Improve organic reach on Facebook | Manage your Facebook Distribution Score with a Virtual Assistant

The Facebook Distribution Score is a metric that Facebook assigns to each of your Facebook posts. The higher the score, the more organic reach your post achieves, so it’s important to understand what are the driving factors behind this score in order to improve your page’s organic reach and performance. 

Once you start understanding the factors that contribute to the Distribution Score, your Facebook Virtual Assistant should consider these factors when carrying out the following Virtual Assistant tasks:

• Designing Facebook posts 
• Writing Facebook captions 
• Uploading and scheduling Facebook images, videos and text posts 
• Managing your Facebook inbox
• Engaging with Facebook comments and reviews 
• Conducting Facebook competitor research 

Watch our latest YouTube video below for a quick overview or keep reading this blog article if you want a deeper dive into everything we know about Facebook’s Distribution Score.

Where can I find my Facebook Distribution Score? 

1. Login to your Creator Studio and select ‘Content Library’ ‘
2. Select ‘Posts’ and look at the ‘Distribution‘ column to the right of Details. 

This is where you can view the Distribution Scores attributed to your social media posts. Hover over the Facebook Distribution score to open a pop-up window with more details about what metrics have had the biggest impact on this score. 

In the example above, you’ll see that this particular post performed well because of the following:

• 25x more comments
• 1.5x more average view time 
• 7.9x more reactions

This is extremely useful information for your Facebook Virtual Assistant to add into your Weekly or Monthly Facebook Reports so that you can keep track of the following:

• Post with the highest Distribution Score and why
• Post with the lowest Distribution Score and why

How does the Facebook Distribution Score work? 

Facebook calculates content-type specific Facebook Distribution Scores to your posts. That means that there is a separate calculation for the following Facebook post types:

• Video Posts
• Image Posts
• Text Posts
• Link Shares

The Distribution Score given to each type of Facebook post is calculated based on the average of the last 100 posts in the same category.  

E.g. The Facebook Distribution Score on your Video Posts are calculated based on the last 100 video posts you’ve published on your page. 

Facebook also evenly compares the score based on your publish times. 

E.g If you’re checking the Facebook Distribution Score of an image that has been published for 1 day, you will see a score based on the average of your previous 100 images published according to their performance after being published for 1 day too. 

But what are the key driving factors that make up the Facebook Distribution score? Well, here’s what Facebook tells us…

Facebook Video Posts

• Audience Retention: The average amount of minutes your viewers spent watching the video
• 1 min Views: The number of times your video was watched for longer than a minute.
• Reactions: The number of likes and reactions on your video 
• Comments: The number of comments on your video 
• Shares: The number of times your video was shared 

Photo, Text and Link Facebook posts

• Impressions: The number of times your content has appeared on someone’s screen (it can appear multiple times to 1 viewer)
• Reactions: The number of likes and reactions on your post 
• Comments: The number of comments on your post
• Shares: The number of times your post was shared 
• Content clicks: The number of times links in your content were clicked that led to an external page

After reading these key factors, you might be thinking to yourself “That’s easy! I’ll just ask people for more likes and comments on my Facebook Posts” BUT Facebook has also made it very clear that posts that are deemed to be ‘clickbait’ will be punished in their algorithm, so there is actually a fine line between what you can and can’t do to improve your Facebook Distribution Score.

How do I improve my Facebook Distribution Score? 

To improve your Facebook Distribution Score, it’s advised by Facebook to compare your highest-performing posts to your lowest so that you can come up with a list of all the elements that engage your audience. 

Once you’ve figured out exactly what it is that makes your content work, apply this to your future content and keep your eye on your Facebook Distribution Score to see if it improves. So basically, it’s all a matter of testing and seeing what sticks! 

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start, let us guide you through our top 4 tips and how your Facebook Virtual Assistant can help: 

1. Check your Distribution Checklist

Hidden inside your Facebook Video Post analytics is a ‘Distribution Checklist’ that contains a list of things you can do to improve your score.

1. 1. When you’re logged into Creator Studio click on  ‘Content Library’
   2. Next to the title of your post, select the 3 dots and click on ‘View Insights’

3. You’ll then be taken to a dashboard, on the right hand side, you’ll see a section called ‘Distribution Checklist’ 

E.g For this video post, we only satisfied 1 out of the 4 criteria that contribute to a good Distribution Score (highlighted below)

This tells us that we’ve got our work cut out for us in order to tick everything off the list! Because some of the most basic ways to improve the Distribution Score for a video post includes: 

• 3min+ Video: Facebook generally recommends uploading videos that are at least 3 mins in length that inspire people to continue watching. If your video hits that 1min watch time mark, it’s going to improve your Distribution Score. 
• Description: Always include a video description to give your audience some context. This is something your Facebook Virtual Assistant can create for you. 
• Tags: When uploading your Facebook Videos, your Facebook Virtual Assistant should add at least 7 video tags relating to the topic/industry in order to allow Facebook to categorise your videos to reach more viewers organically. 
• Captions: Always assume that viewers are watching your video with the sound turned off, this means that your Facebook Virtual Assistant should either switch on the automated subtitles or add captions to all your video posts. 

In addition to the above checklist, here are some other organic factors that have also proven to contribute the Facebook Distribution Score:

• Video Thumbnail: Even though auto-play happens in the Facebook feed, don’t be reliant on this feature. Instead, your Facebook Virtual Assistant can design an eye-catching video thumbnail for each of your video posts.
  
  Video thumbnails will also show up when users search for a specific video
  E.g Here are the search results for ‘How to create a Facebook Ad’ which video are you most likely to click on? The videos with a thumbnail or without?

• Video Optimisation: When your Facebook Virtual Assistant uploads your videos to Facebook, in addition to adding your video title, captions and thumbnails, there’s also a section for ‘Optimization’
  

This allows your Facebook Virtual Assistant to select the option of optimizing your video size to either 1:1 or 4:5 dimensions. 

If you’re uploading a square video, select the 1:1, whereas vertical videos should be in 4:5. Once this is enabled, your video will then be able to take up maximum real estate on the screen when someone views your content or scrolls past it in their feed.

• Posting videos consistently: Publishing a regular series of video content can encourage your viewers to return for new episodes. So if you’re planning to release a new video on a certain schedule, mention it in your video or caption and your Facebook Virtual Assistant can also: 
  • Create a regular Facebook Video Posting schedule 
  • Create a series for your Facebook Videos
  • Promote your upcoming videos by sharing teaser and promo posts
• Posting your own unique video content: Originality plays a huge role in Facebook’s overall algorithm. While it’s okay to share repurposed content every now and then, you’ll also need to come up with your own video content for your different social media channels. Otherwise, repurposing too many videos will indicate to Facebook that you’re lacking originality and your posts can be demoted as a result.
  

All of this is important information to share with your Facebook Virtual Assistant so that they can help you incorporate these elements into your Facebook Video Posts and content schedule.

2. Review your Facebook Captions

Like we mentioned earlier, there is a fine line between what you can and can’t do when it comes to Facebook captions. Here’s a summary of our findings to pass onto your Facebook Virtual Assistant:

3. Stay engaged with your audience 

Remember that your Facebook audience is not looking for a Facebook pitch, instead, they’re looking for valuable tips, entertainment and genuine interactions from other pages. These connections can’t be made without staying active and engaged with your audience. Here’s how your Facebook Virtual Assistant can help:

• Interact directly with your audience: In addition to responding to Facebook Direct Messages as quickly as possible, your Facebook Virtual Assistant will also need to be an active contributor to comments and discussions in the comments section of your post. This includes: 
  • Responding to post comments 
  • Leaving a comment on a shared post to thank the author for sharing your original post 
  • Using a more conversational and approachable tone to avoid being flagged as spam or a bot.
• Publish bonus content: In between your regularly scheduled social media calendar, add the element of surprise by sharing bonus content with your fans. This includes: 
  • Sharing topical content/news to show that you’re up to date with industry trends 
  • Going live on your page and interacting directly with fans 
  • Sharing behind the scenes content as it’s happening
    

• Don’t participate in sharing schemes or engagement pods: Facebook, like every other social media platform, is cracking down on engagement pods.

What are they? Well engagement pods are private groups of people that take turns sharing links to their latest social media posts so that group members can instantly share, like and comment on the post and trick the algorithm.

We highly advise that you and your Facebook Virtual Assistant to steer clear of these groups because your business page can be penalised if suspicious activity is detected. 

4. Analyse your data

Numbers don’t lie! And that’s also a reminder to regularly check your Facebook Insights and analyse what exactly is working for you. Here are some metrics to analyse that can help you improve your organic Facebook reach and engagement:

• Analyse what post types are working well for you: It’s important to learn from what type of content is already working for your page. So let’s take a look at your top post types!
  

1. Head to your Facebook Business Page 
2. In the ‘Manage Page’ section on the left, select ‘Insights’ 
3. Select ‘Posts’
4. Select ‘Post Types’

Here, you’ll find a list of different post types based on what has performed well in terms of average reach and engagement. 

Whichever post type is working better for you, ask your Facebook Virtual Assistant to prioritise this content on your most popular days in your content schedule.

It’s also a good idea for your Facebook Virtual Assistant to check on this data at least monthly, to keep track of any trends that may be worth incorporating into your Facebook strategy.

• Analyse what post types are working well for ‘Pages You Watch’: After taking a look at the posts that work well for your page, you should alsolook at what your competitors are up to for additional content ideas too. 

1. Head to your Facebook Business Page 
2. In the ‘Manage Page’ section on the left, select ‘Insights’ 
3. Select ‘Posts’
4. Select ‘Top Posts from Pages You Watch’

If you’re not watching any pages, now is the time to start! Select ‘Add Pages’ and think about which other Facebook Business Pages in your industry are worth adding to your watch list. This can include:

• Direct competitors 
• Pages with a high engagement rate 
• Aspirational Facebook Business Pages 

If you’re not sure which Facebook Business Pages to add, you can ask your Facebook Virtual Assistant to come up with a shortlist by dedicating some time to Facebook research. 

Once you’ve started watching a few Facebook Business Pages, check this data weekly to see what types of posts are performing well in terms of reactions, comments and shares on these pages and incorporate these ideas into your own Facebook content calendar. 

• Review when your fans are online: Something that you or your Facebook Virtual Assistant should also check at least monthly is ‘When Your Fans Are Online’
  

1. Head to your Facebook Business Page 
2. In the ‘Manage Page’ section on the left, select ‘Insights’ 
3. Select ‘Posts’
4. Select ‘When Your Fans Are Online’
   

What you should be looking for here is:

• What are the top days when your fans are online 
• What are the peak hours when your fans are online

This data will tell you when to prioritise your most important content and what time to schedule your posts to get the most reach and engagement. Your Facebook Virtual Assistant will be able to incorporate this data into your social media schedule. 

It’s also important to pay attention to the time of day you’re posting and what type of content is being shared that day.
E.g When you’re sharing a post on Friday, leave the serious corporate talk for another day and share something more lighthearted and humorous if you can! This will gear your audience into the weekend.

• Pay attention to your top videos: Take a look at the types of videos that perform well on your page and note any common patterns or topics that perform well with your audience.
  

1. Head to your Creator Studio
2. Navigate to ‘Insights’ 
3. Select ‘Videos’ > ‘Performance’ 
4. Scroll to the ‘Top Videos’ section 

• Pay attention to where your video views are dropping off:  It’s also important to see at which point your audience stops watching your videos and note any common patterns or topics that perform well with your audience.
  

1. Head to your Creator Studio
2. Navigate to ‘Insights’ 
3. Select ‘Videos’ > ‘Retention’
4. Select the video you would like to analyse

In this ‘Audience Retention’ section, there will be information about where your viewers dropped off. Note this down and re-watch your video to see if you notice any details that would cause your audience to lose interest.

This is also a great opportunity to look at the videos that have a good retention rate and analyse all the factors that are working. This might include things like:

• Your video intro was short, sharp and straight to the point 
• You’ve mentioned a call-to-action in the video to keep viewers watching all the way through 
• The video content was entertaining from the get-go

Beat your best Facebook Distribution Score

Overall, your Facebook Distribution Score is relative to your Business Page’s typical performance, so instead of comparing your score to another page’s, your goal should be to continually beat your own best score! 

So work with your Facebook Virtual Assistant to regularly analyse and improve your engagement and reach.