Meet the people who'll love your business

Due to the fragmentation of media, it’s increasingly hard to reach people at scale. As the mobile phone and the tablet have taken their place alongside the TV, the radio and the computer for people’s attention, there are an ever-increasing number of channels for consideration within a media plan. The change is a convenient and rewarding one for consumers - but an increasingly complex and challenging one for marketers. Although people may still be watching as much or more TV than they previously did, it’s becoming harder for marketers to reach the same scale of people within their budgets, as the number of TV channels broadcasting shows increases at a greater pace than population growth.

In the quickly evolving world of digital marketing, it can be hard to stay on top of all of the tools and opportunities offered by the Facebook family of products and services. We created Blueprint to help advertisers get the most out of our powerful marketing platforms. With over one million course enrolments, Blueprint has helped marketing professionals and people from businesses of all sizes succeed through Blueprint e-learning modules and from the hands-on training at Blueprint Live. And we're continuing to expand. Blueprint is partnering with secondary education institutions to incorporate the e-learning coursework into their curricula, starting with the Miami Ad School.

Today, we're excited to announce the launch of a third pillar in the Blueprint family: Blueprint Certification. Blueprint Certification is Facebook's global credentialing programme for digital advertising professionals. As the most advanced-level programme, Blueprint Certification demonstrates expertise across the Facebook family of products and services, including advertising on Instagram and Messenger.

60 million small businesses are using Facebook to connect with customers across the world. However, the European Commission estimates that only 2% of European SMEs are taking full advantage of new digital opportunities that are available¹.

Previously, only major corporates with significant computing power and connectivity were able to reach global markets while smaller businesses tended to be restricted to local markets, selling specific sets of products and services. However, thanks to the democratisation of marketing—driven by social media and the advent of accessible online advertising for businesses of all sizes—SMEs are no longer forced to operate within such limited parameters. The world is now their market.