If you’ve been following the Facebook Newsroom, you’ll know that Facebook is focusing on improving the enforcement and transparency of ads on Facebook.

During the last U.S. election, Facebook stated that one page created over 3,000 ads that appeared to amplify racial and social divisions, violating their ad policies.

In this article I’ll lay out what Facebook plans to do in the coming months to improve the enforcement and transparency of ads by making all ads visible on a brand’s page.

Making advertising more transparent

Facebook has stated that it will begin rolling out a ‘View Ads’ button on a brand’s page.

brandads.png

This will show all ads that the brand is running on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, even if the user is not being targeted.

In a nutshell, every ad you run will be viewable to anyone who chooses to see them, including customers and competitors.

If you’re targeting political interests, your ads will also go for manual review before they are approved.

Facebook has already started testing in Canada and will roll it out in the U.S. sometime in 2017. Facebook has mentioned that for election-related ads, they will also allow users to see the following:

  1. A searchable archive of all ads within a four-year period
  2. Information on total amount spent
  3. Impressions delivered
  4. Demographic information such as age and genders targeted

Facebook stated this is only the case for federal election ads and not brands. However, maybe in a few years this will be standard for all accounts.

What does this mean for brands?

As a brand advertising on Facebook, you’re probably seeing it in one of two ways:

Glass half-full – You can now spy on your competitors’ ads and see what funnels, offers, and creatives they are using.

Glass half-empty – Your Facebook funnel will be revealed to your competitors who may copy you. OMG!

The truth is that if a competitor really wanted to see all the ads you’re running, there are dozens of tools out there already that scrape ads and provide proper details on your targeting interests.

To see your competitors’ ads immediately, all you have to do is visit their page and within a few hours their content will be on your feed. Click a few more buttons and place an order and you’ll be able to go deeper into their funnel to see their cross-sells and more.

This new feature just makes the whole process a lot easier.

For brand pages, Facebook isn’t revealing anything other than the ads you’re currently running. Right now they are focusing on election-related pages and are making political advertisers verify their identity before they can start running ads.

How to use this new feature

I personally think that this new feature is a good thing. Facebook is a dynamic ecosystem that is reinventing itself on a weekly basis.

Remember when everyone thought Facebook for business was dead because they reduced the amount of organic reach pages it got in 2015? Since then it’s never been more profitable to advertise on Facebook.

Showing all ads on a brand’s page is just another tool you can use to improve your own strategy.

This tool will allow you to see what your competitors are doing and what you’re missing.

You can also look at similar businesses to yours that operate in different countries. While they may not be your direct competitors, the brands that offer the same service in another country can provide you with ideas on how to expand your own business into new markets.

Are you happy with this new feature

I’m not overly worried about MuteSix’s ads being public as the team is always trying new things to stay one step ahead of the game. Even if a brand can see your ads, there’s still the targeting, bidding, and objective that they need to figure out.

I think this is a great feature that will innovate the Facebook space even more.

I personally can’t wait for this new feature to roll out in the U.S. What about you?
Digital Marketing

Facebook Will Start to Show All Ads on a Brand’s Page

3 min read

Steve Weiss •

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If you’ve been following the Facebook Newsroom, you’ll know that Facebook is focusing on improving the enforcement and transparency of ads on Facebook.

During the last U.S. election, Facebook stated that one page created over 3,000 ads that appeared to amplify racial and social divisions, violating their ad policies.

In this article I’ll lay out what Facebook plans to do in the coming months to improve the enforcement and transparency of ads by making all ads visible on a brand’s page.

Making advertising more transparent

Facebook has stated that it will begin rolling out a ‘View Ads’ button on a brand’s page.

brandads.png

This will show all ads that the brand is running on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, even if the user is not being targeted.

In a nutshell, every ad you run will be viewable to anyone who chooses to see them, including customers and competitors.

If you’re targeting political interests, your ads will also go for manual review before they are approved.

Facebook has already started testing in Canada and will roll it out in the U.S. sometime in 2017. Facebook has mentioned that for election-related ads, they will also allow users to see the following:

  1. A searchable archive of all ads within a four-year period
  2. Information on total amount spent
  3. Impressions delivered
  4. Demographic information such as age and genders targeted

Facebook stated this is only the case for federal election ads and not brands. However, maybe in a few years this will be standard for all accounts.

What does this mean for brands?

As a brand advertising on Facebook, you’re probably seeing it in one of two ways:

Glass half-full – You can now spy on your competitors’ ads and see what funnels, offers, and creatives they are using.

Glass half-empty – Your Facebook funnel will be revealed to your competitors who may copy you. OMG!

The truth is that if a competitor really wanted to see all the ads you’re running, there are dozens of tools out there already that scrape ads and provide proper details on your targeting interests.

To see your competitors’ ads immediately, all you have to do is visit their page and within a few hours their content will be on your feed. Click a few more buttons and place an order and you’ll be able to go deeper into their funnel to see their cross-sells and more.

This new feature just makes the whole process a lot easier.

For brand pages, Facebook isn’t revealing anything other than the ads you’re currently running. Right now they are focusing on election-related pages and are making political advertisers verify their identity before they can start running ads.

How to use this new feature

I personally think that this new feature is a good thing. Facebook is a dynamic ecosystem that is reinventing itself on a weekly basis.

Remember when everyone thought Facebook for business was dead because they reduced the amount of organic reach pages it got in 2015? Since then it’s never been more profitable to advertise on Facebook.

Showing all ads on a brand’s page is just another tool you can use to improve your own strategy.

This tool will allow you to see what your competitors are doing and what you’re missing.

You can also look at similar businesses to yours that operate in different countries. While they may not be your direct competitors, the brands that offer the same service in another country can provide you with ideas on how to expand your own business into new markets.

Are you happy with this new feature

I’m not overly worried about MuteSix’s ads being public as the team is always trying new things to stay one step ahead of the game. Even if a brand can see your ads, there’s still the targeting, bidding, and objective that they need to figure out.

I think this is a great feature that will innovate the Facebook space even more.

I personally can’t wait for this new feature to roll out in the U.S. What about you?

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