The stats on text messaging are amazing! But how do you add one more thing to your plate? Simple: recycling. We’ll explore how busy nonprofits can build engagement (and donations!) with text messaging by repurposing social media content.
Check out our three-step plan to get started. We’ll explore why text messaging is worthwhile, why you’re wasting time on social media, and how all it takes is repurposing what you already create. Then we’ll dive into that simple three-step plan so you can get started immediately.
Why Text Messaging?
Wait a minute—why is text messaging such a big deal? The stats on short message service (SMS) texting are hard to ignore:
- 98% open rate (vs. 25% with email).
- 48% click thru rate (vs. 2-4% with email).
- $135 average donation (vs. $45 with email; and that’s conservative—we see $600+ on our platform).
If you want to reach people, reach them where they are. Americans are addicted to our mobile devices. So reach them on those cell phones with text message marketing.
I’m Too Busy for Texting
We hear this complaint a lot. And we get it: Nonprofit teams are overwhelmed and overworked. There’s always more tasks than hours in a day. Who has time to add one more marketing campaign to your to-do list?
Yes, but: What if that one task could make you more effective?
And what if you’ve already done most of the work?
We’ve got a way you can harness the effectiveness of texting without recreating the wheel: recycling. It’s good for the planet and it’s good for your mental health, too.
The Problem With Social Media
Don’t forget that there’s a major problem with social media: You don’t own it. Social media is fickle and what works today may not work tomorrow.
They can (and do) change the rules at any time. A sudden change could mean:
- You have to pay for advertising to reach your own followers.
- Effectiveness changes radically based on an algorithm.
- You get locked out of your own page (ouch, that’ll leave a mark!).
Don’t just play the social media game. Focus on building something you own. Grow your contact list so you can always contact your supporters regardless of the whims of a social media giant.
Social media is tricky because despite the downsides, it can be effective. Social media platforms can be a way to reach people. That’s where a lot of people spend their time, so you want to reach them where they’re at.
But don’t put all your marketing eggs in someone else’s basket.
Keep using social media—it’s where people are. But use it to grow your own list. Push social media followers to become email and text subscribers. Make sure you’re always pushing people down that marketing funnel to deeper engagement that you can control. That way you can follow up, regardless of what the social media companies do.
Tip: Check out our strategies to convert social media followers to subscribers.
How to Repurpose Social Media Content as Text Messages: Our 3-Step Plan
We’ve got a three-step plan to help you take advantage of text message marketing without hours of overtime.
Step 1: Build Your List
The first step is to grow your text message contact list. A new channel requires subscribers and you’re going to have to slowly build that audience.
Insight: Your text message list is going to be smaller than every other list you have. Smaller than email, smaller than direct mail, smaller than social media. But that’s OK because it’s way more effective. People jump when they get notifications, reaching for their Apple or Android product.
Here’s how to build your list:
- Convert existing contacts: You’ve already got contacts who love your nonprofit, so invite them to your new text message list. They’ll be a good test audience. You should work to convert both your email subscribers and social media followers to your text message list.
- Add sign ups: We have text message sign up widgets you can add to your website.
- Add to forms: Add a permission checkbox on any sign up form you have, whether it’s a donation form or contact form. Any time you collect contact info, make sure you can text them.
- Short code: Plaster your short code and keyword combo everywhere. This works great in real-time conversations and live events.
In short, you gotta collect those phone numbers.
Step 2: Recycle Social Media Posts
Get started with text messaging by recycling your social media content. It’s easy: You already post consistent content to social media. You share timely updates, you post good pictures, you invite people to events—just send that same info via text message.
You don’t have to recreate the wheel or come up with original content. Just recycle!
- Updates: Grab the jist of your latest update and send it via text.
- Donation requests: You can text the same pitch and send donors to your online donation form.
- Stories: Summarize the story of your latest success and thank your supporters for making it possible.
- Stats: Numbers are always quick and fun. Pull a few numbers from a social post and share them via text.
- Quotes: Pull an inspiring quote from your latest blog post and add a link to the original post for more.
- Photos: Pics are the best. When you post a ton of photos, grab the best one and add a quick caption.
- Events: Share details and a sign up link beforehand, and after the event share a picture and a quick recap. Give a shout out to your volunteers.
You already have the content. Just repurpose it. Reworking existing content for text messaging should take minutes. With an hour’s worth of work you could turn social media content into weekly text messages for an entire quarter. If your posts are more timely, do it a month at a time.
Tip: Creating and scheduling content in chunks is often a faster and more efficient use of your time. Work text messaging into your content creation plan. You likely already have a process for creating blog posts, email newsletters, and social media posts. Just add text messaging to the process.
Wait—isn’t recycling repetitive?: Won’t people get bored seeing our content repeated as a text message? Good question. No, they won’t. That attitude assumes people saw your content in the first place. They probably didn’t. The social media algorithms are fickle and that means even your followers won’t always see your content. Plus they forget. Remember marketing 101—it takes something like seven touches before someone responds. Sending the same content as a text message ensures people see it and increases the likelihood of a response. The hard reality is you absolutely need to be repetitive if you ever want to be heard.
Seriously, you need to repeat yourself (see what I did there?).
Step 3: If It Works, Do More
As you find success with text messaging, do more. Right now it’s about just getting started and seeing if this new channel can work. Will people sign up? Will those amazing text message stats hold true for you? Try it and find out!
This recycling strategy is a low commitment approach to see if it works. If it truly is more effective, then you can justify spending more time on it.
If you’re getting good results, do more:
- Consistent schedule: Maybe you commit to weekly text messages or come up with a consistent plan. Perhaps you start a photo Friday or send encouraging quotes on Mondays.
- Be interactive: Text messaging is conversational, so explore ways to encourage replies. Ask questions. Do surveys. Engage and interact to build a relationship with your supporters.
- Enhance your events: Add text messaging to your next event. You’ve found text messaging to be an effective way to connect and events open a whole other level of engagement opportunities with texting.
- Reach specific audiences: You’re not limited to bulk texts. You can also use segmentation to reach the exact audience you want.
Let’s be honest—step three is really for down the road. You can get started with just the first two steps. So this is really a two-step plan—even easier!
Maximize Your Nonprofit Impact
Nonprofits have to do so much with so little. Your plate is already full and it’s hard to consider something new. Every dollar has to stretch farther, every effort has to be effective.
We love nonprofits. We want to help you accomplish your mission by mobilizing people. But you have to do that as effectively as possible—and right now we think that’s text message marketing.
You can get started today without recreating the wheel. Try the most effective tool and see what results you get. We think it will be worthwhile.
Rally: We Help You Get Results
And we’re here to help. Seriously, we don’t just throw SMS marketing ideas out into the ether, we help your nonprofit get results.
- Tools: We offer integrations with your preferred fundraising platform, CRM, donation form, and more. We offer mass texting, two-way texting, and multimedia messaging service (MMS)—which lets you send photos, GIFs, emojis, and even videos. Our functionality and workflows can boost donor engagement, encourage peer fundraising, increase recurring donations, and in general make your mobile fundraising more effective.
- Support: We care about customer experience. We’ve got multiple options for help including FAQs, templates, and webinars. Plus, we’re happy to get on a phone call and talk through any issues. Read our case studies to see how nonprofits rave about our support and user-friendly system.
- Not sure: If you’re still not sure about SMS text messaging, we’re happy to show you a demo, walk through strategy, and take a voice call to talk pricing options. We can even help you get your nonprofit leadership on board (seriously, we get it!).
Get started: Book a demo to learn more about Rally and start texting now.
