Facebook Blueprint is an e-learning platform created by Facebook to teach digital marketing skills, and there’s an additional certification option to test and prove your knowledge.

Considering Blueprint was created by Facebook itself, it’s a valuable resource – you’re getting information straight from the source. Today, we are explaining what you can learn from Facebook Blueprint, how Blueprint certification works, and if it’s worth your time and money.

What is Facebook Blueprint?

Facebook Blueprint is an online learning platform with free, self-paced courses to teach a variety of Facebook and Instagram digital marketing skills. Blueprint was launched in 2015 and now has over 90 courses.

The courses range from beginner to advanced level and take between 5 to 30 minutes to complete each one. There is a “plan” feature you can use to map out your learning plan and then keep track of your progress.

Facebook Blueprint course content is mostly text-based, but mixes in videos with some of the modules. Each course is broken down into digestible chunks and has been updated to reflect the latest in Facebook’s guidelines. You click to expand content, and can test your knowledge as you go.

Facebook Blueprint Categories

Facebook Blueprint is divided into 19 different categories. This is a great way to approach the content, since there is so much information to digest. 

Get Started with Facebook

These courses teach foundational content about Facebook. It’s less about ads and more about understanding the platform overall – using Business Manager, using Facebook groups, promoting your business, understanding ad policies, and even how to create a Facebook Page for your business.

Get Started with Advertising

Here’s where you get into advertising on Facebook. These Blueprint courses teach you about Ads Manager, the ad auction, brand best practices, creating ads, measuring your ads performance, and targeting basics.

Learn Advanced Buying Options 

Here’s where you’ll learn what ad buying on Facebook means, including buying options like reach and frequency.

Target the Right Audience

Targeting is how you get your ads in front of people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. These courses explain customer and core audiences, lookalike audiences, using the Facebook Pixel, and more.

Build Awareness

All about using awareness ads to increase visibility for your business.

Drive Consideration

These Facebook Blueprint courses explain the components and options of a consideration campaign, including how to use videos, events, and Facebook for B2B marketers.

Generate Leads

There are currently only two Facebook Blueprint courses in this section, but they teach important concepts like simplifying lead generation and planning a lead generation campaign.

Promote My App

Learn how to drive downloads of your app, using conversion campaigns to close the deal, marketing your mobile game, and more.

Increase Online Sales

These courses teach you how to get as much value as possible out of your ad spend and increase our online sales. You can learn about travel ads, the conversion objective, using dynamic ads to turn shoppers into buyers, attracting customers with offers, and more.

Increase In-store sales

For brick-and-mortar businesses, these lessons focus on increasing your foot traffic.

Choose Ad Formats

These lessons are all about picking the right kind of ad format for your business and campaign. Learn about Facebook Stories and Messenger ads, using in-stream video ads, collection ads, the carousel format, and more.

Get Creative Inspiration

Creative is a big part of running effective ads. These courses teach you creative best practices, how it affects the ad auction, optimizing for mobile, and more.

Manage Ads

Once your ads are up and running, these Facebook Blueprint courses explain the next steps. You’ll learn about brand safety, measurement and testing opportunities, using KPI, the ad delivery system, defining measurable business goals, and more.

Measure Ad Performance

These lessons piggyback off the last section with information on evaluating your data sources, experiment methodology, how to extract key insights, how to use Conversion Lift, and more.

Learn about Messenger

Learn how to use Facebook Messenger to engage with your community and reach potential customers. 

Learn about Instagram

Being a more visual platform, Instagram offers unique advertising opportunities. These courses teach you how to buy Instagram ads, the difference between Facebook and Instagram ad formats, buying objectives, and more.

Distribute and Monetize Content

These lessons teach you how to monetize content through organic stories, using Facebook Live, using native ads, earning money through fan subscriptions, making money on branded content, and more.

Build Community

This walks you through creating, building, and maintaining a safe Facebook community. The focus is on creating groups and how to foster a meaningful environment for you and community members. 

Facebook Pages and Ads

Learn how to set up a Facebook business page and the benefits it offers to either your business or your client. 

Read more at Facebook Ad Training: The Best Resources for 2020 and Facebook Marketing Training: How the Top Resources Compare.

Are Facebook Blueprint Courses Worth Your Time?

There are two kinds of people who will get something out of Facebook Blueprint courses:

• Business owners who want to run ads for their business but aren’t ready to hire a Facebook ad manager
• Aspiring Facebook ad managers

If you fall into the latter category, Facebook Blueprint is a stepping stone. Because it’s free, it’s a low commitment way to see if you’re interested in going further. This is where the Blueprint courses shine. You get free, up-to-date information straight from the source. You can use Blueprint to introduce yourself to new concepts and polish your existing skills.

But there are a couple of things that are missing from the Blueprint courses. 

You’re not getting any kind of in-person support – you can’t message the course creators or ask for advice from other ad managers. And because the lessons are text-based, you don’t get to see the ads process in action.

If you’d like a course that offers those things, check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course. It has video-based modules, you get access to the course creators, plus a month in the members-only group where you can chat with and learn from other digital marketers on Facebook. Learn more about the course in Facebook Side Hustle Course Review.

What is Facebook Blueprint Certification?

While they’re not required, Facebook Blueprint courses feed into a series of certification exams called Blueprint Certification. If you pass the exams, Facebook awards credentials that can boost your credibility.

You have to schedule a time to take the exam and scores range from 300-1000. You need at least a 700 to pass and gain your credentials. Your credentials include a digital badge that you can add to your resume, email signature, or on social media. 

The idea is that Blueprint Certification shows potential clients that you’ve mastered different aspects of the Facebook ads platform. 

How much does Facebook Blueprint certification cost?

It costs up to $150 for each Facebook Blueprint certification, and there are 8 total:

• Facebook Certified Digital Marketing Associate
• Facebook Certified Marketing Science Professional
• Facebook Certified Creative Strategist 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

Do You Have to Recertify your Facebook Blueprint Credentials?

Yes, and when you recertify is based on the kind of credentials you’ve earned. 

Associate certifications are good for 24 months. 

Professional certifications are valid for 12 months. You can either retake the full exam (you will have to pay the exam fee again) or do a certification refresh. 

The Facebook Blueprint certification refresh is a new option that has you take a two-hour online course and then answer a short series of questions to test your knowledge. This can be done in alternate years, and as long as your certification hasn’t expired, the refresh is free.

Developer certifications vary based on the kind of credentials you’ve earned, but for each one you’ll need to retake at least one exam for $150. You can learn about the differences here.

How Long Does it Take to get Facebook Blueprint Certified?

The certification exams vary in length from 90 minutes to 105 minutes each. Developer exams also include a 90 minutes to 2 hour coding exercise, and you’re also required to complete some free, online coursework before taking the exam. 

Is Facebook Blueprint Certification Worth it?

First of all, Blueprint Certification is not required to run ads on Facebook. Now, whether or not certification is worth it depends on you and your goals.

• For small business owners and entrepreneurs, no. If you want the Blueprint experience, take the free courses. The certification is really meant for people who make money posting ads on Facebook.
• For part-time digital marketers, no. If you’re running Facebook ads as a side hustle, we don’t think certification is necessary. Certification is known more within the industry but still not an industry standard. We haven’t seen clients require certification or turn away marketers who don’t have it.
• For in-house digital marketers, probably. If you work in the marketing department for a company, Facebook Blueprint certification might be required for you. A lot of exam work focuses on large budgets, big product launches, and the kinds of integrated campaigns you see with larger companies. 

The Final Word on Facebook Blueprint

Here’s an important takeaway: Facebook Blueprint and Blueprint Certification are two separate things. Facebook Blueprint is an e-learning platform that can teach a lot about running ads on Facebook.

Blueprint Certification means you’ve paid for and passed exams created by Facebook.

It’s 100% okay to take the free courses, use your knowledge to run ads, and not get certified.

And don’t forget that there are other great resources out there if you want to run Facebook ads for small businesses. Check out the Facebook Side Hustle Course and How to Choose the Right Facebook Marketing Course if you want to find more options.