Yesterday January 16, 2013 Facebook announced that they are officially in the “search business” with their new search engine they are calling Graph Search. What this means for carpet cleaners and other local businesses is still up in the air, but it’s definitely worth paying attention to.
In the past I’ve experimented with Facebook to promote my cleaning business with pay-per-click ads, promotional discounts, getting ‘Likes’ etc. I got a few calls here and there, but nothing to get exited about. Other marketing savvy cleaners that I’ve spoke with from around country pretty much say the same thing.
At this point I use Facebook for announcing new blog articles that I post for my SEO clients. The reason is not to get direct phone calls from Facebook, but rather to show Google that the company is participating in the Social Media world, just a small piece in the big SEO puzzle.
So what makes the new Facebook Graph Search different? Well, it basically uses the existing information created by real people to give results instead of a system based on internet links, keywords, clicks and other info that Google currently uses.
This could be a major shift in how people find your business on the Internet. The idea is that people would rather hire a cleaner that is already being talked about by their friends and families. But we still have the original issue of Facebook being a fun place for people to connect with their high school friends not learn about a new business, fix their toilet or hire a carpet cleaner. It will be interesting to see if users of Facebook will actually start using the Facebook Graph the same way they use Google Search.
My advice is to first, make sure you have a Facebook Business Page and second spend a few minutes per week making local connections, sharing worthy information and encouraging ‘Likes’. I’ll keep you updated.
Take A Test Drive: https://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch
