When consumers find information to be useful, they will share it.
That’s a simple fact that marketers can leverage with the right text message marketing campaign, powered by SMS technology. The key to any mobile marketing initiative is to only provide information that consumers find compelling or relevant. Bombarding users with spam or useless content is the surest way to encourage increased opt-outs.
In a guest blog for Business2Community.com, Technected’s Thomas Stone wrote that an SMS message has the potential to spread virally if the recipient thinks it’s something worth passing along to friends or family, such as a coupon or promotion.
“[Consumers will] consider it doing a favor to their circles, and you’ll enjoy that four or five more people have seen your ad. This is even more encouraging and ensures that what you are sending users is relevant, useful content,” he wrote.
This is a crucial capability not only for marketing, but also in emergencies.
Consider the massive snowstorm that hit eastern Massachusetts earlier this month, dumping several feet of snow across the state. Widespread power outages left many consumers unable to communicate with loved ones, except by cell phone. However, utility providers in the region were able to keep customers informed of efforts to restore power by offering a free emergency text service.
By receiving a text alert with the latest news, customers knew what to expect during the most trying periods of the storm, and they could pass this information along to friends and family as needed.
This is one example of how SMS messaging capabilities contribute to the spread of relevant information. It’s a reality marketers should keep in mind the next time they want to develop a campaign that has a high chance of reaching a lot of interested consumers.
