Both SMS marketing and social media have become modern fundamentals of a strong marketing plan in the last few years, but by integrating the two into a cross channel promotional strategy, you can build your business exponentially while also greatly increasing your social media traffic.
In short, SMS and social media are a great match that should always be used in tandem when possible and appropriate.
One of the reasons for using SMS with social media is simply because a huge segment of the American people are already well-versed in using text messages and are quite comfortable with it. Indeed, more than 90% of all text messages are read within minutes of their receipt. Open rates now exceed 98%, which is nothing less than phenomenal. Also, it allows you to market “on the go” and goodness knows how important that is today.
When it comes to pairing SMS marketing with social media, here are a number of proven strategies that should be of great help to any overall marketing plan.
Mobile coupons. If you’re sending promotions or coupons to your subscribers via SMS, be sure to include a like-gated page URL so that they can access those mobile coupons directly in the text message.
Contests. If you’re running a contest on your social media platform of choice, make sure to promote it via text message to your mobile subscribers. The SMS is easy to use and the social media will provide them with a rich engagement opportunity.
Link to social media. On any of your inbound SMS campaigns, make sure to include social media page links. If, for example, you have an in-store mobile sweepstakes that requires your customers to text in a keyword, your SMS reply should include the URL to your preferred social media page.
Give your subscribers incentives to share your message. If you want your message to “go viral,” offer an excellent incentive for the top person to share that message on social media.
Send updates. You should be sending your mobile subscribers any social media updates that you have.
The fact is that today’s consumer is using multiple channels to interact with their favorite brands everywhere. If you’re keen on making the most of your marketing message, using a combination of mixed media like SMS and social media is one of the best ways to do it.