A/B testing on social media is a really effective, yet rarely used, method of understanding your audience and figuring out how you can create more engaging posts.
Most brands don’t bother with it, as it involves posting similar-looking content, which might confuse audiences and make it harder to measure the audience's reaction.
However, there are some smart ways to get around this confusion, meaning marketers can use A/B testing on social media to gain valuable insights into their audience.
Over time, this research method can help shape your future posts and marketing strategies, so you can boost engagement, reach more people, and get more value from your content.
What’s more, pretty much anyone can do it. You don’t have to be an expert to run split testing – all you need is access to your brand’s social media accounts and a willingness to learn.
In this guide:
- What is A/B testing on social media?
- Benefits of A/B testing for social media success
- Key elements to test in social media campaigns
- How to run a successful A/B test on social media
- Tools and platforms for A/B testing social media
- Frequently asked questions
This guide will walk you through the basics of A/B testing of social media content, so you can understand your audience better.
What is A/B testing on social media?
A/B testing on social media involves creating two versions of a post, ad, or campaign element. The aim is to publish both versions and see which one gets the engagement you're looking for by showing the same ad or post to different audience segments. Once you know which one performs best, you can replicate the successful one and drop the rest.
Effectively, you compare the effectiveness of your content and weed out the bad bits over time.
You can test things like:
- Post copy
- Images, videos, carousels, etc
- Call-to-action buttons
- Posting times
- Hashtags
Now, the aim isn’t always to deliver maximum engagement. For example, your goal might be to increase reach per post. If one post gets lots of comments but no shares and the other gets no comments but a handful of shares, then perhaps that second one, despite having less overall engagement, is the better option to replicate.
Why is A/B testing essential for social media marketing?
Social media marketers might not place A/B testing at the top of their list of tasks – but it's an important part of developing a marketing strategy.
After all, A/B testing helps you:
- Understand your audience better
- Boost conversions and ROI
- Increase engagement rates
- Refine your content strategy
The biggest problem marketers have with A/B testing on social media is doing it in the open. Audiences might spot if you post similar posts with different messages. You therefore have to be smart with your A/B strategy to ensure you get the results you need without harming your brand.
Benefits of A/B testing for social media success
You might be wondering if A/B testing is for you. Well, before you decide, take a look at the benefits that can arise from doing it on social media channels.
1. You can make data-driven decisions
The main benefit of A/B testing is to inform your future decisions based on hard data. Instead of guessing, you can see exactly how different posts or ads perform.
Perhaps a series of posts that you thought would attract engagement have failed to meet expectations, while another type has done well. This sort of data needs to be woven back into your strategy for future posts.
You can test things like:
- Post timing
- Content styles
- Ad copy
- Target audience demographics
- Brand messaging
By comparing two versions, you'll see which one gets more of the engagement you want.
Over time, these tests build a clear picture of what works for your brand. You'll never have to guess again.
2. You can achieve improved audience engagement
Of course, most marketers who develop a social media strategy have audience engagement as one of their KPIs. Well, A/B testing is designed to help you achieve whatever level of engagement you're looking for.
By testing things like post length, content formats, call-to-action phrases, or anything else, it's possible to slowly understand what your audience wants to engage with.
From there, you can tailor your content to match your audience's preferences. This creates a stronger bond between your brand and your audience, which helps solidify that level of engagement for future posts.
3. You can maximize your ROI on ad spend
Brands can spend thousands of dollars on social media advertising, so it's important to maximize every post's social media performance by doing some A/B testing beforehand.
The best way to go about this is to test different ad elements. That way, you can find the most effective combinations. It takes a little time, but eventually, you'll find the ad format that's right for you.
For example, you can test:
- Ad headlines
- Images or videos
- Ad copy and captions
- Sounds, music, and voiceovers
- Targeting options
This last point is particularly useful for A/B testing on social media platforms. Since you can target ads to specific audiences, people won't necessarily see both the A and B posts, helping you avoid criticism around mixed messaging.
Over time, A/B testing lets you refine your ads for better results, which means better ROI on your social media ad spend.
4. You can gain better insights into audience behavior
A/B testing is also really good at unearthing the behavior of target audiences on social media platforms. You might find that an audience reacts very differently to the same post on X compared to LinkedIn, for example.
You’ll quickly learn if the same content works on multiple channels, or if you’ll need to diversify your marketing efforts to appease audiences on different platforms.
These tests can show you:
- What types of content your audience prefers
- How your audience reacts to content
- Which calls-to-action drive the most clicks
- When they’re most likely to interact with your posts
Knowing about your audience means you can create more targeted content and campaigns. It also makes it a lot easier to tailor your messaging for specific demographics.
Key elements to test in social media campaigns
Earlier in this guide we mentioned the five central elements you can focus on when running an A/B test on social media. Let's now look at these in a little more detail, starting with the creative side of social media posts.
Images, videos, carousels, etc
Social media users connect with visual imagery far quicker than the written word. Images, GIFs, and videos are the first thing you see when you look at a social media post. So, it makes sense for brands to focus on this aspect of their marketing material and make sure to A/B test it a lot.
Try comparing different visual formats to see what works best. You might try:
- Single images vs carousel posts
- Static images vs animated GIFs
- Short-form vs long-form videos
- Product photos vs lifestyle imagery
- Infographics vs text-based visuals
There are a lot of things you can do here, and A/B testing of visual elements takes a long time to perfect. However, you can use a social media tool like Brandwatch to analyze post engagement and understand in minute detail what works and what doesn't.
You might discover that your audience prefers carousels over short-form videos, as they like to scroll through images.
Post copy
Visual elements might be the big attraction on social media posts, but your copy is also important. Whatever you write, that's what conveys your tone and overall message. So, you need to figure out a way of creating A and B posts that carry the same core message but are different enough to create statistical significance in the results.
Consider A/B approaches such as:
- Short vs long captions
- Question-based vs statement headlines
- Emoji usage vs text-only captions
- Including statistics vs storytelling
- Formal vs casual language
You'll need to look at your brand's tone of voice document for guidance here. If you don't have such a document yet, proceed cautiously with varying tones. You run the risk of ruining your brand reputation if you use casual language out of context or go overboard with emojis for a serious post.
Calls-to-action (CTAs)
Engagement on social media is one thing, but many brands try to align their posts with their sales funnel. If you plan to do this then you need some strong CTAs.
Examples include:
- Button text (eg, "Learn More" vs "Shop Now")
- CTA placement (beginning, middle, or end of post)
- Button colors and designs
- Urgency-based language vs benefit-focused text
- Single CTA vs multiple options
You can do plenty of testing here. However, the effectiveness of your CTAs might depend less on the CTAs themselves and more on the quality of your visual or written content.
Be sure to monitor click-through rates from your CTAs and look at which ones work best. See if there are any patterns alongside other aspects of your posts, such as images, captions, or hashtags. You'll eventually find a combination that works.
Hashtags and tagging strategies
Talking of hashtags, they're a very useful tool for expanding your reach and engagement. Test different approaches and see what works best, including:
- Number of hashtags in a post
- Branded vs generic hashtags
- Popular vs niche hashtags
- Including vs excluding @mentions
- Hashtags in captions vs comments
Branded hashtags can be particularly effective here if you're launching a new product or service and want to encourage your target audience to find out more.
Posting times and frequency
Finally, it's important to track engagement data using a tool like Measure, so you can align your posting times and frequency with your audience. Try posting the same content at different times to see which gains the most traction.
This could include:
- Different days of the week: Perhaps your audience is more engaged on weekends.
- Various times throughout the day: Maybe your audience engages most during the morning rush hour.
- Posting frequency: Find the sweet spot for engagement, whether it's one post a day or ten.
- Consistent vs varied posting schedules: Does your audience prefer a reliable posting schedule or enjoy random post times?
- Time zone targeting: Do you need to align your posts with global time zones?
How to run a successful A/B test on social media
Let's now look at the steps you need to take to orchestrate an A/B test across social media. Now, social media testing takes time – you won't get results straight away. However, if you stick to your strategy, then you can gain plenty of insights from several social media platforms at once and start to understand what content works best.
Set clear goals for your test
You need to get goals before you begin split testing. Ask yourself what you want to discover from your trials. Perhaps you want to increase post engagement, boost click-through rates, or improve conversions. You might have more than one goal in mind.
Whatever your aims, be sure to share them with anyone else who is working on the A/B test. You'll need to look at the data once it starts coming in to see if you're on track to nail your goals.
Identify the variables to test
Once you have goals, you need to decide what you want to test. This is the tricky bit as there are many different things you can experiment with. As a brand, you don't want to look like you're fishing aimlessly in the pond of social media, so you need to be strategic here. Yes, you're testing the waters, but if you post multiple variables of the same message to the same audience then they'll spot what you're doing. This could harm your brand consistency before you've even figured out what it is.
To stay on the safe side, test one variable at a time for clear results. This helps you pinpoint what caused any changes in performance. Consider different formats for each social network. What works on TikTok might not perform well on LinkedIn.
Segment your audience properly
A smart way of avoiding your audience seeing both the A and B posts of your test is to split your followers in half, or into even smaller segments. You can then use a tool like Advertise to target certain audiences with certain posts.
Just make sure your sample size is large enough, as small samples can lead to unreliable results. Aim for at least a few hundred people per group, if possible.
Run your test and monitor performance
There are two ways to run your A/B test. The first is to launch both posts at the same time and see which one sticks. However, if you're doing this on a site like Instagram then users might see both posts together, which will look odd. You'll need to target each post to a specific audience to avoid this.
The other option is to post at different times. Perhaps a day later, or a week later. It's hard to know for sure what the right method is for your brand, so you might even need to experiment here.
Make sure you also set a timeframe for your test. Perhaps you want to see how much engagement a social post gets within 24 hours. Monitor the test and look for any unusual patterns or technical issues that might skew results.
Of course, it's worth using social media analytics tools to track performance and get the most accurate data possible.
Measure results and analyze outcomes for statistical significance
Talking of data, the point of A/B testing is to compare the performance of both versions afterward. Social media analytics tools can help here. Look at your audience's reaction to the A and B posts, and crunch the numbers.
Don't jump to conclusions based on small differences. Look for clear, substantial differences.
After that, look back at your goals. Which posts worked better, and which failed to hit the mark? Social media testing is all about looking back to those original goals, so you can create the best content possible next time.
Tools and platforms for A/B testing social media
Before we end this guide, it's worth looking at the tools and software available to marketers who plan to start social media testing via the A/B method.
Remember, this method of testing only works if you can extract meaningful data that shapes your future marketing strategies. You can opt to use native tools or third-party software to help. Here's a quick overview of both types.
Native social media tools
Social platforms have their own built-in tools that you can lean on to get a good understanding of your A/B test results.
Facebook Ads Manager is great for this type of testing on Facebook and Instagram ads. It lets you create multiple versions of your ads and trial different elements like images, headlines, and call-to-action buttons. You'll quickly spot what's working and what isn't.
X Analytics offers similar features for testing X post content. You can try different copy, images, or video clips to see what resonates with your audience on X.
Other platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok have their own analytics options too. However, it's not always easy to conduct A/B testing when you can't access all the data. If you want genuine insight into your posts, then third-party tools are here to help.
Third-party software
If you plan to oversee your social media content across multiple platforms then third-party software is much more useful than using individual native tools.
A good free option is Google Analytics, which integrates with many social platforms. It's particularly useful for showing how social media traffic converts on your website. If your goal is to achieve website conversions, then this could be a good option to start with.
Brandwatch goes deeper and analyzes social conversations to help you understand the impact of your content. You can track customer journeys alongside mentions, sentiment, and engagement. Crucially, it's possible to do this across multiple platforms, which means you get a full view of your social presence from each A/B test.
Frequently asked questions
Now you know more about A/B testing for social media content, it's time to start creating your strategy. However, if you're still unsure about various aspects of these tests, then you might find the below FAQs useful.
How can you set up an A/B test on Facebook to improve ad performance?
To set up an A/B test on Facebook, use the Experiments tool in Ads Manager. Choose what you want to test, like ad creative or audience targeting. Then simply create two versions of your ad, keeping all other elements the same. This way you can see which element audiences like most. Set your budget and duration, then let Facebook show the ads to similar audiences. You can also use a tool like Brandwatch to simulate the same test.
How does A/B testing for organic content differ from paid campaigns on social media platforms?
Organic A/B tests often have smaller sample sizes and less control over who sees your content. After all, you're only appealing to your direct audience and users who might find your posts via search or hashtags. Paid campaigns enable you to target specific audiences and get more detailed analytics. They also usually yield faster results, while organic tests can take longer to gather enough data.
Could you explain the role of control and variables in designing an A/B test for social media marketing?
A/B tests involve an original version, called the "control" version, and a "variable" that differs from the original. Your aim is to gauge whether the variable is more effective than the control. Social testing like this isn't easy because audiences might spot the differences and notice that you're running an A/B test, which doesn't look great. Therefore, it's worth splitting your target audience to see whether the A or B post works best.
