5 Things You Need to Know When Adding Links to SMS Marketing Campaigns is the seventh in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.
Entry By Jason Brick
Short Message Service - SMS - makes marketing cheap and easy. You get direct responses from your most likely candidates, who've agreed to let you communicate with them whenever you like. You're also able to message 10,000 people for not much more money than messaging 10. SMS is scalable, inexpensive, and effective.
But it gets even better. Adding links to SMS can make this marvelous marketing modality even more effective. You engage your opt-ins at a deeper level, with an immediate call to action. Even if there isn't an immediate purchase, your prospects are primed for buying.
Here are five things you need to know to get maximum value when you add links to SMS.
1. Use A Link Shortener
With SMS you get 160 characters, so you definitely don't want to waste a single letter that you don't have to when inserting a link. Use a service like bit.ly to shorten your links. As an added bonus you'll get click tracking data as well. Just add a + symbol to any link shortened via bit.ly to pull up click data.
2. Screen Size
Mobile devices have come a long way in the past five years, but they're still limited by their size. A website or video that looks great on your office monitor can be frustrating on a smartphone. That's why, as a savvy business, you'll want to have your content optimized for mobile.
3. Professionalism
Sharing links via SMS can feel a lot like posting a comment on Facebook or Twitter. As much as you like your customers, though, it's wise to remember that they're not your friends. Avoid the temptation to say or share something you wouldn't want everyone to see.
4. Target Audience
As with any other marketing directive, consider your target audience with every link you broadcast to your SMS contact list. Funny and interesting links are fine, but not at the expense of sales. Customers should leave the page thinking about your business -- not the cute kitten or hilarious wipeout on the YouTube video you sent their way.
5. The Web is Ephemeral
Blogs and social media sites change quickly, so what's there today, will likely be gone tomorrow. Links to changed, or broken websites, look sloppy and unprofessional. You always want to check that a link is still viable, before you send something out. Otherwise, you won't be sending the message you'd hoped for.
6. Social Network Synergy
A key component in a message's "going viral," link sharing is one of the killer apps of the social network revolution. By inserting a link into your SMS text, you also increase the leverage of your blog, your Facebook page, and your Twitter account. This creates multiple hits for your business with your most engaged customers, and gives you that many more opportunities to reach new ones.
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