Facebook Groups Updates On SMS – Will This Help Brands Engage More With Users?

Posted under Facebook India Mobile Social Media
on Friday, 18 September 2009
by admin

The Groups pages on Facebook is such a popular way for brands to engage with their users; so much so that brands are actually willing to spend money to advertise their Facebook pages. Now after taking so much of an effort in amassing ‘fans’ to your brand, it wouldn’t make much sense if people were not to actively follow all that you are posting there, right?

In an attempt to add more value for brands promoting their Facebook Group pages, Facebook had introduced the ‘Subscribe via SMS’ feature on its pages sometime back. This feature has recently been extended to users in India as well. Users may now subscribe to Facebook Groups via SMS from either the Group page or by sending an SMS, fan <page_name> to +91-9232232665 (92FACEBOOK).

This can make terrific sense not just for the brands, but for Facebook as well. By opening up a new channel of communication with the users via SMS, Facebook can not only think of monetizing this medium (think 160by2 or Way2SMS!), but is also adding an additional piece of data about the users – their active mobile number; something that can give them information about their location which can possibly be integrated to their advertising engine for more targeted advertising!

I have one suggestion though. There needs to be a permalink that Facebook groups can use to promote their ‘Follow us via SMS’ ad campaigns. As of now, users will have to visit the group page and search for the ‘Subscribe via SMS’ link or send an SMS from their mobile phones; something I doubt many users will be willing to do.