Split Test Your Facebook Ads
Have you tried Facebook Ads and think that they don’t work for you? You may not have split test your Facebook Ads to get your best results.

You may have heard the term Split Testing but not known exactly how to set it up.  My favorite technique is to test the demographics first.  Use the exact same ad and see which demographic responds best.

You can research what types of keywords are available to be tested in different ways.  Here are some of the possibilities:

  • Job titles
  • Fans of another Facebook Page (note that not all Facebook Pages are able to be targeted)
  • General interests like yoga, jogging, small business
  • Certain behaviors such as small business owner or online shopper
  • Employers (not all employers are able to be targeted)

After you know which demographic performs best then you can test different things like images, text, or even the type of ad you use (Traffic, Lead Generation, Website Conversions, etc.).  Make sure you are optimizing your image for your Facebook Ad.

The interesting thing about Split Testing is that you may think one ad will perform well but you find the another ad you test actually does better.  I thought the first ad below would out perform the second ad but it was the opposite.

Facebook Ad 1

 

Facebook Ad 2

 

Typically, the best type of ad that works on Facebook is one that grows your e-mail list so if you are running a Facebook ad campaign, focus on that goal.

Make sure you dive into the Reports area to see which ad works better.  In this case, I tested different keywords and found out which one led to cheaper conversions.

Split testing audiences

The Ads Manager area can show you a lot about your performance but when you set up your Facebook Reports right, you can see much more information.

Best Practices to Split Test Your Facebook Ads

  • Start with split testing the demographic and then use the best performing demographic in the rest of the tests.
  • Only change one thing at a time if possible.  You can test different things like:  type of ad, image, and text.
  • Run the ad under similar conditions if possible.  Same time of the day, same bid (although bid prices vary), same length of time, etc.
  • Dig deep into the reports.  It may look like one ad did better but check the conversions.

Facebook offers their own “Split Test” feature but in general I don’t use this because they require a minimum budget and there are other limitations that Facebook puts on this test that may not be what you want to test.

Using these techniques will help you improve your results dramatically.  If you need more help on Facebook ads, check out my course Facebook Advertising Secrets.

facebook advertising course

How about you, has Facebook advertising worked for you?  Let me know in the comments below!