Ever since Barak Obama announced to 3 million of his supporters that he had selected Joe Biden to be his running mate in 2008 over SMS, the text message has played an important role in politics.
SMS political campaign messages are incredibly versatile. For example, a campaign SMS can be customized to reach out to different segments of voters. Or, if you had some supporters who identified strongly with your candidate’s view on abortion, and others who believed in the candidate’s view on race relations, you could customize a single SMS campaign to reach both audiences.
From the campaign’s CRM or voter management software, you could create an election campaign text message using this text.
Hey {First Name} – join us tonight at the rally where our candidate shares her view on {issue}. 8 PM, Washington High School
By sending this single message to your local distribution list, recipients feel like they are getting a personalized message from the party that mentions an issue that is important to them. {First Name} will be the recipient’s name, while {issue} will fill in with abortion, race relations, climate change, or any other issue your candidate is advocating.
In addition to using SMS to get people to a rally or event, here are some other great uses for political SMS messages.
Voter Registration
During every election cycle millions of people are unable to vote because they forgot to register. It’s easy to send out voter registration reminders over SMS to people who support your viewpoint when big elections are coming up. This convenient, friendly approach reminds citizens to check their voting status, and helps ensure that they will be eligible to vote and support your initiative on election day.
Election Day Reminders
As election day approaches, send out text messages ensuring that they know the day of the election. You can even use customization to remind voters where their local polling station is located. For really sophisticated political marketers, you can use two-way SMS and offer transportation to the polling station for supporters who need a ride.
Crucial Announcements
Social media channels provide access to large groups of people while sidestepping journalists and traditional media outlets. SMS offers the same benefit but its more personal nature, ensures that the message is even more targeted and won’t be easily overlooked like a Tweet or other social media message.
Using SMS, you can directly keep supporters updated on any changes to the campaign and keep them actively involved. Keep supporters informed of your travel itinerary, let them know when you are in their area and share highlights from debates or other events on the campaign trail. Keep supporters informed of fundraising opportunities and create special distribution lists with more access to your high-value supporters.
Organize Volunteers
Keeping all the moving parts within a political campaign can be complicated. Use SMS to transform your supporters and donors into volunteers. SMS messaging is a perfect tool for organizing your grassroots campaign. Include links with signup information when registering volunteers and create message groups to reach the different segments of volunteers.
Text-to-Join
Build your supporter list with a text-to-join keyword campaign. Supporters can text a code to you to opt into messages, request updates on the campaign, or request lawn signs or bumper stickers.
Get Ahead with SMS
Over 97% of all adults have a cell phone with SMS, so regardless of your political party or affiliation, your future supporters can be reached, organized, and motivated through SMS and messaging campaigns.
Whether you are a candidate looking to get elected or supporting a ballot initiative, SMS messaging can be used to help garner support.
Best Practices
When sending out messages to your supporters, here are a few best practices to follow.
- Include your candidates name or campaign issue so voters recognize you when they receive the message
- Personalize messages with your supporters’ names and, if possible, talk about issues that are relevant to them
- Consider adding videos of campaign events, especially if you are reaching supporters over WhatsApp or Viber
- Only send messages to supporters who have opted into your list
- Always Include an opt out or unsubscribe link
Getting Started
This year’s election season is almost behind us, but it’s never too soon to start rallying support for your next political campaign. MessageWhiz’s team of messaging professionals can help you get started today.
