How to Add a Reel to Your Facebook Story

Sharing your freshly-posted Facebook Reel to your Story is an easy win in social media marketing, giving your content a second chance to capture attention. This powerful, two-for-one strategy instantly boosts visibility and re-engages the audience that spends most of their time tapping through Stories. In this guide, we'll walk through exactly how to add a Reel to your Facebook Story, cover some troubleshooting tips if you get stuck, and share best practices to get the most out of every share.

Why You Should Bother Sharing Reels to Stories: Does it *Really* Matter?

You might be wondering if taking the extra 15 seconds to share your Reel to your Story is worth the effort. The answer is a resounding yes. Audiences on social media consume content in different ways. Some people scroll the main feed indefinitely, while others live exclusively in the Stories queue at the top of their app. Sharing your Reel to your Story ensures you reach both camps, maximizing your content's potential reach.

Here’s a deeper look at the benefits:

• Increased Visibility and Reach: This is the most obvious benefit. By posting in two places, you’re doubling your chances of being seen. Your most loyal followers - the ones who watch your Stories daily - will see it there, while casual scrollers might catch it in the Reels feed. You’re meeting your audience where they are, rather than hoping they find you.
• A Strategic Nudge for the Algorithm: Social media algorithms thrive on early engagement. When you post a Reel, its initial performance is critical. Sharing it to your Story provides an immediate injection of views and potential interactions from your most active followers. This burst of early activity can signal to the algorithm that your content is valuable, encouraging it to push the Reel out to a wider audience on the main feed.
• Efficient Content Repurposing: You spent time creating that Reel - don't let it be a one-shot effort. Sharing it to your Story is the simplest form of content repurposing. It keeps your Story queue active and engaging without requiring you to create entirely new content from scratch. This is a game-changer for solo creators and small teams stretched for time.
• Unlocks Interactive Features: Stories offer a suite of interactive features that Reels don’t, like polls, quizzes, sliders, and question boxes. When you share your Reel to your Story, you can layer these elements on top. For example, share a "behind the scenes" Reel and add a poll asking, "Should we do more videos like this?" This turns passive viewers into active participants, driving up your engagement rates.

How to Add a Reel to Your Facebook Story: The Step-by-Step Guide

The process is straightforward once you know where to look. Follow these simple steps to get your Reel in front of your Story audience in under a minute.

Step 1: Create and Publish Your Facebook Reel

First things first, your Reel must be live. You cannot share a draft or a scheduled Reel to your Story, it needs to be published on your profile or page first. Go through your normal creation process - uploading your video, adding audio, writing your caption, and hitting 'Share'.

Step 2: Navigate to Your Published Reel

Once your Reel is live, you need to find it. You can do this in a few ways:

• Go to your Facebook profile or page.
• Tap on the “Reels” tab to see a grid of all your published Reels.
• Find the specific Reel you want to share and tap to open it in full-screen view.

Step 3: Tap the ‘Share’ Icon

With your Reel playing, look for the 'Share' icon. This is typically represented by an arrow pointing to the right, located among the other interaction icons like 'Like', 'Comment', and 'Send'. Tapping this icon will open up a menu with several sharing options.

Step 4: Select ‘Add to Story’

In the sharing menu, you'll see a few options like ‘Share to Feed,’ ‘Send in Messenger,’ and what we’re looking for: ‘Add to your story' or a similar option. Tap it. This will automatically pull your Reel into the Facebook Story editor.

Note: The full Reel will play within your Story. Unlike sharing Instagram Reels to an Instagram Story (which often plays a 15-second teaser), Facebook typically allows the entire Reel to play directly within the Story frame.

Step 5: Customize Your Story

This is where you can add another layer of creativity. Simply sharing the Reel is fine, but customizing it makes it feel more native to the Story experience. The Reel will appear in the center of the screen, leaving space at the top and bottom for additions.

Consider adding:

• Text Overlays: Add context or a compelling question. For example, if your Reel is a recipe tutorial, you could add text that says, “Our new favorite weekend treat! What are you baking?”
• Stickers: Use polls, quizzes, or the question sticker to drive engagement. A simple poll can significantly increase interaction.
• GIFs & Emojis: Add a bit of personality that reflects your brand’s voice.
• A Call to Action (CTA): Explicitly tell people what to do next. Text like “Tap to watch the whole thing!” or “Sound on for this one!” can make a huge difference.

Don’t go overboard and clutter the screen, but a few well-placed elements can encourage more views and engagement.

Step 6: Share to Your Story

Once you’re happy with your customizations, tap the ‘Share’ button in the bottom right corner. Your Reel is now live on your Facebook Story for the next 24 hours, ready to be seen by a whole new segment of your audience.

Troubleshooting: Why Can't I Share My Reel to My Story?

Running into issues? It happens. Here are a few common culprits and their solutions if the ‘Add to Story’ option is missing or not working.

1. Your Facebook App is Outdated

Social media platforms are constantly updating their features. An outdated app might be missing the latest functionality. Head to the App Store (for iOS) or Google Play Store (for Android) and check if there's an update available for the Facebook app. Install it, restart your phone, and try again.

2. Privacy Settings are a Blocker

If your Reel is set to a restricted audience (e.g., ‘Friends Only’), you might have issues sharing it more broadly. For maximum visibility and shareability, ensure your Reels are published with a 'Public' privacy setting. You can check this in the Reel creation screen before posting.

3. Your Accounts Aren’t Linked Correctly (for Cross-Posting)

If you're trying to share an Instagram Reel to your Facebook Story, your accounts need to be properly linked in the Meta Accounts Center. Double-check your settings to confirm that your Instagram and Facebook profiles are connected and that sharing permissions are enabled.

4. It Might Just Be a Temporary Glitch

Sometimes, apps just misbehave. The simplest fix can be the most effective:

• Close and reopen the Facebook app completely.
• Clear the app’s cache in your phone’s settings.
• As a last resort, restart your device.

This can often resolve minor, temporary bugs that are preventing the feature from working properly.

Final Thoughts

Sharing your Facebook Reels to your Story is a simple but highly effective way to expand your reach, boost early engagement, and get more mileage out of the content you work hard to create. By folding this quick step into your workflow, you ensure your content connects with more people across different viewing habits, giving your Reels the best possible chance to perform well.

Mastering these platform-specific tricks is a big part of the game, but keeping your entire content strategy organized can feel overwhelming. At Postbase, we built our platform to solve that exact problem. We focused on making social media management feel less chaotic with a beautiful visual calendar to plan your content, rock-solid scheduling for video-first platforms like Reels and TikTok, and an all-in-one inbox for your comments and DMs. We got tired of tools that were complicated and unreliable, so we created a modern solution that just works.