How To Transform Hours of Content Creation into High-Performing Ads That Generate Course Sales
Creating ads to generate course sales doesn’t have to be complicated.
If you’re spending hours per week on social media content you’ve already done the hardest part.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed setting up your ads…
…Should I use images or videos and how many?
…How long should my copy be?
…How long do I need to test it for?
What if there was an easy way to remove all the guesswork?
The truth is that you’ve been doing it all along, you just never realized it.
In reality,
The elite media buyers make one important mindset shift. They don’t think about creating ‘ads’. Instead, they focus on creating ‘content.’
Because they know the highest-performing ads are the ones that people don’t realize are ads.
They capture attention.
They look native to the feed.
They provide value.
And, the simplest way to create these?
Is to take your top-performing content and turn them into high-converting ads.
You can do this in 3 easy steps.
Step 1: Identifying Your Top-Performing Content.
The first step is to identify our top-performing content. These will be the foundation of the first ads we create. Here are 3 ways to identify your top-performing content.
Engagement Rate.
A high engagement rate is the first thing that we will look for. The gold standard is 10%. But I like to also evaluate posts that perform above average. You can take the reach/impressions and divide it by the likes, comments, and shares to determine your engagement rate.
Over-Indexed Reach/Impressions.
Above-average reach or impressions are a positive signal. When you make a post the algorithm will show it to a certain number of people. Based on the initial feedback it determines whether or not to push it out to more people. When we get more reach, it is typically a positive signal of resonance. Track your posts that perform significantly better than your average posts.
Positive Sentiment.
Different posts can serve different purposes as I outline in ‘The Ultimate Beginner's Blueprint to a Profitable Content Strategy.’ More “niche” posts may not get as much reach but may generate DMs, or comments. Based on this qualitative feedback, the positive sentiment may indicate it would make a good ad. For example: If I make a post and receive comments and DMs requesting something I mentioned, this would be a great sign.
Important Note: Relevance.
Relevance is important. This is a consideration when converting content into ads. While a dancing video may generate engagement, it may not sell a course. Ads can serve different purposes which we will explore, but when assessing our content we will ensure it’s relevant to our goals and our products, programs, or lead magnets.
Step 2: Converting Your Content Into Ads.
Now that we have identified our top-performing content we can begin turning them into ads. You may have a handful of options, and that’s Ok. We can test and use more than one. Some may work better than others. But the goal is that we’re using qualitative and quantitative feedback to drive our ad creation rather than ‘guessing.’
Using Content ‘As-Is.’
Some content may be perfect as it was posted. In this case, you can leverage the post-as-is into an ad. In other instances, we may need to take an additional step.
Edit Content To Become An Ad.
We might have content that performed exceptionally well but needs to be edited. It could be too long, it could be the wrong dimensions, or potentially we want to edit in a call-to-action or an end-screen with a call-to-action. All of this will make it more relevant for the use-case as an ad.
Re-create Content As An Ad.
We might have content that performed exceptionally well, but we use the hook, theme, and message to film a NEW video to be used for an ad. This could be adjusting length, orientation, and adding a call-to-action. Much the same as above, the goal here is to improve relevance for use as an ad.
Important Note: The Goals Of Our Ads.
Ads can serve several purposes. They can be used to sell our products and programs directly. They can be used to direct people to lead magnets to build our email lists. And they can be used to build brand awareness and get more people familiar with our brand. All of these are potential use cases for our content.
These first 2 steps give you what you need to run a successful ad campaign.
But the following 2 steps will help you take it one step further.
Step 3: Following The Trends.
Once we’ve identified our top-performing content we can begin to leverage these insights in interesting ways. Here are 3 things that you could do with what you’ve discovered.
Create More Content.
If you identify commonalities and themes between your content in Step 1 I recommend that you begin to create more content around those topics.
Say The Same Thing in Different Ways.
Similar to above, if a piece or pieces of content performed exceptionally well, you say the same thing in additional ways Speaking to the pain, speaking to the outcome, giving a personal example, leveraging a case study or social proof, etc. Can you say the same thing differently? If so, give it a shot.
Create Products, Programs, Or Lead Magnets.
When you identify commonalities or themes from the content in Step 1, seek new opportunities. Are there indicators of new products, programs, or lead magnets you can create? Remember that every like, share, comment, and DM, is someone raising their hand and expressing interest. Creating things that people are already asking for is a shortcut that very few are taking advantage of.
Step 4: Review The Data & Don’t Stop Testing.
This content-first ad approach is where I start with all of my clients.
As a paid media strategist I have managed over 12 Million dollars in ads and my best performers have always come from or have been inspired by content.
But, I know that every ad is effectively a test.
I treat organic content the same. Every post allows provides insights. These insights feed into your next post. As you begin to approach things this way you can start to use your content as a testing ground. Test messages, test angles, test product ideas, etc.
Not every post will work.
As you turn content into ads, not all will work either. But we’re putting ourselves at an advantage because we’re using data to drive our ad choices rather than guessing.
So, remember:
Review the data. Don’t stop testing.
If you’ve been spending hours per week creating content to generate leads and sales you’ve already put in the hard work needed to create assets that can do it on autopilot.
-Landon
P.S.
If you’d like to turn your top-performing content into high-converting ads that generate course sales, I’d love to help you do this.
I will audit your content and show you the 3-5 posts you can use as ads. All you have to do is send me a direct message on Instagram or LinkedIn.
And, if you’re interested, I can do all of this for you, too.
Very cool! Can't wait to try!
Landon, totally unrelated, but how do you get the preview of posts on your newsletters sign up page?? The preview of like 3 posts on the right hand side when someone first lands on your newsletter? I hope you know what I'm talking about. I've been trying to do that for mine and can't figure it out.