Last month, Facebook announced the new Facebook Search. Many people were skeptical of this new feature in part because of privacy concerns. Regardless of the critics, the feature provides many benefits for businesses and advertisers and can even assist the average user find fun, forgotten content.
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There are also a few features of Facebook Search that can make Facebook users weary if they have over-shared online and have not taken complete control of their privacy settings.
Currently, the new Facebook Search is available to iPhone and desktop users that have a U.S. location and English settings. To use the feature, you simply type a few keywords from an original post that you’d like to find into the Search field. The fewer keywords you provide will yield better results. Once you search, posts will be displayed from friends and family connected to you, along with posts that have been shared with you.
Take advantage of Facebook Search to revisit milestone moments in your life by typing keywords such as “Graduation,” “Christmas” and “Wedding” into the search bar. This can result in lost graduation videos, family photos and many other valued moments that may have gotten lost in the online clutter.
Old college buddies trying to embarrass you? This is where the new Facebook Search can hurt you by highlighting your past shenanigans to people in your current life who you might prefer to keep in the dark. To clean up past posts search words such as “beer,” “drunk” or obscenities and other keywords that may have been associated with your name on past posts. If you find a post you don’t feel is appropriate, you can hide or delete the old post. Another quick way to clean up your account is by going to your Account Settings – Privacy – Limit Past Posts. This will limit the audience for posts you share with friends or friends or public.
What does this mean for your Facebook business page and online advertising? Better targeting for and engagement on your pages. When Facebook first began pulling data for targeting, the information provided primarily came from your personal profile. For example, if you listed that you were single, you might have received dating ads. Now, Facebook is able to pull data from all of your past posts. If you have mentioned in the past that you are a big Broncos fan, you are more than likely to receive advertisements encouraging you to buy season tickets. If you talk about cooking and food, you may be more likely to receive Door-to-Door Organics, Blue Apron or any other sort of grocery delivery ads.
Overall, the new Facebook Search has both pros and cons and it may be time for you to clean up your Facebook profile and adjust your privacy settings. Facebook has proven how much information they can hold and how valuable they are.
How to Use This Information
Remember while developing your social media marketing strategy, to keep up on new marketing trends, developments and launches within the field. Knowing what to plan and prepare for will greatly help you stay ahead of the curve in social media. At Webolutions, we take this into consideration with every client and develop a unique content marketing strategy that is custom tailored to each client’s needs. To learn more about social media marketing and how it can work with your internal marketing plan, call Webolutions at 303-300-2640 or contact us online.
