What are Facebook Reels and how they are made - Digital Marketing Tips

What are Facebook reels, and how are they made? Please find out how to use them in your communication strategy. 22 February 2022: Facebook Reels is now available in more than 150 countries around the world.

On Instagram and TikTok, the Reels have been around for a long time. Instead, it is only recently that this type of video has landed on Facebook, quickly conquering users (individuals such as brands).

What are Facebook Reels? Facebook describes them as fun, short videos consisting of music, audio, effects, text overlays, and more that users can make using the Facebook app from their mobile device.

Therefore, learning how to make Reels on Facebook means learning how to use a marketing tool, which will have even greater importance. If TikTok is a society that is based exclusively on Reels, in fact, Instagram and Facebook have not been watching. And they promptly introduced their Reels, allowing the user to use them to monetize.

Table of Contents

Facebook Reels, how to make them

To create Facebook Reels, it is first of all necessary to access the social network from mobile. If you are using the so-called “new Pages experience” from the “Reel” section of the feed, select “Create” or tap the camera icon that you will find at the top right. At this point, there are two options: tap the icon at the bottom left to add a video you already have in memory, or tap the record button to shoot a video in real-time.

Once the video has been uploaded, you can add all the elements you want: music, head, effects, emoticons, and timer. Tap “Next,” describe your Reel using all relevant hashtags, select your target audience, and tap “Share Reel.” If you log in to Facebook in classic mode, you must carry out the same steps but access the “Create a post” section and tap the “Reel” item.

The Reels options on Facebook

Reels can be created by combining different clips imported from your smartphone’s photo gallery, by uploading a new video, or – again – by combining different photos. You can choose the duration, but there are only three options: 15 seconds, 30 seconds, or 60 seconds.

Audio

By touching the audio icon, you can add the music you prefer, selecting it by genre or by theme: if you are using the original audio of the video, know that it will be attributed to you and that, if you set the Reels to “Public,” other users will be able to create a video using it.

Speed

The speed icon allows you to choose the desired speed for your Reel and adjust the speed of the single clip to speed it up or slow it down (by default, the speed is 1x).

Effects

The effects you can add to your Facebook Reels are endless. If you want, you can also save them for later use, or click on the effect attribution link to see other Reels that use it.

Zoom

By moving the x and y positions, you can zoom the video, preset in 9:16 format. This way, you can cut it to give your video the scale you want.

Timer

The “timer” option allows you to set a 3 or 6-second countdown before recording the Reel.

Once the video is uploaded, you have several other options:

audio: if you have not added music, you can add it now, or you can modify the inserted one or add a voiceover;
text: by touching the Aa icon, you can add the text you want, changing its colors and font;
edit clip (scissor icon) to cut video clips and add more;
speed, to adjust the speed of the video by slowing it down or speeding it up;
mirror, to flip the clips as if you were seeing them in the mirror (precisely);
effects: if you haven’t previously added them, you can do it now;
caption: you can make the audio of your Reel also appear in written form, translating into captions (to be modified at will, in terms of font and color);
Stickers: finally, you can further customize your Facebook Reels by inserting GIFs, emojis, and stickers to be dragged with your finger anywhere on the screen.

Once the Reel is finished and ready to go, it’s time to make it visible (especially if you’re using Facebook for business purposes). So pay close attention to privacy. If you check the “All” item, you will allow everyone inside and outside Facebook to see your Reel. You can decide whether to allow others to create a Remix (a Reel in response to your ) or not (by setting the “Enable remix” item to OFF). Alternatively, you can only allow your friends to see the Reel or even exclude some specific people.

Facebook Reels Ads, how it works

Currently, at least in Italy, it is not possible to directly advertise a Facebook Reel. However, Facebook offers the possibility to publish its traditional advertisements on Facebook Reels by accessing the item “Ads management” – “Ad group” – “Placements.” Then select the “Automatic Placements” option, and choose whether to click on “Manual Placements, then Reels Overlay” or “Manual Placements, then Stories and Reels. “

In the first case, the advertisement will appear as a banner or a sticker above the Facebook Reels: However, there are several brand safety tools to filter the contents, such as which elements to block. In the second case, the ad will appear instead among the Reels: users can then comment on it, share it, save it or decide to skip it as if it were a normal Facebook Reel.

Alternatively, you can use Instagram’s Reels and then promote them. The campaign objectives that can be used for Reels are conversion, traffic, reach, brand awareness, and video display. To make them appear on Facebook, just choose “Facebook Feed” as the positioning.

How to create functional Reels for your company

Like any other content to be posted on social media, even the Reels – to be noticed – must be original. Therefore, you will have to focus on quality, especially if you are promoting your business. Some idea?

create a Reel that communicates something which is informative and really useful for the user: it can be a demonstration of how to use a product, the promotion of a place, but also an informative or informative content on current issues;
always try to use all the elements: text, music, effect, stickers
use subtitles: not always who sees a video can hear its audio;
make sure that your Reel is original: the user must understand that it is content designed, studied, and attentive to details, because only in this way will he give you confidence and trust your company.

Share Instagram Reel on Facebook

As is well known, Facebook and Instagram are closely connected. And, just like with videos and photos, it is possible to share a Reel made with the second on the first. However, if you share your Instagram Reels on Facebook, remember that the Facebook user will see the username you have on Instagram and that the Facebook audience will not be able to comment on it or see who has placed the Like on Instagram.