The Future of Facebook Marketing

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Facebook Marketing – Facebook Graph Search and Facebook Nearby

With over 1 billion users worldwide and over 2 million in Ireland alone Facebook is an incredibly powerful marketing tool. It allows businesses large and small to open their doors to a world-wide captive audience. However now, Facebook marketing has just become a whole lot more interesting with the introduction of Facebook Graph Search and Facebook Nearby.

Here’s the low down…

Facebook Graph Search

Graph search is in essence a ‘Google-esque’ search bar operating within the Facebook framework. However unlike Google it allows users to instantly find what your friends have recommended and liked. Whilst friend recommendations and likes can be carried out manually, you no longer have to sift through endless material to find the answer. For instance, if you keyed in ‘restaurants my friends liked in Dublin’ it will throw back a plethora of information on restaurants recommended by your friends.

Click here for more information on Facebook Graph Search

So how can businesses take advantage of this?

Facebook marketing for graph search capability will be of benefit if you take action on the following steps…

Confirmation of correct classification

It’s more important now to make sure that you have the correct business classification. For instance, are you a restaurant, consultant, service business etc? This way you’re more likely to be picked up when somebody recommends you.

Correct details

Make sure that your details are correct such as address, contact details and hours of business. Again this impinges on your chances of getting picked up on the search.

Grow an audience

Now more so than ever, Facebook fans and indeed friends of fans matter. By regular interaction on your business page and by posting relevant and appealing offers, you can grow your audience and get the most from your Facebook Marketing.

Always add value

If you constantly create valuable content you’ll continue to generate interest and start to grow your fan base.

 

Facebook Nearby

Nearby is a local business discovery feature within Facebook which directly challenges FourSquare and Yelp. It’s been noted that every month around 250 million FB users will tag their posts with a location. Now Facebook have taken this one step further and allow users to have access to information on local businesses, eateries, cinemas, hotels etc. The difference is that these lists will all be based on relevancy – presenting a great opportunity for Facebook Marketing.

For example, if you wanted to search for a hotel in Cork using the Nearby application it would throw up hotels in order of how many of your friends have ‘liked’ that particular hotel. The idea behind the concept is that people are far more likely to trust the opinions of friends and acquaintances as opposed to reviews from complete outsiders. Facebook say that Nearby is the new ‘word of mouth’.

Both of the above changes will have a huge effect for local businesses and as a result continued Facebook marketing is going to be key if you really want to succeed.

Take your Digital Marketing to the Next Level with ePresence

If you are looking to expand your business, reach more customers and improve the impact of your marketing, ePresence can help. We will work with you to understand your business needs, challenges and goals. Our Digital Marketing Agency in Cork and Kerry is an experienced and results-driven organisation serving companies and national brands throughout Munster and all of Ireland. We will help lighten your load and provide access to our quality digital marketing team. Get in touch with us today on +353 (0)21 2362901 or email us on info@epresence.ie.

About Author

Declan Clancy

Declan Clancy

Declan Clancy is an enthusiastic, results oriented and creative Digital Marketer with over 10 years hands on experience across digital channels. In his last role as Group Digital Marketing Manager for Trigon Hotels, Declan was responsible for the ecommerce strategy and implementation for their 3 hotels. While at Trigon Hotels, Declan won Best use of Twitter for a Large Business at the Cork Digital Marketing Awards for his work for Cork International Hotel. Declan holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from University College Cork.

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