A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a marketing experiment where you divide your audience to test variations on a campaign and determine which performs better. In other words, you can show version A of a piece of marketing content to one half of your audience and version B to another. This methodology, rooted in the days of direct-mail marketing, involves conducting small tests before committing to the substantial cost of a full campaign. On social media, A/B testing provides real-time insights, allowing you to refine your strategies on the fly and create the best ads for your specific situation. This article aims to help you understand what A/B testing is and how to make it work effectively for your brand.
We’ll cover…
What is A/B testing?
Why do we use A/B testing?
What are the elements you can A/B test?
How to effectively run an A/B test on social media.
Best practices.
What is A/B testing?
A/B testing, a.k.a. “split testing”, employs the scientific method in refining your marketing strategy. This approach involves testing minor variations in social media content to identify the content that resonates most effectively with the audience.
To conduct A/B testing, you pick your target demographic audience and divide that audience into two groups. Each group is exposed to a different version of the same advertisement. You can then analyze the responses of each group to determine which variation yields better results.
Depending on your social media strategy, you can employ various metrics to measure success in a way that aligns with your objectives.
For best results it is crucial to alter only one element in the two variations. The goal is to measure your audience's reaction to the entire advertisement. Introducing changes to both the image and headline, for instance, could conceal the factor responsible for differences in the reception of your two ads. If you wish to test multiple elements, separate tests must be conducted.
Why use A/B testing?
A/B testing helps you find out what works best for your ads (or any other marketing). Some marketing studies tell you what works for most people, but not for everyone. Doing your own A/B tests lets you turn big ideas into specific results that fit your brand.
Testing shows you what your audience likes and dislikes. It also shows you how different groups of your audience are different, like how followers on X (Twitter) may like different types of ads more than Facebook or TikTok followers.
A/B testing is not just for ads, but for any kind of content, like posts you make for free. Testing this content tells you what content is worth paying to promote.
As you test, you learn what works best for your brand on each social network. This helps you develop a template formula for what your customers like. Even if you find a good formula, you should always keep testing small changes. Testing over and over makes you a smarter marketer, and helps you improve your marketing strategies.
What are the elements you can A/B test?
There are a multitude of elements in your marketing posts that can be tested such as length of a post, use of hashtags and emojis, wording and style, use of punctuation, tone of voice, headlines, images and color, call-to-action buttons, offers, timing and frequency, and the tested audience and demographic segmentation.
Some examples of change elements:
Image vs Text: Try the same ad in text only and one with an image.
Image vs. Image: Try the ad with two different images.
Graphs vs. Image: Try infographics vs. an image.
Hashtag vs none: This is a debated topic so it may vary depending on the platform and audience.
Demographics: Try a different segment of your target audience (i.e. ages 22-35 and ages 36-45).
Timing: Do posts that go out in the morning do better than ones that post in the evening? What days are more effective? Weekday vs. weekend?
How to effectively run an A/B test on social media
Step one, choose the ad, chose the audience, and chose the test you want to perform. Remember to only change one element of the ad.
Pro Tip: Take a look at historical posts that your audience has liked more and use elements based on that post type.
Step two, post the ads/posts. Unless your testing timing and frequency, you can either post both simultaneously, or pick a period of time to run the ad (Run ad A one week, then run B for one week).
Step three, track and analyze. Use media platform analytics to track the results of each post. Many platforms even have an A/B testing area that will help you track the results side-by-side.
Best practices
Social media and CRM marketing tools make it simple to collect a lot of information about your audience, but having lots of data doesn't automatically mean you understand a lot. To help, follow these tips:
Know Your Goals: Understand what you want to achieve with your social media. A/B testing is a tool to help you reach your goals, not the goal itself. It's part of an overall strategy to move your brand in line with your business plan.
Keep it simple: A/B Testing doesn’t need to be complicated, and it isn’t rocket science (that’s why they call it A/B testing)! Keep it simple and your results will be obvious.
Ask Clear Questions: A good A/B test is one that answers a specific question. When you're setting up a test, ask yourself, "Why am I testing this particular aspect?" Again, keep it simple!
Learn Some Basics of Statistics: I know... I hate stats too, but you don't need to be a math expert to have a basic understanding of statistical concepts and it can prove to be helpful. Concepts like statistical significance and sample size can make it easier to make sense of your data.
By following these practices, you'll be better equipped to use A/B testing effectively and make informed decisions for your social media strategy. Good luck!
Dave