There\u2019s something for everyone in Meta Blueprint\u2019s online training courses. <\/p>\n
Total beginner? Learn how to set up your Facebook Page<\/a> and the basics of marketing your business across all Meta apps: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n More advanced marketers can dive into media planning and ad buying with detailed courses to get the most out of Facebook ads. There\u2019s even a course for managing brand communities.<\/p>\n Meta Blueprint courses are free \u2014 but your time is money, right? So is it worth it? Will these workshops and classes actually help you advance at work or should you invest your time elsewhere?<\/p>\n By the end of this article, you\u2019ll know if Meta Blueprint certification is right for you or where else you can go if it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Bonus<\/strong>: Download a free guide<\/span> that shows you how to save time and money on your Facebook ads.\u00a0Find out how to reach the right customers, lower your cost-per-click, and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Facebook (Meta) Blueprint is a website offering online courses, workshops, and certification programs designed to uplevel your social media skills. The training focuses on Meta platforms, though many of the concepts, such as community management and creative strategy, can apply more broadly to your work.<\/p>\n Meta Blueprint trainings are designed for a mostly beginner to intermediate level audience of marketers looking to learn new skills, or those wanting to break into a marketing role.<\/p>\n Meta offers live online classes on most business days across a wide range of time zones and languages. They range from an hour to approximately 90 minutes and are taught by experienced instructors via virtual meetings.<\/p>\n They\u2019re free to attend and you can register for as many as you like. Many of the live classes are adapted from the on-demand courses, with the added benefit of ensuring you\u2019re getting the most up-to-date information.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Meta Blueprint offers on-demand video versions of workshops you can watch anytime. You can add classes to your favorites list to watch later, or to your \u201cPlan,\u201d which is a place to build a study path for yourself, whether you\u2019re preparing for a Meta certification or just want to stay organized.<\/p>\n Most classes feature a presentation slide deck with an instructor speaking via voiceover. You can skip back and forth around the video to rewatch sections which is always a nice feature to have in recorded courses.<\/p>\n One drawback is the lack of closed captioning or ASL interpreter options for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Hopefully Meta will make their content more accessible<\/a> in the future.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n While the live and on-demand courses are free to register for and watch, Meta Blueprint\u2019s certification programs are a paid offering. You can complete all the classes for each certification for free, but must pay for the exam to obtain your Meta Blueprint certification badge.<\/p>\n Use your certification badge to spruce up your resume or LinkedIn profile and show clients (or potential employers) you know what you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n Meta Blueprint currently offers the following certification programs:<\/p>\n Associate:<\/strong><\/p>\n Professional:<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n So, is Meta certification worth your time? Keep reading to find out.<\/p>\n Eyeing a promotion at work? Want to offer a new service to clients in your agency or freelance business? Or simply learn skills to promote your own services better, like how to run Facebook ads<\/a>?<\/p>\n The knowledge you learn from the free classes can be applied right away in your current professional life. Or take a paid certification exam to beef up your resume and demonstrate to your boss why you\u2019re perfect for that new role (and deserve a raise).<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not already working in marketing, Meta Blueprint offers a quick, free, and easy way to pick up key skills in marketing and social media. While the certifications don\u2019t replace a formal marketing education, they do show prospective employers you\u2019re serious about learning, willing to take initiative to seek out training opportunities, and passionate about marketing.<\/p>\n Speaking from experience, that growth-mindset attitude can take you very far.<\/p>\n If you run an agency or marketing team, Meta Blueprint courses are a great free resource to recommend (or require) your employees to take. It can also help new hires feel more confident in their roles and better able to explain concepts to clients.<\/p>\n And\u2026 it\u2019s a resource you don\u2019t need to create yourself. Nice.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n If you have an app, you need to watch this class. It covers everything you need to learn how to create high-converting Facebook ad campaigns specifically to drive app downloads.<\/p>\n This class is useful whether you have experience with traditional Facebook ads or not as it focuses on the new Advantage+ campaign option. Meta\u2019s new Advantage+ campaigns use AI to improve targeting, reduce costs, and drive smarter results. They\u2019re advanced enough to drive big results but simple enough that anyone can start using them today.<\/p>\n Before you watch, read our primer on how to advertise on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n Time commitment:<\/strong> 50 minutes<\/p>\n Best for:<\/strong> Brands and\/or developers looking to drive app downloads<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n This short and sweet workshop covers the basics of portraying your brand on social media in an authentic way that feels good to you while also attracting the audience you want to reach.<\/p>\n Many marketers will already know these tips but for beginners, it\u2019s a perfect quick intro to social media marketing you can watch during a coffee break.<\/p>\n Time commitment:<\/strong> Less than 20 minutes<\/p>\n Best for:<\/strong> Beginners, or small business owners looking to do their own social media marketing<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Building on the basics of social media marketing in the course above, this video covers the basics of fostering engagement. It includes examples of how to make your content more interactive and use tools like auto-replies in Messenger to set expectations about when a customer service rep will reply to a message.<\/p>\n Additionally, this offers a good summary of how to measure your engagement from month to month with basic analytics.<\/p>\n Time commitment:<\/strong> About 20 minutes<\/p>\n Best for:<\/strong> New social media managers, or small business owners wanting to do their own social media marketing<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n This class may not sound as exciting as the others \u2014 there\u2019s no promise of increasing ROI with ads or driving engagement with organic social content \u2014\u00a0but it will have the most impact on the success of your marketing efforts.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because every campaign starts (or should start) with a creative brief\u2026 and the quality of that brief will directly correlate with the quality of the campaign it produces.<\/p>\n I liked the specific examples in this class. It gives advice on how to rewrite goals to be more specific and actionable, such as \u201ccreate customer awareness\u201d instead of a generic \u201cincrease engagement.\u201d Plus it covers how to tie those goals to measurable KPIs, or \u201ckey performance indicators,\u201d to track your progress and be able to report that progress to your boss(es).<\/p>\n Time commitment:<\/strong> About 30 minutes<\/p>\n Best for:<\/strong> Marketers of all skill levels, especially strategists and project managers<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Meta<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Knowing how to make great ads is important, but it\u2019s equally as important to know how to measure their performance. More than reading analytics, that means having a repeatable process to test new ads, track performance, and be able to speak to both the ROI and brand awareness impact of the creative design of your ads.<\/p>\n I liked the simple approach of the \u201cAsk, Make, Learn, Adapt, Repeat\u201d cycle used in this class. It\u2019s a solid reminder that ads need to be creative and inspiring, but most of all, they still need to resonate with your audience to actually be effective.<\/p>\n Often, asking your audience what they want more of is a great place to start any creative project, including what to promote with ads. You can start there and ask for feedback and iterate with future versions to get the highest performance possible from your creative content.<\/p>\n Time commitment:<\/strong> About 30 minutes<\/p>\n Best for:<\/strong> Beginner to intermediate marketers who already, or want to, create a Facebook ads strategy<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>Hootsuite Academy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Our very own Hootsuite Academy is a great place to learn everything about social media marketing in one place. We\u2019ve designed our classes to focus on hands-on learning and each is taught by experienced, real social media experts who know what your day-to-day tasks really look like.<\/p>\n Unlike Meta Blueprint, Hootsuite Academy classes aren\u2019t restricted to only what works on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger). The strategies in our classes cover all social media platforms, including Meta\u2019s, and are constantly updated to reflect algorithm changes and social media trends<\/a>.<\/p>\n Similar to Meta Blueprint, Hootsuite Academy also offers certifications<\/a> in various social media marketing topics. These certifications are great for boosting your resume or to use as training materials as part of onboarding new team members.<\/p>\n For larger organizations or anyone needing a custom curriculum, Hootsuite Academy offers a custom education program<\/a> and materials designed specifically for your employees. This can be a valuable training asset for years to come.<\/p>\n Looking for a more informal, free option for social media tips? Check out our Hootsuite Labs YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>HubSpot Academy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n HubSpot Academy is a well-known learning platform for marketing skills ranging from email marketing to social media. All classes are free, including over 30 certification courses on topics including SEO, sales, inbound marketing, and HubSpot platform specific training.<\/p>\n HubSpot Academy tends to be on the more technical side of things with courses like SEO and CRM data migration, making it a great place to learn about these more niche topics.<\/p>\n Additionally, since HubSpot is a widely recognized company, adding a HubSpot certification to your resume or LinkedIn profile can help boost your credibility with current or potential employers.<\/p>\n Source: <\/em>LinkedIn<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n LinkedIn Learning offers many classes on business, marketing, and creative topics, as well as over 175 certifications for popular professional applications such as Zendesk, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and many more. The only drawback of LinkedIn Learning is it\u2019s not free: you need a LinkedIn Premium membership to access all courses, or you can purchase individual courses. However, the price per course is reasonable with many being under $50.<\/p>\n Being the world\u2019s largest<\/a> professional social network, LinkedIn is often perceived as a place of serious business. Their courses share in this brand sentiment<\/a>, conveying capability and trust thanks to their association with LinkedIn. Some classes even count for academic credits<\/a> at universities around the world or CEU credits<\/a> for many professional organizations, such as the Project Management Institute.<\/p>\n Apply your new marketing knowledge efficiently by managing all your social profiles in one easy-to-use dashboard with Hootsuite. Plan, schedule, analyze, and promote your content as well as reply to comments, track competitor performance, and generate AI captions. Try it free today.<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat is the Facebook (Meta) Blueprint?<\/span><\/h2>\n
How does Meta Blueprint work?<\/h3>\n
Live events<\/h4>\n
![\"Meta](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-1-620x391.jpg?resize=620%2C391&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nOn-demand courses<\/h4>\n
![\"on](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-2-620x369.jpg?resize=620%2C369&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nCertifications<\/h4>\n
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![\"course](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-3-620x532.jpg?resize=620%2C532&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nWho can benefit from Meta Blueprint courses?<\/span><\/h2>\n
Current marketers wanting to learn new skills<\/h3>\n
People who want to get into marketing<\/h3>\n
Agencies<\/h3>\n
The top Meta Blueprint courses for 2024<\/span><\/h2>\n
1. Grow Your Audience with Advantage+ App Campaigns<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Grow](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-4-620x346.jpg?resize=620%2C346&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n2. Build a Business Presence on Social Media<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Build](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-5-620x349.jpg?resize=620%2C349&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n3. Engage an Audience on Social Media<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Engage](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-6-620x348.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n4. Good Brief to Great Creative<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Good](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-7-620x347.jpg?resize=620%2C347&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n5. Measure Creative Impact<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Measure](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-11-620x348.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nAlternatives to Meta Blueprint<\/span><\/h2>\n
Hootsuite Academy<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Hootsuite](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-8-620x538.jpg?resize=620%2C538&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nHubSpot Academy<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"HubSpot](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-9-620x512.jpg?resize=620%2C512&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nLinkedIn Learning<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.hootsuite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/meta-blueprint-10-620x540.jpg?resize=620%2C540&ssl=1\")
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