Uncool But Popular: Brands Can Still Reach Teens On Facebook

Despite its bad rap as the social network where your mom hangs out, teens are still using Facebook more heavily than the majority of networks they find “cool” and that could affect where content and influencer marketing campaigns are launched in 2016.

Analyst firm Forrester released a new study that shows only 65 percent of U.S. teens between 12 and 17 years of age find Mark Zuckerberg’s billion-user strong social network to be “cool”. That number is well behind YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Vine and Twitter. Facebook did, however, rate better than Yahoo-owned Tumblr, shopping-friendly Pinterest, and the fast-fading Google+.

Regardless of that, 61 percent of those teens also admit that Facebook is the social media platform they use most. The report notes that teens cited Facebook as one of the top three tools they use to stay in touch with their network of friends and family (behind Snapchat and Facebook-owned Instagram).

Interestingly, teen use of Facebook is actually increasing (42 percent since last year) even as younger-skewing networks like YouTube (80 percent “cool”) and Instagram (78 percent) get a lot of attention as platforms for influencer marketing partnerships with creators on those channels. Similarly, Snapchat (79 percent “coo”’) has captured teens effectively with a social/messaging mashup that marketers are using more often to reach that audience.

The heavy use of Facebook – 78 percent of teens say they use it once a month or more – despite perception issues may give brands looking to reach younger audiences through influencer marketing another option that also reaches a broader group of ages as well. Facebook’s usage by teens is higher than all social media networks except YouTube (80 percent) and it is significantly ahead of Instagram (55 percent), Twitter (50 percent) and even Snapchat (45 percent).