Text messaging has long been a favorite method of outreach and engagement for campaigns and organizations. Not only is texting easy and quick, but text messages also have an open rate of nearly 100%. This means texting is one of the best ways for campaigns and organizations to get in touch with their community.
Broadcast messaging is one form of texting that organizing teams can leverage in their digital organizing efforts. Here’s an overview of what broadcast texting is and how campaigns and organizations can use it:
What is broadcast texting?
Broadcast texting is the process of sending mass text messages to a bulk list of recipients. Broadcast messages show up as texts from a dedicated phone number or shortcode (a five or six-digit number that works like a phone number) used by campaigns and organizations for text messages. However, these messages can’t go out to just anyone. One major condition of broadcast messaging is that the recipient must opt-in to receive the messages, just as one might join a mailing list to receive emails.
Most texting services also come with MMS support, which means organizing teams can customize their messages with images or even GIFs.
How can organizing teams use Broadcast Texting?
Organizing teams can use broadcast texting in several ways, but it's particularly useful for rapid response — organizing teams can send broadcast messages to people when they need to mobilize quickly, like in the case of a bill that needs to be passed or an urgent fundraising appeal.
Broadcast texting is also great for sending updates, reminders, and event information to lists of supporters. Depending on the needs of the organizing team, messages can be general or targeted. For example, organizers can send a broadcast message to a large list of contacts to inform them about an upcoming fundraising event. Then, in the days before the event, they can create a target list of people who expressed interest in attending but did not confirm their RSVP yet.
Because of its versatility, broadcast messaging is a popular way for organizers to keep their community engaged and informed.
How does it differ from Peer-to-Peer Texting?
Peer-to-peer conversations require someone to send every message individually. This means that while peer-to-peer messaging is great for one-on-one outreach, it does require a group of people who spend time reaching out (usually volunteers). On the other hand, broadcast texting only requires just one user to get started, and it's the best method to send mass messages to lists of thousands (and even millions) of people at once.
Organizing teams can use a combination of both texting methods in their strategy. For instance, volunteers can send peer-to-peer texts to supporters with instructions on how to sign up for broadcast messages from a campaign or organization. Once the supporters subscribe to receive messages, they'll get the latest updates and information from the organizing team!
What is Impactive’s Broadcast Texting?
Impactive’s Broadcast Texting allows campaigns and organizations send mass messages and more. One of the key features of this broadcast functionality is the ability to track the performance of a message at any time. See how many people received the broadcast text, sent a response, or clicked a link within the message. Broadcast Texting even enables organizing teams to see how each recipient interacted with the message.
Plus, organizing teams can even facilitate back-and-forth communication after an initial Broadcast message by assigning handlers, or dedicated users, to respond to any replies that the initial text receives. Impactive’s Broadcast Texting provides the ease of sending messages to millions of contacts while preserving the personal touch of text messaging.
Ultimately, broadcast texting is the best option for organizing teams that want to reach out to lists of people in a short time. It’s quick, convenient, and versatile — organizing teams that use broadcast messaging will benefit from the variety of uses that Broadcast Texting can provide.
Learn more about Impactive's Broadcast Texting tool here.
