Text Messaging for Political Campaigns

With the rise of cell phone usage, political campaigns are using mobile texting as an effective campaign tool. As mobile computing blurs the line between online and offline campaigning, we are going to see more use of crossover technologies by political campaigns. Candidates will have the ability to reach out to voters and supporters faster and easier than ever before.

One great advantage to text messaging is that it has a high delivery rate – even better than RSS. Recipients must opt-in to receive texts, and a vast majority of the sent text messages are actually read. Services such as Political Comms specifically cater to political campaign text messaging. Advocacy groups and nonprofits can also benefit from having a mobile strategy.

The process for creating a mobile messaging program is fairly simple. Once you create an account with a short message service (SMS), you will be able to pick a Keyword for your campaign. People then opt-in to your messaging list by texting that Keyword to a particular number. (Ex: Text SMITH4GOV to 555432) A campaign can then send text message alerts through the SMS to all subscribers on the list.

Text messaging can help your campaign in a number of ways:

• Quickly update supporters on key issues.
• Organize rallies.
• Broadcast volunteer opportunities.
• Inform supporters about fundraising events.
• Notify voters and constituents about legislative happenings.
• Get Out The Vote: Remind people to vote on Election Day.

An early study showed that political text message reminders increased a new voter’s likelihood of voting by 3 percentage points. That difference in voter participation can mean the difference between an election victory or loss.

Text messaging and SMS is not just for candidates with deep pockets. Mobile texting services can be started with a small budget as little as $20/month. Promoting your campaign text alerts can be done both online and offline. Widgets can be created to allow supporters to sign up directly through your campaign website or Facebook page. With a little work, you can start early and build up a large list of people who can be instantly alerted to new campaign announcements and messages.

Free Download [PDF]: Political Campaign Website Meets Text Messaging