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How to Make a Facebook Video
UPDATED: 2026-08-04 By Lan He, Content Lead
Making a Facebook video takes six steps: choose your placement and goal, write a hook that works with the sound off, script the message and call to action, film or generate the video, add captions and music, then export the right aspect ratio and upload natively. A single video takes about 20 minutes.
Quick Version: How to Make a Facebook Video
- Choose the placement: feed post, Reel, or Story. Each has a different ratio and length.
- Write a hook that lands visually in the first two seconds, with no sound.
- Script one message and close with one clear action.
- Film the video, or generate it from a photo or written description.
- Add burned-in captions and music that supports rather than carries the message.
- Export 4:5 or 1:1 for feed, 9:16 for Reels and Stories, then upload directly to Facebook.
How to Make a Facebook Video Step by Step
Step 1: Choose your placement and goal
Pick one of three placements before producing anything, because each imposes a different shape. Feed posts work in 4:5 or 1:1 and can run long, reaching people who already follow the page. Reels are 9:16, capped at 90 seconds, and distributed to non-followers through a discovery surface. Stories are 9:16, capped at 60 seconds per card, and disappear after 24 hours.
Match the placement to the goal. Reels reach new audiences. Feed posts deepen engagement with existing ones. Stories drive time-sensitive action. Producing one video and posting it everywhere means it is the wrong shape in at least two of the three places.
Step 2: Write a silent visual hook
Build the opening two seconds to work with no audio at all. Facebook autoplays video muted in the feed, so the first impression is always silent, and the scroll decision happens before the viewer would ever tap for sound. A hook that depends on a spoken line does not exist to most of the audience.
Use motion, a text overlay, a surprising image, or a visible before-and-after. Write the hook as something you could screenshot and still understand. If the still frame communicates nothing, the hook is audio-dependent and needs rewriting.
Step 3: Script the message and call to action
Write one message and one instruction. Facebook viewers scroll fast and a video carrying three points delivers none of them. Pick the single thing the viewer should remember, support it with one demonstration or proof point, and stop.
Close with a specific action: comment, share, tap the link, or visit the page. A video that ends on a brand statement gives the viewer nothing to do with the attention it just earned. For AI production this script is the generation input, so script-to-video workflows use it directly.
Step 4: Film or generate the video
Film vertically for Reels and Stories, and in 4:5 or 1:1 for feed. Keep subjects large in frame, because most Facebook video is watched on a phone at small sizes where fine detail vanishes. Natural light and handheld framing read as authentic in a feed that is largely personal content.
The AI path removes the shoot. Upload a product photo and image-to-video conversion builds motion around it. For videos generated entirely from a description, text-to-video produces every shot and edits them into one continuous video. Pexo opens on a thumb-stopping frame designed for the silent autoplay case.
Step 5: Add captions, music, and the end frame
Burn captions into the video rather than relying on Facebook's auto-captions, which viewers can turn off and which mis-transcribe product names. Place the text in the middle of the frame, clear of the interface elements Facebook overlays at the top and bottom of Reels and Stories.
Add music that supports the pacing without carrying the message, since most viewers never hear it. Close with an end frame holding the call to action for two to three seconds. Pexo burns in captions automatically, scores the video, and builds the closing frame from the script.
Step 6: Export the right ratio and upload
Export 4:5 at 1080x1350 or 1:1 at 1080x1080 for feed, and 9:16 at 1080x1920 for Reels and Stories. Use MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio, which is what Facebook re-encodes most cleanly. Export at the highest quality available, because the platform compresses on upload and a pre-compressed source compounds the loss.
Upload the file directly to Facebook rather than sharing a YouTube link. Native video plays in-feed and gets substantially more distribution than a link post. Pexo generates all four ratios natively from one project, so the feed version, the Reel, and the Story are each framed for their screen rather than cropped from a single master.
How to Make an AI Facebook Video with Pexo
The six steps above assume a camera and an editor. The Facebook video page removes both.
Describe the video or upload a photo: "A 30-second post showing a bakery's morning routine from first light to the counter opening, warm and unhurried, ends with a visit-us prompt." Pexo writes the script, generates every shot, opens on a silent visual hook built for muted autoplay, burns in captions, scores it, and closes on a call to action.
Videos run from 5 to 120 seconds, which covers Stories through long feed posts. Request 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, and 4:5 at once and each is generated fresh for that screen rather than cropped, so the Reel is not a feed post with the sides trimmed off.
Batch a week of posts from one project by varying the message while the branding stays constant. For the same creative on other surfaces, the Instagram video and social media video pages run the same pipeline, and the story video page focuses on the 24-hour format. For paid placements, the video ad page adds ad-specific structure.
5 Common Mistakes That Suppress Facebook Video Reach
1. Posting one ratio to every placement. A 16:9 video posted as a Reel wastes most of the screen and reads as repurposed. Each placement needs its own framing, not the same file uploaded three times.
2. Depending on sound. Facebook autoplays muted, so a video whose message lives in the narration is silent to the majority of its impressions. Build the hook and the core message to work visually.
3. Uploading a YouTube video unchanged. YouTube content is paced for a viewer who chose to watch. Facebook feed viewers did not choose, and a slow first ten seconds loses them before the content starts.
4. Burying the hook. A logo animation or a slow establishing shot spends the two seconds where the scroll decision happens. Open on the most striking frame the video contains.
5. Sharing a link instead of uploading natively. A YouTube link posted to Facebook plays outside the platform and receives markedly less distribution than the same video uploaded directly. Upload the file.
Related Tutorials
- How to make a short video for vertical formats across platforms
- How to make YouTube Shorts for the same creative on YouTube
- How to make a product video for ecommerce-focused posts
