Online Texting Service: Cloud Texting for Marketing and Polling
By Lee Simonson
Online texting services are now available for "in the cloud" text marketing and polling programs. The term "in the cloud" simply refers to the fact that there is no hardware or software required and that the management of your texting program is web-based. You just log-in to your account online and send and receive your text messages.
Texting works in a one-way or two-way configuration. For example, you can use your online texting service in a one-way fashion by using the text broadcasting feature, also known as text blasting, to send a text message to multiple recipients. On the other hand, you can also use the service to receive text messages and send back automated responses, making it a two-way form of communication.
A common example of two-way communication would be text couponing for a marketing campaign. Let's say you owned a car dealership and you were preparing a series of television commercials. To promote your sale, you would tell your television listeners to send the word WHEELS to your text address 81888. (The keyword "wheels" can be in upper or lower case, it doesn't matter.) When people see your advertisement, they grab their cell phones, and text the word "wheels" to 81888. Instantly, they receive a text back that states, "Come in and take a test drive in the next 48 hours and get a free driver's emergency kit." They will also receive a message asking them if they want to receive future messages from you. If they choose, they can opt-in to be put on your list. It's a great way to build a list of prospects.
The applications for using online texting in a marketing or polling campaign are limitless and there are literally thousands of ways this amazing technology can be put to use. We are at the dawn of a new era of communication, and today, with the advent of cell phones and the new QWERTY keyboards on the smartphones, texting has become mainstream. In fact, when using their cell phones, people are now texting more than talking and 85% of the American population now has a personal cell phone.
This open up the floodgates of opportunity for creative organization builders and entrepreneurs to capitalize on texting technology without having to invest in expensive hardware or software programs. The "backbone" for the texting infrastructure has already been completed and is ready to be used by anyone who wants to implement a text campaign for alerts, notifications, and reminders. Texting coupons will grow in popularity and you'll see a big emphasis on using texting for polling purposes.
Text polls have been seen regularly on reality television shows to enable the audience to participate in selecting the best singers and dancers. However, that will be just the beginning for polling applications. Soon, you'll begin seeing polling at concert and sporting venues to let the fans and patrons select the featured songs and players. And you'll see a more widespread use of online text polling on television and radio stations, asking people to weigh in on a variety of social and political topics. Unlike the reality shows today, where you have to wait a day or more to hear the results, text polling will provide instant real-time results and audiences will be able to watch the text votes being compiled in minutes, or even seconds.
Texting has been, and will continue to be, ubiquitous within our culture, and those who harness this technology will be at the frontier of the ever-expanding opportunities that technology gives us.
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