ServiceBOFU
Paid social beyond Meta — tested, not assumed
The short answer
Paid social is every social platform where you can buy attention — and in India, Meta takes most of the money by default. That default is usually right at first. But as Meta audiences saturate and your CAC creeps up with scale, other platforms offer audiences that are cheaper, less contested, or simply not reachable on Instagram and Facebook.
PMG tests additional platforms the way a scientist would: one platform at a time, a written hypothesis, a fixed test budget, and a pass line agreed before launch — incremental customers at a CAC within a defined range of your Meta benchmark. If it doesn't clear the line, we stop and tell you.
Which platform, for whom
- Snapchat — under-30 India, strongest in metros; vertical video and AR try-on
- Pinterest — home, interiors, fashion, jewellery and weddings; planning intent with long content life
- X — tech, finance, sports, media and B2B; real-time conversation around events
- Reddit — deep-research communities in tech, gaming, personal finance and hobbies
- Quora — question-intent audiences in education, finance, insurance and B2B
- ShareChat and Moj — regional-language India at scale, well beyond the metros
- LinkedIn — B2B and high-ticket professional audiences (its own service line)
- YouTube — technically video, but often the first "beyond Meta" test worth running
When to look beyond Meta
- Meta CAC has risen for three or more consecutive months at stable creative quality
- Frequency on your core prospecting audiences is climbing while CTR falls
- Your buyer is under-represented on Instagram — older, regional, niche or professional
- You have creative capacity to adapt assets to another platform's native format
- Tracking is clean enough to judge a new channel honestly
If none of these apply, the better move is usually more creative on Meta, not a new platform.
How we test a new platform
- Pick on audience fit, never novelty. The question is "are our buyers there, and are they reachable more cheaply?"
- Write the pass line — for example, CAC within 20% of Meta's, or reach into a segment Meta can't deliver at any price.
- Adapt the creative to the platform's native format. Instagram Reels uploaded to Pinterest or ShareChat almost always underperform.
- Fund it properly — enough budget for three to four weeks of readable data. Starved tests produce false negatives.
- Measure incrementally. Smaller platforms' attribution is weaker; blended MER and holdout comparisons tell you more.
- Scale, iterate or stop — decided against the pre-agreed line, not against enthusiasm.
Mistakes we see
- Spreading a small budget across five platforms and learning nothing on any of them
- Running identical creative everywhere
- Judging a new platform on its own reported conversions
- Abandoning a platform after one week and one creative
- Adding platforms while Meta itself is under-tested and creative-starved
When should a brand look beyond Meta and Google?
- Meta frequency is rising and CAC creeping up despite fresh creative
- Your audience is clearly concentrated elsewhere — professionals on LinkedIn, vernacular users on Moj
- You need reach in a new region or language
- A competitor is visibly winning on another platform
- You have the creative capacity to produce native assets for a second platform
If none of these apply, more creative on Meta usually beats a new platform.
Inside Paid Social
6 specialist services under one accountable paid social team.
How a Paid Social engagement with PMG runs
- Audit (week 0–1). Accounts, analytics, tracking, website, CRM flow and competitors reviewed, with a written list of what's broken, what's wasted and the three moves we'd make first.
- Plan (week 1–2). Break-even ROAS or a target cost per lead, a measurement plan and a 90-day roadmap for Paid Social, with owners and dates.
- Launch (week 2–4). Clean structures, verified conversion signals, the first creative sprint and landing-page fixes.
- Optimise (months 2–3). A weekly test cadence, with budget following the cheapest incremental results rather than platform-reported ones.
- Scale (month 3 onwards). New channels, geographies and retention loops, added only when the economics hold.
Every week you get a one-page scorecard, a change log, the test board and a 30-minute call with your strategist. See how we work and pricing for details.
Why teams choose PMG for Paid Social
- Measurement first. Unit economics and clean tracking come before any increase in spend.
- You own everything. Ad accounts, data and creative stay in your name; ad spend goes straight to the platforms.
- Senior hands on the account. The strategist you speak to is the person running it.
- Weekly transparency. Scorecard, change log and test board — every week.
- Short minimum terms. We keep clients with results, not contracts.
- India and international. One Mumbai team running campaigns across Indian cities and overseas markets, Mon–Sat, 7am–9pm IST.
Where we run Paid Social
We manage Paid Social for businesses across India — including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad — and for companies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Germany. Campaigns are planned market by market, with language, currency, platform mix and privacy rules matched to each. See all Indian locations and international markets.
Free growth audit
Get a written audit for Paid Social.
No sales call required. Tell us where to look; a strategist replies within working hours and sends the written audit within 72 hours.
- Tracking check
- Pixels, Conversions API, GA4 events and offline conversions — what is firing, what is double-counted, what is missing.
- Wasted spend
- Search terms, placements, audiences and overlap that cost money without producing qualified leads or sales.
- Conversion path
- Landing page speed, message match, form friction and follow-up time — where interested people drop off.
- 90-day priorities
- The three changes we would make first, with the metric each one should move.
Frequently asked questions
Should small brands advertise beyond Meta and Google?
Usually not yet. Below roughly ₹3 lakh a month in total paid spend, splitting budget across platforms slows learning everywhere. Get Meta and Google working properly first.
Which alternative platform works best in India?
It depends entirely on your buyer. Pinterest for home, fashion and weddings; ShareChat and Moj for regional reach; Snapchat for young metro audiences; Quora for research-heavy categories; LinkedIn for B2B.
How much budget does a platform test need?
Enough to generate meaningful conversion data in three to four weeks — for most consumer brands, somewhere around ₹75,000 to ₹2 lakh per platform test, depending on your CPA.
Do we need separate creative for each platform?
Yes, at minimum adapted. Aspect ratio, pacing, tone and text density differ. The concept can travel; the execution rarely can.
What is paid social advertising?
Buying ads on social platforms — Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, X, Reddit and others — targeted by audience data and paid by impression, click or result.
Is paid social good for B2B?
LinkedIn is the core B2B paid social channel. Meta can work for SME-focused B2B and hiring; X and Reddit can work for tech and developer audiences.
How much should we spend on a platform test?
Enough to get dozens of conversions or a clear read on your success metric within four to six weeks. For many Indian consumer brands that means at least ₹1–2 lakh; for LinkedIn, more.
Can we reuse our Instagram ads on other platforms?
Some assets adapt well — vertical video often works on YouTube Shorts, Snapchat and Moj with edits. But tone, pacing and on-screen text usually need to change for each platform.
Do you manage organic accounts on these platforms too?
Yes, through social media marketing, which also supplies proven content to paid campaigns.
Should we be on every social platform?
No. Most businesses do best on one or two platforms where their customers are, then expand when the economics prove out.
Is TikTok available for advertising in India?
TikTok remains banned in India, but it is a major platform in many international markets where we run campaigns.
How do we test a new platform without wasting budget?
With a fixed test budget, a clear success metric and a set time window — then scale or stop.
How long does Paid Social take to show results?
Tracking fixes and search campaigns often show improvement within two to four weeks; prospecting on Meta or YouTube usually needs three to six weeks of creative testing; SEO compounds over three to nine months. We agree leading indicators up front so progress is visible early.
Is there a long contract?
No. Minimum terms are short, because we would rather keep clients with results than with contracts.
Will we own the ad accounts and data?
Yes. Everything runs in your own accounts with partner access for PMG, and you can see it all at any time.
What do you need from us to start?
Access to ad accounts and analytics, your margins and order values (or deal values), brand assets, and a decision-maker available for a weekly 30-minute call.
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