Why use Facebook?

Because it’s where your audience is - by the end of 2010, there were over 600 million people on Facebook; there are over 23 million in the U.K. alone.

Facebook pages are gaining popularity as an online communication channel that can work with existing sites and blogs. Increasingly brands are pushing users to their Facebook page in order to take advantage of the built-in social interactivity on offer.

However, users still use ‘search’ as a means of finding the content that interests them, so at Reprise Media we’ve had a look at the factors that boost a page to the top of the rankings within Facebook’s own search facility. With over 1.6 million pages in existence, it’s important that yours gets seen!
What are the benefits of a ranking well in Facebook search?

·  Auto-complete

When people perform searches within Facebook, the search box has an ‘auto-complete’ function set as default. So having the top ranked page will capture more visitors – many users will click the first result without even seeing the other options.

· Increased Perception Of Authority

A  Facebook page can represent an interest, community, brand or organisation.  A high ranking makes your page look more popular, interesting and authoritative so it’s more probable that people will ‘Like’ it over other similar pages.

Factors contributing to rankings within Facebook search

Like any search engine, Facebook’s has the task of prioritising pages to decide which are the most relevant to user queries. At Reprise Media we’ve examined the factors that play a part in determining rankings in Facebook.

· Total number of ‘Likes’

When a Facebook user has visited a page they can click the ‘Like’ button to indicate their willingness to receive news and content updates from that organisation or brand.

The number of followers or ‘Likes’ is the strongest indicator of authority.  Furthermore, users are far more inclined to choose to follow a Facebook page which has a larger number of ‘Likes’ over a page with fewer because a popular page looks more interesting and relevant.

There are also other specific benefits to having ‘Likes’. People who ‘like’ your page will get the updates you post directly in their Facebook stream – they don’t have to visit the page to see what you’re saying. When they contribute to that content in any way, by commenting, or simply by ‘liking’ the post, their friends can see it, so get to know about you.

· Content updates

Content on a Facebook page can take many forms. It can be news about your brand or organisation, or just a friendly comment to keep in touch with the page users. It can also be other types of media such as photos, videos or links out to another website. There are also applications that can...