This is an excerpt from MarketerHire's newsletter, Raisin Bread — subscribe here.

If you’ve had an odd interaction with a Facebook Marketing Expert (FME), you’re not alone. 

Maybe you run an agency, and an FME called one of your clients and made them question your strategy — or an FME recommended an intro-level Meta Blueprint course, even though you’re a director-level growth marketer. 

Now, FMEs should not be confused with people who run actual Facebook Ads campaigns — who we’ll call external Facebook marketers here. 

FMEs work for Meta. But they’re not ad reps; those are only assigned to Facebook’s  top clients. FMEs do cold outreach to any and all external Facebook marketers. Persistently. 

“I get a call at least once a day,” said Nick Shackelford, a managing partner at Structured Social. 

What’s the best way to manage all the cold outreach — especially when it feels unhelpful, or downright disruptive? Here are some tips from Shackelford. 

Take FMEs’ advice with a grain of salt.

They may work for Facebook and call from that Menlo Park area code (650!), but they usually give blanket recommendations, in Shackelford’s experience. 

If they recommend tactics you’ve already tested and discarded — trust your own test results. 

“They can’t lead with suggestions until they know the business,” Shackelford said. “Coming out of the gates and recommending things just makes no sense.” 

Truly valuable marketing advice starts with questions about your current strategy. 

Or opt out of FME outreach!

If you’re tired of cold outreach from FMEs, you can opt out. Facebook recently launched an Unsubscribe feature that allows customers to opt out of sales and marketing communications, including messages from FMEs. 

For the same effect, you can also ask the next one that calls to add you to their “Do Not Contact” list.

Don’t disparage FMEs to clients.

Your clients may still get FME outreach, Shackelford noted — and they won’t always understand the difference between ad reps’ Cadillac-level support and FMEs’ approach. 

If that happens, Shackelford recommends saying something like: 

That FME tip is definitely something we should consider, but I don't think it's the most immediate step for us to tackle. Because of current spend and goals, I want to stick to the game plan that you and I agreed on in our last call.

In other words: Reaffirm and refocus on your existing, customized priorities after you acknowledge their advice. And actively consider it — who knows! They’re not always off-base.

Our takeaway? 

FMEs’ ultra-persistent outreach can annoy external Facebook marketers, and drive a wedge between them and their clients.

But if you evaluate their advice critically, maintain a constructive, collaborative tone in your client communications, and unsubscribe when you run out of patience — you’ll get through it.