Even in our technology driven society, one of the most powerful forms of generating new business is word of mouth. The recommendation of a trusted friend or family member is a highly valued contribution to those looking for something new, whether it is simply a game, movie, band, restaurant or something as critical as a physician. One of the most common requests from a business is simply to ‘tell your friends.’

Blogs, Facebook posts and Twitter updates extolling the virtue of a product or service has helped slightly in bringing the power of ‘word of mouth’ to the digital age, but a simple way to consolidate the information into something that you could glance at and have results from many friends at once was merely a dream. You could ask for input from your social channels, but that would depend on who saw your post and felt inclined to respond. Graph Search, the newest product from Facebook, has the potential to change all that.

Get Friend Recommendations, Without Asking

You might have already noticed that Facebook tells you when a particular friend likes a page. Their photo appears on the page itself to indicate that you have a friend there, and sometimes you’ll see it noted in ads or timeline posts as well. Graph Search takes this to the next level, and puts you in control of the results you’re looking for right now.

If you’re looking for a new restaurant to visit you will be able to simply search for “restaurants my friends have liked” or “restaurants my friends have been to.” If you’re getting too many results you can specify a particular city. Facebook will present search results that take into account the activity of your friends, giving an answer that is personalized to you. You’ll see how many friends have liked a particular restaurant, and can even narrow the results to a single friend if you desire. No more visiting multiple friends’ timelines to view their ‘likes’ list and comparing the results.

What does this mean for my social media campaign?

If you’re thinking that this new search feature will relieve some of the work of actively maintaining a social media presence, then now is the time to dispel that thought. Rather, the introduction of Graph Search should propel you to strengthen social media efforts.

A web search is dependent on keywords, content and other data that is processed in the black box of the search engine ranking algorithms. In comparison, the Social Search is highly dependent on the circle of friends and influencers. What this means is that in order to show as a relevant result to people looking for you, then their friends must have liked your page or possibly been to your business. The more people who are actively participating with your brand on social media will increase the chances that you will be visible when another person starts looking for you.

Steps you can take now to improve your visibility include:

1. Have a Page – If you don’t already have one, then you should establish a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook pages are going to be the cornerstone of building your presence in the Social Search.
2. Encourage Your Customers – Make sure that your customers know where they can find your business on social media. Encourage them to ‘like’ your page for updates or special offers, and ask them to ‘check-in’ when they visit.
3. Be Socially Active – Keep in the forefront of the minds of your customers. Once they’ve liked your page, give them a reason to keep liking you. Giveaways, quizzes, photos or just regular updates are fantastic means of keeping an engaged audience. People who are happy and like what you have to offer are more likely to share your posts or recommend you to friends.

We Can Help

If you’re looking for assistance in starting, growing or maintaining your social media presence we can help. Social Media Pathways is Santa Fe’s premier social media marketing company. We assist clients with a range of options from Facebook and Twitter updates and monitoring, to blogs, email, SMS messages SEO and more. We can create your online presence and give you peace of mind to focus on other aspects of your business.