Introduction

Influencer marketers have to choose the platform they are marketing on carefully. The social media channel you use plays a large role in determining the success of your campaigns, and the options are abundant. Whether you are thinking of using one of the influencer marketing staples like Instagram or TikTok, experimenting with a platform like Pinterest, or trying something completely new, you have many choices for your influencer marketing strategy. One choice that brands are discussing less and less is Facebook.

Facebook is the biggest social media platform on the planet. It ushered in the new era of social media with its newsfeed and mixed content and remains one of the most impactful brands in the world. However, most brands don’t focus on Facebook for their influencer marketing campaigns. They instead utilize Instagram, owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, or platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Why is it that Facebook is not a central option for influencer marketing? Are brands missing out on a great opportunity? Let’s explore the case for and against Facebook influencer marketing and determine whether it is worthwhile for brands.

The Case for Facebook Influencer Marketing

If you seek reach, no platform can offer it quite like Facebook. Facebook is the biggest social media platform on the planet. It has 2.93 billion monthly active users, and its reach is global. There are 240 million Facebook users in the United States alone, a significant majority of the population. There are a lot of people brands can connect with on Facebook.

Facebook is also not solely used for content and connecting with family and friends. It is a significant hub for e-commerce that drives the purchasing decisions of its vast user base. According to HubSpot, in 2018, 78% of US consumers made purchases through discoveries on Facebook. It is a platform people use specifically to shop, making it appealing to influencer marketers.

Facebook also supports a wide range of content formats. This is great for influencer campaigns because brands are unlimited in the type of influencer content they can expect. Whether you want to run a video-based campaign, text-based, or photo-driven, you can do it with Facebook. This gives brands more freedom in their decision-making and allows them to do the kind of social media marketing they want.

The Case Against It

While there are a lot of upsides to using Facebook for influencer marketing, there are also some significant downsides. One important note is that your ideal target audience may not be using the platform. Only 21% of the Facebook user base is under 25. More than 50% of Facebook users are over the age of 35. For a lot of brands, that is less than ideal. Most influencer marketing brands are trying to connect with a young user base. The average young user may have a Facebook account they check, but it isn’t the trendy, young platform TikTok or Instagram are.

The biggest reason for Facebook’s lack of influencer marketing popularity is that it isn’t influencer-driven like other platforms. Most people that use Facebook will follow celebrities or brands, but there aren’t as many micro-influencers on Facebook as on Instagram or TikTok. The newsfeed is more current events and life updates than Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. The content people tend to share is very different, and the frequency of posts is also not as common.

Facebook’s algorithm limits the reach of influencers by making organic posts not as discoverable as other platforms. The average trendy influencer is not as present on Facebook as on the other platforms we’ve mentioned. This makes Facebook a shakier proposition for brands.

Conclusion

No platform is perfect, with each social channel having areas of weakness. However, Facebook’s are pretty significant. The lack of influencer culture on the platform makes it difficult to recommend it as a core part of an influencer campaign. However, some areas of strength may make it a fit for the right brand.

If you are targeting an older demographic and already have a specific kind of Facebook influencer in mind, then Facebook can still be viable. It is a huge platform with a ton of users, as well as a place people go to shop and find shopping advice. While it won’t be for everyone, it can be a big boon to certain brands’ strategies.

Partnering with influencer marketing firms can elevate your social media outreach. Influence Hunter is a top influencer marketing agency with years of experience helping brands from start-ups to global corporations develop high-performing, customizable influencer campaigns. Contact Us Today to find out how we can help grow your business.