How to Get More Views on Facebook

Posting on Facebook and getting next to no views can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you pour your energy into creating great content. If you feel like your posts are getting lost in the noise, you're not alone. This guide will walk you through practical, results-driven strategies to boost your Facebook views and get your content in front of more people.

Understanding the Facebook Algorithm in 2024

Before you can get more views, you need a basic understanding of what Facebook’s algorithm currently favors. Long gone are the days of text and link posts dominating the feed. Today, it’s all about creating experiences that keep people on the platform.

Facebook is a Discovery Engine

Meta is aggressively shifting Facebook from a simple social network of friends and family into a "discovery engine," much like TikTok. This means the algorithm is increasingly recommending content from accounts you don't follow. For creators, this is a massive opportunity. Your primary goal is no longer just to serve your existing followers, it's to create content so engaging that Facebook's AI shows it to millions of new people.

It's All About Retention

The single most important metric for gaining views is watch time and audience retention. If someone watches your video for only a few seconds before scrolling, Facebook interprets this as a low-quality signal and stops showing it to others. But if viewers watch most or all of your video, especially if they re-watch it, Facebook sees it as high-value content and pushes it to a wider audience. Your mission is to hold attention from the first second to the last.

Strategies to Create High-Performing Facebook Videos

The foundation of getting more views is creating better, more engaging content. No amount of optimization will save a boring video. Here’s how to make content people actually want to watch.

Master the Hook (The First 3 Seconds)

You have less than three seconds to convince someone to stop scrolling. If you fail here, nothing else matters. Your opening needs to be powerful, intriguing, or visually jarring. Don't waste time with slow intros, lengthy branding, or generic greetings.

Actionable Hook Formulas:

• Start with the Punchline: Show the most exciting, shocking, or satisfying part of the video right at the start, then spend the rest of the video explaining how you got there.
• Pose a Bold Question: "What if I told you that you've been cooking pasta wrong your whole life?" This creates immediate curiosity.
• Make a Big Promise: "By the end of this video, you will know exactly how to get your first 100 paid clients." Viewers will stick around for the promised value.
• Start in the Middle of the Action: No introductions. Just jump right into whatever activity you're doing.

Prioritize Facebook Reels and Vertical Video

Facebook is heavily pushing Reels in its effort to compete with TikTok and YouTube Shorts. The platform gives organic reach priority to this short-form video format. If you aren't creating Reels, you're leaving a massive number of views on the table.

Always shoot and edit your videos in a vertical format (9:16 aspect ratio). This fills the entire mobile screen, making your content more immersive and minimizing distractions. Square videos (1:1) are also effective for the main feed, but vertical is non-negotiable for Reels.

Design for Sound-Off Viewing

While sound is essential for Reels, studies consistently show that a significant percentage of videos in the Facebook feed are watched with the sound off. If your video relies entirely on audio to make sense, you'll lose a huge portion of your potential audience.

How to Optimize for Muted Playback:

• Use Bold On-Screen Text: Add text overlays that highlight key points, just like you see in popular short-form videos. This keeps viewers engaged and helps them follow along without audio.
• Subtitles are a Must: Facebook can auto-generate captions, but they're often inaccurate. For best results, burn stylized, easy-to-read captions directly into your video using a video editor. This not only helps sound-off viewers but also improves accessibility.
• Tell a Visual Story: Your video's visuals should be compelling enough to tell the story on their own. Think dynamic movement, engaging subject matter, and clear shots.

Optimizing Your Facebook Posts for Maximum Reach

Once you have a great video, you need to package it correctly. The way you draft your caption, use keywords, and time your post can significantly impact its initial performance.

Write a Caption That Sparks Conversation

Your caption's job is to stop the scroll and encourage engagement. Your video hooks the viewer, but the caption provides context and a reason to interact. More comments and shares tell the algorithm that your post is worth boosting. For more tips on crafting effective messages, consider our guide on how to write engaging Facebook posts.

Tips for Better Captions:

• Keep it short and punchy. Lead with the most important line.
• Ask a direct question related to the video to prompt comments. For example, if your video is about baking a cake, ask, "What's the one dessert you could never get tired of?"
• Use formatting like line breaks to make the caption easier to read.
• End with a clear call-to-action (CTA). This could be asking people to share their thoughts, tag a friend, or share the video.

Find Your Best Time to Post

While the perfect "universal" time to post is a myth, there is a best time for your specific audience. This is when your followers are most active and likely to engage with your content. The first hour after you post is especially important, as strong initial engagement signals to the algorithm that the post is a winner.

How do you find your best time? Go to your Facebook Page, navigate to Meta Business Suite, then click on Insights >, Audience. You’ll find a chart showing the days and hours when your followers are most active online. Experiment with posting a bit before these peak times and see what happens.

Note: What's more important than posting at the *perfect* time is posting new content consistently. Pick a schedule you can stick to, whether it's three times a week or once a day.

Use Hashtags Strategically

Hashtags on Facebook aren't as powerful as on Instagram or TikTok, but they still play a role in content discovery. Using them helps Facebook categorize your video and show it to people interested in those specific topics.

Hashtag Best Practices:

• Aim for 3-5 relevant hashtags. Don't clutter your post with 20 irrelevant tags.
• Use a mix of broad and niche tags. For example, a video about home-baking tips could use #Baking (broad), #HomeBaking (specific), and #ChocolateCakeRecipe (niche).
• Avoid overly popular hashtags like #foryou or #viral, as your content will get lost in millions of other posts.

Activating Your Community to Boost Views

Getting views isn't just about what you post, it's also about what you do after you post. Community engagement and smart distribution can turn a post with mediocre reach into one with a ton of views.

Interact With Every Comment

When someone takes the time to leave a comment, reward them with a reply. This does two brilliant things:

1. It Doubles Your Comment Count: One comment becomes two. Higher comment counts are a strong positive signal to the algorithm.
2. It Builds Community: Responding to comments makes your followers feel seen and valued, encouraging them to interact again in the future. Try to ask a follow-up question in your reply to keep the conversation going.

Share Your Content in Relevant Groups

Facebook Groups are one of the most underutilized distribution channels available. Find active groups where your target audience hangs out and share your video there. However, you must do this thoughtfully to avoid being marked as a spammer.

How to Share in Groups the Right Way:

• Read the Rules First: Many groups have strict rules about self-promotion. Make sure you're allowed to share videos or links.
• Provide Value, Don't Just Promote: Be an active member of the group before you start posting your own content. Answer questions and engage with other members.
• Frame Your Post Natively: Don't just dump a link. When you share your video, add a custom description explaining why it's valuable specifically for that group. Start a conversation within the group itself.

Consider a Modest Ad Spend

While organic reach is the goal, sometimes a small, strategic ad spend can provide the initial momentum a great video needs. You can "Boost a post" for as little as $10-$20 to get it in front of a targeted audience. If the post gains traction from this initial paid push, the algorithm is more likely to pick it up and promote it organically for free.

Think of it not as "paying for views," but as "paying for initial data." The right ad campaign can help Facebook quickly find the perfect audience for your video.

Final Thoughts

Getting more views on Facebook isn't about finding a single secret hack, it's about consistently applying a solid strategy. It starts with creating high-retention videos that people find valuable, optimizing how you post them, actively engaging your community, and adapting based on what works. Stay patient, be persistent, and focus on delivering genuine value.

Of course, putting all these pieces together and juggling a busy content calendar without the right systems can be a real headache. As marketers ourselves, we became frustrated with old-school tools that were clunky, unreliable, and not built for the modern, video-centric social world. That’s why we built Postbase. Our goal is to give you a simple, intuitive platform to visually plan, schedule, and analyze your content across all platforms - especially the short-form video that drives real growth today.

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