What Meta Certifications Should You Take? The most complete guide to Meta Blueprint Certifications on the internet!
- Tumbuh Digital
- Feb 16, 2024
- 9 min read
The Meta Blueprint Certification is Meta’s official certification displaying proficiency in Meta technologies involving Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. Since the course materials are written by Meta themselves, the creator of said platforms, they will provide the most in-depth knowledge of these platforms in the way that Meta wants you to use them. Therefore, some of the details taught are not available anywhere else online. Whether you’re a small business owner or work in marketing, the content of these exams will provide valuable knowledge that is readily applicable and can provide a leg-up on your career.
The contents to study for the exams are accessible for free for anyone with a personal Facebook account without having to take the certification exam. There are some overlaps between different certifications, but there are no clear prerequisites for taking any particular course. Taking the certification costs USD 99-150 depending on the certification and country and is payable upon scheduling the exam. Some digital agencies like Tumbuh are able to procure “tokens” enabling their employees to take the certifications for free. They can be taken in a nearby testing center or from the comfort of your own home online.
Types of Certifications
As of January 2024, there are seven certifications available to take:
Meta Certified Digital Marketing Associate (100-101)
This certification is absolutely recommended for every business owner and everyone working in marketing, PR or social media. The certification covers the basics of a business’ digital presence in Meta, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as advertising in them.
The most important thing in the certification is how it explains the integration between those platforms can help brands manage their social media more efficiently. The course explains how to start a business account in Meta platforms from scratch, starting from a Facebook Page, as well as the setup required for the Meta Ads Manager. By the end of the course, everyone will have learned how to set-up and operate Meta accounts and ads.
Meta Certified Marketing Science Professional (200-101)
This course covers the basic A/B testing framework and tools that are available in Meta technologies. Because some of these tools are generally available for brands with large spend (and because small businesses can rarely afford testing multiple variables at once), they are best recommended for marketers working for big agencies and corporations, although everyone can get something from it as parts of the material are tailored for the analysis of not just Meta’s data, but all marketing data in general (e.g marketing mix modeling).
The second half of the course covers the basics of the tools required to extract and analyze data, such as SQL (basic queries), statistical measures and linear regression. As they only cover the basic theories with no how-tos, marketers are recommended to search online on the details on how to use these tools from scratch (e.g using Microsoft Access, R, or Excel) in a way that is useful for their business. Though the 100-101 certification is not a prerequisite, some experience with Meta Ads Manager will help get the best out of this course.
In Tumbuh’s experience, junior ads strategists and less mathematically-inclined individuals are likely to struggle passing the certification exam more than any other ones, so test takers are recommended to study and practice thoroughly before taking this exam.
Meta Certified Creative Strategy Professional (300-101)
The course for this certification covers all the considerations that go into creating creatives (e.g images and videos) that will be used in Meta’s ads and platforms. Tumbuh recommends this course for marketers and even for freelancers, image editors and graphic designers who are responsible for creating creatives that will be used for ads or in Facebook and Instagram.
Parts of the topics covered include general tips such as ideal image dimensions and video duration, ads placements, mobile considerations, advertising regulations and even a framework for creating creative briefs. Though the 100-101 certification is not a prerequisite, taking it before this certification helps.
Meta Certified Media Planning Professional (400-101)
The first of two courses covering all the things a digital strategist needs to know about running ad campaigns on Meta. The course goes into the more theoretical details of Meta Ads Manager whose basics are covered in the 100-101 certification, such as media buying types, how ad space auctioning works, types of bid caps, and data source integration. The Meta Foresight tool is also discussed as a potentially helpful source to create media plans.
Though the overall certification exam covers a great deal of materials, there are overlaps with the 100-101 and 300-101 certifications. Every paid ads strategist working with the Meta Ads Manager on a regular basis is strongly recommended to take this certification as well as the Media Buying certification.
Meta Certified Media Buying Professional (410-101)
There is a strong overlap in the material covered between this course and the 400-101 course. Some of the materials covered in greater depth in this certification includes how creatives impact ads performance as well as campaign reporting. Although there is no clear precedence between any of the two courses, Tumbuh recommends taking the 400-101 course first as robust planning generally precedes a strong media buying performance.
Meta Certified Community Manager (600-101)
The course material for this certification is lighter than all of the preceding courses. It is meant for account executives, social media managers, or anyone that is responsible for fostering or moderating communities on Meta’s platforms such as Facebook Groups. Most of the course is approach-based, providing recommendations on sharing engaging content or incorporating trending topics. Meanwhile, the basics of content moderation, community guideline creation and conflict resolution is also covered, alongside the use of relevant tools such as Meta Foresight and Insights.
Meta Certified Meta Spark Creator (700-101)
A newer addition, this certification is meant for designers and animators working with Meta Spark Studio to create Augmented Reality (AR) experiences. The topics covered include creating AR effects and scenes as well as testing and sharing them. A knowledge of JavaScript is required, as in the deprecated 500-101 Meta Certified Marketing Developer certification. In truth, Meta Spark is a very specialized tool that is not used by most businesses, hence the certification is only recommended for animators who know that they are going to work with AR.
Conclusion:
If you are a …… | Take These Courses: |
Business Owner | 100-101. 600-101 is optional. |
Digital Marketer / Growth Strategist | 100-101, 300-101 and 401/410-101. Others are optional. |
Data Analyst / Scientist | 100-101 and 200-101. 300-101 and 401/410-101 are optional. |
Social Media Manager | 100-101 and 600-101. 300-101 is optional. |
Designers and Editors | 100-101 and 300-101. 700-101 is optional |
Exam Registration
Registrations can be done on the Meta Blueprint page per the image below. You will then be prompted to select the location to take the exam (at home or a certified testing center), and then to select the dates and times for the exam to take place. Exams are 105 minutes long (90 minutes for 100-101) and time slots are available early in the morning into late at night. It is best to schedule an exam early (at least one month in advance) to get the dates and times you want, and so that you can schedule your study plan around it. Exams can also be rescheduled at least one business day before it is supposed to take place.
Afterwards, the checkout page will reveal the price allowing the test taker to select a payment method. Those with vouchers from their agencies (sent to their email addresses) can input the voucher code to waive their exam charge. Afterwards, a confirmation email will be sent with links to check-in to start the exam when it is time as well as links to reschedule or exam day requirements. Do not delete this email.
Tumbuh’s personal preference is to take the exam on Sunday nights, so as to allow maximum time for last-minute revisions and minimize disturbances from family or co-workers.
Exam Preparation Tips
For all of the current certifications bar 700-101, the exams are all multiple choice problems (including “check all that are appropriate” questions), generally 60 questions with varying numbers of possible answers. This means that you will have 1.75 minutes per question (1.5 minutes for 100-101), which should be plenty to even revisit some questions you couldn’t solve at the first attempt. Tumbuh provides several of these tips as you prepare for your certification exams.
Write down notes as you study the modules Studies show that memory retention improves when information is written down instead of just being watched or read. After you check-in during exam day, there is a period where you must wait until a proctor is found to supervise you (which can be up to 1 hour if you’re unlucky) - you can read the notes while you wait before putting them somewhere far away from your reach once the proctor is found.
Read the module external links In some of the course modules, external links are sometimes given at the end of certain to provide greater depth to the material discussed like the example below. It it strongly recommended that all these links are studied in detail as well before the exam, not only as they might be tested, but also that they will enhance your understanding of the material.
Play with Meta Ads Manager Most of the certification materials concern things that can be done in Meta Ads Manager or a Meta Business Suite account. Especially for 100-101 exam takers, Tumbuh strongly recommends playing around the features - like creating a campaign to completion or creating a business account from scratch - to help internalize the course content.
Take all the practice exams The practice exams (available through Meta Blueprint as well) provide the best overview of what the exam questions would be like, although shorter in length. In Tumbuh’s experience, the practice exams are easier than the actual exams, although the actual exam has questions of varying difficulty (very easy to very hard) and some of the questions actually came from the practice exams. As opposed to Meta Blueprint’s recommendation of taking the practice exam as a diagnostic, it is better to take the exam after all of the course modules have been completed, as they can provide a pointer as to which modules need to be revisited once more.
Test your system by clicking on the link on the confirmation email. Do not wait to do this on the day of the exam unless you have a spare desktop/laptop ready in case things go wrong.
Be careful with the study guide pdfs given in the Blueprint website. In Tumbuh’s experience, study guides are not always updated in accordance with the curriculum - this means that it sometimes contains old names for features or even tools that are already renamed or deprecated by Meta. However, they are still worth studying in case the material does appear in the exam.
You will get a reminder email three days before the exam.
Exam Day Tips
When you click the check-in link on your email, you will be prompted to test your system again and take a photo of your ID as well as your face. Afterwards, you will be put into a queue, where your queue number is updated every minute to indicate how long until you can get your proctor. Then, the proctor will talk to you, verify some things, and the exam will appear on your screen if there are no issues.
At the start of the day, Tumbuh recommends reviewing all of the modules before the exam.
Prepare your government-issued ID (KTP in Indonesia) and your phone. Clear everything else in your table. This means everything - tissues, books, papers, electronics, everything. In Tumbuh’s experience, the exam proctors do not seem to allow earphones either, but you need to make sure that you can speak and listen to them with your desktop/laptop. You will be required to rotate your laptop over 360 degrees so that the proctor can see all four corners of your table and see that nothing is within your reach.
Make sure you go to the bathroom before check-in, which is recommended to happen 30 minutes before the exam start time. If you are more than 15 minutes late, you are not allowed to take the exam and will unlikely get any refund.
Also make sure that your room is quiet (no people or pets) - these can provide distractions and proctors will take an issue with them.
Make sure your thermostat / air conditioning temperature is comfortable before check-in - you are not allowed to walk or even have a remote near you during the exam.
Listen very carefully to what the proctor has to say, so turn up your volume! English is not their first language, so pay attention to them.
The exam has features to “mark” problems. This is useful to mark questions you are not 100% sure the answer to or has not answered. After the 60th question, pressing next leads to a screen of the questions you marked, where you can revisit any of them or go straight to submit the test. There will be a live countdown of the time remaining after you start the exam.
Post-Exam
After submission (or the time ran out), you will immediately get your score (700/1000 required to pass). Within 24 hours, you will get the score on your email. Should you fail, retaking is possible after five days. Should you pass, the certification will be valid for one or two years (depending on the certification), and you will be given two options to renew it:
Complete the online courses over again. This should be similar except for some differences reflecting the updates in Meta’s interface and capabilities. This option is only available before your certification expires.
Retake the exam all over again with the same steps as the previous section.
Don’t have the time for all of this? Tumbuh’s digital marketers are fully Meta certified! Contact us to talk about how our team can help your business grow through solutions tailored for your brand.
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