Facebook has introduced a new feature called Graph Search, which allows users to search for people or businesses using natural language queries (such as "What restaurants in Houston do my friends like?"). Though it is currently undergoing beta testing, and therefore is only available to a few hundred thousand of Facebook's one billion users, its potential impact on Internet marketing is quite intriguing.
What is Graph Search?
Graph Search greatly expands upon Facebook's existing (and very limited) search feature, effectively turning it into a social media version of Google.It does not work exactly like a traditional search engine, though. For starters, it is focused on indexing and searching through Facebook pages, not the entire World Wide Web. Instead of links, it uses social interactions, such as "likes" and friendships, to determine which pages are most relevant and should be listed higher in the results. And it mostly deals with clearly-defined categories and connections. If you search for "Pictures of people I went to school with," Graph Search will:
- Look at its index of photos.
- Identify every person who lists the same school on their profile that you have listed on yours.
- Cross-reference those two lists to find which photos are tagged with those people.
An item will be listed in the search results only if it meets all three criteria.
What Graph Search Means for You
It is clear that Facebook sees Graph Search as a major part of its future, having stated that it will be a new "third pillar" of the site (with the other two being News Feed and Timeline). And it seems likely that Graph Search is intended to compete with Google; Facebook is second only to Google in terms of web dominance, and it is partnering with Google's direct competitor Bing in developing its search functions.Even if they do not dethrone Google, they could grab a significant chunk of search traffic, and in a way that could be valuable for marketers. Graph Search essentially polls a user's friends to provide recommendations, and it is easy to see how people could value that kind of information when making buying decisions.
So, while Facebook slowly develops this new search tool, there are several things you should do to prepare.
- Improve your Facebook page. If, for whatever reason, you do not yet have a Facebook page for your business, you should almost certainly create one. And you want to optimize the page for this particular type of search engine by making your location, business type, products and services crystal-clear.
- Increase interactions. You want to get more people to like your page, leave recommendations and comment on or share your posts. Such interactions will be seen as votes for determining search rankings.
- Use photos and video. Each one represents a different search category, and you want to be included in all searches.
- Tag everything. Tag both people and locations that appear in your posts, and encourage people to check in when they visit your business (or you visit them). That way, you will appear in searches that specify a particular location or ask about friends' activities.
No one yet knows what the full impact of Graph Search will be, but by preparing now, you can be well-positioned to utilize Facebook to grow your business.
*Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
