Where to find Facebook ad inspiration (besides the Ad Library)

I think the media buying side of running Facebook ads matters less every year, and the creative side matters more. The problem is most ad inspiration content is written for ecommerce, and the default for everyone else is scrolling competitors in the Ad Library. So here are the five places I actually go for lead gen ad ideas instead.

1. TikTok. Posts get far more organic reach there than on Instagram, and the search is better, so it’s easier to find formats that are doing well in your topic. One of my best performing ads at the time was a straight copy of a TikTok format: B-roll of someone working abroad with text building up over it, redone with my client.
2. Canva templates. Canva has designers making template ideas all day. They’re built for organic social, but a lot of them work as ads, even simple ones like an image with dot points laid out a certain way.
3. Facebook groups. Look for the screenshots, infographics and posts that are already popular in groups because they’re useful or funny. Those can be repurposed into a lead gen ad pretty easily.
4. Your own screenshots. When a post catches your eye on Facebook, Instagram or X, screenshot it. I keep folders of these, and a few have turned directly into ads that did well.
5. The creeper method. When a friend or family member stops scrolling on a post, take note of it (with their permission). If they’re reading it in their feed, the format at least isn’t getting in the way.

Once you have the idea, the next jobs are making it into an image ad or a video ad, and structuring the account so you can actually tell which ideas worked.