Guess what? Facebook has confirmed that "all Open Graph-enabled web pages will show up in search when a user likes them.” Some call this a tactic in Facebook's war on Google. However, while Open Graph and the social plugins that enable likes will improve your position on Facebook searches, it’s not yet the driver for Google’s page results. The reason is simple. Google indexes the web. Facebook indexes its user activity. That’s a pretty big difference, regardless of how big Facebook is.
But, Facebook like does matter. Over 200 million users sign-in to their Facebook accounts everyday. You can expect that many of them will launch a search while there. So, a strategy of your own to integrate the Open Graph and to take advantage of Facebook's social plugins will benefit you. Facebook likes (as well as Twitter posts) are in some ways the “links” and “keywords” of our day. I expect to see their impact made more manifest in all search but search on the home field (Facebook itself) is a great proving ground.
Some will argue and perhaps rightly so that no matter how much information Facebook is able to give users it will always be limited, and will not be able to deliver the web in the way Google can. But isn’t that why Facebook supplements its own search with Bing results. Who knows? Maybe the real winner in all of this search shift will be Microsoft's Bing. That’s a post for another day.
Bottom line: like matters NOW even if only to the prospects and customers who are looking for your products and services while on Facebook. And, that happens to be about 400 million of the best connected people in the world. So whether it completely changes the shape of search or not, like is already relevant -- even if only to those who begin their search on Facebook.
Showing posts with label Like. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Like. Show all posts
Wow! Uh Oh.
If you’re a marketer you have to be watching the recent moves of social media darlings Twitter and Facebook with equal thoughts of “Wow” and “Uh oh”. First the “Wow”. Twitter and Facebook have made interesting moves of late. Twitter with Promoted Tweets and Facebook via Open Graph. These initiatives are bound to affect online advertising as over 500 million users will see more promotion on their favorite platforms. Wow.
“Uh oh” if you’re a business that has yet to seriously explore social media as a touch-point for interaction with your prospects and customers. The longer you stay away from social media, the further behind you will be in attracting prospects, cultivating relationships, and accumulating customers through fans (likers) and followers. And if like me you believe that selling in the Participation Age is more farming than hunting -- you can’t afford to remain disconnected from the digitized form of word of mouth that the rest of us know as tweets and posts. Not even for one more day.
I'm not saying you can't run a successful business without social media participation, but it’s not going away. There are more applications, strategies, and opportunities being built upon it. You can’t afford to ignore it. "Uh oh" is not a strategy.
Talk to me www.twitter.com/timbigfish
Note: My position for sometime has been that each of these platforms is relevant to your search advertising objectives NOW even if you don’t have an appreciation for the Participation Age itself. Both Twitter and Facebook matter because tweets and posts have emerged as a high worth element in Google’s search algorithm.And now, each player has amped up its own ability to compete for ad dollars. This brings me to the “Uh oh”.
“Uh oh” if you’re a business that has yet to seriously explore social media as a touch-point for interaction with your prospects and customers. The longer you stay away from social media, the further behind you will be in attracting prospects, cultivating relationships, and accumulating customers through fans (likers) and followers. And if like me you believe that selling in the Participation Age is more farming than hunting -- you can’t afford to remain disconnected from the digitized form of word of mouth that the rest of us know as tweets and posts. Not even for one more day.
I'm not saying you can't run a successful business without social media participation, but it’s not going away. There are more applications, strategies, and opportunities being built upon it. You can’t afford to ignore it. "Uh oh" is not a strategy.
Talk to me www.twitter.com/timbigfish
Like is Easy to Like
Facebook has decided that Becoming a Fan was too serious a commitment for most of us. Or, was it because the "Like" link receives twice as many clicks as the fan choice? Either way they've dropped Fan in favor of Like. You ask, "Who cares?" You will. And so will search engine driven marketers.
The idea of Becoming a Fan implies a deep connection to a brand or cause. One that many Facebook users we're willing to demonstrate. However, not nearly as many as those who were willing to "Like" a status comment or other post. To "Like" something is relatively easy. It's doesn't imply a deep agreement or total buy in. Simply that you at least for a moment you were amused.
However, in an economy where brands strive to tap into social media's power to accelerate word-of-mouth marketing, "Like" is everything. It will soon be everywhere. "Like" matters because it's easy. And brands want something easy as an alternative to the customer sat survey model perpetuated by web sites like Yelp. We all know that most people who "Like" a service or experience are not energized enough to post a comment somewhere. Meanwhile, people who have a negative product experience seem compelled to tell anyone who will listen. Remember the old customer sat rule, "customers with a negative experience will tell 11 others"?
So, here's what I'm driving at: the option to "Like" a brand will soon become a part of EVERY web site. That's part of Facebook's bigger plan to see their community influence the greater web.
The good news is this, in the Participation Age we're deciding what brands resonate and with whom. And nothing says resonance like "Like".
The idea of Becoming a Fan implies a deep connection to a brand or cause. One that many Facebook users we're willing to demonstrate. However, not nearly as many as those who were willing to "Like" a status comment or other post. To "Like" something is relatively easy. It's doesn't imply a deep agreement or total buy in. Simply that you at least for a moment you were amused.
However, in an economy where brands strive to tap into social media's power to accelerate word-of-mouth marketing, "Like" is everything. It will soon be everywhere. "Like" matters because it's easy. And brands want something easy as an alternative to the customer sat survey model perpetuated by web sites like Yelp. We all know that most people who "Like" a service or experience are not energized enough to post a comment somewhere. Meanwhile, people who have a negative product experience seem compelled to tell anyone who will listen. Remember the old customer sat rule, "customers with a negative experience will tell 11 others"?
So, here's what I'm driving at: the option to "Like" a brand will soon become a part of EVERY web site. That's part of Facebook's bigger plan to see their community influence the greater web.
Broad acceptance of "Like" will make it one of the most valuable variables in the search engine equation.After all, tenure, referring links, dynamic content, blah, blah, blah are not nearly as important as the opinions of users. The "(insert big number here) Like this Site" sentence at the end of a search engine result is going to drive more clicking than a Sponsored Ad Link or even the rank on the page.
The good news is this, in the Participation Age we're deciding what brands resonate and with whom. And nothing says resonance like "Like".
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