Social Media Advertising Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Performance Marketing Manager, Digital Marketing Manager and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-DM-075

Before you join: Participants should have working knowledge of digital marketing channels, marketing funnels and basic campaign metrics such as impressions, clicks and conversions.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Paid campaigns on Facebook and Instagram can consume budget quickly when objectives, audiences, creative and measurement are disconnected. Marketing teams must translate commercial targets into campaign structures that the Meta delivery system can optimise, while retaining enough control to explain results to sales leaders, compliance teams and finance. This requires more than boosting posts: it requires reliable conversion tracking, disciplined budget decisions and a repeatable testing process.

This course teaches participants to plan, build, measure and improve Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns through Meta Ads Manager. Participants define funnel-based objectives, develop audiences from customer data, configure Meta Pixel and event measurement, write creative briefs, select placements, set budgets and interpret campaign performance. They calculate CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA and ROAS, use controlled A/B tests, manage retargeting and catalogue campaigns, and respond to common delivery, policy and account-access issues.

Five instructor-led days combine practical instruction with campaign cases drawn from B2B services, retail, financial services and nonprofit fundraising. The course is available in classroom locations in 50+ cities or live online, with training days running from 08:30 to 16:30 and approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants leave with a campaign planning pack containing a campaign brief, measurement map, reporting framework, testing agenda and 90-day optimisation plan. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the course.

The course is designed for marketers who already understand basic digital marketing and need to take direct responsibility for paid social planning, agency management, campaign reporting or performance improvement.

What you will be able to do

  • Configure Meta advertising accounts, permissions and campaign structures for controlled delivery
  • Translate commercial targets into funnel-based objectives, audiences and conversion events
  • Implement Meta Pixel, event priorities and UTM conventions for measurable campaigns
  • Produce creative briefs and ad copy using AIDA, PAS and placement specifications
  • Build Facebook and Instagram campaigns with appropriate placements, budgets and optimisation settings
  • Calculate CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA and ROAS from campaign reporting
  • Run controlled A/B tests and prioritise optimisation decisions using performance evidence
  • Create a 90-day paid social plan covering retargeting, governance and reporting

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to plan and publish accountable Facebook and Instagram campaigns
  • Confidence interpreting Meta Ads Manager performance data and delivery signals
  • Practical method for defending budget and optimisation decisions
  • Reusable framework for creative briefs, testing and reporting
  • Stronger capability to manage agencies and internal campaign stakeholders

For your organisation

  • Reduced wasted spend through better audience exclusions and budget controls
  • More reliable conversion reporting through event and UTM governance
  • Faster identification of creative fatigue, tracking issues and delivery problems
  • Clearer links between paid social activity and sales or lead outcomes
  • Repeatable campaign standards for internal teams and agency partners

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can structure Meta advertising assets, access controls and campaign hierarchies for controlled delivery.

  • Meta business portfolio structure, access roles and asset ownership controls
  • Configure ad accounts, Pages, Instagram profiles and payment settings
  • Apply least-privilege permissions for agencies, employees and external partners
  • Map campaign, ad set and ad hierarchy to business objectives
  • Name assets using searchable conventions for reporting and governance
  • Audit account readiness before publishing paid social campaigns

Participants can select campaign objectives and define audiences aligned with commercial goals.

  • Translate commercial goals into awareness, traffic, leads, sales and engagement objectives
  • Select Meta campaign objectives using outcome, event and funnel-stage criteria
  • Build customer segments from first-party data, research and purchase behaviour
  • Develop buyer personas with jobs, pains, triggers and objections
  • Compare broad, custom, lookalike and Advantage+ audience approaches
  • Estimate audience scale, frequency risk and overlap before launch

Participants can define and validate the measurement required for conversion-focused campaigns.

  • Install Meta Pixel base code and standard event configuration
  • Define conversion events using funnel stages and business-value priorities
  • Validate browser events with Meta Pixel Helper and Events Manager
  • Configure Aggregated Event Measurement priorities for web conversion reporting
  • Explain Conversions API roles, matching quality and implementation dependencies
  • Use UTM parameters for GA4 source, medium, campaign and content analysis

Participants can produce briefs and ad concepts suited to Meta placements and audience intent.

  • Match message angles to awareness stages, objections and desired action
  • Write primary text using PAS, AIDA and benefit-proof-action structures
  • Design creative briefs for static, carousel, video and Stories formats
  • Apply platform-safe specifications for placements, captions, crops and aspect ratios
  • Assess creative quality through hook, clarity, proof and call-to-action criteria
  • Plan creator content, testimonials and product demonstrations within approval rules

Participants can build campaigns with settings that support stated objectives and measurement.

  • Build campaign structures aligned with budget, audience and creative testing
  • Choose placements using audience behaviour, creative fit and delivery evidence
  • Set optimisation events that match campaign objectives and conversion windows
  • Configure attribution settings for click-through and view-through reporting
  • Use Advantage+ campaign features without obscuring testable control variables
  • Publish campaigns after preflight checks for links, pixels and policies

Participants can set budgets and bidding approaches that reflect commercial return requirements.

  • Distinguish daily, lifetime and campaign budgets for different delivery needs
  • Set bid strategies using cost per result and volume goals
  • Interpret learning phase signals, audience saturation and delivery instability
  • Calculate break-even CPA from margin, conversion rate and customer value
  • Allocate test budgets using minimum detectable effect and decision thresholds
  • Manage pacing against spend plans, seasonality and promotional deadlines

Participants can interpret campaign data and communicate performance findings to stakeholders.

  • Read Ads Manager columns for delivery, engagement, conversion and value metrics
  • Calculate CPM, CTR, CPC, CPA, ROAS and frequency accurately
  • Separate platform-reported results from GA4 and CRM outcomes
  • Build reporting views by campaign, audience, placement and creative
  • Diagnose performance patterns using funnel conversion rates and cohort comparisons
  • Present findings with context, actions, owners and review dates

Participants can run disciplined tests and make evidence-based campaign optimisation decisions.

  • Formulate test hypotheses from performance data and customer behaviour
  • Use A/B tests with one variable and predefined success criteria
  • Prioritise optimisations through impact, confidence and effort scoring
  • Identify creative fatigue through frequency, CPM, CTR and conversion trends
  • Decide when to pause, refresh, scale or consolidate campaigns
  • Document test results in a learning agenda and decision log

Participants can design audience sequences that move prospects towards conversion and follow-up.

  • Build retargeting audiences from site visits, video views and lead forms
  • Sequence messages by recency, intent signal and funnel stage
  • Exclude recent buyers and converters to control wasted impressions
  • Create catalogue sales campaigns using product sets and dynamic ads
  • Plan lead nurturing handoffs from instant forms to sales teams
  • Apply consent, data retention and suppression rules to audience management

Participants can apply campaign governance controls and create a practical improvement roadmap.

  • Interpret Meta advertising policies affecting claims, targeting and creative
  • Classify special ad categories before audience and creative development
  • Apply approval workflows for regulated offers, promotions and brand claims
  • Manage incident responses for rejected ads, disabled accounts and access loss
  • Create a campaign brief connecting objectives, audience, budget and measurement
  • Draft a 90-day testing roadmap with milestones and decision rules
  • Set weekly optimisation routines, reporting cadence and stakeholder responsibilities

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Meta campaign brief template
  2. Funnel and conversion-event measurement map
  3. Audience segmentation and exclusion plan
  4. Creative briefing and placement specification checklist
  5. Paid social performance reporting framework
  6. 90-day testing and optimisation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Performance Marketing Manager — needs accountable Meta campaign planning and optimisation
  • Digital Marketing Manager — manages paid social budgets, agencies and reporting
  • Social Media Manager — moves from organic publishing into paid campaign delivery
  • E-commerce Manager — requires profitable product, retargeting and catalogue campaigns
  • Marketing Analyst — interprets campaign data and connects results to commercial outcomes
  • Agency Account Manager — needs stronger campaign governance and client performance conversations

Skills and tools covered

Meta Ads ManagerAudience targetingConversion measurementCreative testingCampaign optimisationPerformance reporting

Tools and standards

Meta Ads Manager, Meta Events Manager, Meta Pixel, Google Analytics 4

How the course runs

Training methodology

Delivery uses short instructor briefings followed by platform demonstrations, case analysis and group work built around Facebook and Instagram campaign decisions. Participants interpret Ads Manager results, diagnose tracking and creative issues, allocate budgets, and make optimisation choices in realistic B2B, retail, financial-services and nonprofit scenarios. Facilitated simulations test trade-offs between scale, cost, compliance and measurement. Each participant converts the methods into an account-ready campaign plan, testing agenda and reporting routine. The course concludes with feedback on assumptions, decision rules and stakeholder communication.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working knowledge of digital marketing channels, marketing funnels and basic campaign metrics such as impressions, clicks and conversions. Experience using Facebook or Instagram for business is useful, and participants should be comfortable working with spreadsheets and web-based software. The course assumes no prior Meta Ads Manager certification and no coding experience. Participants do not need to be graphic designers, data scientists or web developers, although access to a current advertising account after the course will help them apply the methods.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic digital marketing concepts, marketing funnels and common campaign metrics. Previous use of Meta Ads Manager is useful but not required, and the course does not require coding or design experience.

Bring a laptop suitable for browser-based work and, where permitted, examples of current campaign results, audience definitions or reporting challenges. You do not need to share confidential account access or customer data during the course.

The course suits marketers responsible for planning, managing, reporting on or approving Facebook and Instagram advertising. It is particularly relevant to in-house teams, e-commerce teams, agency account managers and analysts supporting paid social decisions.

This course focuses on paid advertising through Meta Ads Manager rather than organic content calendars, community management or influencer relations. It concentrates on campaign structure, tracking, budgeting, creative testing, reporting and optimisation.

Participants can use the campaign brief, measurement map, testing agenda and reporting framework with current or planned Meta campaigns. The methods also support more informed conversations with agencies, web teams, sales teams and senior budget holders.

The course provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, with training days scheduled from 08:30 to 16:30. Time is divided between instruction, demonstrations, campaign cases, data interpretation, group decision-making and individual application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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