Is Facebook’s New Search FYI a Major PR & Content Marketing Opportunity?

Facebook’s new Search FYI might offer a bonanza for PR and content marketing.  

If nothing else, it means savvy PR and marketing pros will be paying closer attention to the social media giant.

As a new, enhanced search ability, Search FYI delivers post results from the entire Facebook universe, not just posts from each user’s friends and family. According to Facebook’s announcement, search results now include more extensive lists of posts, personalized search suggestions, public posts about a link, popular quotes and phrases mentioned in posts, and an aggregate overview of sentiment.

A Challenge to Google

Technology and social media commentators called Facebook’s enhanced search function an effort to challenge Google’s dominance in search.

“With over 1.5 billion searches per day and over 2 trillion posts in our index, search is an important, long-term effort at Facebook,” stated Tom Stocky, Facebook’s vice president of search. “The diverse experiences and perspectives that are shared on Facebook can’t be found anywhere else.”

The search results could increase engagement by offering a new way to find public discussions users can join. Users may spend more time on the platform if they don’t need to perform searches on Google. That increased time could translate into higher ad revenues for Facebook.

What It Means for Facebook Marketing

Although Stocky doesn’t mention it, users will also have a new way to find content published by brands. As a result, the enhanced search function may become an important PR and marketing tool to reach more consumers – and Facebook has about 1.5 billion active monthly users worldwide. Marketers could increase referral traffic and increase visits from consumers who are not already following their pages.

Or maybe not.

If the new Facebook search feature creates a content marketing bonanza, marketers should not expect it to last long.

Marketers cannot be sure if Facebook will include their posts in search results. Brands will probably find that deciphering the network’s algorithm and reaching consumers will be challenging. The network’s opaque algorithms that determine what users see in their news feeds already frustrate many brands that do content marketing on Facebook.

As it has in the past, Facebook could change its rules. The network perturbed marketers when it changed its algorithm to make it more difficult for brands to appear in users’ feeds, thus forcing marketers to advertise more to reach their target audiences on Facebook.

Paid Facebook Search Results?

In addition, the social media giant could eventually attempt to compel companies to pay for inclusion in search results.

Stocky’s comments to TechCruch indicate that Facebook plans to monetize search at some point. “Because the business model for search is so well understood, we know it will come when it makes sense,” he said.

Marketers who develop PR and content marketing approaches to capitalize on Facebook search could again find their efforts stymied. It may be best for companies and brands to hurry up and wait, that is, to postpone investing in more aggressive PR and marketing campaigns on Facebook until they gain more clarity about Facebook’s plans for search results.

Marketers have learned — sometimes the hard way – that social media networks can change how they operate or even disappear.

Bottom Line: Facebook’s more comprehensive and powerful search results pose a challenge to Google’s dominance in search. More importantly for marketers, the search results may offer an opportunity to reach more customers. But caution in launching campaigns to capitalize on Facebook FYI, including analyzing test results, may be the best approach.