The Value of Missed Opportunties

I attended the local Facebook for Business event yesterday co-hosted by Facebook and the Kirkland Chamber. It was a great event with a great turnout. You can see the highlights I shared on my business page or by searching #fbsmallbiz  or #fbkirkland.

At one point during the presentation, the conversation was about using hashtags so your posts will come up in search results. This is important because there is a lot of debate about Facebook surpassing Google as the top tool for search. Don’t be misled by this, but know there is a lot of truth to it as well—especially if you are a small local business.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the importance of hashtags.

As you may know, Facebook has partnered with Bing to provide more search results. This allows Facebook to provide that “one-stop” approach for social media. Why would someone leave Facebook to search for something on Google when they can do it right there within Facebook—it’s a great strategy. It allows people to spend more time on Facebook than what they otherwise would and it prevents them from getting bored!

But what does this have to do with hashtags?

Hashtags have become a universal symbol for social media. Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Instagram, Vine, and Tumblr all use them….just to name a few. So why doesn’t Facebook allow you to see hashtag posts outside of Facebook? They want you to spend more time on the site. They want you to think of Facebook as the primary social media tool, so why do they not allow users to see results from other platforms?

Perhaps this is something they haven’t thought of yet. Perhaps it’s a series of partnerships that have yet to make. Either way, it’s a missed opportunity. An opportunity already available on Bing which Facebook has a partnership with. Sure it doesn’t include every social media platform, but it’s a start!

What opportunities are you missing in your business?