Using Creator Studio to manage your Facebook and Instagram accounts? Wondering how to create, manage, monetize, or analyze content when Creator Studio sunsets?
In this article, you’ll discover where to find the native Meta tools you need to manage your marketing in 2023.

What Marketers Should Know About the Sunset of Creator Studio
Since its launch in 2017, Creator Studio has been the go-to app for creators seeking to manage Facebook pages and Instagram accounts natively. Although it was marketed to creators and publishers, in practice, a wide range of brands and businesses relied on Creator Studio for content management.
Starting as early as late 2022, however, Meta has been winding down the platform and alerting users to its impending sunset. If you’ve logged into Creator Studio at any point in the past few months, you probably saw a notification like the one below, encouraging you to make the shift to Meta Business Suite.

As of March 2023, Creator Studio appears to have closed, as it automatically redirects users to Business Suite. Although Business Suite users may still see an option to switch back to Creator Studio, it’s clear that such a move isn’t a long-term solution.
To manage your organization’s Facebook and Instagram accounts seamlessly, it’s in your best interest to phase out Creator Studio from your toolset. Instead, get comfortable with Meta’s other native tools so you can avoid issues with managing content, monetization, or analytics.
Where to Find Creator Tools in Meta Apps (and How to Use Them)
With a mix of Business Suite, your Facebook business page, and the Instagram app, you can access virtually all of the tools that Creator Studio once housed. Use the suggestions below to make your transition as seamless as possible.
#1: Find Reels Composer in Meta Apps
If you prefer producing Instagram and Facebook reels on desktop, Business Suite is your new destination for publishing short-form video content. Like Creator Studio, Business Suite gives you an easy way to start creating reels: by converting published videos to short-form content.
To use this creative tool, open the Content tab in Business Suite and expand the menu next to any video post. From the menu, choose Create Reel. Then trim the video as necessary, add a caption, and choose whether to publish as a story simultaneously.

Similar to Creator Studio, Business Suite also lets you upload ready-to-publish short-form videos. Click the Create Reel button on your Business Suite dashboard and then upload a short-form video, choose a thumbnail, and add a description.

Business Suite’s Reels composer goes beyond Creator Studio in a couple of key ways. Namely, Business Suite supports cross-posting to your linked Instagram and Facebook accounts. Choose the account(s) where you want to publish and customize your reels post as necessary.
In addition, Business Suite has Meta’s latest editing tools for Reels. That means you can add text overlays, choose audio, and even do some light editing. Although Business Suite does give you full access to Meta’s Sound Library, the editing tools still leave a lot to be desired.

For example, when you add text overlays, you can choose the text size, color, and background. But you can’t set the overlays to display at certain timestamps. Don’t expect to be able to place the overlays at specific on-screen locations either.
For greater control over your reels—and full access to all Reels creation tools—use Meta’s mobile apps instead. The Instagram and Facebook mobile apps (pictured below) are your destinations for creating reels that have timed text overlays, interactive stickers, and filters.
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#2: Find Content Scheduling in Meta Apps
You always have the option to publish reels and other content instantly from Business Suite. But if your team typically batches content creation in advance, you can schedule any content type from Business Suite. Instead of pressing Publish Now, select Schedule and choose the date and time when you want the content to go live.
If you opt to publish across multiple channels, you can choose different times and dates for each profile.

Note that Meta supports scheduling between 20 minutes and 75 days from when you create the content so you’ll need to plan content creation accordingly.
If you’d rather create and schedule posts or reels on mobile, you can use either the Facebook or Instagram app. Although the Facebook app scheduling tool is easy to find, the Instagram app scheduling tool is hidden. Scroll down to open Advanced Settings and then toggle on the scheduling option.

It’s important to note that neither the Facebook app nor the Instagram app supports scheduling stories. To schedule stories for a later date, use the Business Suite mobile app (pictured below) —but keep in mind that this app doesn’t provide interactive stickers or other creative tools.

#3: Find Best Times to Publish in Meta Apps
Posting content at the optimal times for your audience can help improve reach and engagement. Creator Studio helped by making it easy to see when your audience was active over the course of a day or week. Unfortunately, Business Suite doesn’t currently display such detailed data.
To gain insight into the best times to publish content, create a post, reel, or story in Business Suite. Then opt to schedule the content. Rather than choosing a time manually, click the Active Times button.

Business Suite automatically displays several optimal time slots for each profile you’ve selected. You can click to apply any of the suggested times or use them to schedule content further in advance. Note that the recommended times are no more than a week in the future, so you’ll have to use them as guides for planning further ahead of time.
#4: Find Cross-Post and Bulk-Upload Videos in Meta Apps
If your team publishes a lot of video across multiple profiles, you need more efficient options for managing this content. Creator Studio made it possible for marketers to upload video content in bulk and to cross-post content across Facebook pages. Business Suite now supports both of these workflows.
To upload multiple videos at once, click the More drop-down menu on the Business Suite dashboard. Select Bulk Upload Videos and choose up to 50 videos to upload to your page. Then update the title, write a description, and publish or schedule each video.

Note that the More Edit Options button opens the Business Suite video composer. Although this tool does let you complete tasks like adding captions and choosing thumbnails, it isn’t as advanced as the Reels composer. In other words, it doesn’t support adding text or audio.
To cross-post video content on multiple pages, expand the More menu on the Business Suite dashboard and select Post Video Across Pages. Then in the post composer, use the Post To drop-down menu to select all of the pages where you want to publish the video.

Like the bulk-upload workflow, the cross-posting workflow uses Business Suite’s video composer, not the Reels composer. To get maximum value from this tool, make sure to edit and score videos before uploading.

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#5: Find Livestreaming in Meta Apps
As long as your accounts are eligible, your organization always has the option to go live directly from Instagram or Facebook. However, Creator Studio had long been a useful tool for more complex tasks like managing livestreamed content and planning lives for multiple pages.
Now you can manage Facebook lives via Business Suite. From the Business Suite dashboard, open the More menu and select Go Live. You’ll automatically be redirected to the Facebook live interface, where you can start broadcasting right away or schedule for later. You can also schedule live events through this portal without having to switch in and out of your page.

Note that Business Suite doesn’t currently support Instagram Live. Instead, use the Instagram app to manage livestreamed content. To schedule a live session for later, tap the calendar icon and choose a time.

#6: Find A/B Tests in Meta Apps
Whether you’re planning to try a new tactic on Facebook or Instagram, it’s helpful to collect data that you can learn from and use to shape future content. Fortunately, Business Suite has carried over Creator Studio’s A/B Post Testing feature, which compares multiple versions of a post and automatically distributes the top-performing version.
To use it, open the Content tab in Business Suite and select the A/B Tests panel. Here, you’ll see results from all of the experiments you ran in Creator Studio. You can also launch a new experiment by clicking the Create Test button. (Note that the A/B Test feature currently supports posts only, not Reels or Stories.)

Then create up to four test post versions in the composer. Before publishing or scheduling the test, make sure to select the metric for determining the winner. You can also adjust the timeframe for the test to ensure it lasts long enough to collect adequate data without running for so long that it misses a key opportunity to distribute the best version.

#7: Find Boosted Content in Meta Apps
For organizations with an active organic content promotion strategy, Creator Studio long offered an option for managing boosted posts. Now you can easily boost Facebook and Instagram content in Business Suite.
To promote a post upon publication, switch on the Boost Post option as you create it in the Business Suite publishing composer. You’ll be directed to the boost workflow as soon as you publish the post.
To promote an already published post, open the Content tab and find the content you want to boost. Click the three dots to expand the menu and select Boost Post. Then configure the ad.
Keep in mind that Business Suite typically selects a goal for the ad automatically. To select a goal manually, click Change and pick a relevant option including messages, leads, purchases, and post engagement. Make sure to choose a call-to-action button that aligns with the goal for the boost.

Then configure the rest of the settings for the post, including setting a budget and timeframe. You can automate audience targeting by relying on Business Suite to deliver the ad to users like your followers or you can build an audience manually.

Note that Business Suite allows you to schedule boosts in advance; something that isn’t possible if you boost directly from your Facebook page or Instagram account. To plan a boost in advance, choose a future start date and click the Schedule button.
#8: Find Branded Content in Meta Apps
Creator Studio integrated with the Meta Brand Collabs Manager, making it easy for brands and creators to manage paid partnerships and monitor insights. Business Suite doesn’t currently link with Brand Collabs Manager, which means most marketers will have to resort to managing paid partnerships directly in Instagram or Facebook.
For example, you can preapprove influencers from the Branded Content tab in the Instagram app. Then you can check insights for branded content by going directly to the post and tapping View Insights. Note that you can manage paid partnership labels from the post menu.

#9: Find Monetization in Meta Apps
Creator Studio also served as a hub for managing monetization opportunities, another aspect that’s carried over to Business Suite. To manage these opportunities for your organization, open the Monetization tab in Business Suite.
Here, you can check your monetization status and find any action items you need to do such as setting up stars, launching subscriptions, or choosing in-stream ads. Once you set up monetization tools, you can configure settings and track performance on this tab.

#10: Find Inspiration Hub in Meta Apps
In December 2021, Creator Studio launched an Inspiration hub that allowed marketers to view top-performing posts, identify trends and get ideas for new content. Business Suite doesn’t currently feature the Inspiration hub but it is linked to Facebook pages that use the new page experience.
To open the Inspiration hub, open Facebook and switch to your page. Then navigate to the professional dashboard and locate the Inspiration hub under the Your Tools menu. Here you can find trending reels, top songs, hashtags, and topics to inspire your content.

#11: Find Content Insights in Meta Apps
Insights—particularly for video content—were one of Creator Studio’s biggest strengths. Since content, video, and messaging insights are now available in Business Suite, you can continue to use these insights to review performance and improve content.
Business Suite’s video performance insights look remarkably similar to the analytics that Creator Studio offered. These insights provide an overview of total watch time and 1-minute or 3-second views, and they also allow filtering by metrics like paid versus organic or followers versus non-followers.

With Business Suite’s video audience insights, you can learn more about how your video content contributes to growth goals. For example, you can identify the videos that led to follows or unfollows, which can help you determine what kind of content resonates with your target audience.

Business Suite’s audience loyalty insights have the potential to be even more helpful for fine-tuning your content strategy. They reveal how your video content contributes to returning viewers and engaged followers but these analytics still appear to be in development as of March 2023.
Fortunately, Business Suite’s audience retention insights have fully rolled out, making it easier to see which videos are successfully engaging your audience. You can find top-performing videos by sorting all of the content on your page or you can open detailed views of each video you’ve published.

Although these video performance insights are useful, it’s important to note that they largely focus on Facebook videos. Business Suite does provide basic metrics for Instagram Reels but retention, benchmarking, and audience insights are currently available for Facebook only.
Conclusion
Meta’s decision to sunset Creator Studio may be an unpopular one among marketers who have relied on the platform for years. However, most of Creator Studio’s best tools live on in Business Suite—and ideally, Meta will continue to enhance them to offer even more complete Instagram and Facebook management.
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