Although not available to the public quite yet, Facebook Graph Search page, is creating quite the stir among social media marketing. The highly anticipated development has created both positive and negative feedback by those who have already used it. Lucky me, I was actually able to test it out for a couple minutes on a friend’s Facebook page who already switched over. Let me tell you, it took searching on Facebook to a whole new level. I won’t get into the logistics behind it, but rather explain how your brand could possibly benefit from it in the social world.
Mr. Facebook himself, Zuckerberg, explains that Facebook Graph Search, still in its beta stage, provides users with an alternative search tool. Unlike Google and Bing, Facebook Graph Search’s yields results only through that user’s social connections. Facebook says that this will produce more relevant results since information is coming from the accounts of like-minded individuals with similar interests and likes.
How can this affect your social media marketing strategy? The social media ninjas at Business 2 Community give you the technical version:
First, if Facebook Graph Search boomed and emerged as a total success, the number of “Likes” a Facebook Page has matters because the results are going to be ranked based on this data. Look at “Likes” as if they were inbound links – the more you have, the higher your rank (although post-Penguin, this is not necessarily true).
Social media marketers now need to think of ways on how to get more “Likes” for their pages and when it comes to this, one cannot help but bring up the possibility of businesses creating fake accounts or the possibility of marketers “buying Facebook Likes.”
On a more positive note, Facebook Graph Search can help marketers pin point and explore key demographics based on interests, marketers can use this to get a better insight into the interests and passion points of their key demographics (i.e. a restaurant can gain insight into what kind of music people who love the cuisine they serve like).
With the way that people consume information online, not just through search engines but through social media, it is important for all social media marketers to pay close attention and take advantage of where this development is going.
Have you tried Facebook Graph Search? What are your thoughts?
-Mary Dagher, Digital Media Specialist
