Want to See Your Competitor’s Facebook Ads? Now You Can.

Turns out all that Facebook transparency has an added benefit for marketers.  We can now see our competitors ads by just going to their Facebook page and looking under the heading that says Info and Ads.  On mobile, it is right under the header photo.  For instance, Panera is running ads about their new delivery program.

Why can we see them now?  The main reason for these new transparency tools is to provide more insight into how political advertisers are using social platforms to manipulate voter opinion, and promote certain candidates as a result.

Heard of dark posts?  Dark posts appeared on the news feeds of targeted users, but not on the company page of the brand that sent them.  But that’s all changed with this new ability to see what ads are running for Facebook Pages.

Facebook itself has previously described how its platform could be used to influence election outcomes, and with 2.2 billion users and growing, it’s a powerful tool of influence.  Women represent 52% of users and 78% of U. S. women are on Facebook, compared to 62% of  U. S. men.