Meta partner program: take a new marketing-partner deal from first idea to launch

Meta runs a marketing partner program that vets and badges outside companies, such as agencies and technology providers, that help businesses advertise on Facebook and Meta's other apps. As a product manager for that program, explain how you would come up with a new partnership for it, define what the partnership covers, and carry it through to launch. ### Clarifying Questions - What is the program meant to achieve for Meta right now: more advertisers, more spend from existing ones, better ad results, or growth in particular markets? - Does a new partnership mean a partner in a specialty the program does not cover yet, or another company in a specialty it already has? - Are particular advertiser groups, such as small businesses, or particular regions a priority? - What can Meta offer a partner in return, and is that fixed or open to design? ### Part 1 — Generate and choose a partnership idea Produce a set of candidate partnerships, explain where the ideas come from, and pick the one you would pursue. ```hint Start from where advertisers get stuck Walk through what an advertiser has to do to get results from Meta ads, find the step where many of them struggle and Meta's own tools fall short, and ask which kind of outside company already handles that step well. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Sources of ideas tied to concrete advertiser problems - A shortlist of meaningfully different partnership types - Explicit criteria for comparing them and a reasoned choice ### Part 2 — Scope the partnership Define what the chosen partnership includes and leaves out: which advertisers it serves, what kind of company the partner should be, what each side gives and gets, what must be built or agreed for a first version, and how you would judge success. ```hint Write down the exchange List what the partner gets from Meta and what Meta expects in return, then decide which parts have to be in the first version and which can wait. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Target advertisers, a partner profile and how a specific company is selected - The value exchange and the smallest useful first version - Success measures and the conditions for stopping or expanding the partnership ### Part 3 — Execute Lay out how you would take the partnership from a chosen partner to a running program: the teams involved, the stages, how you would test it, and how you would manage it after launch. ```hint Decide what each stage must prove Break the path to launch into stages and name, for each one, the evidence you need before moving to the next. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Stakeholders and stages with clear exit criteria - A limited first release and how its results are judged - How the partner is managed after launch, including what happens if it underperforms ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A stated goal for the program and how the chosen partnership advances it - A line of reasoning that carries from the idea through scope to launch, with each choice traced to an advertiser problem - Risks that come from working through an outside company, with mitigations - Success metrics at the advertiser level, with guardrails ### Follow-up Questions - How would you handle an existing partner that sees the new one as a competitor? - If advertisers who use the partner spend more, how would you show the partnership caused it rather than attracting advertisers who were already growing? - When would you build the capability inside Meta instead of partnering for it?