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| By Justin Smith | 17 Comments » |
Facebook has just launched a new way for people to become fans of Facebook Pages: SMS text messaging.
Now, celebrities, business, and brands will be able to get more Facebook fans at events and conferences and through TV and radio campaigns by asking fans to text “fan [your ID here]” to Facebook. For example, you can now become a fan of Inside Facebook by texting “fan insidefacebook” to FBOOK (32665).
Text messaging is a fantastic way for Facebook to expand the tools marketers can use to drive new fans to their Facebook Pages (now also called “public profiles” – we know, it’s confusing). Now, Facebook marketers can get the benefits of viral growth through Facebook’s feed system when users become fans through events and campaigns across many other types of media. This is going to be a big deal for marketers who’ve been looking for ways to accelerate their Pages’ growth.
“Imagine the scenarios- you can ask 10 people in a Board room to take their phone out and become Fans, or 100 people at a rally to become political supporters, or 30,000 people at a concert or ballpark to become fans via mobile device,” wrote Dave Kerpen at theKbuzz, who discovered the new feature earlier today.
It’s theoretically possible that Facebook could also add an SMS blast capability in the future to let Page administrators contact fans via SMS as well – though obviously that would be a long way from where the new service is today.
Currently, the SMS service is open only to select Facebook Pages. A Facebook spokesperson did not have a timeline on the potential rollout plan for the SMS service for all Pages/public profiles.
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March 27th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Does this mean that people w/out fb accounts can become a fan? would the posted updates come to their phone as text messages?
Or, is this for people who have fb installed on their phone? Otherwise, how does fb know who they are when they receive the text?
I’m confused… am I just in over my head?
March 27th, 2009 at 7:17 am
It’s probably not that exciting for end users. How many situations are there really going to be where a person thinks “I need to become a fan of this Facebook page RIGHT NOW, but I’m not at a computer!?” This feels like a solution looking for a problem.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:16 am
If a brand were to provide an immediate reward for becoming a fan at that moment, then it could be a powerful way to drive the fan base.
March 27th, 2009 at 11:15 am
You have to be an FB member who has set up your mobile phone to receive texts from FB (in settings). I could see this being really interesting for entertainment and sports brands – what if you were prompted to fan a certain movie as you exited the theater?
Should be interesting to see the full roll-out – there are so many pages with the same name, how will codes be assigned?
March 27th, 2009 at 11:35 am
@Michael Bauser: The point is not to sell the fan page but what the fan page can do for them. The Facebook fan page is a great promotional tool and helps maintain brand awareness and thus increase mind share.
For instance, I discussed how relevant this strategy could be for retail on my blog: http://alphonseha.blogspot.com/2009/03/facebook-sms-service-for-pages.html
March 30th, 2009 at 6:05 am
[...] Facebook Launches SMS Service for Pages – Now People Can Become Fans Anywhere "Facebook has just launched a new way for people to become fans of Facebook Pages: SMS text messaging." (tags: facebook sms) [...]
March 30th, 2009 at 8:46 am
This is an amazing thing.
Obviously no one NEEDS to become a fan of M&Ms when they are in the park.
The real coup is the end of email lists at concerts. Successful artists have known for years that mailing lists are the single biggest marketing driver around. Email lists are crucial, but the barrier is high (and difficult to manage – you need a merch person or tour manager to handle).
Now, all you need are signs at shows, and potential fans will instantly become active fans.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
[...] View the whole article: Facebook Launches SMS Service for Pages [...]
April 6th, 2009 at 8:22 am
[...] via InsideFacebook [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 9:27 am
[...] recently launched an SMS service for pages, allowing users to become fans of Pages by text message. Now, Facebook has enabled a new feature allowing fans of Facebook Pages to receive updates from [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 7:45 am
[...] Facebook recently launched three new SMS services for Facebook Pages as well. Now, users can become a fan of a Page by texting “fan username” to FBOOK, and fans can subscribe to SMS updates from Pages by clicking the “Subscribe to SMS [...]
September 10th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Is there anyway to track who becomes a fan from a SMS message? I work at a university and we would like prospective students to become fans of our facebook page at college fairs. It would be great if there was a way to know who becomes a fan from the SMS
October 24th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
[...] Feature wurde bereits am 26.März 2009 auf insidefacebook.com angekündigt. In diesem Artikel heißt es, diese Option werde nur ausgewählten Fanseiten zugeteilt. Das [...]
November 4th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Where do we send these sms’s to?
I live in Denmark and I don’t want the fans to pay a dollar for the signup just beacause the servers are in the US…
Anyone?
November 25th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Is there anyway to track who becomes a fan from a SMS message? I work at a university and we would like prospective students to become fans of our facebook page at college fairs. It would be great if there was a way to know who becomes a fan from the SMS
December 9th, 2009 at 9:12 am
How do you become the “select” administrator? I want to add the SMS functionality to my businesses fan page.
December 16th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
i hear that they charge u if u have the aplication on ur phone is it true??