Bing have announced further integration between their search engine and Facebook.
In short Bing will now feature Facebook results in its search results. So if you search for ‘Jenny Stone’ you will also be shown Facebook profiles. The second most important part of this partnership is the ranking of results based on friend’s likes.
So, if you search for a product, you will also see what your friends have liked on Facebook. This now competes and surpasses Google personalised search.
After the break we will look at the video from Microsoft and explain why this is important for brands.
Why is this important for Brands
1. It increases the relevance of Bing in a competitive search market.
Bing has been gaining interest and market share versus Google. This is the first real innovation that starts to set it apart from Google. With additional Facebook results appearing it may well encourage Facebook users to try Bing instead of Google. [NB Bing already powers the search function within Facebook.]
This could boost the potential traffic from your Bing listings.
2. Popular Brands on Facebook will gain a search boost in personalised rankings.
Brands successfully established within Bing will have the potential to achieve greater search traffic from Bing as a result of both the featured results and the personal recommendations from Facebook friends.
3. Bing will start indexing more content from Facebook.
One of the success criteria for brands on Facebook is the constant delivery of fresh and engaging content. Much like the benefit [to search] of running a blog, those brands that are delivering fresh and engaging content will gain a better footprint in the Bing search results.
4. Brands not yet harnessing Facebook will start to lose relevance on Bing.
If brands have not been convinced by the Facebook opportunity for their business, then now is the time. The combined global audience of Bing and Facebook makes this a serious threat to Google’s dominance.
5. This is just the start.
Facebook and Bing have also hinted at future developments including greater integration of search results and friend’s opinions and the potential to start identify taste makers from Facebook who can influence wider search results.
If you’re not on Facebook now, make it your first priority.
Fortchoming Facebook Seminar at the IPA
November 9th 2010
This half day training seminar will teach you how to harness Facebook for your brand or business. In this session we cover how to harness fan pages, Facebook groups, Facebook Credits, Facebook Insights and more.
Limited Places Available – More Details.
