Teach Me, Facebook, Content Creation

Here’s why you should create content for Facebook Stories

Instagram Stories and TikTok are wildly popular when it comes to short-form video platforms, but don’t forget Facebook Stories. They’re still relevant for your content – read on to find out why.

Alec Chillingworth

Jun 9, 2022 • 7 min read

Why should I use Facebook Stories?

People still create content for Facebook Stories because, put simply, people still use Facebook! The way they browse Facebook may have changed, but Facebook Stories is a quick, easy way to give viewers information, update them, or just entertain them.

You can use Facebook Stories to:

Create original, engaging content
Promote your upcoming Facebook Live streams
Hype up any merchandise you might have
Point viewers to your other social channels, like Instagram, YouTube or TikTok

How do Facebook Stories work?

If you’ve used Instagram Stories, you’ll be familiar with how Facebook Stories work. To access them, just head to the top of your Facebook feed, either in the mobile app, browser or Facebook Messenger.

Facebook Stories are displayed as little tiles, both from friends and ‘liked’ pages. Once someone clicks on a Facebook Story, it plays through. Users can skip certain parts or watch the entire thing – once one Facebook Story finishes, another begins.

How long do Facebook Stories last?

Facebook Stories last for 24 hours. They used to only be viewable twice, but now viewers can replay Facebook Stories as much as they like within that one-day window.

How can I make a Story on Facebook?

Creating a Facebook Story is simple. Just follow the below steps.

Open your Facebook mobile app. If you look at the main feed, Stories should be underneath the ‘What’s on your mind?’ box. Click ‘Create Story’ on the left-hand side of the Stories section. This button has a small ‘+’ icon and includes your profile picture, so should be easy to find.

Decide whether you’ll use pre-recorded content or not. If you have something specific you’d like to use in your Facebook Story, you can create it beforehand in a video editing app or software and add it to your phone’s Camera Roll. Editing can be done either on your phone or desktop – we have some great tips for editing videos on iPhone here. You can select just one or multiple photo/video files from your Camera Roll.

If you’re filming content, hit the camera button at the bottom of your phone’s screen. Once your camera’s showing on the screen, hold the button to record, or click once to take a photo. You can scroll through a bunch of filters at the bottom of the screen, and if you change your mind and want to upload footage from your Photo Gallery, you can do so in the bottom left.

Once you’re done filming, you can add a host of effects. These include Stickers, Text, Music, Effects, Drawings and Boomerang. You can also tag people at the bottom of the page, along with a few other tasty extras. Preset Text and Music templates are available on the Facebook Story homepage, but if you’re creating visual content in-app, you’re best off adding those things at this stage instead.
Share your Facebook Story. To do this, just hit the ‘Share to Story’ button in the bottom right. If you want to add more content to your Story, repeat the process we just went through. If you want to save your Facebook Story to your device, simply click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.

Choosing music while creating your Facebook Story means you’re limited to Facebook’s library. It’s decent, but if you want to find music to fit a particular mood or theme within your Story, you might struggle.

So, why not try Epidemic Sound? Our catalog of more than 40,000 tracks can be filtered by mood, theme, BPM and more – whatever you need, we’ve got you covered. Check out the catalog below and start using our tracks in your pre-recorded content for Facebook Stories.

Why can’t I create a Story on Facebook?

If you can’t create a Facebook story, don’t worry. It’s likely just a glitch in the system.

Turn it off and on again

If Facebook Stories aren’t working on your mobile app, try closing the app down and reopening it. If that doesn’t work, turn your phone off and on again. Sometimes, a quick reboot is all it takes!

Check for updates

Facebook rolls out updates all the time, and you might miss one of them. If you’re using an old version of the app, that might be why you can’t create Facebook Stories – double-check you’re up to date! It’s also worth checking that your phone’s running the latest operating system.

Delete and reinstall the Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps

Sometimes your apps just end up being buggy. Try uninstalling then reinstalling the relevant apps to see if that fixes your Facebook Stories access.

If you’re still struggling to create Facebook Stories, there might be something else that’s gone wrong. In that case, you can report the problem pretty simply.

On a desktop browser, hit the downwards-pointing arrow at the top-right of the screen. Click ‘Help & Support,’ then ‘Report a Problem.’ It’s the same process on your mobile Facebook app, but instead of clicking an arrow, you tap the ‘Menu’ icon in the bottom-right of the screen.

Can you make a Facebook Story from a computer?

You can create Facebook Stories on a computer. However, there’s a catch: you can only create photo or text Stories. There’s no video option for Facebook Stories on desktop.

How to delete Facebook Stories

Perhaps you posted some content that wasn’t quite ready. Maybe you spotted an error or, on second glance, you realized it might go against Facebook’s policies. If that’s the case, you can delete content from your Facebook Story without any stress. Here’s how:

Click on your Story, at the top of the screen.
Tap through your Story until you reach the piece of content you’d like to remove.
Hit the three dots in the top-right of the screen.
Click ‘Delete photo’ or ‘Delete video.’ That’s it. You just learned how to delete Facebook Stories!

Once you delete content from Facebook Stories, it disappears from both the main feed and Messenger.

How to save Facebook Stories

If you want to save your own Facebook stories, doing so is easy. You just need to activate your Story Archive, which automatically saves your Facebook Stories once they disappear from public view. Here’s how you do that.

Click your profile icon, in the top-right of the screen.
Click the ‘...’ icon below your cover photo, then scroll down to ‘Story Archive.’
Click the ‘Settings’ icon on the right – it’s got a little wheel next to it.
Under ‘Story Archive Setting,’ click ‘Turn On Story Archive’ if it’s not already on.

Only you can see your Story Archive. It’s also worth remembering that if you delete a photo or video from your Facebook Story before it disappears, it won’t turn up in your Story Archive.

If you click 'Story Privacy' in this section, you can control who's allowed to view your Facebook Stories.

How to download Facebook Stories

The point of Facebook Stories is that they’re only available for 24 hours – blink and you’ll miss them. For that reason, there is no official Facebook Stories download function.

However, if people really want to download your Facebook Stories, they can use a number of third-party apps. These apps aren't Facebook products, nor are they endorsed by the platform, but there's unfortunately no way to stop people from using them. So, as a rule of thumb, ensure you only publish Facebook Stories you'd be happy with people downloading!