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How to Spy on FB competition? (20)

10-17-2015 01:14 PM #1 franky88 (Member)
How to Spy on FB competition?

Hi guys

While reading "stages of a campaign" In Stage 0: Preperation, I noticed that spying on competition to see what works on what offer plays a very important part in the success of your campaign, especially for newbies like myself.

My question is are there any guides/ tactics/tools out there on how to spy on FB ads??
I tried looking around on STM but didn't come up with much.

Franky88

10-17-2015 03:25 PM #2 fbqueen (Senior Member)

Get a spy tool, there are plenty of them out there. Whatadswork, SocialAdClub or SocialAdNinja and a few more...

10-17-2015 05:49 PM #3 famfam (Member)

You can try using FB search graph. Only problem with search graph is that it gives the most recent results only.
You can also try Buzzsumo. They recently released a Facebook research tool
It is basically a search graph but it lets you sort by popularity in the last month, 3 months and 6 months.
They have a 14 day trial and then you need to pay after that.

10-17-2015 06:24 PM #4 iAmAttila (Veteran Member)

Heres how you spy.

Make accounts in the geos you want to spy in.

Diff ones that fall into the diff age groups your ideal customer for the niche u run is in.

Like a ton of stuff related to the niche with this account.

U can use audience insights to get some affinity ideas.

It will take a few days or maybe a week for new account to start showing ads but after that ads will appear on your nf and rs..

If u go advanced u could setup a spy network using browser profiles and proxies to make it easy all on one vm.

10-18-2015 01:46 AM #5 lahatte (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by fbqueen View Post
Get a spy tool, there are plenty of them out there. Whatadswork, SocialAdClub or SocialAdNinja and a few more...
Do you have a favorite?

10-18-2015 03:47 AM #6 thuglife (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by lahatte View Post
Do you have a favorite?
SocialAdClub is the best one at the moment. Just hope they'll get that logo fixed.

I've also heard great things about Lots of Ads.

10-18-2015 04:11 AM #7 lahatte (Member)

Do we get any STM discounts with these tools?

10-18-2015 09:56 AM #8 franky88 (Member)

Thanks guys, great feed back will be exploring some of the methods/tools mentioned above

02-04-2016 12:51 PM #9 Chunk (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by iAmAttila View Post
Heres how you spy.

Make accounts in the geos you want to spy in.

Diff ones that fall into the diff age groups your ideal customer for the niche u run is in.

Like a ton of stuff related to the niche with this account.

U can use audience insights to get some affinity ideas.

It will take a few days or maybe a week for new account to start showing ads but after that ads will appear on your nf and rs..

If u go advanced u could setup a spy network using browser profiles and proxies to make it easy all on one vm.
Ah i was looking for this answer:

Questions:
- Does it matter if it is a banned account?
- For mobile: do you need the app or is using a browser considered: ok?
- For mobile you need an additional VPN for the target country right?

02-04-2016 02:01 PM #10 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by Chunk View Post
Ah i was looking for this answer:

Questions:
- Does it matter if it is a banned account?
- For mobile: do you need the app or is using a browser considered: ok?
You are looking at ads. FB is not going to stop serving ads because you are on a browser.

02-04-2016 02:43 PM #11 Chunk (Member)

Just checking .

So far today: I am able to produce the results on my desktop, but i do not produce the same results on my mobile. Need more patience?

02-04-2016 02:57 PM #12 fbqueen (Senior Member)

Chunk, for me mobile and desktop produce very similar results. Although I browse FB mobile within the FB app...

02-04-2016 09:10 PM #13 nebojsa (Member)

Sensor Tower Ads Intelligence works well for mobile campaigns but it's not cheap

02-05-2016 10:50 AM #14 Chunk (Member)

Ok it seems i succeeded to produce the results on mobile, as well as on browser.

Now the next objective: change the target country.

What i did so far:
- Change account base location.
- Unlikes all pages of previous location.
- Likes all pages based in target location.
- Turned on my vpn of target country.

Did not yet, produce the wanted results. I think i need more patience.
Any suggestions?

02-05-2016 11:22 AM #15 spartanen (Member)

Making fb accounts in different Geo's isnt working i think if you doing blackhat i think... those people use c l oa ker s and they see VPN and you cant make a account in a other GEO then your own without using a vpn...

02-05-2016 12:31 PM #16 Chunk (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by spartanen View Post
Making fb accounts in different Geo's isnt working i think if you doing blackhat i think... those people use c l oa ker s and they see VPN and you cant make a account in a other GEO then your own without using a vpn...
Oh you are right, need an external server. Hopefully problem is solved then.

p.s. on the other hand, it is mainly the ad that is interesting.

02-12-2016 10:04 AM #17 Chunk (Member)

Ok i found a plugin which will do the trick for me.

Another last question i am having: does it matter if i like ALL PAGES: skincare stuff/weightloss/supermarkets?
Or is this silly and i will never reach the good stuff

02-14-2016 05:54 AM #18 m0bile4ffili8 (Banned)

@Chunk would you mind telling me the name of the plugin? thanks!

02-14-2016 10:33 AM #19 zeno (Administrator)

Quote Originally Posted by Chunk View Post
Ok i found a plugin which will do the trick for me.

Another last question i am having: does it matter if i like ALL PAGES: skincare stuff/weightloss/supermarkets?
Or is this silly and i will never reach the good stuff
1) Ad delivery to your account is at the mercy of FB's automated systems that reduce ad fraud and prevent ad serving to useless, fake accounts that never click, take sponsored actions or convert offsite.

2) Ad delivery to your account is at the mercy of advertisers actually targeting you. If people are using reach/flat CPM bidding then you'll be much more likely to get their ad. If they are bidding for website clicks or page post engagement, or website conversions, chances are you fall outside that basic audience for being a terrible user (in the sense that the data suggests you are of virtually no value to advertisers).

3) When you load the news feed there may be 1,000-10,000 potential ads that could serve. You don't have many spots. So, if you want to see particular ads, focus on one category of interest e.g. skincare, rather than everything under the sun.

4) Results may vary.

5) Don't expect too much with your first attempt at a fake account, likely created relatively crudely, when it is in FB's best interest to never serve you an ad.

02-15-2016 01:23 PM #20 Chunk (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by zeno View Post
1) Ad delivery to your account is at the mercy of FB's automated systems that reduce ad fraud and prevent ad serving to useless, fake accounts that never click, take sponsored actions or convert offsite.

2) Ad delivery to your account is at the mercy of advertisers actually targeting you. If people are using reach/flat CPM bidding then you'll be much more likely to get their ad. If they are bidding for website clicks or page post engagement, or website conversions, chances are you fall outside that basic audience for being a terrible user (in the sense that the data suggests you are of virtually no value to advertisers).

3) When you load the news feed there may be 1,000-10,000 potential ads that could serve. You don't have many spots. So, if you want to see particular ads, focus on one category of interest e.g. skincare, rather than everything under the sun.

4) Results may vary.

5) Don't expect too much with your first attempt at a fake account, likely created relatively crudely, when it is in FB's best interest to never serve you an ad.
This translates to me:
- have a congruent page like behaviour also when you visit websites: make sure you click and get a cookie.

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