Facebook Marketing How-To: Optimize for Graph Search

Facebook marketing is experiencing some changes as Graph Search rolls out across the social network, so how can you optimize your Facebook fan page for the new feature?

At first glance, Facebook Graph Search does not look like it will have much of an impact on your Facebook marketing efforts. We noted in a post a little while back a few small changes your Facebook marketing strategy might experience as a result of Graph Search. Frankly, as it stands, Graph Search does not appear to be the monumental change in search the social network seemed to hope for. That notwithstanding, Graph Search still has an impact on your business, and we have a few tips listed below that you should be paying attention to when putting together your Facebook marketing strategy in an effort to incorporate the impact of Graph Search.

Focus on Being Local

One of the biggest benefits of Graph Search is the impact it has on your listings when it comes to local searches on Facebook. Thus, your Facebook marketing should now have a focus on check-ins and encouraging locals to engage with your brand on the social network. This can be done with promotions for check-ins, or other Facebook marketing campaigns that engage with a local audience and get them to engage with your brand both online and on site.

The local element is the real bread and butter of Graph Search for businesses. One of the hottest aspects of the Facebook search feature is the ability to search for terms such as “restaurants in Boston my friends like” and see results that fit that category. That, however, is only one of the areas in which you can be optimizing your Facebook marketing for Graph Search.

Pay Attention to Your Business Details

As we have noted in the past, there are a few hidden gems when it comes to SEO for Facebook. Well, now that Facebook has integrated its own search capabilities with Graph Search, SEO becomes all the more important.

Perhaps the two most important sections when it comes to optimizing your Facebook marketing for Graph Search are the categories and About section. Businesses can be searched in Graph Search by “Type,” so it is important that your business is categorized in those areas where you wish to be found. This is also important for your subcategories, as these factor into Graph Search as well. Furthermore, your About section must be optimized, as it is for SEO keywords, for Graph Search capabilities.

Say Cheese!

Photo sharing, as we all know, is one of the most prominent features of social media. Thus, it is safe to assume that somehow, in some way, Graph Search is going to emphasize photo sharing in some way or another. Well, no surprise then that it is. Encourage visitors to tag themselves and your location. These tags and images rank quite highly in Facebook Graph Search, and will impact your business rankings as well.

As we have seen with all of the changes to social signals factoring into SEO, shares with your business and links influence your overall rankings, so encourage your visitors to tag themselves and your business in their pictures.

Have you been using Facebook Graph Search for your Facebook marketing? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!