Facebook Reels are short vertical videos that can reach people well beyond your existing followers. Unlike a regular post that mainly lands in front of friends and followers, a Reel gets pushed across Facebook's recommendation engine to people who have never heard of you. That makes Reels one of the most effective ways to grow on the platform right now.
Facebook generates around 140 billion Reel plays per day and over 600 million people watch them. The format supports videos up to 90 seconds and works best in the 9:16 vertical format optimised for mobile screens.
Here is how to create one from start to finish.
What You Need Before You Start
You need the Facebook app on your phone. Reels are created on mobile, not through a desktop browser. The experience on desktop is limited and the creative tools available on the app are significantly better.
Make sure you are logged into the correct account. If you are creating a Reel for a Facebook Page rather than your personal profile, switch to that Page before starting. Tap the Menu icon in the bottom right corner of the app, tap the arrow next to your name at the top, and select the Page from the dropdown.
Your video should be filmed or prepared in vertical format at a 1080 by 1920 pixel resolution. Horizontal footage works but leaves black bars on the sides and performs worse in the feed.
How to Create a Facebook Reel
Step 1: Open the Reel Creator
There are two quick ways to get there.
The first is through the Reels tab. Tap the Reels option in your navigation bar or scroll your feed until you see the Reels section. Tap any Reel to open the full-screen feed, then tap the camera icon in the top right corner.
The second is through the Create button. Tap the plus icon at the top of your Facebook feed and select Reel from the options that appear.
Both routes take you to the same recording screen.
Step 2: Record or Upload Your Video
You have two options here. You can record directly inside the app or upload footage you have already filmed.
To record directly, hold the record button at the bottom of the screen to capture footage. Release it to stop. Hold it again to record the next clip. This multi-clip recording approach is ideal for quick cuts and visual variety. The total video can be up to 90 seconds.
To upload existing footage, tap the Gallery icon at the bottom left of the recording screen. Browse your camera roll and select the clips or photos you want to use. You can select multiple clips and arrange them in order. Facebook accepts most standard video formats.
Mixing recorded and uploaded clips in the same Reel is also possible. Record some footage inside the app and add pre-filmed clips from your gallery in the editing stage.
Step 3: Edit Your Reel
Once your footage is captured or uploaded, the editing tools appear on the right side of the screen. These are the ones worth knowing.
Trim removes unwanted footage from the beginning or end of each clip. Tap the clip timeline at the bottom and drag the handles inward to cut to exactly where you want the clip to start and stop. Tight edits make Reels feel faster and more watchable.
Music opens Facebook's licensed audio library. Search for a specific song or browse by mood, genre, or trending tracks. Tap a track to preview it and drag the waveform to choose which section plays during your Reel. Using trending audio is one of the most reliable ways to increase reach, since the algorithm favours Reels using popular sounds.
Text adds on-screen text to any point in your video. Tap the text icon, type your message, and choose a font, colour, and background style. Drag it to position it anywhere on screen. Tap the timeline bar at the bottom to set exactly when the text appears and how long it stays on screen.
Effects and Filters apply visual styles to your footage. These range from subtle colour corrections to bold visual overlays. Tap the effects icon to browse available options. Less is usually more here. Overly filtered Reels tend to perform worse than clean, well-lit footage with no filter at all.
Speed adjusts how fast or slow your clips play. Speeds range from 0.3x for dramatic slow motion to 3x for rapid time-lapse effects. This works best for specific moments rather than the whole Reel.
Stickers add interactive elements like polls, questions, countdowns, and location tags. These can increase engagement since viewers tap on them, which the algorithm reads as a positive signal.
Step 4: Add Captions
Tap the text icon and type your caption directly on the video, or look for the auto-caption option if it is available on your version of the app. Facebook can automatically generate captions by transcribing your spoken audio, which is worth using because a significant portion of people watch Reels with the sound off.
Good captions are short, readable, and placed in the safe zone between the top and bottom thirds of the screen to avoid being covered by the Facebook interface.
Step 5: Set Up Your Post Before Publishing
Tap Next or the arrow icon to move from the editing screen to the posting screen.
Write a caption. This is the text that appears below your Reel in the feed. Keep it short and conversational. A caption that asks a question or makes a clear statement tends to generate more comments than one that just describes what is in the video.
Add hashtags. Include three to five relevant hashtags at the end of your caption. Hashtags help Facebook understand your content's topic and recommend it to users interested in that subject. Avoid stuffing ten or more hashtags. A focused selection outperforms a scattered one.
Set your audience. Choose Public if you want the Reel to reach beyond your followers. Friends limits distribution to people you are already connected to. Public is almost always the right choice for Reels since the entire point of the format is reaching new people.
Tag people or add a location if relevant. Tagging someone notifies them and can extend your reach to their audience. Adding a location makes the Reel discoverable in location-based searches.
Step 6: Publish
Tap Share Now to publish immediately. Your Reel goes live and starts appearing in Reels feeds, recommendations, and the profiles of tagged users.
If you are not ready to publish immediately, some account types have access to a scheduling option through Meta Business Suite. This lets you set a specific date and time for the Reel to go live, which is useful if you want to post during peak engagement hours without being on your phone at that moment.
What Makes a Reel Actually Perform
Creating the Reel is the easy part. Getting people to watch it requires thinking about a few things that most first-time creators skip.
Hook viewers in the first two seconds. Most people scroll quickly through Reels. If the opening frame is not immediately interesting, the Reel gets skipped. Start with motion, a compelling statement, or a visual that raises a question in the viewer's mind.
Keep it shorter than you think you need to. Facebook allows up to 90 seconds, but most top-performing Reels run between 15 and 30 seconds. Shorter Reels get watched all the way through more often, and completion rate is one of the most important signals the algorithm uses to decide how widely to distribute your content.
Use trending audio. The Facebook audio library shows which tracks are currently popular. Using trending sounds gives your Reel a boost in recommendations because the algorithm actively surfaces content built around popular audio.
Post consistently. One Reel rarely changes much. A creator posting three to five Reels per week builds momentum much faster than one who posts occasionally. The algorithm learns from your posting habits and rewards consistency.
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