It’s far from a secret—Facebook is the power house of power houses when it comes to social media. Likewise, Google is the power house of power houses when it comes to online search engines.
Which begs the question; if Facebook were to compete with Google by creating a global search engine that’s similar, how would they fare? Maybe the answer can be inferred by the idea that Google isn’t faring nearly as well as Facebook with their social media platform Google+. At the same time, Google+ is growing relatively quickly for being a new social media network, so they’re definitely not out of the running, and in fact provide local business owners with a huge marketing tool because it provides the ability to connect with other Google tools to boost SEO on the web.
We can also get some insight into how consumers might respond to an external Facebook Search Engine, and how they are responding to Google+, by reviewing the stats provided in the Greenlight “Search & Social Survey (2011-2012)” where they surveyed 500 people about both.
The response?
Forty-eight percent said they wouldn’t, or probably wouldn’t, use a Facebook search engine. Some additional interesting stats for a local business to consider from the survey include the fact that 23% of searchers click the Google+ button that shows up in search results, though 28% didn’t know what +1 meant.
Greenlight’s Andreas Pouros shares the following, as shared in the post, Consumers Say No to a Facebook Backed Search Engine:
“Brands and e-retailers need to be encouraging +1′s in Google, as it isn’t something that might be important in the future – it already is! It affects natural search rankings and will have an increasing impact over time across every Google product they utilise – AdWords, price comparison, Shopping, YouTube, etc., and Facebook could be a major search engine overnight. As such a brand’s performance on Facebook today (likes, visits, etc.) will likely have a decisive impact on how well exposed it is on that new search engine.”
What should a local business owner take away from this?
Google+ and Facebook are both important aspects of any local business marketing strategy. This is why the new local business social packages we offer include Google+, and not just Facebook. Are you using both for your local business? If not, you should be starting yesterday!
For nearly three decades, Chris Marentis, Founder and CEO of Surefire Social, has been responsible for driving innovation and sales growth for large media and e-commerce brands as well as start-ups. With a long-history of counseling local businesses about their marketing efforts, Marentis provides insight on what it takes for small businesses to succeed and thrive in today’s evolving digital environment. His notable career includes creating the foundational blueprints for online marketing, e-commerce and content branding for AOL’s Interactive Marketing group, where he served as Senior Vice President. While CEO of Clearspring Technologies, Marentis developed one of the most widely adopted venture-backed Web 2.0 technology platforms. Marentis is a frequent speaker at local digital marketing conferences and a contributor to SMB and technology-focused publications.
