Life is a game of balance. We need to balance work and life. Healthy eating. Our schedules. Our time. Our bank accounts.
Balance can be found in nearly every aspect of our lives. And balance is good! It means we don’t have too much of something, nor do we have too little. When you’ve found balance, you’ve found the sweet spot. That’s why this post is going to share a new type of balance that ad managers all over should be striving for: balancing Meta testing.
Meta is one of the ad giants, and while there are similar technologies out there, they can’t always compete. That’s why so many businesses still gravitate towards Meta.
When you’re running Meta ads, there are a lot of factors to consider. This can lead to you feeling like you’re juggling thousands of glass balls. How do you overcome this? By balancing your ads.
I’ve run my own ad agency for many years now, which means I have all the tips and tricks to help you find balance in your ads. I even did a video about the topic, if you’d rather watch that than read this post!
It all starts with testing . . .
When it comes to Meta ads, the “balance” that I’m talking about refers to balancing your testing metrics. I know you probably thought that the day you left school was the day you were done with tests, but that’s not true. Luckily, when you’re running Meta ads, you’re the one doing the test, not the one being tested. Oh, how the tables have turned.
I don’t think I’ve ever created any paid ads content that doesn’t mention testing, and that’s because it’s such a key factor of paid advertising. In my book, testing is the spice of the marketing world. It’s what takes your ads from being bland chicken breasts to wonderfully flavourful meals.
Take a second to think back to your childhood science classes (and sorry if this is a traumatic memory!). What was one of the main principles that you learned?
I’d be willing to bet that it’s the importance of precise experiments. And that’s all that paid ads really are – experiments. I know that we all have our own ad preferences, but you need to step out of your comfort zone if you want to balance your ads.
So, to balance your ads, you need to test them, so that you know which ads to invest more in and which ones to invest less in. You need to be testing different ad formats, and then taking it a step further and testing specific things within those different formats. Think of it as a scale, where you want to make sure that your investment is matched by what you’re getting back.
Data teaches us how to win, but in order to do that, we need to actually have data to work with, and that’s where testing comes in.
I’m going to break down the following:
- What is good is good testing?
- Which factors to consider in your testing
- How to balance your testing
Phase one: what is good testing?
It may be all fine to say that testing is a key part of balancing paid ads, and more specifically, balancing your Meta ads, but what the hell does that actually mean?!
There are so many different things that you can A/B test. You can test your copy, your creative, your landing page, your target audiences . . . the possibilities are nearly endless! For an ads geek like me, this is exciting. It’s like being a kid in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Decide what you’re going to test, and then test it properly. This is one area of paid ads where you can’t half-ass things. Make sure that you know what it is you’re testing, and set up a clean and fair test to do so.
For example, you might want to test two videos against each other. To make sure that you’re getting accurate results, you should then only test the video. Keep the target audience, budget, and other factors the same to ensure that one ad doesn’t have an unfair advantage over another.
One of my favourite bonus tips is to keep in mind that quantity does matter here. You can’t make a decision on which ad is best based on a single sale. You need to employ some patience and allow the data to emerge.
You also need to dig deep when it comes to your testing. The more nuanced your testing, the more nuanced your results will be. If you’re testing creatives, for example, you might test single-image ads versus carousels. But why not take things a step further and test multiple single-image ads against each other as well? See which ones come out the victors, and then try to narrow down why they are successful so that you can use that information to benefit you.
In a similar vein, you can also test out Facebook feed ads versus messenger ads. As an ads manager, it’s your job to figure out what works, so that you know which targeting options to select in the future.
Phase two: some key factors
As mentioned, there are loads of things that you can test in your Meta ads, but the top three to keep in mind are:
- Audiences: You can play around with this in multiple ways by testing lookalike audiences, adjusting the areas of your audience, and more! Testing different audiences will allow you to get to know your audience much better and tailor your ads to them.
- Creatives: This is where you test the different formats mentioned above, such as single-image ads, carousel ads, and video ads. The more you can improve content, the better.
- Copy: Your copy needs to pack a punch, so play around with short versus long copy, and look into different copy styles to learn what your audience responds to best. Look at which types of copy tend to get more comments, so that you know what’s engaging.
These will likely have the biggest impact on your ads, so if you balance your testing to ensure that all three of these factors are covered, you should start to see results! Of course, you should never limit yourself. While those may be the main things you should be testing, there are loads of other areas that could give you some helpful insight.
Phase three: balancing these factors in your testing matrixes
Once you have all the necessary information, you need to balance them in your testing matrix. Think of this as a game of Tetris – with a bunch of moving parts that have to come together and form a bigger picture and help you reach your business goals. Whether this is selling products or getting leads, your ads need to help you achieve certain results.
The easiest way to do this is to understand which questions you’re trying to answer with your testing. If you already know that video ads work well for your business due to previous testing, you don’t need to test this. You already have the answer.
Instead, shift your focus to things you’re not sure of – like which copy works best for which audience.
You want to balance your testing so that you aren’t wasting time and resources testing things that have already been tested. So, in this case, you might test three different copies, but only two creatives.
Then you look at the results and readjust your testing strategy to then help you dive deeper into certain areas. It’s a constant game of readjustment if you want to keep things balanced.
To sum it all up
There is no one answer to balancing your testing because it will depend on each business – and even then, you will need to constantly change your approach.
That being said, I hope that this post gave you some insight into what you can do to come up with a balanced testing system for your own business. Look at your weakest links, and then try to balance things out to make those stronger. In the end, balancing Meta ads comes down to one thing: constant testing.
Of course, this isn’t for everyone, so if you don’t have the time or patience to manage your own ads, fill in the form down below to get in touch with my ad agency and we’ll do the testing (and more!) for you.