THE REEL DEAL – How Facebook is embracing new trends to expand its audience, and why it’s a platform of choice for promoting your brand.

MYTH: The sun is setting on Facebook.

If you take nothing else from this article, know that Facebook is alive and well. (But please keep reading!)

FACT: Facebook isn’t dead.

Eighteen years under its belt, and Facebook is still kicking. Truthfully, I’m afraid to know where we’d be without it. The fundamental social platform, Facebook served as a predecessor and springboard for all the networking opportunities we have at our disposal today. For years now, it’s been my go-to method for connecting with distant family and friends. (Who else is fully reliant on it to remember birthdays?) But in addition to keeping everyone connected for the past two decades, Facebook (and Instagram) owner Meta has been taking strides to ensure it remains a frontrunner for all forms of networking and promotion, and Meta knows these efforts start with knowing what’s trendy.

While Facebook is still the most widely used social platform globally, even this giant has been drastically affected by the TikTok-inspired internet takeover of short-form videos. Taking the lead from their successful introduction of Instagram Reels in 2020, Meta continued to answer audience demand for short-form videos by implementing Facebook Reels in 2021. In less than a year, these videos accounted for half the time users spent on Facebook. As a result, in February 2022, the platform’s owner Meta announced that Reels were going global, providing the capacity to reach another 2.9 million people.

All that fact-regurgitating is to say that not only does Facebook still have the capacity to reach by far the most people, but Meta is routinely rolling with the changes. They integrate popular practices to keep things fresh and current, while holding true to the platform’s core tradition of bringing people, the world over, together. And that is what maintains it as the ideal place to build a following and promote your brand.

There are a few customizable approaches to working Facebook Reel placements into branding strategies, and all are a breeze to create and start sharing directly from the platform. Depending on how you would like to set up your campaign, you could opt to use overlay ads, which appear as a banner across the top of Reels, or you can utilize full screen ads, which will appear organically in user’s Facebook Feed as well as in the Facebook Reels section, and in a user’s Reels Profile.  Additionally, you can now share Reels to your Facebook Stories for added engagement. From any of these touchpoints, users can interact with ads by liking, sharing, commenting or swiping past. Facebook can also target your Reels audience by interest, gender or location, and monitor ad performance, so you can trust your content is reaching the right people.

Reels ads are an awesome feature because they provide your viewers so much more than just a quick snapshot into your brand identity. They allow you to make genuine, meaningful connections, tell stories, or take audiences on a visual journey they’ll remember long after your 60 seconds of screen time are up. Whether you test out dancing trends or challenges, collaborate with others, educate, inspire or simply start conversations, there are endless unique ways to engage viewers through your videos. You have to experiment and find your groove. Then, you can rely on Facebook to distribute this information to its worldwide pool of audiences that your brand or product is tailored to.

Facebook Reels delivers content to wherever it will get the best viewership and the best value for you. Facebook is not dead, and it’s never been easier for marketers to take advantage of its global network of followers and its forward-thinking efforts to keep things reel-evant. (Sorry.) Viva Facebook!

Related Links:

Executive Social: Full Human Behind the Brand
Employee Brand Advocates and Leveraging Creators
Generation Social Media Podcast: Executive Social