Facebook Expands Ads e-learning Platform

Extra courses and new languages will be added to Facebook's free online learning resource, Blueprint. Over 70 000 people have made use of Blueprint since it was introduced in March. The facility is for marketers to learn how to use the social network's tools effectively and to help SME owners to grow their business.

The top five courses are Facebook terminology, welcome to marketing on Facebook, successful campaigns, brand best practices, and creative best practices.

Blueprint launched with 35 online courses, and the company will add more to the package next month, and make the service available in Korean and simplified Chinese.

In October, courses will be translated into Japanese, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Blueprint is available free to businesses of any size in English on desktop and mobile. All that is needed to access the content is a Facebook account.

The updates follow the social network's announcement last week that it will allow SMEs to advertise on its picture-sharing platform, Instagram.

One of the new courses available on Blueprint teaches advertisers about these recent Instagram offerings. These include landscape photo and video ads, 30-second video ads, and call-to-action buttons.

The markets making the most use of the service are the US, India, Canada, the UK, Brazil, Germany, Vietnam, Egypt, Mexico and Romania.