Facebook Watch Time: 10 Ways to Increase Views and Engagement
Binoy S Parakat
by Binoy S Parakat

Facebook Watch Time: 10 Ways to Increase Views and Engagement

Facebook Watch is the video-streaming tool of the social media giant. Since Facebook Watch launched globally in 2018, it has become the spot-on tool for finding videos about whatever people are interested in, be it live events, programs, sports, news, or music videos. Increasing Watch Time of videos uploaded to Facebook has become one of the most significant key metrics to track for many media companies and brands. By encouraging Facebook followers to share the videos with their own networks has a huge beneficial impact on businesses.

Data shows, Facebook reported that 140 million people per day spent at least one minute on Watch, and 720 million viewers per month.

When it comes to engaging their target audience on Facebook, there are a lot of factors that brands and publishers must consider (decent video production values, access to stellar audience insights, partnering with other influential Facebook properties to increase reach, creating innovative and appealing content etc.).

Here in this blog let us look at 10 different strategies to encourage the viewers to share clips with their friends and family, and thereby boost the average time spent watching video content:


1. Upload Videos Natively

Instead of diverting a visitor to another page to watch a video, natively post videos on Facebook. It increases the likelihood of the video being watched, liked, shared, and commented on.


2. Make Square or Vertical Videos

Facebook videos which are Square, like those on the site’s own photo-sharing app, attract more shares, views, interaction, and reach (particularly on mobile). When viewers hold their phones in portrait mode, vertical video (skinny and tall video) provides advertisers with a larger canvas to deliver their product’s message.


3. Create Shareable Videos

When sharing videos on other sites, be sure that the credit is clear. Include language and link in the description and at the beginning or end of the video. However, do recognize that measuring third-party views can be harder to track because it’s easy for people to take the credit off when they share.


4. Optimize Introductions and Thumbnails

Facebook counts three seconds of video viewing as a view. Give people a reason to watch the first three seconds to increase watch time through participation and sharing. To catch viewer’s interest, videos must begin with appealing images, camera angles, colors and text that address the center of the information being conveyed.


5. Add Overlay Text and/or Captions

To see how the audience reacts, try adding overlay text or captions t videos. This word-based method assures that customers who have disabled auto-play sound will still comprehend what the video is about without hearing a single peep. In fact, Facebook discovered that captioned video advertisements boosted viewing time by 12 percent when compared to non-captioned video ads. It would also be hugely helpful to include text or captions for hearing impaired Facebook users, to acknowledge their needs.


6. Optimize Your Copy

Content optimization is the process of making sure content is written in such a way that it can reach the largest possible target audience. The process of optimizing content should include making sure associated keywords are present, adding meta and title tags, and relevant links.


7. Post at the Right Time

Tracking analytics is the best way to figure out when to post videos on Facebook. One should be able to deduce patterns from these as to when the audience interacts with the content. As per recent data, the best times to post are Wednesday at 11 am and 1 pm. The best overall day is Wednesday and the most consistent engagement on weekdays is from 9 am–3 pm.


8. Determine Best Length

The ideal length for Facebook posts should be shorter, which makes it possible to receive more likes, comments, and shares on Facebook. People like it when a message makes its point quickly and concisely. It’s satisfying! The easiest way to figure out what length of video the audience likes best is by studying analytics. Fortunately, Facebook’s backend provides plenty of detail, by showing how long viewers spent watching the videos and how many of them viewed.


9. Stream Live Videos

Using Facebook Live, one can be able to generate engagement and shares in real time while also building a more direct relationship with the audience. Live videos are ripe with an opportunity for increasing watch time. For example, Social Media Examiner discovered that going live more frequently on Facebook generated more exposure and views on its non-live content.


10. Create Playlists

Playlists allow several videos together in one place, resulting in a more organized Facebook page as well as a greater chance for users to discover new content to watch. People can create different playlists for different topics, shows, or categories. Making the audience’s video discovery process easier increases the likelihood that they will stick around to watch and engage with more content.



Facebook Video Watch Time booms year-over-year. We know that the public is hungry for more live content, and we can help you create a hit approach to satisfy this call for on social media channels.