Track Competitor Promotions on Facebook: A Promo Log

To track competitor promotions on Facebook, check the Meta Ad Library on a fixed schedule for new ads that use offer language like "sale", "% off" or "code", and log each one with its "Started running on" date. Over a few months, that log becomes a promo calendar showing when each competitor discounts, how deep, and which offer structure they lean on.

Here is how I set it up, what to record, and how to read the offers once you have them.

Why track competitor promotions on Facebook at all?

Promotions are the most expensive decisions a brand makes. Every discount comes straight out of margin.

When a competitor runs a sale, it changes the market around you. Shoppers who were comparing you and them now have a reason to pick them this week. If you know it is coming, you can plan around it instead of reacting with a panic discount.

Tracking promos also shows you patterns that are hard to see any other way:

• Timing. Does the competitor go early for Black Friday, or wait for the week itself?
• Depth. Do they open at 20% and climb, or start deep?
• Frequency. Are they always on sale? That tells you their full price is mostly for show.
• Structure. Do they prefer percent off, bundles, or gifts with purchase?

How do you find competitor discount ads in the Meta Ad Library?

The Meta Ad Library at facebook.com/ads/library is free and shows every active ad from any advertiser across Facebook and Instagram. If you have not used it much, our Meta Ad Library guide walks through the filters.

There are two ways in.

Search by competitor. Set the country, choose All ads, and search the competitor's Page name. Then scan their active ads for offer language in the copy or on the creative. This is the most reliable method for brands you already know.

Search by keyword. Type offer words into the search box instead of a brand name. Useful terms to try:

• "sale"
• "% off" and "off sitewide"
• "code" and "use code"
• "free gift" and "free shipping"
• "bundle" and "buy one"
• "Black Friday", "Cyber Monday", "summer sale"

Keyword search surfaces brands you did not know were in your space. Combine a product term with an offer term, like "serum sale" or "running shoes code", to narrow things down.

How do you turn start dates into a promo calendar?

Every ad card in the library shows "Started running on". For promos, that date is gold. It tells you when the sale campaign began, and if you check back, roughly when it ended.

Set up a simple log. A spreadsheet works fine. For each offer ad, record:

1. Competitor name
2. Start date (from the ad card)
3. Date you last saw it active
4. Offer as written ("25% off sitewide", "free gift over a set spend")
5. Offer type (see the table below)
6. Format (video, static, carousel)
7. Link or saved file

1. 1
   Check competitors weeklySame day, same list
2. 2
   Flag offer adsSale, % off, code, gift
3. 3
   Log start date and offerOne row per ad
4. 4
   Save the ad fileBefore it is paused
5. 5
   Review by seasonSpot the yearly pattern

Do this every week and after one quarter you will see the shape. After a full year, you can predict the competitor's next sale with decent confidence, because most brands repeat their calendar.

The big moments to watch are the obvious ones: Black Friday and Cyber Monday, holiday gifting, New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, summer, and back to school. Our collection of Black Friday Facebook ad examples shows what peak-season offer ads tend to look like, and our Q4 Facebook ads strategy covers how to plan your own spend around that window.

Why do you need to save competitor offer ads before they vanish?

Promo ads have short lives. A Black Friday ad might run for five days and then get paused.

Outside the EU, the Meta Ad Library generally shows only active ads. Once a competitor pauses a sale ad, it usually disappears from view. If you did not save it, your log has a row with no evidence behind it.

So save offer ads the day you spot them. Screenshots work in a pinch, but they lose video and carousel cards. Downloading the original file keeps the full creative for later review, which is what the Meta Ad Library downloader is for.

For a log, bulk export is handy. Our free extension has a bulk mode that collects every running ad from a search into one ZIP, with a CSV listing each ad alongside the files. Drop that CSV into your promo sheet and filter the copy for offer words. If you prefer other routes, our guide to exporting Facebook ads to CSV compares the options.

How do you read a competitor's offer structure?

The number in the ad is only half the story. The structure of the offer tells you what the brand is trying to protect.

A few patterns I watch for:

Percent off climbing year over year. If a competitor went from 20% to 30% to 40% across three Black Fridays, their sales are probably harder to get. That can be an opening for you to compete on product or story instead of price.

Gifts instead of discounts. Premium brands often refuse to show a percent off. They add a gift instead. That tells you they care about price perception, and their customers do too.

Codes in creator content. When offer codes appear in UGC-style ads with creator names, the brand is probably running an influencer or affiliate program alongside paid social.

How often should you check for new competitor promotions?

Weekly is enough for most of the year. Pick a day, run through your competitor list, and log anything new.

Step it up to every two or three days from late October through the end of the holiday season. Promos move faster then, and missing a week can mean missing a whole campaign.

Pair the promo log with a broader watch on creative. Our guide to tracking competitor ad changes covers how to spot new angles, formats and landing pages, which often shift in the same week a sale starts.

FAQ

How can I track competitor promotions on Facebook?

Check the Meta Ad Library on a fixed schedule for each competitor's Page and for offer keywords like "sale", "% off" and "code". Log each offer ad with its Started running on date, the offer wording and the offer type, and save the ad file before it is paused.

How do I find competitor discount ads in the Meta Ad Library?

Search the competitor's Page name and scan their active ads for offer language, or search keywords such as "sale", "use code" or "free gift" to discover new advertisers. Keyword search only matches ad text, so it can miss offers shown only on the image or in the video.

Can I see past competitor sales on Facebook?

Mostly not outside the EU, because the Meta Ad Library generally shows only active ads and paused ads drop out of view. In the EU, inactive ads stay visible, so that view can help. The reliable answer is to save offer ads as you find them.

How do I build a competitor promo calendar?

Record the start date, last-seen date, offer wording and offer type for every competitor promo ad in a spreadsheet, checking weekly. After a few months, sort by date and competitor to see when each brand discounts and how deep, then plan your own offers around it.

Which offer types work best in Facebook ads?

There is no single best type; it depends on your margins and audience. Percent off is simple and broad, dollar off with a threshold lifts order value, bundles move units, and free gifts protect your headline price. Watch which structures your competitors keep running for weeks, since that longevity suggests the offer is working for them.