There are some stellar free Facebook marketing courses out there right now, and we’ve found several of the top options available right now.

The courses listed cover the basics of Facebook marketing, important topics like social media ethics, specialized training on creating ads, and more. You’ll learn why you’ll love them and what each course is missing. This will help you pick the best course for what you need to know and how you learn.

Okay, we know why you’re here – let’s get to it:

9 Free Facebook Marketing Courses + The Best Facebook Ads Course Out There

1. Facebook Blueprint

Blueprint is Facebook’s free online learning platform, and it has a growing collection of beginner to advanced free Facebook marketing courses. This isn’t one course, but rather a library of courses created by Facebook itself.

You can browse courses by category, like choosing the right ad format, solutions that will drive in-store sales, Instagram marketing, measuring ad performance, and more. There are also free courses that teach you about different campaign objectives – consideration, awareness, and traffic.

Blueprint courses are mainly text-based and take anywhere from 10-45 minutes to complete the material. Each course is broken down into smaller, more digestible chunks of information that take 2-5 minutes each.

Facebook Blueprint keeps track of your progress on each course and which ones you’ve completed. You can also create a plan, like a curriculum for yourself, and save courses to take later.

Where these courses shine:

• You’re learning straight from the source
• A la carte style learning giving you targeted information

What you might not love:

• The material could be more engaging
• You can’t interact with the course creator or other students

2. Introduction to Facebook Pages for Businesses and Orgs

This free Facebook marketing course is taught by Jared Hill on Udemy, and it’s very much for beginners who want to learn how to create and manage a Facebook Page for their own business. These are important lessons for anyone who wants to start using Facebook marketing, and there is a small section specifically on Facebook ads.

There are seven sections of course content for a total of nearly five hours of video-based lessons. The bulk of the course focuses on basic page set-up and management, but it does touch on slightly higher-level concepts like analytics and running Facebook ads.

Where this course shines:

• Covers the basics of managing a Facebook page for people who have struggled to learn how in the past
• Includes case studies so you can real-world examples

What you might not love:

• Could use more content running Facebook ads
• The course material is a few years old

3. Basics of Facebook Marketing

This Udemy course is by Girijan Raghavan who gives you a very introductory look at getting started with Facebook ads, from why they’re so important for businesses these days to how to create them.

This free course runs one and a half hours total, and the content is separated into four modules, and the fourth module is where you get the most about Facebook marketing. It dives into the value in building your community, understanding the needs and interests of your customers, and how to promote your brand.

The course creator explicitly says this course is for those who are new to Facebook marketing, and that’s true – you’re getting the basics.

Where this course shines:

• Spends time explaining why businesses need to advertising on Facebook
• Honest description about who this course is for

What you might not love:

• Would love to see more in-depth material
• Course material is laid out in a slideshow-like presentation that isn’t as engaging as video

Read more at Facebook Advertising Training: Free and Paid Options.

4. Create a Social Media Graphic in Less Than 10 Minutes

This free Facebook marketing course is a little different in that it focuses on one specific piece of important information: how to create professional-looking images for your ads.

You’re probably well aware of how valuable high-quality images are, and this course walks you through creating images in Adobe Spark. Spark is paid software that’s similar to Canva (you can use Canva to create Facebook ad templates).

This course gets straight to the point – it’s literally less than 15 minutes long. But it works because you get an over-the-shoulder look at how to create these images and use the software.

Where this course shines:

• Straight to the point with no fluff
• The instructor is available to answers questions in the comments (this is rare for free courses)

What you might not love:

• It would be nice if it explained how to use other graphic design software too
• Examples of high-quality images would be useful

You should also check out What’s the Perfect Facebook Ad Size? for more information on creating images for your ads. This article gives you specs for feed ads, right column ads, carousel ads, and more.

5. Facebook Marketing Course: How to Develop Effective and Paid Strategies

This free course was created by Hubspot, a company focused on inbound marketing software and training. Hubspot Academy is the education arm and includes courses on social media marketing, content marketing, inbound sales, and more.

Their free Facebook marketing course is four lessons and just over an hour long. It’ll teach you how to map out a digital marketing strategy, grow your organic Facebook reach, and build an efficient and effective ads strategy.

The course is taught by Hubspot instructors Crystal King, Dayne Topkin, and Amanda Bond, who each present their own video-based modules.

Where this course shines:

• Very professionally done – what you’d expect from Hubspot
• More personality than some of these other courses

What you might not love:

• Still mostly basic information
• There aren’t any testimonials or reviews from students (we like that kind of thing)

6. Facebook Advertising for Beginners

This beginner’s Facebook marketing course is presented on Alison, and if you’ve never heard of Alison, it’s a free learning platform that specializes in teaching career skills via online micro-courses.

This course is taught by Theo McArthur and teaches you how to get your first ad campaign up and running. It’s fairly comprehensive in that it teaches you how to install the Facebook pixel, different kinds of ads, landing page compliance, setting up custom conversions, and more.

Facebook Advertising for Beginners is 1-2 hours long depending on how much time it takes for you to implement the lessons you learn.

Where this course shines:

• Actionable material presented in a clear format
• Includes an assessment at the end to test your skills

What you might not love:

• Does not cover every kind of campaign type or ad format
• There are a fair number of ads on Alison (one of the reasons this course is free)

Read more at 5 of the Best Places to Find Advertising Training Courses Online.

7. What is Social?

This is a unique course in that it teaches a methodological approach to grow your social persona rather than specifically running ads. You’ll learn about social media trends, how to survive the digital revolution, how to integrate social media into your business, the importance of social media marketing, and more.

What is Social? is a MOOC (massive open online course) on Coursera and offered by Northwestern University. And the course instructor, Randy Hlavac, has over 20 years of experience teaching digital and social media marketing. That’s a lot for a free course!

Where this course shines:

• Teaches digital marketing from a different perspective with different skills
• Learning from a teacher with decades of experience

What you might not love:

• While it’s not the focus of the class, more hands-on learning is always a plus
• MOOC courses don’t always include the full course material because you’re technically auditing the course

8. Social Media Ethics

The ethics of what is and isn’t appropriate on social media is constantly changing, and a good digital marketing manager should be able to navigate that landscape for their own business or clients.

This free Udemy course explains why ethics are important, what constitutes respectful behavior online, how to avoid things that can cost you your business, and how to demonstrate tolerance.

The course is only 30 minutes of video-based lessons taught by Eric Schwartzman, but it teaches valuable lessons that we could all stand to learn.

Where this course shines:

• Teaches an often overlooked but important topic
• Great for anyone who uses social media as part of their business

What you might not love:

• The videos are a little dry
• It’s not clear how often the course is updated, and some examples feel a little outdated

Read more at 5 of the Best Facebook Marketing Courses to Blow Your Mind.

9. Social Media Advertising

This free Facebook marketing course is another MOOC available through Coursera, but this one does get into the specifics of targeting your audience, creating lookalike audiences, how to use the Pixel, choosing an objective, and more.

Professor Chris J. Vargo of the University of Colorado Boulder explains how to start advertising on Instagram and Twitter, and it also includes an hour-long case-study to show you how one business successfully used these social media platforms.

The course takes approximately 10 hours to complete and includes quizzes and reading material.

Where this course shines:

• You learn how to run ads on three different social media platforms
• The case study gives you a real-world example of how well digital ads work

What you might not love:

• Mostly suited for beginners
• Learning three different platforms at once can be a lot for beginners

What is the best Facebook ads course?

Free Facebook marketing courses are a great way to start building your foundational knowledge of Facebook ads, but they’re all lacking in one way or another. I mean… they’re free.

The best ads course, though, isn’t free. It’s the Facebook Side Hustle Course and it teaches you a comprehensive understanding of:

• How to set up and run a Facebook ad system for small businesses
• How to find clients who want to pay you for this kind of service
• How to get these clients to say “yes” and start paying you for your services

The obvious difference between this course and the free options is that the Facebook Side Hustle Course teaches you how to use your new digital marketing skills to build a side business. It’s a way to earn an extra $1,000-$2,000/month in just a few hours a week.

Don’t worry, the Facebook Side Hustle Course also goes very in-depth on ads training. You’ll learn:

• The mechanisms of Facebook Business Manager
• The makeup of a well-structured ad
• The three levels of an ad campaign
• Custom audience targeting
• What funnels are and how to utilize them properly
• Campaign objectives and when to use each one
• How to create landing pages
• How to set up lead forms
• All about the Facebook pixel

And you’d better believe it’s taught in an engaging way. Course creators Mike Yanda and Bobby Hoyt give you an over-the-shoulder look as they create ads, and these guys are real, funny, and experienced digital marketers.

When you purchase this course, you also get access to the private Laptop Empires Course Community. There is a team of experts ready to help, plus fellow students to help with clarifications, motivate you, and share in your wins.

The private group also includes weekly coaching calls, live trainings, and hot seats.

This group is so beneficial that many students have maintained their membership since 2018, and they repeatedly tell new students that the group is what made the difference in their journey. Some have since hit the 5K Club, which means they are making at minimum $5,000 a month running Facebook ads for businesses.

That’s life-changing money, and a major reason we firmly believe this is the best Facebook ads course out there.

The final word on free Facebook marketing courses

Free is awesome, but think about why you’re learning how to run Facebook ads as you decide which course to take. Is this a skill you want to develop so you can run ads for your business? Or are you trying to start your own side business?

Also, think about how you learn. Many free courses lack personalized learning options and follow-up support. You get both of those with the Facebook Side Hustle Course.

Whichever path you get, you’re making an investment in yourself, so take what you learn and put some action behind it.