You probably have heard the buzz about Facebook’s new feature called GRAPH SEARCH that will be rolling out in the U.S. the first part of 2013. Basically Graph Search is a search engine that is focused on your page “Likes” and your connections. The upside of graph search is for business pages who now have a bigger opportunity of being found and engaging with new people.
Here is what you should know about Facebook Graph Search and how it will benefit your business
1. How Facebook Social Graph Works
Graph Search is all about being found and because it is a search engine what you include in your profile matters and remember it is just another way to be found.
As an example when someone “likes” your page on Facebook, and friends can search for “friends who like <insert your type of business here>,” their connections’ “likes” will appear in the Graph Search results. “What the end user will see are results and suggestions based on the business’s association with their wider Facebook social network. For example, the results for a restaurant will be prioritized by whether a user’s friends have visited or “like” the business, instead of sorted by overall number of likes according to Marketing Consultant Mark Hayward.”
2. It’s time to update your pages
If you are new and don’t have a business page yet, create a name that is searchable in terms of including the city where your business is located. This is especially important if you have a brick & mortar business location that people can use the Facebook “Check-in” feature. The first word in the page title is what comes up first in a search. If you do have this type of business, be sure you set your page up with the “local business or place category” and list your physical location.
3. What are you about?
Be sure that you About section includes your web address and a description of what you do? Have you included important keywords that search engines will like? You can also add additional key words in the Mission and Description sections. In the description section this is your chance to put in all the details of your business including when you started and the evolution of the business & services you provide.
4. Increase your engagement & sharing
It is important to know that Facebook is still about sharing good content, that is what gets you more “Likes”. With that said, it is important must be things that people will want to share such as photos, videos, statistics and anything valuable about your industry. Graph search will looks for people and pages that share content, have check-in’s, are tagged and basically pages that are being engaged.
Remember, links get the lowest visibility which tells you it’s really about the conversation.
5. Get the most out of your business page by utilizing the TABS
Remember posts on your page only last so long unless you are constantly pinning a post to the top of your page. That’s why it is important to utilize the TABS under the cover image. You can strategically use these TABS to drive your visitors to more detailed information about your business. perhaps a special offer, a sign up for your email list, a contest, a menu of your services – anything. Be creative and make TABS work for you.
6. The 20% Text Cover Photo Rule
Cover images can enhance your brand dramatically and is a creative way to share your brand messaging. I change mine from time to time just for the fun of it. Facebook has a new 20% rule that they will be enforcing and it says that text cannot take up more than 20% of your image space otherwise you are in violation of the rule. Again, Facebook is promoting images!
>>>If you need help creating a custom Facebook Timeline graphic or content for your TABS – we can help.
