On May 15th, I was personally invited by our Facebook Partner Manager to attend Facebook Blueprint live at Facebook’s headquarters in New York City. The event was an all-day interactive workshop for social media professionals. For those of you who do not know what Facebook Blueprint is, it is a program designed to equip marketers with “best-in-class skills and knowledge to effectively plan and execute marketing campaigns across the Facebook family of apps and services” It is made up of three pillars; online e-learning, Facebook Live, and certification.
When I arrived at Facebook, I was not sure what exactly to expect in the workshop, but was quickly grouped with two professionals working in the pharmaceutical industry and a small marketing agency owner. We were given a quick intro, and handed a brief of our mock client.
Our client was a hypothetical German auto manufacturer, a trusted leader in the industry and known for their line of luxury vehicles named “the safest vehicles in the market for the past 60 years,” (I immediately thought of Volvo.) Their loyal customers primarily belonged to an older generation, however, their business plan was to release a new family SUV with the same safety features, but at a lower price point, to attract a younger generation. They wanted to get relay the message that you don’t have to sacrifice for luxury and safety.
Our task was to create a holistic Facebook marketing campaign to market this new SUV to a younger generation of new parents. Using Facebook’s people-based targeting and audience insights, we came up with three different personas that would be our main target audiences. Throughout the day we worked together to define the client’s business challenges, determine how we will measure success, and ultimately, bring the campaign to life using Facebook and Instagram.
At the end of the workshop we gave a five-minute presentation diving deep into our thought process, details of our execution, and how we aligned our KPI’s and metrics with our client’s business goals. Our presentations were judged by three Facebook employees who gave us valuable feedback. They watched for the skills we applied correctly, and other areas that we could have improved. Other groups had mock clients such as; a bank, a coffee shop, and an eCommerce line of natural cleaning products. It was extremely valuable to see how Facebook’s best practices and services can be applied in so many different ways across multiple industries.
I took away many invaluable skills from this workshop on building campaigns from scratch and really bringing them to life in the real world. I am excited to implement some of these new skills into my campaigns for my clients here at PCG. I loved the team work and collaboration aspect and gaining insights from other professionals, and I look forward to the next workshop!
If you want to see how PCG applies Facebook marketing for the automotive industry, download the Automotive Social Media Sales Funnel!
About the Author
Janette Conwell is a Social Media Specialist at PCG. She loves being in the industry because it inspires her and plays a role in connecting the world. Her approach to Social Media Marketing is a blend of strategic planning and creative thinking.