Facebook is banking on creators to entice Gen Z. Will it work?

Facebook began as a site for college kids 20 years ago, but has largely evolved into the social platform du jour for boomers.

Only about a third of teenagers used Facebook last year, per Pew Research, while 71% of those 50 and older were on the platform, according to the AARP. Over the last year, Facebook has been working to change that and bring young people back, Dane Glasgow, VP and head of product at Facebook, told Marketing Brew.

Earlier this year, the company hosted an event for creators, where it handed out pamphlets claiming that the site is “not your mom’s Facebook” and is instead “a hub for all things culturally happening in the platform’s underground.” It’s also working on updating the platform’s main feed to offer up content that’s more attractive to younger audiences, including Marketplace, Groups, and Facebook Dating, Glasgow said.

“The vision for Facebook is really around social discovery,” he said. When a younger user visits Facebook for a specific need, like buying a used couch or finding a date, the hope is that they’ll stay and scroll the platform.

In May, Facebook announced that it had 40 million daily active users in the US and Canada between the ages of 18 and 29—the highest number of users in that cohort in three years. Now, the platform is further investing in AI, video content, and creator monetization in the hopes that it will continue to entice Gen Z, and more specifically, Gen Z creators.

But how many young people can creators actually bring in—and do experts think the move could change Facebook’s perceived age problem?

“Once you lose any generation, specifically Gen Z and even a little bit of Gen Alpha, it’s really, really hard to get them back,” Harley Block, CEO and co-founder of Gen Z consultancy IF7, told Marketing Brew.

Follow the money creator

Block, whose consultancy has worked on creator campaigns with teen-favorite brands like Hollister, said a major challenge for Facebook is that the age gaps among its user set is on full display. Snap, which has regained its Gen Z audience in recent years, is much more private, he said.

As a young person, he said, “Do you really want to be at the same party where your mom and dad and your aunts and uncles are, or maybe even your grandparents? Probably not.”

One way Facebook is looking to get over that hurdle is by enticing creators and tastemakers to the platform in the hopes that their audiences will follow. That enticement has largely come in the form of cold, hard cash, offering them the ability to monetize all kinds of posts, including long-form videos, Reels, photos, and text.

Helen Ma, senior director of product and head of Facebook monetization at Meta, told us it’s part of a “strategy around supporting the growth of new creators and aspiring creators” and compensating them for every type of post.

Ma said Facebook has been hosting events around the world over the last year to inform creators of the platform’s evolving monetization opportunities and encourage them to spread the word within their creator networks. As a larger Meta strategy, she said they’ve also been encouraging Instagram creators to cross-post on Facebook.

Eric Yaverbaum, CEO of PR agency Ericho Communications, said he believes creators will draw in new audiences. Exactly how many, though, is the question.

“All of this is going to go back to the almighty dollar,” he said. “No matter if you think Facebook is cool or not right now, if you can make more money on Facebook, you’re going to go to Facebook.”

Post to all platforms

At this stage, creators don’t seem to be flocking to Facebook in droves, but that could be changing. Block said he hasn’t worked on a single creator partnership that has included Facebook, but Mae Karkowski, founder and CEO of the influencer marketing agency Obviously, told us she’s seeing a “renewed interest” in the platform. Specifically, she said she’s seeing more micro- and nano-influencers, as well as those who post video content, turning their attention to Facebook.

“It’s really reminiscent of TikTok in 2020 or 2018, where it was like, ‘Are we gonna get creators on this platform? Are we gonna get brands on this platform?’” she said.

In some cases, Karkowski told us, creators are asking brands to include Facebook in their partnership agreements, she said. Diversifying across platforms, she said, can help insulate them against changes on other platforms, like algorithm or creator fund adjustments and any possible app bans.

Ma said the goal is for Facebook to be a place for unique creator content. “We’re not trying to say, ‘The content that you already saw elsewhere, you’ll see again on Facebook,’” she said. “I think it’s really about a fresh set of creators that we can home-grow.”

So far, Karkowski says, creators have told her their content strategies on Facebook are not wildly different from their strategies on other platforms. Looking ahead, Block said content differentiation will be key to the success of Facebook’s creator strategy.

“They’ve got to do something really profound to get [Gen Z] to commit their precious time again away from Instagram, away from Snapchat, away from TikTok, to go to Facebook,” he said. “I personally don’t see it…but you never know. These things are cyclical.”