7 Facebook and Instagram Ads for Online Courses

Introduction

The modern online learner is often overwhelmed with information. As the online education industry continues to grow rapidly, it becomes increasingly crucial for educators to innovate and employ novel strategies to stand out in this competitive space.

Use Facebook and Instagram ad formats to provide bite-sized, visually engaging content that captures their attention and conveys your course’s value proposition quickly.

MUSTS for Ad Every Format

Storytelling

The concept of storytelling in social media advertising is in a constant flux. With platforms like Facebook and Instagram, algorithm changes and user behavior shift frequently. The ads that perform well today, may not tomorrow.

Embracing the latest music trends, video effects and challenges that resonate with your audience is a must. Understanding and accepting the ever-changing nature of social media platforms ensure that your ads remain relevant and engaging.

Emotional Resonance

Your ads should excel at evoking emotions by providing quick, impactful narratives. For online educators, this is an opportunity to showcase the transformative power of education.

Share real-life success stories of your students who have achieved their dreams through your programs. The emotional connection these stories create resonates deeply with learners, as they can relate to the pursuit of self-improvement.

Inspiration Done Right

The fine line between inspiration and exaggeration must be carefully navigated. Your authenticity as an educator is a powerful tool.

Share your journey candidly, including the challenges and setbacks you’ve encountered. Your audience will be more likely to connect with your message if it is shared with honesty.

Content Sourcing

Even as an educator with tons of knowledge to draw from, sourcing content and ideas is a perpetual challenge. Share quick educational tips or insights from your courses. Keep an eye on trending topics and seamlessly incorporate them into your content.

Encourage your students to contribute by sharing their experiences and successes. User-generated content not only eases the content creation burden but also helps foster a sense of community.

Evoking Curiosity

Your extensive experience as an educator gives you an unique opportunity to stir up curiosity in your potential students. Leverage your knowledge to pose thought-provoking questions that highlight the importance of your courses.

Share intriguing statistics or anecdotes from your field to engage your audience’s inquisitive nature. Prompt viewers to seek further information by teasing the valuable insights your courses provide, making them eager to explore further.

Grabbing the Attention of YOUR Audience

Targeting

Use the precise targeting options offered by Facebook and Instagram. Make sure you have a meticulous view of your audience.

Age, interests, behaviors and demographics. All these you have full clarity on. This ensures your ads reach individuals genuinely interested in your courses, increasing your likelihood of conversion.

Relevance

Craft your message with absolute clarity and relevance. Be honest about what your courses offer and who they are designed for.

Misleading headlines or exaggerated promises can not only harm your brand but also attract the wrong audience, leading to disappointment and potential negative reviews.

1. The Reel Style Ad

The human brain is wired to respond to visual stimuli and narratives, making reel-style ads an ideal format for delivering bite-sized, compelling content.

By incorporating educational highlights in an entertaining format, educators can leverage edutainment (educational entertainment) to make learning appealing and memorable.

If you already have cultivated a following on social media, the reel format becomes an even more potent tool. Reels have a unique advantage in that they are designed to be easily shareable, allowing existing followers to amplify the reach of the ad organically.

Reel-style Ad BREAKDOWN

What makes this ad compelling is its storytelling. It opens with a relatable struggle, presenting the nutritionist facing a common challenge that potential customers can identify with.

By using a real-life scenario an immediate connection is created, drawing the audience into the narrative.

Enter Solution

As the ad unfolds, a pivotal moment is marked by a beat drop precisely when the solution is introduced.

This auditory cue serves as a powerful attention-grabber, emphasizing the transformative nature of the solution. The beat drop creates a dynamic shift in the ad, signaling a turning point in the narrative.

Enter Impact of Solution

Following the introduction of the solution, the ad shows the immediate improvement of the person’s mood. The viewer witnesses a visual transformation presenting a noticeable elevation in her disposition.

This visual representation of joy and contentment subtly communicates the positive effects of having found the solution, resonating emotionally with the audience.

The ad’s copy is succinct, yet potent. It outlines the struggle, painting a clear picture of the challenges she endured and showcasing how the struggle manifested in her life.

The introduction of the solution is the central moment, highlighting its role in getting rid of both her struggles and her coping mechanism.

Ad Formula: From Struggle to Solution

This formula systematically presents the journey:

starting with the relatable struggle
vividly illustrating the struggle’s impact
introducing the transformative solution
showcasing the liberation from previous coping mechanisms
revealing a life free from the initial struggle

It’s a rich storytelling tool for educators seeking to connect with their audience authentically.

2. The Student Process Style Ad

A Look into the Learning Journey

Ads that unveil the learning journey can be particularly captivating. Sharing the process of how educators develop courses and how students engage with the material creates transparency.

This transparency builds trust by letting potential students see the thought and effort invested in their education. Moreover, it can help alleviate concerns about the impersonal nature of online learning, highlighting the human side of the experience.

The Impact on Student Progress

Showcase the practical impact of your courses to increase your sign-ups. Students often seek courses that offer immediate applicability.

To do this, mention specific skills or knowledge that your courses provide which can lead to advancement or personal growth. Provide quantitative data when available to underscore the effectiveness of your courses.

Leverage Learner Paths

Ensure that your ads align with the actual experience students can expect. When you over-deliver on the promise you made in your ads, you create a strong sense of satisfaction and loyalty among your students, ultimately driving word-of-mouth referrals.

What students appreciate most is a clear roadmap to success. Highlight milestones, such as assessments, project completions and certification achievements.

Show how students progress through your courses and gain a sense of accomplishment at each stage. Visual aids and flowcharts can make this path even more compelling.

The Student Process Style Ad BREAKDOWN

The genius of this particular student process-style ad lies in the simple but powerful fusion of compelling copy and a visually engaging selfie.

The copy introduces Rebecca as an author, immediately establishing credibility and capturing the attention of aspiring writers.

The selfie and book cover serve as a visual narrative, reinforcing Rebecca’s journey from aspiring writer to a published author.

The simplicity of the visual elements is key — it’s focused, on-point, and effectively communicates the message that success is attainable by taking the path she did.

The Ad Copy

The ad copy strategically unfolds Rebecca’s narrative with a touch of personalization.

Her journey with an online writing school is highlighted, emphasizing her initial joining and the subsequent achievement of becoming a published author.

The use of star ratings and a direct quote reinforces the positive impact of the online writing program on Rebecca’s writing journey.

The call to action is both clear and urgent, urging potential writers not to delay their best work and inviting them to explore the courses offered by the online school that got her where she is.

Connection and Trust Building

The copy employs a testimonial from Rebecca, providing a genuine and relatable voice that potential students can connect with.

The inclusion of her personal rating, accompanied by a glowing review, serves as a powerful trust-building device.

By sharing her personal experience and the positive influence of course she completed, Rebecca becomes a credible and relatable figure, fostering a sense of trust among the audience.

3. The Founder Story Style Ad

Authentic Connection

Consider the power of relatability. Online learners are drawn to educators who’ve managed to make them feel they understand their struggles, aspirations and doubts. Discuss your own journey, including the challenges and setbacks you’ve faced.

Authenticity here is crucial. The more your audience can relate to your experiences, the more they’ll be willing to trust you and your offerings.

An effective approach here is to share your Aha! moments – the times you overcame obstacles or found inspiration. This demonstrates your humanity and illustrates your commitment to guiding learners on their own path to success.

Be sure to provide a call to action that encourages your potential learners to engage further, whether it’s signing up for a free webinar or downloading a useful resource. This way you’re using your authenticity to convert leads.

Trust and Loyalty

Your founder story can be the first step in the trust-building process. Use industry-specific data and statistics to substantiate your expertise. Discuss your qualifications and experience in the field to highlight your credibility.

Furthermore, emphasize the tangible results your courses have generated. Use before-and-after stories, case studies, or testimonials to illustrate how your courses have transformed your students’ lives.

To inspire loyalty, foster a sense of community. Share examples of how your courses have created a supportive environment for learners to connect and grow together.

Mention the resources and ongoing support you provide, such as webinars, discussion forums or one-one consultations.

Use your founder story to convey your deep commitment to their progress and well-being. This solidifies your image as a caring educator who is genuinely invested in their success.

Sell the Transformation

Leveraging industry trends and data, highlight the real-world impact your courses can have on your learners’ lives.

Emphasize the skills, knowledge or career advancement they can attain through your programs. Use concrete examples of success stories from past students who have experienced significant change after completing your courses.

Moreover, employ aspirational language that conveys the potential benefits while stirring emotions and igniting the desire for personal growth. Demonstrate how your courses offer a clear path to achieving their goals.

Reinforce the transformative journey you’re offering, positioning your courses as the catalyst for a brighter future.

The Founder Story Style Ad BREAKDOWN

The founder speaks directly to the audience establishing an immediate and personal connection.

This approach creates a sense of intimacy, breaking down the digital barrier and allowing potential students to feel a genuine connection with the person behind the course.

B-roll Footage

The inclusion of B-roll footage in the video is a crucial element.

This footage showcases the founder comfortably in his educational environment, a space where his skills can be tangibly displayed.

For online educators, this translates into easy recognition and relatability. Whether it’s snippets of teaching, creating content, or engaging with students, the B-roll visually reinforces the founder’s expertise and ready-to-go commitment to the educational journey.

Supporting Story

The ad copy complements the founder’s spoken narrative, highlighting key information.

The formula employed is strategically crafted:

I am… – a brief introduction of the founder

I do… – a concise overview of their role and expertise as an online educator

I have [a following]… – a quantification of their influence to showcase the magnitude of impact.

Quantifying the founder’s influence is a key aspect of founder story-style ads.

The mention of millions of subscribers and billions of views adds a fact-based layer to the narrative, emphasizing the reach and impact of his content.

For online educators, this quantification not only conveys the scale of influence but also serves as a testament to the value they bring to their audience.

4.The Guarantee Style Ad

To make the most out of the high-quality courses you’re providing, you have to also effectively communicate their value to your potential customers.

At the core of a guarantee-style ad is the promise to reduce the perceived risk for prospective students. This reduction in risk plays a pivotal role in convincing potential customers to invest in your online courses.

Your guarantee should be crystal clear and specific to ensure it’s easily understood. Your potential students should immediately understand what they’re getting, how the guarantee works, and what steps to take if they’re unsatisfied.

Understand the key concerns of your potential students. Is it the quality of content, the level of support or the potential outcomes?

Address these concerns directly in your ad and demonstrate how your guarantee mitigates them. Pose the problem and present your guarantee as the solution.

Guarantee-Style Ad BREAKDOWN

Guarantee Takes Center Stage

Spot the prominence of the word guarantee across all major ad components.

From the headline to the description and the creative itself, it’s the focal point that immediately grabs attention. In circumstances in which trust is a make or break, such explicit assurances hold immense value.

Personal Reassurance

To elevate the impact of the guarantee, the use of first-person language is imperative. The prospective learner feels a personal connection, a direct reassurance from the course creator.

Crafting the guarantee in the first person adds a layer of authenticity transforming it from a generic statement to a direct pledge from the educator.

The creative element becomes a canvas for building trust visually. The main objective? Introducing the tutor as a credible figure. The visual representation should align with the course promise, reinforcing the guarantee in a tangible way.

5. The Direct Response Camera Style Ad

This style enables you, the instructor, to speak directly to your potential learners, addressing their concerns and fears in a personal and authentic manner.

When viewers see you responding to their questions, they recognize you’re not just a faceless course provider but a genuine expert invested in their learning journey.

This type of ad is a potent credibility booster. By directly engaging with your audience and demonstrating your expertise you’re both selling your courses and building your reputation.

Consider incorporating this type of ad in the final stages of your ad campaign when prospects are most interested but might have some lingering questions.

The Direct Response Camera Style Ad BREAKDOWN

The appeal of the direct-response camera-style ad is in the educator’s ability to speak directly to the camera with a concise yet impactful dialogue.

By posing specific questions and providing insightful answers, he establishes an immediate connection with the audience.

Minimal Copy, Maximum Impact

Note how the ad covers a substantial amount of information with minimal copy.

The educator efficiently conveys program features, deliverable highlights, desired outcomes, and even includes reviews and bonus program access info, all within a very brief timeframe.

This technique is particularly commendable, as it allows educators to communicate the essence of their course without overwhelming the viewer with lengthy explanations.

Info on Rhythm

The educator maintains a rapid rhythm throughout the ad, keeping the audience engaged and attentive.

This rhythm is a key element for online educators, mimicking the energetic and dynamic nature of their teaching styles, ensuring that the audience remains captivated throughout the ad.

Strategic use of B-roll, though brief, provides dynamic visuals that support the spoken content without slowing down the pace.

More with Less

The educator efficiently covers the deliverables, desired outcomes, snippets of positive reviews and bonus program access, offering a comprehensive overview in a short span.

This approach delivers quick and impactful information in a time-efficient manner like any great educator would.

6. The UGC Style Ad

Ads for Micro-Moments

Living in today’s fast-paced, packed-full schedule world, potential learners often experience micro-moments. These are the brief windows of time when they’re searching for quick solutions to information.

UGC-style ads can cater to these moments by offering bite-sized testimonials or success stories that provide immediate value. A short video testimonial showcasing a learner mastering a skill within minutes can capture the attention of busy professionals.

Tailor your UGC ads for the specific platform you’re using to ensure they seamlessly integrate into users’ feeds and garner the most engagement.

Key moments to use UGC-style ads in your advertising strategy:

Awareness Phase

Use UGC content to introduce your brand and establish credibility. Consider leveraging authentic reviews from your early adopters to build trust.

Consideration Phase

As potential learners delve deeper into your offers, focus on using success stories that directly relate to the specific courses they are exploring.

Highlighting the accomplishments of learners who have followed a similar learning path can help them envision their own success.

Conversion Phase

This is the moment of truth. Deploy powerful testimonials, particularly those that highlight the immediate benefits or transformation that your courses offer. You want your ads to serve as the final push that converts potential learners into actual students.

UGC Style Ad BREAKDOWN

This Could Be You POV

This ad showcases a learner’s personal narrative.

By capturing the screen as she scrolls through the website and course interface instead of using polished B-roll footage, the viewer gets to see a raw, unfiltered point of view that very much mirrors an authentic learning experience.

What adhering to a no-talking approach accomplishes is turning the ad into a visually-focused journey, allowing prospective learners to immerse themselves in the content organically.

The copy revolves around tangible moments and outcomes experienced when interacting with the course, like signing up and successfully completing an assignment. These serve as emotional triggers that engage and motivate potential students.

Authenticity Over Perfection

UGC-style ads thrive on authenticity.

Embrace imperfections, let the screen recording capture the clicks and scrolls, and allow viewers to witness the genuine learning experience. This approach establishes credibility and relatability, essential factors when you’re seeking to connect with a diverse audience.

By aligning the content with different stages of learning and emphasizing tangible outcomes, you can create compelling ads that resonate deeply and instantly with your target audience and drive enrollment in your programs.

7. The iPhone Image Style Ad

Using Contextual iPhone Images

Here’s a truth bomb: a low-production, unedited iPhone image can often outperform a meticulously crafted promo video that takes weeks to produce. Why? The answer lies in authenticity.

Today’s learners, bombarded by highly-designed and overproduced advertisements from big-budget companies, have developed banner blindness. They instinctively tune out content that appears too polished, dismissing it as another sales pitch.

The unassuming nature of an iPhone image, untouched and unfiltered, can be a breath of fresh air that captures attention and resonates with authenticity.

Cost-Effectiveness: Balancing Quality and Quantity

One of the primary advantages of incorporating iPhone images into promoting your online programs is the cost-effectiveness of the approach.

Unlike elaborate video productions that demand substantial financial investments, iPhone images offer a budget-friendly alternative without compromising the visual appeal.

As an online educator, you can create tons of engaging visuals at a fraction of the cost associated with high-production videos, allowing for a more dynamic and sustained promotional strategy.

Strategic Quantity Over Extravagant Quality

While quality remains important, the strategic emphasis shifts towards quantity when utilizing iPhone images.

Instead of channeling resources into a singular, high-production masterpiece, you can generate a consistent flow of authentic, unedited visuals that maintain audience engagement over time.

This shift aligns with the evolving preferences of learners who value regular, relatable content over sporadic, polished releases.

iPhone Image Style Ad BREAKDOWN

Here’s a compelling iPhone image ad narrating a story within a single frame. The moment captured resembles a personal milestone, a journey more than a traditional ad.

Behind the Scenes Content

The photo vividly showcases the creator of the tutorials in his educational environment, surrounded by elements that symbolize expertise and success in his niche.

To halt the incessant scroll of potential learners, incorporating these elements your audience recognizes and appreciates is crucial.

These could be props, tools, or symbols that are synonymous with the field of study. These elements not only capture attention but also signal to your audience that this is tailored for them, fostering a sense of connection and relevance.

No Filter

The lack of heavy editing preserves the genuine essence of the photo, emphasizing substance over style. This works particularly well in the online education space, where trust and credibility are vital.

A photo that reflects the actual environment and conditions under which the course creator operates cultivates that trust, making the learning journey seem both attainable and relatable.

The Caption

Direct, clear, and immediately addressing the learner’s needs, the caption not only encapsulates the essence of the course but also serves as a selling point. The goal is not to inundate the viewer with information but to pique their interest enough to explore further.

Conclusion

A strategic mix of these 7 ad styles tailored for your very own educational approach significantly increases your advertising and marketing efforts.