As Facebook continues rolling out its Graph Search engine more broadly to its user base, it’s time to consider what it can do for your business.
Facebook’s Graph Search aims to make the people, places, photos and other interests posted to the site easier to discover, but for it to succeed it needs to gain access to more data, which might prove to be a challenge.
Keep in mind that consumers visit Facebook for social reasons and do not want their social time interrupted with companies trying to sell to them. It would be taboo in most social settings, so why or would you tolerate a business trying to sell to you while you’re enjoying a nice pint with friends in a bar?
The Graph Search engine however might yet be an answer for the e-commerce industry, if it can change the behavior of users to combine both search and socializing Of course, this would be a delicate balancing act: no hard sell would work in this model but rather as the search results provide better data about the user and their network makes recommendations, a relationship could begin with the user and the recommended merchant or service.
Facebook’s Graph Search will be meaningful for e-commerce when it successfully bridges the gap between search and social and continually retains community referrals without breaching user trust. The real success of Graph Search will require deft management of expectations of e-commerce retailers and the Facebook user experience. Here are some necessary tips for success.
First, what is Facebook Graph Search?
Facebook’s Graph Search is a highly personalized search engine within Facebook that customizes responses to users based on feedback and interests of their social network. Facebook considers their interactions with friends and brands and integrates it to give them what it considers to be most relevant responses.
Unlike normal search engines that can drive response by SEO or product review sites that can be altered and edited by companies for image control; Facebook Graph Search will attempt to build off of our inherent trust of friends’ recommendations. In theory, this means the searcher will get results they can trust.
This is an exciting proposition for e-commerce businesses and should ensure customers get impeccable value, service and quality as compared to competitors could really result in a Search Engine advantage.
How to make it work for your business
Facebook is currently seen as a hangout, so keep that in mind when using Graph Search. Facebook is expecting that there will be a monumental shift in public perception and utilization of the platform, but users are supposed to use it as both a buying search engine and as a networking site.
Keep in mind that the user expectation is still all about social connections and the mere ability to offer targeted commerce does not mean that the user will welcome or positively embrace the new Graph Search features and become more active consumers on Facebook.
Be Warned: Don’t go the way of Yahoo!, Excite, and Lycos
Before Google’s rise, we were inundated with a plethora of search options. Yahoo!, Excite, and Lycos all fell from grace because they forgot what made them meaningful. They lost sight of their roots in search and branched out to force content on the user. We all know how that strategy paid off and history may be repeating itself if users don’t respond to the search feature.
However, any social site needs to reinvent itself to stay relevant and engaging to users. If Facebook users eagerly embrace the new search feature, the relevance of the site and the engagement level of loyal users may be raised. The potential for users to turn to Facebook to explore shopping, dining, or travel ideas based on referrals from their friends can be huge. However, there is concern that Facebook could be losing focus on what made it great – it became popular because it is an awesome social site for friends and colleagues to remain in touch. Facebook will have to be highly skilled in balancing their social community core identity with any new future enhancements or offerings.
Why We Should Still Pay Attention
While Facebook’s current efforts may not pay off, any good business leader acknowledges that they must always have an open mind about a changing business environment by:
• Finding out more about Graph Search’s capabilities and how your business could benefit
• Remembering that the relationships on Facebook are not about boosting sales figures but building a fan base; as the Graph Search feature gains traction, good community management from e-commerce will engage users if the interactions on Facebook are inspiring and activating.
Graph Search is still in its early days, but experience tells me that regardless of the limitations of Facebook, it’s important to pay attention to what’s going on in the social giant. For the near future, the 1 billion users on Facebook are not going anywhere and it is up to business leaders to figure out how and if they should connect with them for commerce or for business conversations.
Facebook’s Graph Search aims to make the people, places, photos and other interests posted to the site easier to discover, but for it to succeed it needs to gain access to more data, which might prove to be a challenge.
Keep in mind that consumers visit Facebook for social reasons and do not want their social time interrupted with companies trying to sell to them. It would be taboo in most social settings, so why or would you tolerate a business trying to sell to you while you’re enjoying a nice pint with friends in a bar?
The Graph Search engine however might yet be an answer for the e-commerce industry, if it can change the behavior of users to combine both search and socializing Of course, this would be a delicate balancing act: no hard sell would work in this model but rather as the search results provide better data about the user and their network makes recommendations, a relationship could begin with the user and the recommended merchant or service.
Facebook’s Graph Search will be meaningful for e-commerce when it successfully bridges the gap between search and social and continually retains community referrals without breaching user trust. The real success of Graph Search will require deft management of expectations of e-commerce retailers and the Facebook user experience. Here are some necessary tips for success.
First, what is Facebook Graph Search?
Facebook’s Graph Search is a highly personalized search engine within Facebook that customizes responses to users based on feedback and interests of their social network. Facebook considers their interactions with friends and brands and integrates it to give them what it considers to be most relevant responses.
Unlike normal search engines that can drive response by SEO or product review sites that can be altered and edited by companies for image control; Facebook Graph Search will attempt to build off of our inherent trust of friends’ recommendations. In theory, this means the searcher will get results they can trust.
This is an exciting proposition for e-commerce businesses and should ensure customers get impeccable value, service and quality as compared to competitors could really result in a Search Engine advantage.
How to make it work for your business
Facebook is currently seen as a hangout, so keep that in mind when using Graph Search. Facebook is expecting that there will be a monumental shift in public perception and utilization of the platform, but users are supposed to use it as both a buying search engine and as a networking site.
Keep in mind that the user expectation is still all about social connections and the mere ability to offer targeted commerce does not mean that the user will welcome or positively embrace the new Graph Search features and become more active consumers on Facebook.
Be Warned: Don’t go the way of Yahoo!, Excite, and Lycos
Before Google’s rise, we were inundated with a plethora of search options. Yahoo!, Excite, and Lycos all fell from grace because they forgot what made them meaningful. They lost sight of their roots in search and branched out to force content on the user. We all know how that strategy paid off and history may be repeating itself if users don’t respond to the search feature.
However, any social site needs to reinvent itself to stay relevant and engaging to users. If Facebook users eagerly embrace the new search feature, the relevance of the site and the engagement level of loyal users may be raised. The potential for users to turn to Facebook to explore shopping, dining, or travel ideas based on referrals from their friends can be huge. However, there is concern that Facebook could be losing focus on what made it great – it became popular because it is an awesome social site for friends and colleagues to remain in touch. Facebook will have to be highly skilled in balancing their social community core identity with any new future enhancements or offerings.
Why We Should Still Pay Attention
While Facebook’s current efforts may not pay off, any good business leader acknowledges that they must always have an open mind about a changing business environment by:
• Finding out more about Graph Search’s capabilities and how your business could benefit
• Remembering that the relationships on Facebook are not about boosting sales figures but building a fan base; as the Graph Search feature gains traction, good community management from e-commerce will engage users if the interactions on Facebook are inspiring and activating.
Graph Search is still in its early days, but experience tells me that regardless of the limitations of Facebook, it’s important to pay attention to what’s going on in the social giant. For the near future, the 1 billion users on Facebook are not going anywhere and it is up to business leaders to figure out how and if they should connect with them for commerce or for business conversations.
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