When Marketing Takes Facebook Off-Platform

Although Facebook (FB) is one of the largest advertisers on its digital platforms, the company doesn’t do all its marketing exclusively on its native platforms. In addition to its flagship social media site, Facebook’s other native digital platforms are WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. These platforms reported 800.0 million–1.3 billion monthly users.

Marketing efforts have taken Facebook off its own sites a few times, which the company’s chief marketing officer, Gary Briggs, revealed when he spoke recently at technology conference organized by Wells Fargo.

A case of Facebook going off-platform with its marketing occurred when the company launched its live video service, Facebook Live. The company took its Live promotions off-platform in markets such as the US (SPY) and the UK (EWU) to help users understood the new product as quickly as possible.

In some seemingly hard-to-crack markets, Facebook has combined on-platform and off-platform marketing efforts. Facebook took this action in Germany (EWG). According to Briggs, Germany is not as highly penetrated as it would like.

To increase its initiatives in Germany, Facebook has been engaging with Germans one-on-one and addressing their concerns around issues such as how the ads work. Briggs said that such off-platform marketing efforts have helped boost subscriber engagement metrics in Germany.

Germany contributes to Facebook’s Europe (EFA) sales. In 3Q17, Facebook generated revenues of $2.5 billion in Europe. The company’s Europe revenues totaled $1.6 billion in 3Q16.