Facebook Graph Search
The Pros and Cons of Facebook Graph Search for Businesses
Facebook’s recently released Graph Search is a far more intuitive search engine than the old Facebook search. When a search term is entered, “Frozen Fire,” for example, users can search photos of Frozen Fire, pages about Frozen Fire, friends who like Frozen Fire, people who like Frozen Fire, and more.
The powerful new Facebook search provides more opportunities for businesses to be found online. But there are also negative implications for brands. Here are some of the pros and cons of Graph Search for businesses and brands.
Pros of Facebook Graph Search for Brands and Businesses:
- Local businesses can be discovered quickly and easily when a user searches a specific business, business type, or specific location.
- Companies that sell a certain product can also be found more easily because users can now search: “pizza places my friends like;” “video production companies my friends like;” hail repair services near me;” and, “emergency vet services” (for example).
- Target a specific audience by searching for specific people who like something.
Cons of Facebook Graph Search for Brands and Businesses
- Unless your company location and information is clearly spelled out on your page, you may miss out on high rankings in search results.
- Graph Search makes the connection between people and the brands they like. This feature may associate your brand with people you’d rather not be associated with.
- Similarly to the previous point, if employees are not conservative about what they post on Facebook, and their page indicates that they work at your company, Graph Search will link these employees to your brand, which could affect your brand reputation negatively.
How to Get the Most Out of Graph Search
As a business owner or marketing executive, you want to ensure that accurate and relevant information about your brand is posted on your business page, including your location and contact information. Take time to complete the description and “about” portions of your page — doing so will benefit the company by creating higher rank results with Graph Search.
If you or your employees or team members leverage your personal Facebook profiles for professional purposes, be loose with your privacy settings. But be mindful about what you post, keeping in mind that virtually anyone can see your posts and photos. Comments and photos about industry news are a plus; comments and photos about last night’s happy hour are not.
Graph Search makes it very simple for people to search anything you’ve ever shared on Facebook. If your Facebook profile is strictly for personal use, set your privacy settings high in order to control what is shared publicly, and what others will see in search results. If you have concerns about privacy with Graph Search, check out the Graph Search page on Facebook for tips on how to adjust your personal privacy settings.
It’s important to note that privacy settings do not carry over to brand pages you manage. Companies do have control over who can post on their page, and whether or not posts or photos shared by fans appear publicly on their pages. To adjust these settings, click “Edit Page” > “Edit Settings.”
If you are concerned that employees might be tainting your brand’s reputation online, do a quick search of people who like your brand name, or people who work for your brand. If you don’t like what you see, it might be time to implement a social media policy for your company. After all, you do not want what your employees choose to post on Facebook to affect your brand’s reputation.
The bottom line: Facebook Graph Search is far more powerful than the old Facebook search. Spend some time using the tool to familiarize yourself with how it works.
Frozen Fire is a Dallas internet marketing and video production company that helps companies harness the most powerful aspect of modern marketing—the internet—to engage customers in memorable and meaningful ways. Ways that ignite sales and business growth. Contact us to learn how we can help your business.