Facebook as a Search Engine?
Posted in: Internet Marketing Buzz Words, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing by Sol on April 12, 2010
In late March, there was a lot of buzz in online marketing circles about a report coming from Hitwise – For one week in March, people visited Facebook more often than Google.
Search Engine Optimization experts are quick to point out that this is not the first time this happened. In fact, it already occurred in late December 2009 during the holiday season. Either way, the message is clear. Facebook has changed the rules of the online marketing game.
Social Media Marketing is a tactic that companies are actively engaging in. Anybody with a product or service to sell will execute all the best online marketing strategies to get the message out there. Companies are now allocating significant social media marketing budgets, outspending search engine optimization and online display advertising (see Marketing Sherpa). To us in the online industry this is not news.
Social Media Marketing Share of Online Marketing Budget
What is news, is that we (I mean the Royal WE), online searchers are en masse behaving in a way that validates social media marketing. It is natural for us to do our searches via search engines. That’s what they’re there for. But it appears that the concept of social media – people congregating online according to shared interests – is offering us the opportunity to search for information in a new way. It gives us the opportunity to do more than just search. It allows us to converse, interact or create online relationships. We can trust the results of our search much more profoundly when we know it is coming from a community of peers. It is our willful, enthusiastic and active participation in social media that makes this such a compelling online marketing opportunity.
Facebook and other social media sites are not just other search engines fighting for market share, as are yahoo or Bing, for example. They are not search engines with a better search algorithm, faster results or a more usable interface. Rather, they are a completely different animal. Having said that, it appears this creature is evolving into, and taking over the online marketing industry.
I don’t think Google should be too worried just yet. The search engine is here to stay (for now). However, it is interesting to note that in researching this post, I looked up “facebook search” and “facebook marketing” and other similar terms in Google’s Keyword tool. “Facebook search” showed 1,000,000 searches in March. Amazingly, for the term “facebook marketing” I received “not enough data” in local search volume for the US.
Could it be? Or is a certain Goliath-like company feeling the heat?
I went straight to Facebook and searched for “facebook marketing”. I instantly found a page called Facebook Marketing Solutions – http://www.facebook.com/marketing. This page has over 207,000 fans! There are some fascinating case studies on this page, but be careful as some will take you away from Facebook. One article of note is Use your Mobile Phone to publish to Facebook fans! (esp. Blackberry or iPhone).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been the key to online success. While SEO is still the crucial element in online marketing, Social Media Optimization (SMO) is another critical tactic that should not be overlooked, and I would venture to say that it is now equally important if you are involved in marketing online and need to create a relationship with your (potential) customers.
