The ultimate guide to Facebook Stories

Facebook Stories aren’t just for sharing funny videos or birthday milestones with your friends. Over 200 million businesses use Facebook's free tools and apps to reach their target audience faster. More than half of those businesses believe that Facebook Stories have helped them promote their products. From Facebook Lead Ads to Facebook video ads shared on Facebook Stories, marketers can build brand awareness and generate leads in no time.

So how can you tap into the potential success of Facebook Stories? Read on to explore how your business can use Facebook Stories as a great marketing tool.

What are Facebook Stories?

Facebook Stories are short, user-generated video, photo, text, or GIF collections that disappear after 24 hours. They can be shared within the main Facebook app and viewed once, or multiple times by a Facebook user. Either use Facebook’s in-app camera with fun filters and Snapchat-like lenses to capture a Story, or upload a pre-made video from Clipchamp’s free video editor.

What's relevant for businesses is that Facebook Stories lets you show sponsored video content up to 15 seconds long. If your ad is longer than that, it'll be split into smaller parts, and viewers can choose to watch more by tapping Keep Watching. Facebook will show 1 to 3 parts of the ad before asking viewers to tap Keep Watching depending on their preferences. This way, people who are interested in your ad can watch more, while others can skip it if they want to. 

Facebook Stories size and specifications

• Video length: Up to 30 seconds  

• Maximum file size: 4GB 

• Minimum width: 500 pixels 

• File type: MP4, MOV or GIF  

• Video aspect ratio: 9:16  

• Resolution: Optimum is 1080 x 1920 

Where to find Facebook Stories

Facebook Stories are the first feature you will see when logged into the Facebook mobile app or desktop. They appear on the very top of your Facebook newsfeed, or above your messages in Facebook Messenger. Here, you can view Facebook Stories posted by your Facebook friends, business accounts you follow, and Sponsored Stories. 

If you would like to view a Facebook Story by a user who is not your friend or following, simply click on their Facebook page, then click on their profile picture to view their Story. If they have shared a Facebook Story, their profile picture will have a blue ring around it. 

How to limit your Facebook Story privacy

If you want to use Facebook Stories to their full potential, change your privacy settings to Public. Even if Facebook users aren’t following your brand, they can still view your Facebook Story. 

Why Facebook Stories are popular

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Stories play a big role in the future of video sharing. Sharing via Facebook Stories is anticipated to surpass Feeds because they are immersive and personal. 

1. Visibility: Facebook Stories are one of the first features users see when logging into Facebook, making them highly visible and less likely to get lost in Facebook feeds.  

2. Interactivity: They offer a great opportunity for your brand to interact with your target audience, generating brand awareness, driving engagement, and building relationships.  

3. Authenticity: Facebook Stories help humanize your brand, building credibility and trust.  

4. Analytics: You can also track who is viewing your Facebook Story content, analyze the data, and apply the insights to your Facebook marketing strategy.

How content creators can use Facebook Stories

Creators can create Facebook Stories to keep their audience in the loop about their life, creative projects, collaborations, new content trailers, and more. Here are some Facebook Story ideas that can help you connect with your audience and build community:

• Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your life or creative process.

• Announce new content releases such as blog posts, videos, or podcasts. 

• Create polls or ask for opinions from followers.

• Share exclusive content or offers with your followers.

• Cross-promote your other social media channels.

• Tease out upcoming collaborations to build excitements.

• Highlight positive feedback or reviews from followers and customers.

• Share your own commentary and insights.

How businesses can use Facebook Stories

Businesses can use Facebook Stories to share a variety of content that resonates with their audience. Unsure what to share on your business Facebook Stories? Take a look at some of these Facebook story ideas for businesses:

• Create ‘how-to’ content or video tutorials for your product or service.

• Post expert tips and tricks related to your industry.

• Report on industry trends and news by simplifying them.

• Drop exclusive offers and coupon codes for your business..

• Micro-vlogs of events or trade shows

• Announce seasonal sales and discounts.

• Show behind-the-scenes videos at the office.

How to use Facebook Stories to its full potential

Whether you want to create Facebook Stories within the app, collaborate with influencers and creators, or personalize your own Stories with Clipchamp, Facebook Stories can connect you to a large audience in seconds.

Let’s explore how to share a story on Facebook that will leverage the full marketing potential of Facebook Stories for your business.

1. Create content for your Facebook Stories

Either record and create content directly in the Facebook app or desktop browser or use a Facebook Story video maker like Clipchamp for more advanced features. Upload pre-made videos, photos, GIFs, memes, or even re-post TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, or YouTube previews after resizing the video for free.

Stuck for Facebook Story ideas? Head over to our ready-to-use video templates for some inspiration. All you have to do is add your branding and personal touch, then share directly to Facebook.

2. Explore Facebook Story creative tools

The options are endless when it comes to creativity on Facebook Stories. Add text, boomerangs, change the layout style, superzoom, and interactive features like polls to any Facebook Story. Don’t forget to add some background music or use the filters and effects. 

3. Add custom links and buttons to Facebook Stories

Just like Instagram Stories, you can add custom links and buttons to generate leads and promote your products or services. Add CTA buttons like “Buy now”, “Learn more”, “Get in touch”, or “Shop Now”, to drive viewers and encourage them to make a purchase. By adding a strong CTA increases your live shopping possibilities for your product and services. You can also add a CTA directly to your Facebook brand page. 

4. Analyse Facebook Story insights

You can now analyze the performance of your Facebook Stories to gain a better understanding of your target audience. All you have to do is click on the eye icon on one of your live Stories. This will give you an insight into publishing data, story items, status updates, the unique story opens, forward taps, backward taps, forward swipes, and exits. 

Use these valuable insights to create tailored and targeted Facebook Stories that guarantee engagement. 

Working with Sponsored Facebook Story video ads

Facebook Story ads are also growing in popularity. Over 4 million marketers use Story ads as 62% of people show more interest in a product or brand after viewing their Story. These are the exact same as regular Facebook Stories but are sponsored to reach a wider audience. 

In a few easy steps, you can create Facebook Story ads using the Ad Manager. Boost the value of your Stories by adding keywords and leveraging hashtags. 

How to create a Facebook story in Clipchamp

Step 1. Select a Facebook Stories video template

Click on the templates tab on the toolbar and select a video template for your Facebook story. Clipchamp includes a wide range of free video templates curated into aesthetic collections for many social media platforms. For this example, we’ve chosen the Facebook ads collection.

When you've selected a template you like, you can click on the + button to add the template to your timeline.

Step 2. Customize text 

To edit what your title reads, click on the text tab on the property panel. You can also edit the text, change font style, size, and other settings here. 

Step 3. Add branding and video effects 

Edit your Facebook Story by adding your business branding and other company assets using the Clipchamp brand kit where you can store logos, color palettes, and fonts. Click the brand kit tab in the toolbar to upload or access your branded assets. 

To add visual effects to your Facebook Story, select the video clip in the timeline then click the effects tab on the property panel. Here you’ll find a variety of video effects like spin or VHS effect. Just click to apply and adjust the effect’s intensity using the sliders.

Step 4. Add an AI voiceover and subtitles

You can enhance your Facebook Story with our text to speech AI voice generator which has over 400 natural sounding voices in over 80 languages. Click the record & create tab in the toolbar then select text to speech button. Next, click the text box within the text to speech tab on the property panel. Here, you can type your text directly into the text box or copy and paste it from your clipboard. You can also change the language and style of voice.

Make your video more accessible and capture sound-off viewers by transcribing the audio using the subtitle generator. Select the captions tab in the property panel and click the transcribe media button to turn captions on.

Step 5. Save your Facebook Story 

To download your Facebook Story video, click the export button and select 1080 video resolution to suit Facebook Story requirements. Export to your computer or OneDrive then share to Facebook Stories from either your computer or handheld device. 

3 Facebook Story templates to try in Clipchamp 

1. Split-screen gameplay reaction 

Capture your gaming video and your live reaction with this simple but effective split-screen video game Facebook Story template. Just drag and drop your own footage then customize the text, effects, and background music

2. Local business ad 

Attract new customers by showcasing your business with image and video in this concise advertising Facebook Story template. Combine photos with footage to tell your businesses' story and showcase your products, then customize with your company logo and call to action. 

3. Happy birthday card

Wish your pal happy birthday with something more special than the standard wall post or message. Use this card Facebook Story template with cartoons and text animations to celebrate your friend’s big day. You can drag in your own footage or decorate it with our stickers and GIPHY collections.

Tips to make amazing Facebook Stories 

If you want your Stories to be engaging and well-made, try to use these video editing techniques to stop the scroll and get your followers' attention. 

• Keep your Stories to the point, focusing on one key message or idea per Story. 

• Use a mix of different types of content, such as photos, videos, and GIFs, to keep your Stories fresh and less predictable. 

• Experiment with different Story formats, such as Q&A sessions, polls, or live video broadcasts, to keep your audience engaged and interested.

• Add text overlays to make it easier for viewers to understand the content of your video, especially when watching on mute. 

• Use creative transitions between clips to keep the viewer engaged and interested.

• Experiment with filters and effects to make your Stories more visually engaging. 

Now that you know everything to get started with stories successfully, create show-stopping Facebook Stories with the Clipchamp video editor or easily download the Microsoft Clipchamp windows app.