What is Facebook blueprint certification? Facebook Blueprint certification is a suite of self-paced online learning courses brought to you straight by the teams at Menlo Park.
Facebook launched the eLearning suite to help creators and small businesses gain the most out of the reigning social media platforms – Instagram and Facebook.
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In the post-2020 world, there has been a seismic shift in consumer behaviors which earlier were considered still a few years away into the future. Small businesses and upcoming brands need to adapt by learning the platform in and out. Facebook Blueprint is that place for you.
Those looking to boost their CV, upgrade their digital marketing skills, and grow their expertise on Facebook and Instagram can look to Blueprint to help fulfill those goals, of course, depending on where they are on their marketing journey.
What is the Facebook Blueprint certification?
Facebook Blueprint certification offers a set of free online courses for advertising on the two major social media platforms – Facebook and Instagram. Both have cumulatively more than 4.6 billion users between them, and about 66% log in each day. That’s more than half the population of Earth!
Each course hits at different steps involved in building a marketing campaign. Teams at small businesses that do not have agencies and a full-fledged in-house marketing team to manage ad budgets will benefit the most.
There are over 90 Facebook blueprint courses, with each ranging from 15 to 50 minutes in length. The courses touch upon topics such as –
- Prepare to bring your business online
- Attract your audience
- Sell your products
- Engage your ads in Ads Manager
- Understand apps like WhatsApp, etc.
Facebook Blueprint is a convenient and accessible way to remain in touch with digital marketing basics. As your business portfolio of services evolves, as a team, you would need to identify new means of promoting them. Facebook Blueprint is refreshed regularly with each algorithm update and new service launch, making it a reliable learning platform for digital marketers at every step of the way.
1. Learn about Facebook advertising
Facebook advertising can seem overwhelming to those who have not used it for more than thrifting furniture and browsing local news (yes, we all do!).
FB Blueprint certification suite offers 13 beginner modules to help you get acquainted with the basic concepts of advertising such as, in as little as 4 min each –
- Choose where to establish an online presence
- Create free online social media accounts for your business
- Capture your audience’s attention through stories
- Create a profile for your Facebook business certification
Don’t know where to start? Blueprint has it all organized for users by critical marketing goals; for example, the first one is ‘Decide who you want to reach.’ Who is your target audience? Are they avid Facebook users? Yes? Learn here how to reach them!
The topics cover more than simply basic account setup. It also demystifies the Facebook Ad Auction process, Ad Delivery Overview, Creator Studio, billing, and taxation.
2. Learn advanced techniques
The suite of advanced learning opportunities is targeted at budding media professionals who have tasted a little bit of success but would like to dive deeper into the world of digital ad buying.
The course offerings include the basics of media planning and buying with Facebook – devised to help you get the most out of your marketing ad spend. It focuses on teaching how to match Facebook ad campaign objectives to business goals, set up pixels, defining audiences, etc. – all critical components to get the customer you want for your business.
Case study: Furbo dog camera – Amazon’s best-selling dog cameras found promising success by using in-stream ads, pixels, audience network, and many other Facebook features to grow their brand and reach the right audience.
3. Target the right audience
Most of the heavy lifting about promotional campaigns on social media involves finding your target customer on it. Facebook Blueprint offers over 11 courses on how to find them and map the customer journey.
Pro-tip: If your employees are operating brand-owned social media accounts with little oversight (because you simply do not have more capacity), it could pay to enforce a social media policy that lays out the dos and don’ts of social media use.
4. Build awareness
Learn how to connect with an audience by building awareness and reach for your business online on Instagram and Facebook with nine beginners to intermediate-level modules.
Authenticity underpins your brand image and presence online. Invest some time as a team to learn social media etiquettes related to trends and culture in 2021 (and not 2013!). For example, naming a product SkinnyTea is not cool anymore.
5. Drive consideration
A few years ago, Facebook published a study affirming that video branding drives a positive 12.5% lift in ad recall and a 5.3% lift in familiarity with the brand, working in sync with other media formats to push customers towards the consideration stage.
You can drive consideration for the products and services offered by your small business by learning about several tools and ad delivery formats, for example, in-stream videos, carousel ads, Marketplace ads, paid Facebook events.
6. Generate leads
Facebook ad services include features that can help track customers seamlessly between devices and offline environments, offering businesses critical insight into how customers move from one stage of the funnel to another.
The courses are structured around lead generation tactics such as –
- Instant form
- Retargeting leads
- Automatic lead generation
Pro-tip: The modules are interlinked in a way that some of them require completing pre-requisite courses before you can begin a specific one.
7. Increase sales
As a small business, you can boost your online sales by reaching customers where they are already discovering brands similar to yours. Many tactics involved have an underlying idea of molding the marketing efforts to the needs and wants of your customer, which means more personalized ads, a strong brand story, and engaging creatives.
The course is uniquely designed for small business owners and is called ‘Get more shoppers and grow your online sales’ and concludes with a module on a recently launched product – Facebook Shop.
8. Learn about ad formats
Video marketing statistics indicate that users will spend as many as 100 minutes watching videos online, making a case for brands to push for more video-based advertising content.
Facebook Ad services offer various video ad formats to be inspired from, such as carousel, dynamic, collection, story, in-stream video, instant articles, etc., which are regularly updated as new formats are released.
Each module about ad formats is accompanied by a real-world example of a small business brand that achieved marketing success by integrating them into its promotional strategy.
Case study: Oxfam UK achieved 1.4 times lift in revenue by using compelling video ads in stories to boost conversions and add-to-carts. They relied on authenticity by showing the real people behind Oxfam’s work as volunteers and support staff.
9. Measure ad performance
Facebook Business Suite is a hub of powerful measurement tools from A/B split testing, Facebook analytics, multi-platform attribution, pixel, etc. Discover ways to optimize and understand the impact of business outcomes in the course ‘Learn and optimize with measurement’ under Discover Commerce.
Pro-tip: Once you have learned to use Facebook’s measurement tools to monitor your brand’s growth and optimize for future marketing campaigns, you can scope for add-ons available outside the platform to help boost metrics such as ‘page likes,’ ‘video views,’ ‘followers,’ etc.
10. Distribute and monetize content
Whether you are an upcoming DTC bakery business that churns out baking videos regularly or a small business just learning the ropes of the vast minefield that is content marketing, no doubt you can learn to earn money from your content.
The course ‘Find new ways to earn money from your content’ lays out inventive ways to leverage your content in converting views and impressions into cash in the bank by –
- Including in-stream ads in your videos
- Including ads in your articles
- Adding a subscription shortcut
- Earning money from live streams
Pro-tip: Monetizing content is not just for video creators. Content marketers such as writers, bloggers, illustrators, etc., can easily earn money and generate leads from content they worked hard on by doing this course. There are many new platform offerings by Facebook that are targeted at journalists and writers, one of them being Instant articles. If you don’t have a blog yet, consider hiring a web developer to create an attractive one or create your own with the goal of cross-selling and upselling.
Who should take Facebook Blueprint?
Facebook Blueprint is available to anyone interested in learning about advertising on the platforms – Instagram and Facebook. The courses are free of cost; however, each of the certifications costs upwards of $100 USD.
Professionals who specialize in digital marketing, media planning, and social media management are perfect candidates for the certifications, as are those who are looking to upgrade their skills and move up the ladder.
If you’re on a job hunt and looking to boost your CV, the certifications could help add credibility to the marketing accomplishments on your resume.
Facebook Blueprint has organized modules by the kind of user you might be, for example, –
- Creators
- Web Developer
- Small businesses
- Agencies
Without having to navigate through 90 courses to figure out which one would be the most beneficial in helping you grow your brand; you can simply select the type of user you are and check out a list of courses that are most likely to help you make the best use of the platform.
The certifications themselves are named by job roles such as Digital marketing associate, Marketing Science professional, Media planning, etc. Below is a complete list of them –
- Facebook Certified Digital Marketing Associate
- Facebook Certified Marketing Science Professional
- Facebook Certified Creative Strategy Professional
- Facebook Certified Media Planning Professional
- Facebook Certified Media Buying Professional
- Facebook Certified Marketing Developer
- Facebook Certified Advanced Marketing Developer
- Facebook Certified Advertising API Developer
Pro-tip: You can supplement your newfound digital marketing knowledge by delving into the arsenal of eLearning resources available to support your marketing journey.
Is the Facebook Blueprint certification worth it, or Nah?
Small businesses seeking to grow social media marketing savviness can look to Facebook Blueprint as an investment towards employee professional development expenditure. Since the courses are free and the only cost is towards securing the certifications, it offers small businesses a cost-effective way to supercharge their marketing strategy by building expertise within the team.
To determine whether the Facebook Blueprint certification is worth the time and effort, take stock of where you are in your career and professional journey right now.
Are you rusty?
Are you utilizing Instagram and Facebook to their full capacity?
Are you even aware of what new developments, platform updates, etc., are available to help you attract a new audience and grow your brand?
If the answer is a lukewarm yes with a doubt-ridden question mark, then you should definitely give Facebook blueprint certification free a solid go.