sms-marketingHaving a strong social media presence is a key part of staying connected with your client base, but as everyone grows more attached to their phone screens, the time has come to make SMS marketing a larger part of your digital footprint. But while SMS campaigns offer their own strengths, connecting this new marketing system to the rest of your online life can increase its effectiveness. This two-pronged attack will catch your clients’ attention no matter their preferred medium.

Keep Commitment Low

Part of what makes social media marketing work so well is that while it’s pervasive, it also demands very little in terms of commitment. This has been the beauty of Facebook and Twitter from the very beginning – content slips through your clients’ feed and they get to decide what happens from there. SMS works similarly but it’s less likely to slip by unnoticed. It offers low commitment but high connection.

When clients first sign-up for SMS marketing, they want to see what it offers but they know that they can always delete or ignore the messages if it turns out to be a flop. So what you need to do is offer high value content – special sales and promotions, for example – to hook them. Once they’re engaged, you can start sending links to high content blog updates. Since they’ve seen you have good things to offer, they’re more likely to take the bait.

Value The Visual

One downside to SMS marketing is that beyond the emoji or a picture message, SMS formats aren’t exactly known for being pretty. This is why it’s important that you offer premium visual formatting on the other end. Choose a higher end WordPress template, include quality images and infographics on the blog, and you’ll see users increase the amount of time they spend on your site. A poorly designed site is a deterrent, but a great one encourages exploration.

Make And Keep Promises

A good way to tie your WordPress or other social media presence to SMS marketing is by offering an incentive for opting in through the website. When users sign-up (and this is a good chance to collect a little demographic data beyond their phone number), they receive a high quality deal via SMS. Good choices include buy one, get one deals or a company credit. By only offering this deal to those who sign up for the SMS program, you make users feel valued. This is especially important because today a man’s phone is his castle.

Link Your Calls To Action

SMS campaigns fit together with a broader social media presence especially well when you link your texts with your call to action content. Have you sent a fun fact via SMS? Then add a call to action telling your clients that they can find more of these facts on your Facebook, Twitter, or WordPress and be sure to provide the link. Similarly, when you post a deal or share information on another social media channel, offer the sign up link for your SMS program with the promise of more information or great deals – then follow-up immediately.

We live in an instant gratification culture, something that SMS feeds right into as a marketing tool and more broadly. By offering timely content via SMS you reach your clients where they are – in their pockets and purses, at their jobs and on the bus, at the playground with their kids. SMS is the format of the moment, but you can make it more valuable by keeping it firmly tied to the rest of your social media footprint. With SMS marketing, your clients will never miss a thing.