4 Ways Political Campaigns Can Use Text Messaging To Reach Voters
Text messaging has become an effective way for political campaigns to reach out to voters of late. Here are 4 ways your campaign can use text messaging to connect with voters on the campaign trail.
Text messaging has become an effective (and popular!) way for political campaigns to reach out to voters of late. Plus, they can be used for a myriad of purposes — from mobilizing volunteers to soliciting donations and even GOTV efforts.
How can your political campaign best utilize text messaging? Here are 4 ways your campaign can use text messaging to connect with voters on the campaign trail:
1. Supporter Welcome Messages
What better way to welcome new supporters to your campaign team than by sending them a welcome text message? Typically, this message will contain a little bit of info about your candidate, as well as a link to the campaign website and/or fundraising page. The message should also thank the supporters for signing up for more information and provide them with more information about what they might receive from any future campaign updates.
2. Event Invites/Updates
Need to send additional information to supporters or confirm their attendance at an upcoming campaign event? Text messages are a quick and easy way to let your supporters know of any rallies, town halls, fundraisers, or other events you might like them to attend.
3. GOTV Messaging
Perhaps one of the most popular uses of text messaging in political campaign is for GOTV efforts. You can use text message campaigns for a variety to remind voters of purposes related to grassroots, including reminding them of pending deadlines for voter registration or absentee ballot applications, to sending those critical “get-out-the-vote” messages for your candidate on Election Day (or earlier, depending on where you live). GOTV text messages also work well when they’re sent in a timed series leading up to Election Day, making them a key method of communication for voters in the final weeks and days of the campaign.
4. Fundraising Efforts
Looking to raise a few bucks for your campaign quickly? Why not send out a text message blast to your most ardent supporters asking them to chip in money for your next television advertisement or to help you meet your next fundraising deadline. Plus, in today’s smartphone era, including a dedicated link to your campaign’s donations page will make it easy for them to contribute the $25 or $50 your campaign desperately needs to keep operating.
As with your campaign’s other outreach efforts, you should always be smart with how you craft your text messages.
Here are some tips for writing effective text messages that’ll result in high response/click rates from supporters:
Keep your messages short and to the point. Depending on your budget and what type of message you’re trying to send, you may only have 160 characters for your message (a traditional SMS message). If that’s the case, make sure your message is concise and easy for the voter to understand.
If you do have the budget for MMS messaging (multimedia messaging, which can contain up to 1,000 characters and videos or images), you’ll have a little more flexibility with what you can include in your message.
Include a link in your text. Make sure you always include a shortened link to your website or donations page as part of the text. Not only will this often allow you to forego having to add a full disclaimer to your text messages, but it’ll provide you with an additional place to educate the voters about your candidate. Bonus points if you’re able to create a unique landing page for your text message campaigns or incorporate UTM tracking with your links.
Personalize your messages whenever possible. This will make your messages more relevant and engaging to voters. Examples of personalization include sending voters text messages that are tailored to their interests or that are based on their past voting history.
ALWAYS test and measure your results. It's important to test different types of text messages with small groups first to see what works best for your audience. Make sure you are also tracking your open and click-through rates to see how effective your text messages are and what tweaks you might want to make with future efforts.