Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Photo: Roza Petrovska, director of UM Skopje
To visit the headquarters of one of the most influential social and tech giants in the world is the desire of many people. This desire has recently become a reality for employees in the McCann Worldgroup network when Facebook opened its door to their main European HQ in Dublin, and provided an authentic digital experience for its 38 Facebook Blueprint ambassadors.
The McCann Worldgroup is the first network of marketing agencies that have established such a kind of collaboration with Facebook, enabling their employees to go through the Facebook Baseline 18 program (part of Facebook Blueprint Training). As a reward for the most successful, specialist training was organized by key people within the Blueprint program, on Facebook’s own premises.
Facebook ambassadors, representatives from various parts of the world, gathered to master all the latest innovations, products, and key features of the most popular platforms – Instagram and Messenger. Among the participating countries were the United Kingdom, Norway, the Czech Republic, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria and others, and Macedonia also had this great opportunity.
UM Skopje is the only media agency from Macedonia that, as a member of the McCann Worldgroup network, joined this program and sent its representative to Facebook’s headquarters in Dublin. Namely, in Southeast Europe, UM is part of the I&F McCann Group, one of the leading communications systems, with agencies in markets in Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania.
“UM Skopje knows how to recognize the trends and the quality of its employees, so our priority has always been the open approach to new technologies and the swift mastering of media channels that can contribute to the greatest success of our clients. This approach allows us to meet the interests of our clients and our employees. I believe that investing in people is the most profitable investment, which can be confirmed by our long-lasting partnerships with satisfied clients,” said Roza Petrovska, director of UM Skopje agency.
Natalija Runčeva, digital advertising manager at UM Skopje, was part of this memorable experience. Natalija is part of the team of UM Skopje in charge of planning and implementing online campaigns for agency clients.
“Facebook Baseline 18 is one of the Blueprint modules – a free program designed by Facebook to train all digital marketers, creators, and small businesses using the Ads Manager platform on this social network. Blueprint provides detailed descriptions of all options, features and the dimensions for publishing or paid promotion of static or video content. Facebook Baseline 18 on the other hand is the sublimation of the most important functionalities that every digital expert has to understand and apply in their work. Various topics were covered, starting from the planning of the type of campaign according to relevant business objectives of the client, examining target audience behavior online and selecting appropriate formats, optimizing and measuring achievements,” said Natalija about the program and topics it covers.
What were the conditions for participation in the program? How did you become the only representative from Macedonia?
Facebook Baseline 18 was a mandatory course for all employees in our network of creative and media agencies, which we all passed within the given deadline. Our organizers were really creative and generous, so they thought about how to turn this into a fun activity for the team, with a lot of motivational awards. All the agencies that participated, including UM Skopje, competed globally on the basis of the percentage of employees who completed training within the time frame. In addition to this competition, there was internal competition during the course. The winners of the internal competition were eventually named Facebook’s ambassadors in the agencies. So I was on that course as a representative of UM Skopje agency.
What was it like to be in the Facebook’s offices?
It is a great honor and unbelievable experience to see the atmosphere and the interior, and feel up close the energy of the company that has so deeply penetrated into the daily lives of billions of users around the world. For someone in digital, this is definitely a Holy Grail and provides inspiration for a more innovative approach to professional commitments. Every step through the rooms there has contributed to a new discovery of where we currently stand in the sense of technological development, but also where we are going and with what incredible speed everything is happening. NI intentionally say every step, because each wall in these rooms carries a story of 14-years of Facebook’s development.
What qualities and values does a giant like Facebook value?
Unlimited imagination and transforming it into achievable goals that contribute to the global impact are in the heart of this company. Every employee is encouraged to go a step further than his expectations, and is encouraged to make decisions that will overcome the fear of an unsupported idea. Ideas and creativity are appreciated, but what is even more appreciated is the speed of implementation, as well as the completion of any idea with a new value for today’s society.
What have you learned during this training, and how will this experience affect your profession and daily work of the agency?
This training gave me a more detailed focus on all possible options when planning a Facebook campaign, processes that give you the right choice of creativity and positioning, as well as the best methods for measuring the achievements. In addition, I had the opportunity to get inspired with creative solutions and media promotion strategies that have become viral and have achieved a large number of positive reactions at the global level.
Professional success is always proportional to the work invested. After all, for anyone who loves their work, and is willing to invest in his expertise, success is inevitable.
After being enriched with useful information and advice that came directly from the people who worked in the design of the whole system, the first change I expect in my daily work is to share the techniques with colleagues and find the right application that will contribute to increased productivity, quality of approach and more success in this area.
I am particularly pleased that this initiative is just the beginning of intensifying cooperation between UM Skopje and Facebook, which already includes direct communication and calls at a monthly level. As an agency participating in this program, we have a priority in accessing information, guidance, and all the latest services provided by this social network, and in the future we expect additional workshops and certification for digital marketing, as is the case with the Google AdWords platform.