SocialAdSpyder offers a wide range of features that offer you insight into the tactics and strategies your competitors are using so you can stay ahead of the curve. These features include Classified Affiliate Ads, Ad Categories, Click E-Commerce Ads, Multiple Search Options, and Full Ad Details.
Let's jump right into it:
- First Step: Create an Account
The very first thing you need to do in order to get started is to create an account. Once you have confirmed your account, the spying tool will then ask you to subscribe to a plan. Based on what you do, you can go for a Professional, Premium, or Enterprise pricing plan on SocialAdSpyder.
For example, if you are an affiliate marketer, you would want to use the advanced features to get the most information out of ads, so your best bet would be the Premium plan. After choosing a pricing plan, confirm your payment and log into your dashboard.
- Second Step: Use the Filters
Once you have logged in to your dashboard, you will be met with a very straightforward interface. The dashboard is quite easy to navigate. Ad results with the latest items added to the database are shown first. You will find a diverse array of filters available to you on the menu, including:
- Country
- Technology
- Category (topics that the ad falls under)
- Affiliate (the affiliate vertical)
- Language (of the ad)
- Sort by (last seen, duration, dates ad was first seen, can all be sorted in ascending or descending manner, and number of likes)
- Platform
- CTA (call to action buttons)
- Ad type (carousel, image, or video)
The category and affiliate filters are the most helpful when you use them to filter e-commerce ads and affiliate offers that you want to research. Moreover, the number of ads for a specific filter also comes in pretty handy because it lets you know what kind of results you should expect.
Besides, you can use the technology filter if you want to research advertisements according to the platform that advertisers use to run their online pages and stores
The Clicky E-commerce feature of the spying tool allows you to narrow down your search based on the kind of technology used such as BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and more. If you want to know the total number of ads the platform is currently displaying, all you need to do is add up the number per ad type.
Plus, you can find the number of likes and duration of an ad as there are two sliders underneath the menu for them.
In the given example, the number of lives displayed here refers to the advertiser's business page and not the ad itself. For example, let’s look at this ad result for Hull Shield:
The number of likes on the ad is 340 but after doing some research we found out it’s a Facebook business page. Let's take a look at it:
There is a date range beneath the menu and right at the onset you'll see that the earliest date is actually January 1, 2018. All the ads in the SocialAdSpyder spying tool are from this date onwards. This can also be proved by looking at the maximum duration displayed on the slider. If you want anything earlier than the set date you will not find it but that should not be a problem because all you need is the latest trends, not an ad that’s five years old.
You can use the date range to decide the date when an advertisement should have first appeared on the platform. This can come in handy if you want to research the latest trends. However, if you want to look for ads for products and services that are evergreen, we recommend setting the duration slider at a higher count.
Let’s assume that you want to see an ad that has been running on Facebook continuously for four years. You should use the duration slider to set the minimum days count as shown in the picture below:
- Third Step: Using Basic Search and Advanced Search Functions
The basic and advanced search functions on spying tools are pretty straightforward as well. You do not have to be a tech-savvy person to understand how they work. All you have to do is click on the magnifying glass icon that's present on the top right portion of your screen to open up the search option.
The basic search function lets users type in any keyword related to the advertiser's name, content of the landing pages, or the ad title. Bear in mind that this function uses exact matching which means that if you use two words or more than two words, they need to be in the right order for the advertiser page to appear in the search result.
The advanced search function, on the other hand, is where users can use the Boolean operations to narrow down the ad they’re looking for.
One thing that did not seem to work with SocialAdSpyder was the combination of the CTA (Call To Action) button with other filters. We encountered the same issue when using the landing pages filter. However, everything else works perfectly fine. Plus, you can save your searches if you want to run them in the future.
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Fourth Step: Checking Ad Results and The Details
Once you have used the filters available on the spying tool, you will be greeted with a list of ads in a grid format as shown below:
Every ad card has a list of information, including
- Affiliate vertical (if applicable)
- Countries
- The complete ad texts
- Dates active
- Technology
- Image, carousel, or video (click on this will and it will either open up the image, show the next image in a carousel, or play the video)
- The advertiser’s page
- The favorites icon (it is in the shape of a heart if you want to save something for future reference or later use)
- The ad titles
- Platforms where the ad is being shown in
- CTA button (if available)
- Number of page likes
- Number of days active
- Category
When you click on any part of the card you will get all the details about the ad page. You can find everything shown in the ad card along with a few extras such as:
- A preview of the pre-lander
- The page ID
- The landing page URL
- Language
- A map of the world highlighting the countries it is being advertised in
Dashboard also has a tab for other creatives from the same advertiser that you are spying on.
You'll also see the landing page preview and the map if you scroll down on the pop-up page as shown in the image below. You'll also notice that there is an option to download on the landing page but bear in mind that it does not actually allow users to download the landing pages. The only option you have is to simply take a screenshot of the pre-lander.
- Fifth Step: View and Group Favorites
The majority of spying tools available on the Internet allow users to easily organize and access their saved campaigns in a heartbeat. The SocialAdSpyder, in particular, has a favorites option represented by a heart icon that lets users add favorites to their dashboard.
If you want to access your favorites, click on your profile and go to the favorites in the drop-down menu. The dashboard will then take you to your favorites tab where you can organize your ads and create folders for better management and access. You can also create new folders to separate your ads into lists or however you wish to do it.
How to Get the Most Out Of Your Ads Spy Tool
Buying a powerful spying tool does not guarantee success on its own. You need to know how to extract the most performance out of it by properly utilizing all the features it offers in order to create the perfect social media ads marketing strategy that can reap optimum results.
While you can learn from successful campaigns, which is undoubtedly a drool-worthy advantage, you still need to be able to utilize that knowledge effectively to become successful.
Here’s how can use your ads spy tool in the best way possible:
- Never replicate every single ad that you come across and find interesting. Take your time to understand the strategy and the mechanics of the ad. Once you know what the ad is about, reverse engineer it to fit your marketing requirements while applying the right techniques and practices you have learned along the way.
- Invested a considerable amount of time to understand the landscape available to the niche you are working in. Get a feel for what your audience finds most interesting and engaging when it comes to advertisements. You can find this information by reviewing the most popular and trending ads on social media platforms like Facebook.
- When analyzing the marketing strategies used by your competitors make sure that you note down the specific purposes for which they used said strategies. If your competitors are using multiple strategies for different purposes, we recommend that you start doing the same by reviewing what works best for your audience.
Can Ads Spying Tools Work for Affiliate Marketing
Yes, they can! In affiliate marketing, people frequently use traditional ads which use the same copied version of the content in different cases in order to achieve highly efficient affiliate marketing goals. The same pattern in ads over and over again loses the desired effects. This is where the application of spy tools comes in handy. With the ongoing update of marketing modes, spy tools enable marketers to achieve more efficient and better-performing affiliate marketing strategies. You’ll find many examples of spy tools being widely used in affiliate marketing all around you.
For example, Adbeat is used for marketing strategies, SEMRush is used for all-in-one search engine optimization (SEO), and BigSpy is used for competitors’ tracking and ad creative, etc.
How Do Spying Tools Help Affiliate Marketers
- They Analyze the Demographics Data
Spy tools provide users with the demographics of ads run by their competitors. With just the basic information about target audiences, affiliate marketers can tweak their marketing campaigns to improve their results. Bigger spy tools often provide demographic details in the form of charts for ads.
- They Spy on Your Competitors
Affiliate marketers can use spy tools to access information about targeted ad networks and ad copies. Some spy tools also extensively cover ads on main social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Yahoo, and AdMob. So, as long as their rivals are posting on the aforementioned social media platforms marketers can spy on them as much as they want.
- They Can Help Marketers Study the Interaction with Customers
Furthermore, spy tools also help marketers analyze interaction with customers by providing data on social engagement. Information about social engagement can then help users measure the social media Return on Investment (ROI) of the people they are trying to overtake. Some spy tools like BigSpy also offer detailed information such as the number of shares, likes, and comments, etc. This information can help marketers improve their affiliate marketing performance and get a positive ROI in a short time.
In other words, affiliate marketing is becoming increasingly indispensable in the realm of ads marketing. Spy tools can help affiliate marketers figure out more competitive advertising strategies and achieve higher performance and better efficiency.
How Do the Two Best Ad Spying Tools Compare
While there are hundreds of spying tools for Facebook ads, two of those spying tools have a very comfortable lead over the others.
BigSpy and AdSpy are two of the most sought-after spying tools for Facebook.
We compared both of the tools for you, so you know what you are signing up for in case you decide to opt for one of them
- Comparison According to Their Pricing Plans
| Features |
BigSpy |
AdSpy |
| Pricing |
Free, $9, $99, $399 |
Free Credits, $149 |
| Refund |
Within 24 hours |
Within 24 hours |
| Query-Based |
Yes |
Yes |
| Monthly Payment |
Yes |
Yes |
- Comparison On the Basis of Affiliate Rules
| Features |
BigSpy |
AdSpy |
| Apply For |
No need to apply |
Need to apply |
| Commission |
20% |
50% during the first three months |
| Register Product |
Not needed |
Needed |
- Comparison As Per Their E-commerce Analysis
| Features |
BigSpy |
AdSpy |
| Total Ads of E-commerce |
160 million ads |
Unknown |
- Where Do Bigspy and Adspy Based on Their Advanced Search and Filtering
| Features |
BigSpy |
AdSpy |
| Keyword Search |
Ads Text, Advertiser, Ads Info |
Landing Page Text, Ads Text, Comments, Advertiser |
| Industry |
Ecom, Game, App |
Not applicable |
| Targeted audience |
No |
Yes |
| Likes |
No |
Unknown |
| Created time |
Yes |
Yes |
| URL/ID Search |
Fan Page ID, Landing Page, Facebook Post ID |
URL, Landing Page URL |
| Seen Time |
Yes |
Yes |
| Advertiser |
Yes |
Yes |
| Countries |
Yes |
Yes |
| Language |
Yes |
Yes |
| Affiliate Networks |
9 networks |
Around 100 networks |
| CTA Types |
Yes |
Yes |
| Exclusion |
Yes |
No |
| Marketing Objectives |
Yes |
No |
- Comparison According to the Description of Database
| Features |
BigSpy |
AdSpy |
| Ads volume |
Over 165 million |
Over 84 million |
| Coverage |
Global coverage |
Global coverage |
| Main channels |
AdMob, Twitter, Pinterest, Yahoo, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube |
Facebook and Instagram |
| Open API available |
No |
Yes |
| Language supported |
English |
English |
| Data pick |
Intelligent technology |
Intelligent technology |
- Comparison According to Their In-depth Analytics
| Features |
BigSpy |
AdSpy |
| Original ads |
Yes |
Yes |
| Download |
Yes |
Yes |
| Period |
Yes |
Yes |
| Track |
Yes |
No |
| URL |
Yes |
Yes |
| Landing Page |
Yes |
Yes |
| Ranking selection |
Duration, Last Seen, Like, Created Time, Comments, Heat, and Share |
Longest running, Date (recent on the top), Likes, Date (oldest on the top), Love, Haha, Wow, Angry, Sad, and Shares |
| Engagement |
Yes |
Yes |
| Demographics |
Yes (Beta Version) |
Yes |
Can You Spy on Your Competitor’s Facebook Ads for Free
Technically, it's not impossible. You can spy on other people's ads for marketing purposes without using a spying tool, but it will not give you as much information on your competitors' strategies as a spying tool would. But it can be done.
By using the Facebook Info & Ads Tool or Facebook Ad Library.
Both Facebook Info and Ads Tool and Facebook Ad Library are official tools from Facebook that allow you to spy on ads without spending a single penny.
How Does the Facebook Info and Ads Tool Work
All you need to do is visit the page or the account that you want to check ads or spy ads for. In the left navigation panel, you will find an option for ‘Info and Ads’. Before clicking on the ‘Info and Ads’ option, you need to scroll down the page for a bit to see if it has multiple options in the left sidebar. Once you have done that, you can click on the ‘Info and Ads’ button and select the country from the drop-down menu. And that's it!
You have all the current ads for the page of your choice before you.
How Does the Facebook Ad Library Work
Facebook Ad Library is a little bit different from the Info and Ads tool. It was originally created for users to find all politics-related ads on Instagram and Facebook. However, in 2019, Facebook changed it to all running campaigns, including anything that interests you without even logging in.
In order to use Facebook Ad Library, you need to start by turning off AdBlock if you use one. After that, you have to select a country, if you want, similar to how you do it in the Info and Ads tool. However, Facebook recommends choosing all countries because it provides the fullest impression possible.
Once you have chosen a country of your liking, make a list of all of your competitors to make the search process a lot easier. Type in the name of your competitor to start the search in the Facebook Ad Library. Do not panic if your search bar does not work because you can always use Facebook’s website to find your competitor's page. Then you can just copy and paste the name into the search bar.
You can share the link to an ad if you like. However, keep in mind that the link can stop working a few days later because ad campaigns are put on pause or relaunched pretty often. More often than you think. So, if you find something that interests you, you can save the ad using DropBox or Google Drive.
Or you can just use a spying tool like Spyder, SpyFu, or Anstrex to save Facebook ads, categorize them into folders, and share them with your colleagues for free.
Why Do People Go for Paid Tools Instead of Using the Free Option That's Provided by the App Itself
The answer to this question lies in the functions Facebook’s tools provide. According to Facebook, it launched both of its free tools in an effort to provide more transparency to its users. The goal was to have more transparency and credibility in the advertising sector of the app and allow its users to see ads that they may not be able to see in their news feed if they are not part of the advertiser's intended audience. But that's where it ends.
Facebook’s free tools for spying on ads do not provide all the options that spying tools like AdEspresso, Swipe-Worthy by Swiped Co., PowerAdSpy, AdPlexity, Spy Push, etc., offer.
So, if you're actually looking for helpful information on your competitors, Facebook’s tools will not and cannot provide you with that.
Conclusion
Social media marketing can seem daunting as it has a universe of its own. Do not let that stop you from learning how it works and using that information to your advantage. With a basic understanding of how marketing strategies and marketing trends work, you can create successful ad campaigns and optimize them according to your brand's persona. To get the most out of it, make sure that a Facebook ad spy tool is an important part of your strategy if you are serious about getting ahead of the competition.
Do not waste your time looking for the perfect tool because such a thing does not exist. Therefore, instead of wasting your time, start by analyzing your competitors’ campaigns to find out what tips and tricks they are using. Sometimes analyzing what the big players in your niche are doing can open your eyes to a completely new way of doing things. If you do not want to spend your money on a paid tool, you can start with a free tool and later take the leap to a paid one.
Keep in mind that Facebook ad spy tools are not an alternative to designing ad campaigns. You still need to test if something works for you. Try A/B testing or split testing and keep optimizing your advertisements as per your target audience. Ultimately, your main goal should be to use these competitive ad intelligence tools to do more of what works on Facebook and turn it into a scalable business model for booming profits.
