Research Meta Ads

---
name: research-meta-ads
description: When the user wants to research ads on Meta (Facebook and Instagram), for named competitors or across a whole category. Reads the Meta ad library by page or keyword, ranks the ads by how long they have run, reads the text, video transcripts and landing pages of the long-runners, sets recent tests apart, and hands back a table per competitor or a swipe file grouped by angle and offer. Also use when the user mentions the Facebook or Meta ad library, Instagram ads, what ads a brand runs on Facebook, a swipe file or ad inspiration from Facebook ads, winning Facebook ads in a niche, or the hooks and offers a market pays for on Meta. TikTok, LinkedIn and Google ads go to research-tiktok-ads, research-linkedin-ads and research-google-ads, a brief for new ads to write-ad-brief, a paid ads plan to create-paid-ads-plan, and a weekly watch of new ads to monitor-competitors.
compatibility: Requires the Manifold MCP connector, signed in with a Manifold account that has credits. Without it the skill stops and tells the user how to connect.
---

# Research Meta ads

What advertisers pay to show on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network, read from the one Meta ad library: for one or more named competitors, or for a whole category by keyword so it catches advertisers the user never named. Each ad comes with its dates, offer, hook and the page it sends people to. It ends in a table per competitor or a swipe file grouped by angle, long-runners first, because an ad that keeps running is the closest thing the library has to a result.

## Connector check

This skill runs on the manifold MCP server. Before the first step, confirm that its tools are available: look for `ads_get_advertiser_ads`, `ads_search_ads` and `ads_get_ad` (hosts often add a prefix, for example `mcp__manifold__ads_get_advertiser_ads`).

- If no manifold tool is there, stop and tell the user: "This needs the Manifold connector. If you installed the Manifold plugin, connect Manifold on the plugin's Connectors tab (Customize > Plugins in Claude), run `/mcp` in Claude Code, or run `codex mcp login manifold` in Codex. Otherwise add the remote MCP server `https://mcp.manifoldmcp.com/mcp` and sign in: in Claude or ChatGPT as a custom connector, in Claude Code with `claude mcp add --transport http manifold https://mcp.manifoldmcp.com/mcp` and then `/mcp`. Other clients: https://www.manifoldmcp.com/docs/clients." Do not answer from memory instead.
- If other manifold tools are there but the `ads_*` tools are not, the ads group is switched off on the app's Tools page (https://www.manifoldmcp.com/docs/authentication#turn-tool-groups-off). Say so; this skill needs it.
- Video ads use `facebook_get_transcript` (and `facebook_get_posts`, `instagram_get_reels` and `instagram_get_transcript` when the library holds no video), and landing pages `seo_get_page`. If one of those groups is off, skip its step, say which, and work from the ad text.

## Product context

Before the first question, look for the product marketing context file: `.agents/product-marketing.md` (in older setups `.claude/product-marketing.md` or `product-marketing-context.md`). If it exists, read it and take every input it answers (the competitors, their Facebook pages and domains, the category and its words, and the market) from it; ask only for what it lacks. If it does not exist and the job needs more than two answers about the business, offer [manifold-get-started](../manifold-get-started/SKILL.md) first.

## Inputs to settle first

- **The job**: named competitors' ads, or the best ads across a category (a swipe file). Take it from the request; a request for both runs the competitors first and the category around them second.
- **Competitors**: one to five, each with its Facebook page name or page id and its domain.
- **Keywords** (category job): three to five words the category's ads use: the product ("meal kit"), the problem ("dinner ideas"), the offer ("first box free") and the leading brand names. Ask for two; add the rest from the first pull.
- **Running now or all**: `active_only: true` keeps only ads running today. Default on for a category; for competitors, on when the user wants only what runs now.
- **Market**: default every country. Pass `country` (a two-letter code) when one market matters.
- **Depth**: competitors, up to three pages each and the ten longest-running creatives read in full. Category, 30 ads in the file.
- **Budget**: say it before starting; pass `max_credits` if the user gave a budget.
  - Competitors: about 9 credits each: up to three list pages, one keyword search when the page name matches the wrong page, and five video transcripts. Three competitors cost about 27.
  - Category: about 20 credits: four keywords at two list pages each and ten video transcripts.
  - Add 1 credit for each ad read with `ads_get_ad` where a row has no text.

## Steps

1. **Resolve each page** (competitors). A name can match the wrong page: if the first rows are someone else's, take the page id from `advertiser_id` on a row of the right brand (`ads_search_ads` with `platform: "facebook"` and the brand name, 1 credit, finds one) and pass that instead.
2. **Pull the ads.** Both tools take `platform: "facebook"`, 1 credit a page, with `country` when one market matters and `active_only` as settled.
   - Competitors: `ads_get_advertiser_ads` with the page name or id as `advertiser`, paging with `meta.cursor` up to three pages while new rows come back.
   - Category: `ads_search_ads` for each keyword, two pages. Keyword search matches the ad's text, so a keyword with two meanings brings in other categories: drop those rows.
3. **Rank by survival.** Dedupe on `id`, then group ads with the same body or headline into one creative and count its variants, adding each row's `versions` (the copies Meta already groups under it): many variants of one creative is a winner being scaled. Work out days running for each as the [winner rules](../create-paid-ads-plan/references/ad-libraries.md#winners) set out: Meta is the one library that marks a running ad, so still running is `active: true`, and days running is today minus `first_shown` while it runs. Sort by days running. In a category file, cap each advertiser at five creatives, then fill the file with the long-runners first and the recent ads marked as tests.
4. **Read the long-runners.** Follow [reading an ad](../create-paid-ads-plan/references/ad-libraries.md#reading-an-ad), on each competitor's ten longest-running creatives or every ad in the category file:
   - The text: Meta rows usually carry `body`; `ads_get_ad` with the row's `id` only where it is missing (1 credit). The hook is the first line of the body.
   - The words of a video ad: `facebook_get_transcript` on the ad's `url` (1 credit), for the five best video ads per competitor or the ten best in a category file. On NoData (1 credit, do not retry), find the same video on the advertiser's own account, `facebook_get_posts` or `instagram_get_reels` when it ran on Instagram (1 credit a page), matched on the caption, and transcribe that post with `facebook_get_transcript` or `instagram_get_transcript` (a reel up to two minutes long). The first spoken sentence is the hook.
   - The landing page: `seo_get_page` on each distinct `destination_url` (free): `title`, `h1` and `h2` show the offer the page leads with.
5. **Tag each ad** from the ad itself:
   - Angle: pain, outcome, social proof, comparison, founder story, demo, objection, offer-led.
   - Offer: free trial, discount, free shipping, bundle, guarantee, lead magnet, demo, none.
   - Proof: the number, review, logo or testimonial the ad leans on, if any.
   - Format: `format` from the row, plus video length or carousel where the text shows it, and `placements` (Facebook, Instagram or both).
   - CTA: the `cta` field, or the call in the last line when it is null.
6. **Set the recent ones apart.** Ads first shown in the last 14 days are current tests. List them apart: they show where an advertiser is heading, not what works.
7. **Deliver**, with the reminder at the top that the library shows what runs, not what converts.
   - Competitors: a table per competitor: ad link, format, placements, first shown, days running, still running, variants, headline, hook, angle, offer, CTA, landing page title, and the published `impressions` and `spend` ranges where present. Under each table, five lines: how many ads run now, their three proven creatives and why they likely work, the angles they repeat, their core offer, and their current tests.
   - Category: the swipe file grouped by angle. Per ad: advertiser, library link, format, days running, still running, variants, hook, offer, CTA, landing page title. Then a summary table: angle, ads, long-runners, advertisers using it, most common offer. Name the two or three angles with the most long-runners (proven in the category) and any angle no advertiser uses (an opening, or a dead end: test it small).
   - End with what the user can take from it.

## Judgment

- No ads found is not proof of no ads. Try another spelling, the page id, the parent brand, or a product's own page; big companies run ads from several pages.
- An ad missing from a second pull a week later has probably stopped: the library keeps few stopped ads outside the EU, so a Meta list is mostly what runs now.
- `placements` says where an ad ran. `countries` is filled only for ads Meta reports in the EU; for one ad that ran in the EU or the UK, `ads_get_ad` says who it was aimed at, who it reached by country, age and gender, and who paid.
- An agency or a reseller running ads for the competitor shows under its own page. Check `destination_url` before counting an ad as the competitor's.
- The same offer across every ad is the advertiser's core offer. An offer that appears in one ad only is a test.
- Never copy a competitor's creative, footage, claims or words. Take the structure: the hook pattern, the angle, the offer type.
- Proven angles are table stakes. The user's ads need them and something the category does not say yet; [write-ad-brief](../write-ad-brief/SKILL.md) adds that from customer language.
- Keyword search is ranked by the library and never complete. A second pass with other words costs little and is cached for 24 hours.
- Meta ads tend to show the problem in the first seconds; LinkedIn ads in the same category lead with a job-title hook and a proof point. For a B2B category, [research-linkedin-ads](../research-linkedin-ads/SKILL.md) is the other half of the picture.
- Credits and handoff follow the [ad libraries notes](../create-paid-ads-plan/references/ad-libraries.md#credits): say the estimate first, pass `max_credits` on a budget, and never buy, launch or pause ads. The server keeps no state; a weekly rerun of a competitor read is [monitor-competitors](../monitor-competitors/SKILL.md).
- **Every platform at once.** When the user wants all of one competitor's ads, or a category's, across platforms, run [research-meta-ads](../research-meta-ads/SKILL.md), [research-google-ads](../research-google-ads/SKILL.md), [research-tiktok-ads](../research-tiktok-ads/SKILL.md) and [research-linkedin-ads](../research-linkedin-ads/SKILL.md) in turn, then merge the tables by angle and offer. The same angle running on two platforms is a stronger signal than either alone. For a one-page view of every library, [tear-down-competitor](../tear-down-competitor/SKILL.md) reads one page from each.

## Related skills

- The same read on the other libraries: [research-tiktok-ads](../research-tiktok-ads/SKILL.md), [research-linkedin-ads](../research-linkedin-ads/SKILL.md), [research-google-ads](../research-google-ads/SKILL.md).
- A brief for the user's own ads from these long-runners: [write-ad-brief](../write-ad-brief/SKILL.md).
- Where paid ads fit in the plan and what to spend: [create-paid-ads-plan](../create-paid-ads-plan/SKILL.md).
- Hooks from organic Instagram reels: [find-instagram-hooks](../find-instagram-hooks/SKILL.md).
- Creators who make the UGC-style ads in the file: [find-ugc-creators](../find-ugc-creators/SKILL.md).
- Everything about a competitor beyond its ads: [tear-down-competitor](../tear-down-competitor/SKILL.md).
- New ads from the same competitors flagged every week: [monitor-competitors](../monitor-competitors/SKILL.md).