“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles” (Sun Tsu)
As B2B digital marketers, we always strive to know more about the competitive
landscape we operate in. The more we know about our competition allows us to
better market our services and products, differentiate our brand from others,
and focus on what’s profitable and valuable for our business.
When we focus on paid advertising, understanding what our competition is doing is easier said then done.
Here are four easy-to-use tools and tricks to understand what your competition is promoting using digital paid ads.
LinkedIn Ads Tab
To look at any promoted ads from a LinkedIn page, just go to the company page you want to review and click the Ads tab on the left menu.

Twitter Ads Transparency Center
To find tweets promoted by your competitors, you can use Twitter’s Ads Transparency Center. In the transparency center, search for the brand or twitter user you want to view ads from, and you’ll be able to see all the ads promoted by the account in the last seven days.

Facebook’s Ad Library
Facebook’s Ad Library was first introduced to allow transparency on social issues, electoral or political advertising, but later on was expanded to allowed viewing all Facebook ads.
To view your competition’s ads on Facebook, head over to the Ad Library and search for the brand you want to review. You can also filter by country, time period and platform. Facebook’s ad library also reveals which ads are active and the different variations of the ads in a campaign.

MOAT.COM Ad Search
The most challenging area to study your competition is probably display ads. No more! To search and review your competition’s banner display ads, you can use MOAT.COM’s Ad Search.
Go to MOAT.COM, search for the brand you want to see, et voilà – you’ll be able browse through your competitor’s banner ads. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to see all brands, especially if their ads volume is low.

Conclusion
Competition analysis is not easy, especially when trying to analyze and research B2B digital advertising. Using these four tools can make your life easier when trying to understand the ecosystem you compete in.
But this is only part of the picture. Building top-preforming B2B digital campaigns will require additional expertise, such as audience development and campaign management. If you want to understand more how to gain more from your B2B digital campaigns and learn how to beat your competition, don’t hesitate to contact us.