As the battle to woo creators intensifies, Facebook has released a series of updates that it says will make it “easier than ever to create Reels, build an audience with professional mode for profile and earn a steady income on Facebook.”
Confronted by competition from YouTube Shorts and TikTok, Meta-owned Facebook has been working hard to make Reels a viable short-form challenger. With this in mind, the platform says: “From inspiration to simplified creation, we’re making it easy to produce fun and creative Reels on Facebook. To help inspire fresh content ideas, we’ve added an Inspiration Hub in the Professional Dashboard to gather popular Reels, hashtags, topics and music. The new Templates Hub in the Reels Composer displays trending templates that you can use to easily create Reels.”
Facebook says that “editing Reels on the Facebook app is also getting easier. We’ve brought together audio, music and text into a unified editing screen, making it easier to layer and time the various creative elements of your Reel. Also, starting in the coming weeks, when creators upload long-form videos or finish a Live on mobile or desktop, they can create a Reel clipped from the original content that links to the original video.”
In addition to the above, the platform is adding new ProMode features to help creators grow their following. “Professional Mode lets anyone become a creator using the profile they already have on Facebook. In the six months since it expanded globally, tens of millions of creators have started using it, unlocking audience growth and monetisation opportunities as well as professional tools. ProMode creators can now appear in the ‘Creators to Follow’ unit in Feed to get discovered by more people.” It is also a great way for social media influencers to connect with their fans and build their brand.
Alongside enhanced features, Facebook is providing more insights to help guide content creation: “Our Professional Dashboard continues to be a hub for insights, tools and professional resources for ProMode and Pages creators. Now, we’re bringing Reels insights that were previously only available on Meta Business Suite to Professional Dashboard. In the coming weeks, we’ll also roll out new metrics that will show creators how their accounts are performing at a more granular level, including levels of interaction and consumption by format, as well as by followers and non-followers across all of their content. In addition to net followers, creators will also see how many followers they gained and lost in a specific time frame.”
Finally, the company said there will be more ways to earn money on the platform: “We’re testing the ability to cross-post Instagram branded content Reels and Stories to Facebook, increasing campaign reach and impact. On Facebook, we’ve reduced partnership and eligibility requirements so that creators using Pages can give their brand partners permission to run ads from their Facebook Pages.”
Facebook said it is continuing to invite more creators to its Performance bonus programme that rewards creators for garnering strong engagement with their content on Facebook. “And we’re introducing extra bonuses so creators can earn more. We’ve lowered some of the monetisation eligibility requirements for Stars, so that more creators who are just starting out can earn money through the support of their fans.”
The latest evolutions follow May 2023 updates to Facebook’s Ads on Reels tests that included a new payout model and expansion to more creators. Soon the company will begin a limited test in which select creators can monetise Reels that include licensed music from the Facebook Audio Library. Eligible creators will be notified in the app.
