# How to use social media platforms to successfully scale your business Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2021-08-19 Category: BUSINESS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business Meta Title: Efficient Scaling Strategies for Performance Advertising Meta Description: Learn how to scale your business efficiently with vertical and horizontal scaling methods, automatic rules, and the advantages of outsourcing your performance URL: https://financedigest.com/how-to-use-social-media-platforms-to-successfully-scale-your-businesshtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/social-mediagja5gwvo-sbi-300195444-2-1736837999755-compressed.jpg) By **Tim Hyde,** Founder and Director of Social Media Marketing Agency, TWH Media Scaling your business, whilst maintaining efficiency, is possibly one of the hardest things to do in performance advertising. The reason for that is down to the way the platforms are set up. There are two traditional scaling methods – horizontal scaling and vertical scaling Vertical scaling Vertical [scaling increases](https://www.financedigest.com/increase-in-sales-of-human-insulin-market-to-scale-revenue-growth-in-the-global-market.html "Increase in Sales of Human Insulin Market to Scale Revenue Growth in the Global Market") the daily spend on each of the ads. As an example, you could start off at £10 a day and [push](https://www.financedigest.com/covid-war-and-fed-push-world-stocks-down-for-4th-day.html "COVID, War and Fed push world stocks down for 4th day") that up to £1000 or £10,000 per day. This used to work, but things have changes and now it’s pretty difficult to do unless you’ve got an amazing advert and performance. Horizontal scaling Instead of [increasing daily spend](https://www.financedigest.com/increasingly-flexible-working-patterns-drive-up-it-and-technology-spend-across-europe.html "Increasingly Flexible working patterns drive up IT and technology SPEND across europe") from, for example, £10 to £1000 per day, you run 10 different £10- a-day ads to get you to that £1000 per day total spend. To [scale horizontally you need to create](https://www.financedigest.com/how-cfos-of-consumer-brands-can-create-new-value-relevance-at-scale.html "How CFOs of Consumer Brands can Create New Value & Relevance at Scale") more adverts rather than just increasing the daily spend. You will see much better performance from horizontal scaling when you use rules to incrementally [increase daily budgets](https://www.financedigest.com/over-50-of-businesses-increased-their-cyber-security-budget-last-year-amid-attacks.html "Over 50% of businesses increased their cyber security budget last year amid attacks"), rather than massively increasing them over a given time frame. You can set up automatic rules; if your target is 3 [times your return](https://www.financedigest.com/ogrady-to-return-to-bank-of-ireland-as-ceo-irish-times.html "O’Grady to return to Bank of Ireland as CEO – Irish Times") on ad spend, you can tell Facebook to automatically increase the daily budget by 10 or 15% if your ad is hitting that target and this is probably the most effective way to scale vertically. [Comparability between accounts](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-compare-business-bank-accounts.html "How to compare business bank accounts") and platforms There is a huge advantage to outsourcing your performance marketing as not only do you get access to a [specialist but also the advantage of that agency](https://www.financedigest.com/b2b-specialist-pr-agency-the-digital-voice-announces-three-key-account-wins.html "B2B Specialist PR Agency The Digital Voice Announces Three Key Account Wins") being able to compare against other brands in other locations, and potentially even brands in similar verticals For example, if we can see that the CPM’s are really high in the US and this is consistent throughout, this [identifies a universal trend](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-identify-new-digital-trends-to-benefit-your-business.html "How to identify new digital trends to benefit your business") across the platform. If you are only [working on one brand and one ad account](https://www.financedigest.com/half-of-employees-aged-40-and-over-in-the-accounting-banking-and-finance-industries-think-they-will-have-to-work-longer-to-live-the-life-they-want.html "Half Of Employees Aged 40 And Over In The Accounting, Banking And Finance Industries Think They Will Have To Work Longer To Live The Life They Want"), it would be almost impossible to make those sorts of assumptions with such limited data. With multiple clients, you can study overall performance and whether specific ad [platforms are broken or have been down for a period of time](https://www.financedigest.com/the-tall-group-leads-uk-launch-of-innovative-chain-of-custody-real-time-authentication-platform-for-financial-applications.html "The Tall Group Leads UK Launch Of Innovative Chain Of Custody & Real Time Authentication Platform For Financial Applications"). This insight can then be offered to the client and [changes suggested to their plan](https://www.financedigest.com/exclusive-olympics-paris-2024-plans-games-relay-changes-fewer-torches-source.html "EXCLUSIVE-Olympics-Paris 2024 plans Games relay changes, fewer torches-source") or strategy based on this evidence. Interest based versus lookalikes New clients often haven’t had a pixel setup implemented, so there is no pre-existing data to work from. This means that from an audience perspective, you have to target cold or upper funnel audiences, and the way to do that is through interest-based audiences. On most platforms, you can target people based on their interests, age and in some cases, [financial information](https://www.financedigest.com/kings-secure-technologies-adopts-agile-flexible-cloud-reporting-access-granular-real-time-financial-information.html "Kings Secure Technologies Adopts Agile and Flexible Cloud Reporting for Access to ‘Granular Real-time Financial Information’"). Using some of our bike brands as an example, we have generic bike audiences which are really broad- those who have an interest in cycling, cycling teams, the Tour de France and so on, but we also have a specific audience in cycling publications which have similar attributes. In addition, you can also create persona-based audiences. These are created based on different interests but instead of getting everyone interested in cycling (from the previous example), we would target someone of a certain age group. We can then use this customer [profile](https://www.financedigest.com/male-married-and-millennial-new-research-reveals-profile-of-a-loyal-customer.html "Male, married and millennial: new research reveals profile of a loyal customer") and target your ideal customer through their interests; this is really effective. Once you have over 100 conversions through the pixel, or if you’re working with a [client who has pre-existing data](https://www.financedigest.com/dimension-data-introduces-next-generation-managed-services-offering-accelerate-client-innovation.html "Dimension Data introduces next-generation managed services offering to accelerate client innovation"), you are then able to create lookalike audiences and these audiences are your best performers What is a look alike audience? If you have 100 customers, Google will then duplicate that audience by targeting people with similar characteristics to your customers, based on aspects such as finance or demographic. Your existing audience has already bought your product so by duplicating it, you have doubled your audience. Therefore, on a paid social, the lookalike audience will probably be your best performing audience. You can also stack lookalikes. Instead of targeting one lookalike audience, you can put lookalike audiences together, creating an even wider reach. Funnel/messaging structure [Brands love to hit people](https://www.financedigest.com/how-a-british-tech-brand-can-maintain-category-leading-position-and-continued-growth-by-investing-in-the-uk-people-and-infrastructure.html "How a British tech brand can maintain category leading position and continued growth by investing in the UK people and infrastructure") with offers because they are a good converter. If you offer a 20% discount on your product, you’ll get a much [higher clickthrough rate](https://www.financedigest.com/wall-st-heads-higher-as-fed-rate-hopes-dent-dollar.html "Wall St heads higher as Fed rate hopes dent dollar") and probably a conversion. One of the problems that we see over and over is that [brands are only trading](https://www.financedigest.com/easymarkets-releases-brand-new-trading-app.html "easyMarkets releases brand new trading app") on discounts. As a first interaction with your brand, customers are likely to make a purchase because people like the [offer and want to buy](https://www.financedigest.com/mfe-offers-to-buy-1-05-stake-in-mediaset-espana-from-vivendi-ahead-of-delisting.html "MFE offers to buy 1.05% stake in Mediaset Espana from Vivendi ahead of delisting") it ‘now’, but this means you are only trading on one messaging style. To avoid this, it’s better to tailor the copy or the type of creative specifically, depending on where people are within the funnel. In the upper funnel, videos explaining the proposition of the [brand and the USP of the product are effective](https://www.financedigest.com/does-the-monzo-effect-mean-banks-will-need-to-rethink-brand-building.html "Does the ‘Monzo effect’ mean banks will need to rethink brand building?"), making sure that you are educating your audience about your brand and offering so that even if they don’t purchase, they will know more about you, and you will have infiltrated their subliminal radar. In your lower funnel, your audience is already educated about your brand and this allows you to [push the sales](https://www.financedigest.com/rising-demand-from-consumers-to-push-sales-of-inflatable-boat-market.html "Rising Demand from Consumers to Push Sales of Inflatable Boat Market") boundaries and provide them with an offer because they’ve already been through multiple touchpoints, so your final right hook could be a 5 or 10% offer. The results from these methods will be your guide on what is [working and what to avoid but regular tweaks and refinement are key](https://www.financedigest.com/disadvantages-key-challenges-to-overcome-when-working-from-home.html "Disadvantages – key challenges to overcome when working from home"). And your safest bet? The [advice of an expert](https://www.financedigest.com/selling-advice-five-expert-tips-on-how-to-avoid-gazundering-when-selling-your-home-to-save-you-money.html "Selling advice: Five expert tips on how to avoid gazundering when selling your home to save you money") who does this morning, noon and night – it’s a minefield out there! **Author Bio:** Tim Hyde, Founder and Director of [Social Media](https://www.financedigest.com/10-tips-to-help-with-your-social-media-customer-care.html "10 TIPS TO HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CUSTOMER CARE") Marketing Agency, TWH Media _Having commenced his career in leading the Facebook strategy for Lad Bible, Tim Hyde boasts an impressive track record of helping businesses and brands scale online through effective [social media marketing strategies](https://www.financedigest.com/why-no-event-should-be-planned-without-a-social-media-strategy.html "Why No Event Should Be Planned Without a Social Media Strategy"). One of the [industry’s leading social](https://www.financedigest.com/corporate-social-responsibility-within-the-festival-industry.html "Corporate Social Responsibility Within The Festival Industry") media gurus, Tim founded TWH Media in September 2017 and now works with large brands globally ranging from Adidas to Apple Music._ --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---