Almost all current internet users are aware of the internet phenomenon known as Facebook, a social media site that allows users to create personal pages about themselves and communicate with other online internet users, sharing photos, videos, and links, while posting status updates and commenting on other users’ walls. However, though many internet and Facebook users are aware of the presence of other pages (Ex. business pages, band/music pages, books etc.) that can post updates and be “liked” by other users, many fail to realize the potential these pages can have as a marketing strategy ultimately, a way to optimize webpages using the medium of social media. Facebook provides an outlet for webpages and businesses to create a second “entity” that, while undeniably integrated into the process of social media, can still provide efficient advertising.
Using a Facebook page as an SEO and marketing technique for webpages and businesses creates within itself a secondary set of optimization needs. Having links to Facebook pages and the added traffic created by easy accessibility through social media sites is, in and of itself, a powerful method of search engine optimization, but optimizers must be aware that the Facebook page itself must be carefully optimized for public visibility.
Facebook was first launched in February of 2004 and, since numerous additions including mobile applications, games, and revamping of profile systems, has gained over 900 million active users. Various sources provide an estimate that says that over 40% of US citizens have a Facebook account. And Facebook isn’t just used in the United States users of Facebook cover the world, living in every country that has access to the internet. Once the breadth of people that Facebook reaches is recognized, it is only natural that those seeking to optimize webpages and increase the amount of people viewing content should turn to Facebook as a means to reach more people.
Being a website that was created to be user-friendly, creating a page for a website on Facebook is a fairly self-explanatory process. However, though it is easy to create a business page, it isn’t quite as easy to create a page that works as effective advertising.
Vast lists of tips can be found across the internet and range from topics concerning titles, to strategies associated with timing of posts. Some of the most commonly mentioned and accepted methods of optimizing a Facebook page include:
· Choosing an accurate, short, yet descriptive title for the profile page
· Incorporating keywords into the page’s URL/Facebook username
· Include keywords in the description box for the profile page (“About” box)
· Use the “Static FBML” tab to create more static links and content
· Incorporate relevant links into posts (status updates)
· Share interesting content to attract visitors
· Encourage visitors to share/comment/like the page
It seems fairly obvious that search engine optimizing a Facebook page within the context of Facebook is surprisingly similar to the process of optimizing a webpage within the context of a search engine. Both involve interacting with the URL, links, descriptions and content of the page, but Facebook, unlike a self-created webpage, has the added bonus of a pre-made platform that allows users to easily edit and share content. Facebook has all of the material and, most importantly, all of the potential visitors that a webpage could ever want all an optimizer has to do is take advantage of the opportunities provided by this powerful social media advertising agent.
The bonus is that as an optimizer is working to engender interest about a Facebook page, the interest is simultaneously conveyed to the original webpage, thereby increasing factor ranking of the original webpage as the factor ranking of the Facebook page increases; the perfect and probably the easiest method of search engine optimizing a webpage.