Running Facebook ad campaigns is a tricky thing. Although you might know the rules of this game, Facebook campaigns do not always work as you wish and imagine, as there are some factors which are beyond your control.

So probably, when things don’t go exactly the way you want them, you start wondering what to do to improve your ad results. Of course, you can take a look at your campaign stats, but you can also spy a little bit on your competitors’ results to get some interesting insights that will broaden your perspective.

But is it really possible to see competitors’ Facebook ad results, you guess? The good news is: yes, and we are here to tell you how to do it.

Why should you check competitors’ ad results?

First of all, it is hard to run a business without having a thorough knowledge of your market. If you want to be at the cutting edge of your business niche, you simply need to be aware of what competitive businesses do, and what they achieve.

It also applies to paid campaigns on Facebook, especially when considering Facebook Ads optimization. Many brands tend to peek at competitors to get inspired by their ad creations. This is actually what the Facebook Ad Library was created for.

But apart from ad creations, it is important that you analyze your ad performance and compare it with competitors. Here are a few reasons why it is worth doing:

• You’ll learn if you’re spending too much or too little on Facebook campaigns – the thing is, if you’re investing too little, your brand is not visible enough, and it is likely that you need more intense Facebook marketing.
• You’ll find out if your campaigns can be more effective – for example, if it is possible to reach more people at the same cost.
• You’ll understand which aspects of your ads are under your control and which can still be improved – it will help you prioritize your next steps in order to optimize your efforts.

How to track your competitors’ ad results?

Well, the truth is, competitors’ Facebook campaign data is not easily accessible. Also, not so many social media analytics tools offer such insights. 

Generally speaking, it is hard to pull off very detailed ad data, including exact numbers, like CPC or CPM of your direct competitors. However, in Sotrender, you can find aggregated and anonymized stats informing about your competitors’ ads performance. 

How to see competitors’ ad results in Sotrender?

If you want to compare your ad performance with competitors, just log in to Sotrender and head on to Sotrender Ads through the ‘Analyze ads’ tab. 

To see your competitors’ ad results, click specifically on the ‘Benchmarking’ tab.

Compare with similar advertisers

First of all, in Sotrender Ads, you can compare 4 key results with competitors, using scores which are based on an algorithm enhanced by AI. 

They are as follows:

• CPC score – which shows you your median CPC against competitors,
• CPM score – compares your median CPM to competitors’ average CPM,
• Impressions score – contrasts the number of your ads’ impressions with competitors,
• Clicks score – compares the number of your ads’ clicks against competitors’ results.

To compare your scores, simply choose a fitting business category (or use a default one), and a campaign goal by which you want to sort the data. There are three different campaign goals available: Awareness, Consideration and Conversion.

You can find 4 main groups of categories there: Family & Home, Public, Business, Leisure & Shopping, and 25 smaller categories within them. Thanks to this wide range, it is possible to compare your ad results with any business niche that interests you.

Check the trend for particular scores

By taking a look at the score trend chart, you can also see how particular scores were changing over the last few months. This way, you can check if your results are improving or still need a deeper insight and refinement.

Analyze spend and campaign goals

Have you ever wondered how much your competitors spend on their Facebook ad campaigns? Well, although you will not know the exact amounts that particular brands spend, at Sotrender Ads you are able to check competitors’ median ads spend. 

Still, there’s even more! In the app, you can check on which campaign goals your competitors spend the most of their budgets. So, for example, below you can see that in the Product, Service & Equipment category, advertisers spend the most money on traffic, reach and conversion campaigns. 

Now that you know how to track your competitors’ ad results, and which ones should be of your attention, you can better support your advertising strategy and hopefully, you can improve your Facebook ad results!

Wishing you the best of luck!