After much anticipation, Facebook announced the incorporation of a new search feature into the popular social media platform yesterday.  Graph Search utilizes the information users have been sharing on Facebook and allows you to search with it.

While Facebook’s platform already includes the ability to perform web searches, Graph Search allows you to find more of what you want through your friends and connections. Every search provides individual results catered to only you.

Facebook’s promotional video suggests that users will be able to search by asking questions in order to receive the answers. First we want to explain that Graph Search is essentially different than a general web search such as Google, Bing or similar search engines. Google and other search engines help you find answers and information from a large pool of content from around the world with the use of links.  Facebook designed its search tool to use only your friends, connections and other publicly shared information stored on the social media platform.

How does this impact the automotive industry?

The potential for the automotive industry is huge. Car buyers searching “Dealerships liked by my friends who live in Dallas and like hunting” may show different dealerships in the area with a variety of manufactures represented.

Some of the most practical ways the social media giant expects you to use this tool are to:

• Look for people who share your interests such as automotive digital marketing, new cars, used sports cars, etc.
• Discover restaurants and local businesses such as automotive dealerships, service centers and more.
• Explore a huge library of images for items such as the latest model of a truck a friend just purchased, a friend who took photos at the latest car show and more.
• Help with a career search by searching your connections for someone in the automotive or digital marketing industry.

Although Graph Search is only in a limited preview stage, it will inevitably play a major role in how dealerships utilize social media data as well as increase the value of  “ likes” on your business page.  This new feature will assist in bringing in new customers, as users will be able to search with their friend’s database to discover local dealerships.  In this digital world we live in word-of-mouth is not dead, it has just gone digital with Facebook’s Graph Search.

Want to learn more about Facebook marketing?  Download our eBook, Deciphering Facebook Marketing.