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Community-Driving Commerce: Understanding the Golden Rules Shaping Gen Z's Most Successful Content Creators

Written by Team LTK | Dec 2, 2025

Gen Z wants to feel like they know your brand – and especially that you get them. Between videos and social media, they engage as more than passive audience members to be part of your world and shape their purchases. 

LTK’s latest webinar, “Gen Z Moodboard: The Next Wave of Trendsetting Creators,” combines insights from our platform data, alongside LTK’s 2025 Shopper Study and Back-to-School Study 2025, to better understand this group and how Gen Z content Creators can shape your marketing strategy.

 

What Are Gen Z’s 3 Golden Rules?

Brands have three different levers to pull to reach Gen Z: community, authenticity, and wellness. Gen Zers trust Creators more than ads or even their loved ones, and if you can appeal to these golden rules, you can achieve measurable results. 

Let’s take a closer look at each.

1. Community 

Creators provide the community Gen Zers crave, driving consumers’ sense of style and belonging. LTK’s Gen Z and college Creators are earning engagement as a result, with users viewing their posts every 20 seconds on average.

These LTK Creators have gained millions of followers in the last year and are more likely to have comments on their posts:

  • College Creators increased followers by 83 percent YOY.
  • Gen Z content Creators increased followers by 39 percent YOY.

 

2. Authenticity 

Whether they’re looking for style inspo or product recommendations, Gen Z consumers trust Creators who show up as themselves. About 69 percent of Gen Z consumers trust content Creators for purchase decisions, and they want honest storytelling to lead them.

For example, "get ready with me" (GRWM) content thrives on authenticity. Gen Z content Creators feature honest routines that influence consumers:

  • GRWM and "un-ready with me" posts increased 62 percent YOY.
  • GRWM views increased 35 percent YOY and generated millions year to date.
  • GRWM content is mostly video (76 percent).

 

3. Wellness 

Gen Zers care about their well-being, regularly seeking out relevant content. They’re all about self-care, with 64 percent of Gen Z consumers following beauty or personal care Creators. 

And Gen Z content Creators are rising to the demand. They share more across key categories than other generations:

  • 1.3X more likely to share workout posts.
  • 1.6X more likely to post beauty products.
  • 1.3X more likely to post skincare products.

 

How All-in-One Creator Marketing Reaches Gen Z

All-in-one Creator Marketing handles everything in one place, simplifying collaboration with Gen Z content Creators and making it that much easier to reach Gen Z shoppers. LTK supports key trends with all-in-one tools to help you get closer to Gen Z.

Creator content + hybrid model 

Brands are prioritizing Creator Marketing, unlocking top value from those partnerships by scaling across marketing departments. But there’s more than one way to collaborate with Gen Z content Creators! 

Fifty-six percent of marketing leaders want a hybrid service relationship with Creators. LTK offers access to self-service tools in addition to direct Creator collaboration, so teams can scale easily.

LTK Brand Platform

The LTK Brand Platform drives your marketing goals across departments. The all-in-one solution enables you to discover, save, and curate Creators in one place and build lasting relationships with Gen Z content Creators. It’s free from SaaS fees for brands to scale existing Creator campaigns and accelerate brand growth, offering:

  • All-in-one Creator Marketing for all departments
  • Low-friction test and learn tools
  • Proprietary data at your fingertips

 

 

LTK Brand Profiles 

LTK Brand Profiles offer a “brand home” on LTK, where millions of the app’s users can find, follow, and shop curated Creator content. Reach Gen Z shoppers in the moment with a free profile where consumers are already searching and shopping. LTK Brand Profiles allows you to:

  • Access millions of engaged users.
  • Curate your story with hand-selected Creator content.

 

 

Put Gen Z Content Creators to Work

Gen Zers just want to belong, and they look to content Creators for authentic guidance across key categories. The next evolution of LTK is made to give brands everything they need to put Gen Z content Creators front and center and support those consumers. 

Watch our full webinar now for a deeper dive into Gen Z marketing. Ready to kick off your marketing strategy? Reach out now to get started with LTK!