Information travels at high speeds in the modern political landscape. Attention spans are increasingly fragmented, so it’s imperative to use the right communication channels to get your message across during elections. Among the tools available, SMS is a dynamic option for sharing political information.
Whether it’s crucial campaign updates or reminders to get out to local voting polls, text messages reach their intended audiences quickly and directly on their devices. And they make a measurable difference—in 2020, targeted texts to unlikely voters caused their voting rate to rise threefold compared to similar untargeted voters.
News sources play an integral role in keeping voters informed and engaged throughout election season. Here’s how news organizations can leverage the inherent power of text messaging for political engagement to improve voter turnout.
Why Use SMS for Election Messaging? 5 Major Reasons
The latest surveys indicate 97% of Americans have a cell phone, which they check an average of 144 times per day. That’s an incredible number of opportunities to reach potential voters.
Texts may seem trivial but don’t underestimate their impact. Encouraging citizens to sign up for political text alerts is a proactive way to get them involved in the political process. The channel can inform and engage people by providing:
- Unparalleled reach: SMS cuts across demographics, ensuring no voter is left behind regardless of location or socioeconomic status.
- Instant delivery: Texts have a remarkably high open rate, giving your updates the best chance at being seen and your links to be clicked.
- Personalization: You can target communications based on voter preferences, demographics, and more for relevant messaging.
- Cost efficiency: SMS is affordable, especially compared to mail or television advertising, reaching a wider audience simultaneously.
- Two-way talk: SMS allows voters to respond and engage, building trust and strengthening relationships with voters.
Ultimately, SMS bridges the gap between voters and the political process, a connection that can shape elections.
Real-World Political Engagement
Helping voters locate polls, requesting feedback, and sending event reminders—these benefits drove the Town of Andover to leverage SMS to address challenges it faced with community engagement, resulting in a remarkable 124% subscriber growth in just the first month.
Explore other ways SMS has improved engagement between organizations and their audiences.
The Powerful Role of SMS in Voter Engagement
From initial voter registration drives to get-out-the-vote efforts on Election Day, political SMS can play a pivotal role in keeping voters informed and motivated. Here’s how it can play a role in every phase of an election.
Voter Registration
A healthy voter turnout is vital, but two common barriers often get in the way of widespread registration: lack of awareness and time constraints. Organizations can utilize SMS channels to remind eligible citizens of registration deadlines and offer information on registration requirements. Targeted texts can also direct voters to online or in-person registration locations.
Pre-Election
The best kind of voter is an informed one. Voters benefit from education about candidates’ platforms to help them decide how to cast their votes. SMS features like drip sequences can send bulk SMS for election campaign events, updates, and crucial information, helping citizens get information from a trusted source.
Early Voting
In some jurisdictions, early voting options accommodate voters who may not be able to vote on Election Day. You can use SMS to send out information on early voting dates and procedures. Highlighting the convenience of early voting could motivate voters, especially those with other commitments on Election Day, to cast a ballot.
Election Day
Help people find their nearest voting poll with text message reminders—it could be the nudge that ultimately increases voter turnout. Segmenting SMS audiences allows you to share critical details about polling locations by jurisdiction. Sending out voter engagement details and election updates throughout the day can also create a vital sense of community among voters.
6 Strategies for Leveraging SMS in Your Election Updates
Political press agencies have a large audience to reach. These strategies can help maximize the impact of bulk SMS for election campaign updates and information.
1. Segment and Personalize
Generic messaging is a surefire way to disengage voters. Segmenting your audiences and sending personalized, relevant messages that will resonate with each audience is crucial.
Define your segmentation criteria, which could include:
- Demographics (age, gender, location)
- Political affiliation
- Engagement level
- Issues of interest
- Voting history
- Donation history
How you address these audiences will vary, but remember: Only a tailored approach demonstrates care for their needs and concerns.
2. Encourage Interaction
At the core of text messaging is the potential for productive two-way communication. For news organizations, this means utilizing SMS features such as:
- Polling questions and surveys
- Feedback collection
- Event registration
- Q&A interaction
The key is to prioritize interactive elements. A two-way dialogue benefits both sides of these interactions—voters get a platform to share their voices and participate in political conversations through text message voting polls, while you gain valuable insights and direct engagement with voters.
3. Include Multimedia
While text-based messages are more common, multimedia content, or MMS, can add a compelling element to your messaging. For example, you can use MMS to:
- Share eye-catching graphics to draw attention to your message
- Send unique, relevant videos of important messages or events
- Use GIFs or audio to drive audiences to click through
Both SMS and MMS can be effective. Your messages to voters matter whether you use multimedia or not—but in some cases, sharing additional visual content can help you capture attention and convey your message more effectively.
4. Automate and Scale
As an election cycle accelerates, rely on your SMS messaging platform to streamline your efforts. Advanced features that automate and scale your messaging can help you:
- Maintain an organized contact list
- Manage and label audience segments
- Schedule messages in advance
- Set up auto-reply messages
- Filter your incoming messages
These tasks are essential for organizations that hope to reach a large audience and must keep up with them at scale.
5. Monitor and Optimize
Knowledge is power. Reviewing your SMS data removes the guesswork and offers hard facts and real-time insights to help you make more effective choices with your text channel.
Regularly monitor and analyze metrics like delivery rates, open rates, and response rates. Use these insights to gauge public sentiment and adjust your future SMS efforts. This will help your messages hit the mark every time.
6. Demonstrate Integrity
It’s often necessary to take measures to combat misinformation. Voters need to know where to go to avoid fake or sensationalized news. SMS is an incredibly valuable channel for providing accurate, authoritative information and ensuring voters have direct access to reliable sources. Building—and maintaining—trust is crucial.
This principle applies to every facet of your messaging strategy. Ensure your SMS channel complies with all relevant regulations, obtains explicit consent from recipients, provides clear opt-out instructions, and adheres to best data privacy and security practices.
Finally, SMS is an excellent way to show your audience you appreciate their time and attention. A “thank you” message goes a long way to convey gratitude for their engagement.
8 Best Practices for Implementing SMS
Crafting an effective SMS strategy requires creativity, but adhering to best practices can help create a great campaign.
- Keep it simple. Compose texts that are concise, clear, and to the point.
- Provide value. Offer exclusive, relevant content that matters to your audience.
- Time it right. Send messages at optimal times; avoid early mornings and late nights.
- Foster engagement. Don’t just talk to your audience; talk with them.
- Don’t overdo it. Update your audience as needed without spamming their devices.
- Stay consistent. Maintain a steady tone and messaging frequency.
- Test over time. Try different formats, timing, and content to seek what works best.
- Track your performance. Use metrics to observe and refine your strategies.
In a competitive political news arena, it takes innovation and persistence to get ahead. However, there’s a reason tried-and-true tactics have earned their solid reputation. They’re reliable, effective, and integrity-driven—all things the political landscape benefits immensely.
Dive deeper into SMS best practices here.
Use SMS Strategies to Improve Voter Turnout
Whether rallying potential voters or directing them to the nearest Election Day voting poll, text message channels are a powerful way for political journalists to reach their audience. This line of communication is a pathway like no other—SMS channels offer vast reach, instantaneous delivery, and easy engagement to put crucial electoral updates directly into the hands of voters.
Don’t just inform—inspire action. Leverage Subtext’s SMS platform to mobilize citizens to make their voices heard and keep up with accurate, up-to-date news. Explore the platform’s cutting-edge features to see how we can help you make an impact. Book a demo today.