The newly launched Facebook Graph Search allows members of the world's largest social network to find content through their Facebook social connections. If Facebook can get its members to adopt the new functionality and power personalized results, marketers may see Graph Search start to own Local Search over the likes of Google Local, Trip Advisor and Yelp. But we are in early days. As Facebook Graph Search evolves, CMOs and their teams should ensure visibility in both Graph Search and users' newsfeeds by sharing engaging content with their audiences. Moreover, employing a holistic social strategy and active community management are increasingly essential to succeeding on Facebook under the new world of Graph Search. In essence, companies will succeed in the era of Graph Search by building connected brands, or a close relationship with their audiences. This point of view discusses in more detail what Graph Search is all about and how brands can use content and conversation to build connected brands.

1. Written by:
Ashmi Dang, Social Strategist, iCrossing
Amanda Peters, Director, Social Media Strategy, iCrossing
Doug Platts, Vice President, Search Strategy, iCrossing
ICROSSING POV:
The newly launched Facebook Graph Search allows members of the world's largest social network to find
content through their Facebook social connections. If Facebook can get its members to adopt the new
functionality and power personalized results, marketers may see Graph Search start to own Local Search
over the likes of Google Local, Trip Advisor and Yelp. But we are in early days. As Facebook Graph Search
evolves, CMOs and their teams should ensure visibility in both Graph Search and users' newsfeeds by
sharing engaging content with their audiences. Moreover, employing a holistic social strategy and active
community management are increasingly essential to succeeding on Facebook under the new world of
Graph Search. In essence, companies will succeed in the era of Graph Search by building connected
brands, or a close relationship with their audiences. This point of view discusses in more detail what Graph
Search is all about and how brands can use content and conversation to build connected brands.
THE CMO'S GUIDE TO FACEBOOK
GRAPH SEARCH
WHAT IS GRAPH SEARCH?
Launched in limited beta on January 15, Graph Search allows Facebook users to examine relationships with trillions of objects,
currently focusing on a subset of content within its ecosystem: people, photos, places, and interests. With Graph Search,
Facebook users make queries by combining phrases to find content shared on Facebook:
+ People: “friends who live in my hometown,” “people who like things I like,” “people who like soccer in New York City”
+ Photos: “photos of my friends in Los Angeles,” “photos of Nike,” “photos I like”
+ Places: “restaurants in Los Angeles,” “restaurants my friends in New York like,” “countries my friends have visited”
+ Interest: “music my friends like,” “movies liked by people who like movies I like,” “books read by my family,” “videos of TV
shows my friends like”
Graph Search results are indexed (in order of relevancy) based on the strength of the relationship with one’s social network
connections. The stronger the relationship between a person or a page, the more likely that content is deemed relevant and is
displayed in search results. For example, if you are seeking new music and several of the people you engage with on a daily basis
like the band Radiohead, the name Radiohead will appear in the results. Graph Search results are also "privacy-aware" and will
only display content that has been shared with the user conducting the search, alongside objects that have been publicly shared.

2. THE CMO'S GUIDE TO FACEBOOK GRAPH SEARCH
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JANUARY 2013
Graph Search: search bar (Source: Facebook Newsroom)
As the product evolves, Graph Search has great potential to change the way we use the Web to search and share content. The
following section of this iCrossing POV looks at the implications of Graph Search on social strategy.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL
Since Graph Search results are based on personal connections, brands must focus on fostering deeper connections with their
fans through a holistic social strategy and active community management.
Connections are fueled by engagements such as a fan “liking” a brand's Facebook page, liking/commenting/sharing branded
content, publishing user-generated-content (UGC) that tags the brand, checking in, and other similar actions. The more actions
a user takes with the brand, the stronger the connection and the more likely that a brand's fans and friends of fans will see the
brand's content in their Graph Search results.
And what fuels engagement? Content.
Now more than ever, it’s essential that brands create and publish compelling content that resonates with a specific audience
and is formatted to increase engagement on the Facebook platform, ultimately leading to more visibility, discoverability, and
purchases through Graph Search. While Graph Search is in Beta, brands can begin to take steps to help their content index in
Graph Search.
Data used to rank or display a result is not based on open API content (Foursquare check-ins), Open Graph technology (Spotify),
or text status updates. Video and photo posts must be @tagged and shared directly on Facebook. Video links from YouTube and
mentioning your brand in text accompanying a photo do not index that content for Graph Search results.
Note that while Graph Search presents a unique opportunity for Sponsored Ads and paid media integration, Facebook has no
plans to extend their media offerings into the product at this time.

3. JANUARY 2013
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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO FACEBOOK GRAPH SEARCH
Key Considerations:
+ Publish and publish often. A brand's editorial calendars should include a variety of formats including photos and videos to
engage each audience. Note: photos and videos must be posted directly to the Facebook platform and not via links to third-
party sites such as YouTube.
+ Include keyword rich tags and descriptions that reflect the linguistic behaviors of the audience to increase the likelihood of
appearing in a user’s Graph Search results.
+ Include the location where photos and videos are taken to index for results in a particular city.
+ If a brand's post has a physical location associated with it, create or update local place Page with the address and information.
+ Consider contests or promotions that encourage users to submit photos and videos and tag the brand in their submissions,
further increasing the connections between the brand and the audience.
+ Ensure the About section of a brand’s Facebook Pages are optimized with the relevant names, categories and descriptions.
In short: create content that is useful, usable, visible, desirable, and engaging – the cornerstone of building a connected brand.
Facebook claims that Graph Search does not compete with Google. Indeed, while Graph Search is a big improvement over
Facebook’s previous search functionality, it is essentially an expansion of Facebook's current on platform search functionality –
but is not yet relevant to broader Web search.
That being said, the January 15 launch represents Phase 1. We have yet to see the full breadth of the tool and its greater implications.
How does Graph Search stack up compared to Google? In its current state Graph Search can be evaluated across three areas:
content, relevancy, and behavior.
Content
The advantage search engines such as Google have is that they constantly crawl the Web and are updating their Index so
that new, fresh content appears within search results. Consequently, content does not need to be “engaged with” or manually
submitted to Google’s index to show up.
By contrast, Facebook’s “people powered search” relies solely on its user base to create its index and Facebook’s algorithm to
deliver relevant results – which entails a lot of manual labor for a brand. As a result, it may take awhile to fuel the Graph Search
“engine” with content that is relevant for the majority of users, which could hinder the use of this feature.
Relevancy
Google looks at a range of signals from a variety of sources with different levels of authority and relevancy to deliver results. This
complex algorithm means that a user is delivered results to his or her searches in such a way that the user is not required to be
connected to the content or the people publishing that content.
However, with Facebook, relevancy is determined by the strength of the connection with a user or a brand's Facebook Pages.
But consider a user looking for the “best hotels in Mumbai.” What if none of the searcher's connections have liked any related
content? What will appear in the Graph Search results? Will the content be as relevant if those results are based solely on publicly
shared content and not the user’s personal connections – which is what Facebook claims is the advantage of Graph Search?
IMPLICATIONS FOR NATURAL SEARCH

4. THE CMO'S GUIDE TO FACEBOOK GRAPH SEARCH
4© ICROSSING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
JANUARY 2013
Behavior
Facebook Graph Search will require a change in user behavior. Just as Google+ has struggled to use its Google+ and Search
Plus Your World features, Facebook will likely see slow adoption of Graph Search.
It’s not a Facebook user’s nature to search the platform for “hotels in Paris,” as it is already second nature to go to Trip Advisor
or Yelp, which already possess a large database of reviews. Yet, over time, as more Facebook users check-in and create reviews
on the platform, this situation could change.
Google dominated the search industry because Google delivered the most relevant results to the searcher by looking at a range
of onsite and offsite authority and relevancy signals. Google has remained dominant because Google has continued to update the
algorithm to make its results even more relevant based on previous searches, location, +1s, and so on. Google is so dominant that
the company name has worked its way into our everyday vernacular ("I'll Google it").
Facebook Graph Search has potential. If Facebook can get users to adopt the new functionality, and if Facebook can enrich
personalized results, we may see Graph Search start to own Local Search over the likes of Google Local, Trip Advisor and Yelp.
But we are in early days. When Graph Search becomes available for testing, iCrossing will deepen our understanding and provide
more insight.
In the meantime, CMOs and their teams should continue to focus on generating authentic connections with their audiences through
conversation and engaging content to ensure visibility in both Graph Search and a user’s newsfeed.
CONCLUSION
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