Facebook is a lot of things to a lot of people, but one thing it isn’t is a perfect instant messaging service.

Yes, there is the Facebook Messenger app, which provides a memorable “ding” on your mobile device and allows you to send private messages to anyone in your circle of friends or followers – sometimes person-to-person notes, sometimes wider conversations with a whole group.

After the last upgrade, you can also now send photos, money, 60-second audio messages or short video chat messages. You need another app for video chat, but it is handy for a) keeping you on Facebook, something that Facebook really loves, or b) those who want alternatives to Skype, FaceTime or other face-to-face video programs.

Even MySpace, the come-and-gone social predecessor to Facebook, had a pretty impressive “shout” feature where you could instantly send a message to everyone in your friend list, a feature that Facebook never quite duplicated.

But again, none of these are quite SMS service interactions, either person-to-person or person-to-people.

So marketing professionals wanting to incorporate social networking and SMS into their campaigns must coordinate them separately. But what if you wanted to try to combine these efforts and increase engagement from your Facebook followers and your text followers? There are actually some creative ways, and more possibilities that could be coming in the future.

1. Give Facebook time. More than just optimistically hoping for the best, Facebook actually seems to be heading in the direction of Facebook-branded texting. In January 2015, for instance, it announced that it was testing a voice-to-text service, where if you record a voice message, it will be transcribed and sent to your recipient’s Facebook Messenger.
2. Try it the other way. As part of its multi-channel solutions, Trumpia offers clients the ability to collect information about potential customers and have end–users sign up for more information or mailing lists on a variety of platforms and channels, including social networks like Facebook. Users who hit “subscribe” or other similar invitations can be added to the client’s database, which they can use for their text message campaigns.
3. Facebook icons. Site owners can also include customizable Facebook widgets on their businesses pages, which can connect to the client’s Facebook page and also provide data for their SMS database, including birthdays and demographic information.
4. In-message connections. Clients can include an invitation and link to sign up for texts notifications and other SMS features in individual Facebook posts. This could be a good way to close your message – “for more about we offer/to take advantages of these opportunities sign up now.” Or slip your invitation in something like a Facebook survey or quiz, which both are activities users enjoy participating in and generally don’t mind signing up.
5. Direct messages. Business Facebook pages have more “rules” than personal pages. But you can send personalized notes to your followers, especially the newest ones who follow you inviting them to try your SMS service.
6. Tease Facebook page in texts. Your SMS campaign can direct subscribed users to a variety of interesting online activity regularly, including the client’s Facebook page. Texts could link to recent blog posts, areas of your site, new Tweets, news stories on someone else’s site, or interesting Facebook posts. Though most clients should have a Facebook presence, new customers may not be aware of it or may not know that they should like it to receive regular updates – especially if you boost posts or the whole page.
7. Security. One way to bridge the text-social network divide is for companies to offer two-factor authentication. This means, if your site or your client restricts membership or some kind of paywall, you can offer require more than just a user name, password or captcha. A two-factor authentication sends the person signing up for membership a short text that verifies that the account is genuine and is attached to a real person, and completes the registration process. VentureBeat said even Facebook requires this for new accounts.

Interestingly, though a strong Facebook presence has been almost a requirement for more than a decade as a smart, cheap and general social media strategy, some businesses are instead concentrating on growing customers through other smaller, more exclusive channels. The Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Elder said that Ritz-Carlton, for instance, was getting too many Facebook followers to manage effectively. Higher followers don’t necessarily equate to paying guests, and may also have a big price tag for someone trying to boost posts or sponsor pages.

Instead, a bulk text campaign may be a smart solution to focus on, especially since customers will see it as a direct contact and are likely to read it, rather than possibly losing it with other Facebook activity. Trumpia can help put a text campaign together or blend it with other social media solutions.

Free Mobile Marketing Success Kit

Get Your Copy Today