121 - We're Testing the Same Insight in 3 Different Formats

Rich: We’re running an experiment to see what happens when you post the same insight in three different formats. Hey Zac—we’re back, and it is cold.

Zac: It’s actually really cold here too.

Rich: Yeah, we’re in the 20s again—27. I mean, compared to what it’s been.

Zac: Yeah, because it was in the negatives—what, like negative five, negative six? Negative six or something like that.

Rich: We had a day when it “warmed up” ten degrees to a high of negative one. Oh my gosh. But it started at negative 11. Yeah, it was awful. We luckily just got a dusting of snow. I know you got some ice there in North Carolina, but that 2,300-mile storm just went through—so that’s when we’re recording this for everybody.

Zac: That was crazy.

Rich: Yeah, I was on with a client this morning and they got two feet of snow—somewhere on the East Coast. I don’t know where, but I was like, holy cow, that’s crazy.

Zac: That’s a lot. Wow.

Rich: Yeah. Okay—but we’re not here to talk about snow. We’re here to talk about marketing experiments. We’re going to run one next month—in February—and we’ll see how it goes. We’ll get into it in a bit, but first… we have to talk about a margarita soda.

Zac: So yeah, a margarita soda is kind of just like a highball, but a margarita. And it’s really simple. Honestly, I don’t know why there aren’t more of these—highballs are awesome, and a margarita soda sounds really nice too.

Rich: Well, and a highball is designed to feature the alcohol, right? Like it’s really front and center. I didn’t have wine last night while watching TV—I had an Empress gin and tonic, which was interesting. Empress Gin is that purple elderflower gin, and when it mixes it can go kind of bluish. Mine turned into this turquoise-y blue, which was weird but fun.

Rich: I also found Mediterranean tonic water—still Fever-Tree, which is my favorite. I didn’t really read what makes it “Mediterranean,” but it was great.

Rich: Alright, for the margarita soda, you’re featuring the tequila—so it’s tequila-forward, which sounds great. One and a half ounces of tequila—this recipe says preferably Pueblo Viejo Blanco, so a blanco tequila. But you can use whatever you’ve got. Blanco will be a little lighter and easier.

Rich: Then three-quarters of an ounce of agave syrup for sweetness, three-quarters of an ounce of lime juice for tartness, and club soda. Garnish with sea salt and a lime wedge.

Rich: Here we go: rim a Collins glass with sea salt—use a lime wedge around the rim and dip it in salt. Add tequila, agave syrup, and lime juice to a shaker and shake until chilled. Pour into the prepared Collins glass, top with club soda, and give it a quick stir. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Rich: And—ignore my brain trying to turn this into sangria. That was the last drink.

Zac: Yeah, I messaged you that—my bad.

Rich: No worries. You could add strawberries though. That would probably be pretty good.

Zac: Honestly, yeah.

Rich: Alright—this one’s from Punchdrink.com. Not “punch drunk”—that’s boxing. Punchdrink.com.

Rich: Should we take a break and get into the experiment?

Zac: Yep, let’s do it.

Rich: Okay, Zac—we teased it. What’s the experiment?

Zac: We’re going to run the same insight in three different formats on three different platforms. The insight is: how we run creative fully remote. The formats are: a short video on Instagram, a carousel post on LinkedIn, and a blog shared on Facebook.

Zac: I’m basing it on what I’ve seen perform decently well for us in the past. And there’s always that question of “what performs best where”—like sometimes video does really well on LinkedIn, and sometimes carousels do great on Instagram. But we’re starting here to see how the same idea performs when the format changes. And honestly, you can try this too with your own content—it helps you find what works best for you.

Rich: Yeah, and if you wanted it to be a true control test, you’d only change one thing. So you’d do video vs. carousel on the same platform. You can’t really do a blog on Instagram—no links, not a great experience.

Rich: So I like how we’re doing it now, but I’d suggest we rotate it later. Next month, flip it: do the carousel on Instagram, short video on Facebook, blog on LinkedIn—just to see if the platform-format pairing changes the outcome. Because topic can influence results, and so can where you put the format.

Zac: And once we have the different formats, we can still repurpose them across platforms. Like if we post the video on Instagram, we can share that video on LinkedIn later as a “in case you missed it” post. So it opens the door to more testing if we want it.

Zac: And the insight itself came from Jesse—he has a process within the creative team that we’re highlighting. Each format shares it differently: video is quick—like 50 seconds—just a face-on-camera overview. The blog goes deeper and explains the “how.” The carousel is the most simplified version. So we’re also seeing how people respond to different levels of depth.

Rich: And people like information differently. We joke about this, but Gen X tends to want something scannable: lists, bullets, skimmable. Younger folks are often like, “Just show me”—give me the video. So that’ll be interesting too.

Zac: What variables do you think will matter the most when we test these formats?

Rich: Audience will matter—like is our audience older on one platform versus another? I honestly don’t know. Size of audience might matter too.

Rich: Another big variable is who reshares it. We know when the team reshares, it amplifies performance. So if people are more likely to reshare on one platform than another, that changes everything.

Rich: And I don’t think we’ll walk away with a universal “video works better than blogs.” It’ll be more like: “for this test, video on Instagram performed better than blog on Facebook” or “carousel on LinkedIn did best.” We’d need to rotate formats a few times to learn anything bigger than that.

Zac: Yeah—this gives us a starting point. If something performs better, we can test it again on another platform to see if it’s platform-specific or format-specific.

Zac: And there’s also the speed factor—how people want the info delivered. On Instagram, for example, I’ve seen my friends engage with videos I’m in and message me like, “Hey, that was actually a really good insight.” That format fits how people consume content there.

Rich: Totally. And carousels can be hard if they’re not built like a story. If it’s just “Slide A, Slide B, Slide C,” people won’t swipe. But if it’s connected—like a thread that pulls you through—you’ve got a better shot at people moving through the whole thing.

Zac: And when one of us shares it on LinkedIn with context, it becomes way more impactful. Like if I share it and say, “Here’s what changed when we went fully remote, and why this process helped,” it gives it more weight than just resharing without comment.

Rich: Yeah—and that’s another layer we could test later: how much does commentary from a team member influence engagement vs. just a straight reshare?

Zac: Also, if you’re listening and want to try this experiment yourself: pick an insight that translates well into multiple formats and actually resonates with your audience. If you choose a weak topic, it’s probably not going to perform anywhere, and you won’t learn much.

Zac: But honestly, this kind of testing should be part of your normal content strategy. It keeps you from being reactive, and it helps you build a system for improving content over time instead of guessing.

Rich: And after we run the experiment, we’ll come back with a follow-up episode. We’ll share what we learned, what was definitive, what was more “directionally interesting,” and what might need more testing.

Rich: And we might need to do it multiple times. That’s marketing—iterate, experiment, pivot, improve. Perfection is not the goal.

Zac: Yeah—ship it so you can iterate. If you’re always waiting for perfect, you’ll never get anything out the door.

Rich: Perfection is probably the number one enemy of marketing. It’s art and science. There’s no perfect answer, and things evolve constantly. This experiment is about trying something different and seeing what we learn.

Zac: And the podcast is kind of our launching point—talking through what we think might happen, what variables matter, and then coming back with results. And the experiment itself is simple: if you already have a blog, repurpose it into a video and a carousel.

Rich: Yep—and it also helps you learn if formats can support each other. Can a short video drive people to the blog? Can a carousel on LinkedIn tee up the longer piece? And it’s also about what people will consume on-platform.

Rich: Because Facebook, for example, might penalize you for linking out to a blog. That could hurt performance. So later, if we put a self-contained format on Facebook—like video or carousel—do we get better results because we’re not pushing people off-platform?

Zac: Yeah, 100%. I’m really interested to see it. Should we move into predictions?

Rich: We can try—but it’s kind of a guessing game.

Zac: That’s part of the fun. We can come back and see how right or wrong we were.

Rich: Alright—what’s going to perform best?

Zac: Which format do we think will perform the best?

Rich: I think the blog post will perform the worst.

Zac: Yeah. Blogs aren’t “dying”—they still matter for SEO and organic search, and leads still read them. But on social media, linking out isn’t performing like it used to. Everything’s moving toward zero-click content.

Rich: Exactly. With a blog, you’ve got to hook someone hard enough to get them to stop scrolling and leave the platform. That’s a bigger ask now.

Zac: I think the video on Instagram will do well. Megan’s recording that one, and she’ll do a great job. Plus, Reels tend to get more algorithmic lift, and we usually promote it through Stories too.

Rich: And the carousel could do well if people share it—especially if it’s built like a story. LinkedIn can reward that format, but a lot depends on how we distribute it and whether we add commentary.

Zac: Yeah—if we share it with context, it’ll land better. If we just reshare without a note, it won’t have the same impact.

Rich: Alright—anyway. We’ll run the experiment next month, and then probably sometime in March we’ll come back with what happened—maybe we learned something, maybe we didn’t.

Zac: Either way, we’ll keep testing. There’s definitely potential to move things around and try different formats or different insights.

Zac: If you want to follow along, stay tuned to the podcast—and you can find our agency at edit71.com and all of our socials are there as well. If you have a question you’d like to send our way—about this experiment or anything else we do—head to CTA Podcast. Your question might make it into a future episode.

Rich: 100%.