With Reels videos driving the most engagement across Facebook and Instagram, many creators and marketers are looking for ways to optimize their Reels content approach and ensure maximum response to their short-form video uploads.
To help with this, the team from Emplifi recently conducted an experiment to determine what drives Reels viewership. In addition, the company’s new data identified ways for creators to align with key trends in order to boost Reels engagement and drive better response.
Based on analysis of 10,110 Facebook Reels published by 704 brand Pages, Emplifi found several key data points that can help to boost engagement, including the use of voice and the inclusion of human faces.
First off, the data showed that videos that include human speech in the first three seconds drive better response.
Emplifi’s data found that human speech performs even better than music, with 10-second retention increasing almost 25%.
The data also showed that sound-on rates are higher for videos that include human speech, while speech-based videos see a 5.6% higher engagement rate compared to music-only content.
In terms of human presence, Emplifi’s data also found that when a person appears for at least one second within the first three seconds of a Reels clip, retention improves by about 10% for 10-second views.
That uptick does decline over time, with 30-second views declining by 2.4% on videos that include a person. But overall, the early presence of a human face can drive improved Reels performance.
The data also showed that seamless looping can significantly boost Reels’ performance.
As per Emplifi: “For micro-length videos (up to 7 seconds), loops create a clear advantage.” The company said replay rates rose 18.7% and engagement rates increased 16.1%.”
Meanwhile, text overlays can also help to drive “modest improvements” in engagement, per the report.
Finally, the report also found that video format can have a big impact on performance, with vertical videos seeing 20.9% higher reach.
Some valuable notes for Reels creation, and with Meta continuing to put so much emphasis on Reels to boost in-app retention and activity, it makes sense to focus on this element to enhance performance.
Indeed, in late 2024, PPC Land reported that Meta said users were sharing 3.5 billion Reels daily across Facebook and Instagram, while 50% of all time spent on Instagram, at that time, was dedicated to Reels consumption.
Aligning with best practice notes, then, could be a valuable strategy.
