This is how I break down every ad before I write one. Want this thinking behind your ads? Let's talk.
Ad Deconstruction:
Brock Johnson Free Checklist (Ad #1)
About Brock
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Ad Creative
Screenshots from Meta Ads
Ad Copy (Description / Caption)
If your engagement sucks, you need to keep reading.
While yes, it is true, that if you make better content, you will get more engagement, there are a lot of other things that you should be doing to make sure that your post does well.
And once you do press post, those first few minutes are absolutely crucial for ensuring the success of that post.
That's why I put together a 10 step maximum engagement checklist for FREE.
It'll walk you through exactly what you need to do before and after every single post you make to ensure that it's not a waste of your time.
Download now!
Video Scripts
The same ad copy is running 5 different variations, 4 of which have talking head videos which are scripted below.
Ad Analysis
- Mechanism
- Validate the effort, then release guilt/shape and reframe it as a missing process step
- Concept
- Behavioral Patterns Specific: The post-publish window captures the exact anxiety loop creators experience: working hard on content, hitting post, then watching helplessly as it underperforms. The checklist frames this as a fixable process failure, not a talent failure.
- Angle
- Problem Reframe: validates their effort while reframing the gap as a missing process, not missing skill.
- Style
- Talking headDance/trending audio
- Description Hook
- If your engagement sucks, you need to keep reading.
- Video Hooks
- "If your engagement sucks, keep watching…"(Script 1)
- "There are things you aren't doing before & after posting that are hurting your engagement…"(Scripts 2, 4, 5)
- "9 things you probably are not doing that will help boost your Reel views (and none of them require dancing!)"(Script 3)
Why this ad works
Most competing advice in this space implies the reader isn't trying hard enough or doesn't know what they're doing.
This ad does the opposite and tells the reader they're almost right, which keeps them reading instead of getting defensive. Guilt-relief before the pitch is a lower-resistance entry than guilt-induction.
Ideas to iterate this ad
Reframe the checklist as a discovery made after years of watching posts fail despite great content. The founder stumbled onto this pattern by accident while analyzing his own data, not by following anyone's advice.
Open by naming the specific villain: Instagram's algorithm is designed to decide your post's fate in the first 10 minutes, and most creators are unknowingly signaling failure during that window without realizing it.
Lead with a comparison: creators who go viral consistently versus creators who post the same quality content and get nothing. The only difference is a set of behaviors that happen in the 15 minutes before and after hitting publish.
Frame the pre/post-publish window as a countdown and every minute after posting without taking these steps is a minute the algorithm is making a permanent judgment call about your content's reach.
Shift the concept to a product mechanism fact: Instagram's internal ranking system scores posts on a specific set of early signals, and the checklist is built around those exact signals, not general best practices.
Lead with a market fact about what the top 1% of Instagram accounts do differently: a specific pre/post-publish ritual that compounds over time into algorithmic favorability.
Show what engagement numbers look like at 30, 60, and 90 days when the checklist is applied consistently versus not, making the compounding effect of the process visible.
How to recreate this ad for any brand
Two-beat structure:
- 1Name the thing they're already doing right explicitly
- 2Reframe the gap as one specific missing behavior (not a character flaw).
Works for any audience that's already trying and getting inconsistent results. But DO NOT use "it's not your fault" as a throwaway line, you need to build the whole opener around it.
Do not use on audiences who haven't started yet (nothing to validate) or a brand voice that leads with tough love / high standards as the permission-granting tone would undercut that positioning.