FACEBOOK DISTRIBUTION SCORE: KEY TO SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS
As of July 2021, Facebook, the leader of all social media platforms, according to Statista.com. To be a successful the social media space, is all about posting the right information, the right photo, the right message is an indicator of your performance. Usually this is done by a professional, who has learned the technology of the platforms, but also has a basis in digital marketing. As of late, more and more non-professionals or business owners, have decided to take on this role.
Before starting, it is important to understand some of the tools that are available, especially on Facebook, with its 2.85 billion monthly active users. One of those tools is called “Distribution Score“. It is a judge on what posts are successful and what posts are not..from Facebook’s point of view.
But what is this metric that dares to judge the quality and popularity of a post? Is it not just how many likes a post gets? Or any reaction at all? The rude awaking, for most page owners, is No…
What is the Facebook Distribution Score?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of distribution is “the action of sharing something out among a number of recipients.” So it would make sense that the Facebook distribution score is mainly calculated based on organic impressions.
The Facebook Distribution Score, is a quick way for anyone to see whether or not a post is performing well.
The Facebook Distribution Score is a quick way for anyone to see whether their post are performing well. If a post gets a positive distribution score (+) , it means it is outperforming other recent posts on your page. This does not mean that other posts didn’t connect with people, rather, it is an indicator that this post is not as appealing to the page’s audience. The good news is, that the distribution score will help you find out what subjects do work.
A steady stream of positive distribution scores will indicate that your content is consistently growing at a rate higher than before…that is the goal. To grow interest in your page, your product, your service or your message. When it comes to social media, the longevity of your content is extremely important and viral content, helps kick-start the momentum you need to make lasting impressions.
In the sample below, you see two examples. One post is beautiful, but the audience of this page, does not have any interest as compared to other previous posts. Where as, the next post, caused a large engagement for this particular audience.
What is the difference? It is not always about the perfect picture, or even the message you are trying to promote, but rather the subject and engagement factor, that the audience can relate to.
Audiences will frequently surprise you.
Audiences will frequently surprise you. What you think they would be interested in, is frequently not. Using the distribution score, will help you determine, what content your audience is most interested in. Thus creating a following and achieving one part of your marketing KPI goals. More on KPI later.
Review the 2 posts below. They are on the same page. They have the same audience. So why is the distribution score so different? Relate-ability and interactivity. One is nice picture..but is it memorable to the viewer? The other engaged the audience with some industry based humor. Which do you think has a greatly likelihood to be shared and your page’s name with it.
This is the power of the Distribution Score. To know what your audience likes and what it does not.
Facebook Post Sample
Why Does the Facebook Distribution Score Exist?
Facebook is a huge library of metric data. Using it’s metrics resources can help you decide whether or not your social media efforts are reaching it’s goals.
But why did Facebook design a new metric? There is no definite answer. One possibility is that with the growth of new online businesses, many of the Facebook business pages are run by non-specialists aka non-social media professionals. They are small business owners, campaigns or others who may not have the resources to hire a professional. Thus, the Facebook Distribution Score, is a easy to use tool, used to assist both the Social Media Manager and the page owner.
And it is not just a raw cold number…..if you want to know why a score was reported as it was, you can view the in-depth data set for the score, by clicking on the score itself. A pop-up box will appear showing you a breakdown of the metrics that fall under the distribution summary.
For the post above, you can see the reasoning for the score below.
The three categories that determine the Facebook Distribution Score are:
- Post Impressions, or how many times your post is viewed.
- Post Clicks, or how many times the photo, link or profile was clicked on.
- Reactions, or how many people liked and reacted to the post.
How Can I Use the Facebook Distribution Score?
Distribution score is a powerful tool. But it shouldn’t be the only basis of your marketing goals. Rather, the metrics that Facebook calculates for the distribution score, should be the starting point of developing your marketing campaigns. It is a clue, to who likes your product, service or message.
Thus the strategy of a marketing campaign can be formed.
STEP 1: Know what type of person you want to reach
STEP 2: Form you KPI’s
First mandatory step is you must know WHO your audience is or WHO you want to reach. You can not evaluate success, unless you know who the audience is. From there, setting goals for your company’s social media efforts is the second step. You will need to generate some indicative analytics, that will be used as a measure of success. These stats are called KPIs, ( key performance indicators). KPIs can be based on impressions, follows, engagements, or anything that you can measure over time. Distributions scores are just one indicator.
A few examples of goals and their corresponding KPIs would be:
Goal #1: To increase my company’s brand awareness in the 25-45 age group.
KPI: Increase post impressions.
Goal #2: To build a loyal following of the page.
KPI: Increase follower count.
Goal #3: Start conversations, where your audience shares your product/service.
KPI: Increase engagements.
With your goals established and your KPI’s outlined, you can use your Facebook Distribution score as a supplement to your analytical strategy.
Over a pre-determined evaluation period, you can record how certain posts have performed and repurposed them into your future efforts. A model I like to use is the 70/20/10 model, which is where 70% of the content you post is proven to work, 20% is content that needs to be revised, and 10% is content that is new and experimental. The Facebook distribution score provides a quick way to categorize these posts into their respective percentage placeholders.
It is key point to understand that this process is not a do-it-once event.
It is key point to understand that this process is not a do-it-once event. A successful Social media Manager, will constantly reevaluate the results. Revising, updating and re-evaluating the product/service. Mangers must also keep in mind, that Facebook’s algorithm for Distribution Score, is also a service in flux. Thus you will need to keep up on the changes in the technology, as well as the results of your findings.
The social media process is a never ending task.
The social media process is a never ending task. Especially given, the definition of social media as a quick, current event system. Thus to keep your product or service in front of interested humans, requires continual application and effort.
Debbie Kurth
CEO & Technical Director of Multimedia Designs, LLC, System Designer, Developer, Producer with 15+ years in the internet design and development space and 25+ years in the Software Development for the entertainment industry. Winner of the prestigious International Themed Entertainment Association award for interactive design. She holds a degree in Computer Engineering & Mathematics from California State University, Long Beach.
MultiMedia Designs, LLC
Digital Design & Technology Company
Office: +1.818.272.0819
Email: multimediadesignsllc@gmail.com
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