Mastering creative testing on Meta, Pinterest, and LinkedIn: a step-by-step guide for paid social campaigns

More often than not, the success of your paid social campaigns relies on the quality and effectiveness of your creatives. Captivating visuals, compelling copy, and engaging messaging play a crucial role in attracting and converting your customers. To ensure you’re delivering the best possible ads, it’s essential to conduct regular and thorough creative testing. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll explain how to test creatives on three major platforms: Meta, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Understanding the importance of creative testing

Before diving into the specific testing strategies, let’s emphasise the significance of creative testing. Research by HubSpot highlights that A/B testing (split testing), can lead to a 25% increase in conversion rates. Additionally, a study conducted by Facebook found that advertisers who used its dynamic creative feature observed a 17% increase in conversions compared to those who didn’t.

The benefits of creative testing

Optimise ad performance 

Testing different creatives allows you to find the best of the best. Ultimately, this will help you to improve engagement rates, click-through rates, and increase conversions. Effective ad creative alone can boost click-through rates by up to 30%.

Gain audience insights

Analysing the response to various creatives provides crucial insights into your target audience’s preferences and interests, helping you refine your future campaigns, and even plan the next stage of your strategy.

Increase return on investment 

By investing time and resources into improving your creatives, you’re investing in improved ROI. Delivering ads that resonate with your audiences equates to a much stronger chance of a cost-effective sale. Creative testing can, in real terms, help boost your return on ad spend much more than if you aren’t actively testing. f

Meta creative testing

Start with A/B testing

Create two ads, changing a single element such as the headline, image, or call-to-action button. Split your audience into two groups and measure the performance of each variation. Facebook recommends using its Split Testing feature to conduct A/B tests effectively.

Utilise dynamic creative

Meta offers dynamic creative options, allowing you to automatically test multiple elements simultaneously. Experiment with different headlines, images, and descriptions to find the winning combination. DCO has been known to increase ROAS by more than 50%. 

Leverage audience insights

Meta’s Audience Insights tool provides valuable data about your target audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviours. You can use this information to tailor your creatives more effectively. 

Pinterest creative testing

Pin variation testing

Create multiple variations of your pins by tweaking elements such as images, text overlays, and font styles. Use different Pin titles and descriptions to test which ones resonate best with your audience. 

Explore Carousel Pins

Pinterest’s Carousel Pins enable you to showcase multiple images within a single ad. Experiment with different visuals and sequences to see which arrangement generates the most engagement. Carousel Pins often drive increases in click-through rates as opposed to their standard single-image static ads. 

Take advantage of Pinterest trends

Use Pinterest Trends to discover popular and trending keywords and topics. Incorporate these into your creatives to increase their visibility and relevance. You’re much more likely to increase your conversion volume by tailoring creatives to Pinterest Trends. 

LinkedIn creative testing

Message ad testing

LinkedIn’s different message ad formats offer a direct way to engage with your audience. With highly personalised messages and clear call-to-action buttons, you can drive strong relationships with your ads at scale. 

Sponsored content testing

LinkedIn has a range of sponsored content formats; carousel, single image, video, and more. Each has their own unique visual, text and call to action nuances, and testing each of these is extremely important – especially on a platform where CPCs and CPMs tend to be so much higher. 

A/B test with audience segmentation

LinkedIn allows you to target specific audiences based on criteria like industry, job title, and seniority. Conduct A/B tests with different creatives, tailored to each segment, to identify the most relevant way to speak to the different types of audiences.

Analysing and refining your creatives

Monitor key metrics

Track essential metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement metrics to evaluate the performance of your creatives. Identify trends and patterns that can guide your optimisation efforts. Always look for a statistically significant ‘winner’ of your test before switching creatives over. 

Iterate and optimise

Based on the results of your creative testing, refine your ad elements, copy, and visuals. Continuously iterate and optimise to maximise your campaign’s effectiveness. You should be updating your creatives based on product changes, ad fatigue, seasonal requirements, and more! 

Leverage retargeting

Use retargeting techniques to reach users who have previously engaged with your ads. Test different retargeting creatives to further enhance conversions. Ensure you have separate creatives and messaging tailored to users who may have seen your content in the past. 

Takeaways

Testing creatives on Meta, Pinterest, and LinkedIn is a key marker of success in any paid social campaign. The tips outlined above will help you to gain insights into your audience’s preferences, help you optimise your ad performance, and importantly, increase your return on investment. Remember, creative testing is an ongoing process, so don’t hesitate to experiment, iterate, and refine your creatives to achieve the best results. Happy testing!