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Inside 5 Horizons: A/B Testing on LinkedIn

April 12, 2023

Danielle Romano, Director of Performance and Analytics, shares her thoughts on the necessity of LinkedIn A/B testing.

A/B testing is an essential experiment for determining which form of content performs better on a platform and drives higher engagement and results. Here is what Danielle’s team has discovered through experimenting with LinkedIn A/B testing.

What can you A/B test on LinkedIn?

Through A/B testing, we learned that LinkedIn Conversation Ads performed best for our higher education clients and generated the most leads. We hypothesize that we saw such a significant increase in results because the Conversation Ad format provides just the right amount of context for people to act and request more information. 

Things to keep in mind when considering A/B testing for this platform:

Copy Length

Short and long copy speaks to how much information and details someone needs to take action, and experimenting with different text lengths can help establish best practices for the future.

Ad Formats 

LinkedIn offers a variety of ad formats to choose from, all of which can be put to A/B testing to find out which format is the most successful for specific objectives.

Text Ads

Text ads are a great format to use when the message is clear and concise—brand campaigns typically benefit from this LinkedIn ad type. When it comes to our practice, we don’t usually reach for this format because we run program-specific campaigns for our higher education clients. Through A/B testing, we learned that such campaigns perform better when additional copy and visuals are present.

Sponsored Content

This format works well for event ads or advertising programs at a brand level. We typically run in-app lead generation campaigns using this format with a program brochure or a “request more information” call to action as our incentives.

Conversation Ads

Conversation Ads tend to succeed when used for a program that may be unique or requires additional context. This strategy also works well for smaller clients because it goes directly to the users’ inboxes without having to fight for space in the feed.

Document Ads

Document Ads are new to Linkedin, but we anticipate this format to become a new way of advertising program brochures or any relevant learning materials that can be easily formatted as a .pdf file.

Images 

  • Images of people vs. images of objects: Sometimes a photo of a person in business attire works well for a client, other times a textbook with a client logo outperforms elsewhere. 
  • Branded imagery vs. non-branded imagery: Well-known brands typically generate better engagement rates when there is a logo associated with the image, whereas local or smaller brands can blend in with the feed through a more organic image, without any branding. 

These tips and resources can be used to start and better understand the importance of A/B testing for any brand or client. If you’re curious to learn more about LinkedIn, read our 2023 LinkedIn Updates and stay up-to-date on how to use the platform to its fullest potential.

The Inside 5 Horizons series includes stories and perspectives from our amazing team. Get a glimpse into our company culture each month by hearing the unique voices of our copywriters, strategists, project managers, and more.