Facebook Inc (FB) Using Mass Media Ads To Promote Itself

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Facebook has begun using traditional advertising such as billboards and television in a recent ad campaign. This seems rather unusual given the company’s primary mission of marketing over the internet.

Facebook Inc (FB) Using Mass Media Ads To Promote Itself

Facebook (FB) spends millions on ad campaigns

The company has recently started a program in UK in which its ads have been promoted all around the country, including in the London Underground and on major TV channels, according to a report from FT. Moreover, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has spent heavily on the advertising campaign launched in the UK in February of this year. The initiative referred to as ‘the friends’ depicts stills of friends having a good time with each other.

According to Nielsen, the company has already paid out more than £6m for advertisements through traditional media in 2015, compared to a meager £16,000 spent by the company in the country last year. Though, such an amount is negligible considering Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s yearly revenues of about £12.4 billion, but the move reflects a significant turn-around in the company’s method of advertising, says the report. In 2012-2014, the social networking company spent about $135 million on global advertisements, as reported by company’s financial statements for 2014.

Furthermore, the social networking company introduced its first billboard ads endorsing the Messenger app in Los Angeles and Chicago in 2014. This year, the company is also purchasing mass media ads in Canada and Australia, says the FT report.

Following Apple, Google

According to Shaun Gregory, CEO of Exertion media, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is spending tons of money on third-party advertising because mass media plays a critical role in establishing a brand and developing trust with consumers. He also presumed that the company will come out as “one of the major advertisers in the next few years.”

Before this, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) chose word of mouth to promote its products and services. Moreover, as claimed by the Silk Media consultant, keeping in mind that the social networking firm has long tried to convince marketers that its platform is more proficient in promoting services, Facebook’s choice of traditional media to sponsor itself seems a bit surprising.

With efforts aimed at publicizing their products and services through mass media, the social networking company is following in the footsteps of Google and Apple, who have resorted to this method to help build their brands.

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