Facebook marketing hasn’t gotten any easier over the years, and perhaps in recognition of that fact, the company just announced some new resources for marketers aimed at helping educate them on better leveraging the social network as a marketing platform.
“At Facebook, we’re working to provide resources and tools that help every marketer, including the two million businesses advertising on Facebook, grow their business,” the company says in a blog post. “Earlier this year we launched Ads Manager app to help businesses manage their campaigns on the go. Today we’re launching new educational resources that provide answers and training to all Facebook marketers, from small businesses to big brands and agencies.”
The first one is called Blueprint, and is described as an education program that trains agencies, partners, and marketers on how to use Facebook to create better campaigns that “drive business results”. It includes online courses as well as in-person training and certification.
There are 40 learning paths/modules, and you can use it from the desktop or mobile. It’s available to anyone with a Facebook account. You select the courses you want to take, and take them at your leisure.
“In addition to using our tools and platform more effectively, you’ll have insights and knowledge in Facebook that others won’t,” the company says. “So you can have a specialized skillset to offer clients looking to take their marketing to the next level.”
When you start, you give Facebook your company name and work email address, then plan your path. You can start by choosing one of eleven categories: Introduction to Facebook, Best Practices, Facebook Pages, Purchasing Ads, Managing Your Ads, Advertising Objectives, Targeting, Campaign Optimization, Reporting and Measurement, Additional Insights, and All Courses.
Here are the courses/paths offered (along with their descriptions):
1. A/B Testing
A/B Testing can help you compare the performance of two different ads for the same campaign. This course will teach you how to take advantage of Facebook’s ad optimizer so that you can identify which of your ads are delivering the best results.
2. Ad Policies
The Facebook ads team has developed a set of guidelines that keep Facebook the fun and safe place people have come to expect. This course will help you understand those guidelines while sharing and promoting your products and services.
3. Ad Reporting
Facebook Ad Reports gather and display the metrics from your campaigns, ad sets, and ads. This course will teach you to understand the metrics in these reports so that you can reach your business goals, as well see who is engaging with your ads.
4. Ads Create Tool
There are a variety of ways to advertise on Facebook. This course will walk you through the various options for ads, as well as help you create ads on Facebook that will accomplish the marketing objective you have for your business.
5. Ads Manager
Ads Manager is where you can view, edit and access performance reports for all your campaigns, ad sets and ads.
6. All Content [Curriculum]
Selecting this curriculum will enroll you in ALL available courses – go for it!
7. App Engagement
Encouraging people to use your apps after they have installed them is important to any app developer. This course will show you how to persuade people to use and advertised app once they have installed them.
8. App Installs
Mobile app ads are an increasingly popular method of advertising. This course will show you how Facebook can help encourage people to install your apps.
9. Boost Your Posts
Having your posts visible in people’s News Feed can lead to increased engagement, which often allows you to reach even more people. This course will show you how to boost your posts so they are more likely to appear in your audience’s News Feed.
9. Brand Best Practices
Facebook is one of the best places to raise brand awareness. This course will show you how successful integration of Facebook’s tools can build brand awareness and ensure your message reaches your desired audience.
10. Brand [Curriculum]
This learning path is focused on how to achieve brand-based marketing objectives on Facebook to drive business results: best practices, planning reach, using video, targeting, and measurement solutions for brand.
11. Brand Measurement Solutions
Learn about a new approach to measurement—an approach focused on people rather than cookies and clicks.
12. Business Manager
Business Manager is a tool to help businesses and agencies manage their Facebook Pages, ad accounts and apps in one place.
13. Buying Channels
There are many channels for buying advertisements on Facebook. In this course, you will learn about Facebook’s Ad Auction, Facebook Marketing Partners and Insertion Orders (IOs) so that you can determine the best methods for buying ads on Facebook.
14. Campaign Structure
Facebook’s campaign structure makes it easy for you to organize, optimize and measure the performance of your ads. In this course you will learn how to organize your ad within the campaign structure on Facebook.
15. Clicks to Website
A well-placed, informative ad can often encourage people to visit your website. In this course you will learn how best use a Clicks to Website ad to drive people to your website.
16. Creating a Facebook Page
Creating a Facebook Page is easier than you think. This course will walk you through the simple steps associated with creating a Facebook Page, as well as help you understand how to start connecting with others through building an audience and posting.
17. Creative Best Practices
A successful Facebook campaign allows you to share real, authentic conversations. This course will show you how using creative best practices can pull an engaged audience into the conversation.
18. Data Driven Marketing [Curriculum]
This learning path is focused on learning the basics of Facebook for data partners.
19. Digital Buyer [Curriculum]
This learning path is focused on agencies and advertisers who are interested in learning about the basics of buying advertising on Facebook: the tools, advertising objectives, targeting options, campaign optimization best practices, and reporting.
20. Digital Planner [Curriculum]
This learning path is focused on agencies and advertisers who are interested in learning about the basics of planning advertising buys on Facebook: insights to inform campaigns, Reach and Frequency planning, advertising objectives, and targeting.
21. Direct Response Best Practices
Whether you’re driving sign-ups on your website, sales in store, or installs for your mobile app, this course will introduce you to the products that can help drive your business objectives.
22. Direct Response [Curriculum]
This learning path is focused on how to achieve direct response marketing objectives on Facebook to drive business results: best practices, buying channels, advertising units, targeting, and measurement solutions for DR.
23. Direct Response Measurement Solutions
Learn about a new approach to measurement—an approach focused on people rather than cookies and clicks.
24. Event Responses
Event planning through Facebook is a great way to connect with your audience. In this course you will learn how you can bring more people to your event with a well-placed Facebook ad.
25. Facebook Exchange
Facebook Exchange helps you reach people who have expressed an interest in your product or services by helping you to expand your reach to relevant audiences through real-time bidding.
26. Facebook Terminology
Facebook connects you with the people who matter to you so you can deliver personalized marketing at scale and realize real business results. Learn about the terminology we use related to marketing on Facebook.
27. Introduction to Facebook Pages
Having a Facebook Page is the first step towards giving your business a voice on Facebook. This course will show you how having a Facebook Page helps you share your stories, as well as connect you with your audience.
28. Mobile SDK
Facebook’s Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) allows you to enable your app to connect to people using Facebook. This course will show you how to use our development kit to make those connections.
29. Offer Claims
A well-placed offer can be a great way to engage existing audiences and bring renewed attention to your business. In this course you will learn how you can promote timely discounts and other deals within your Facebook News Feed through Offer Claim ads.
30. Page Likes
Likes are critical to promoting what your company is saying. They can also help determine what posts people are enjoying and sharing with friends and family. In this course you will learn how to promote and acquire additional Likes for your Facebook page.
31. Power Editor (Advanced Advertisers)
Power Editor is a tool for advanced advertisers. This course will help you understand how Power Editor allows you to import data from Excel, as well as make managing bulk ads, individual ads, ads sets and multiple campaigns much easier.
32. Reporting & Analytics [Curriculum]
This learning path is focused on learning the basics of campaign reporting and analytics on Facebook. This includes reporting against business objectives, examples of successful measurement, and how to tie campaign insights to reporting.
33. Sight, Sound, and Motion
With more video viewing than ever before, Facebook provides an opportunity to reach the people who matter to you through their Facebook News Feed. This course will show you how sight, sound, and motion can drive awareness of your brand.
34. Successful Campaigns
Have you ever wondered what makes a successful Facebook campaign? In this course you will have access to some of the possibilities, as well as learn how campaign goals play a vital role in many Facebook success stories.
35. Targeting – Custom Audiences
Sometimes the most valuable audience is the one you already have a connection with. This course will teach you to use Custom Audiences to reach people across devices based on the data you already have access to in a privacy-safe way.
36. Targeting – Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike Audiences are based on sophisticated modeling and identify people who share similar likes, interests, or characteristics as your current audience. This course will help you understand how and when to use Lookalike Audiences.
37. Targeting – Standard Audiences
In this course, you will learn how Standard Audiences can help you reach the right people at scale with minimal waste.
38. Video Views
Facebook combines the power of sight, sound and motion with unparalleled reach, mobile engagement and fine-grained targeting capabilities. In this module you will learn how video ads can showcase your products, ideas, and business.
39. Website Conversions
This course will show you how using Facebook’s conversion pixels can help you track what people are doing on your website and provide you with data about how your ads are doing, allowing you to optimize your actions on Facebook.
40. Welcome to Marketing on Facebook
Learn why Facebook is the perfect place for advertisers and businesses to connect with real people and build connections through photos, videos and ads. See how successful brands leverage the relationships build on Facebook to drive real business results.
You can select any of these options and click “enroll” where you can then launch the course. You can also “drop” courses as you see fit.
Think of BluePrint as the Khan Academy for Facebook marketing. It’s only available in English for now, but will be expanded into additional languages in the future.
The second new offering from Facebook is called Learn How, which is also described as an online learning center. This one helps businesses do more with Pages and Ads by way of videos, images, and step-by-step instructions. It features answers to frequently asked in-depth while serving as something of a reference library.
This resource is available in 14 languages on desktop and mobile. It can be found on the Facebook for Business site. That site, by the way, has also gotten a refresh with a new layout and new content. Give it a look when you get a chance.
Images via Facebook
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