Why SMS Marketing is Like Facebook Marketing, But Better
Facebook is a popular place. According to Statista, they had 1.44 billion active users in the first quarter of 2015. It’s no wonder then that businesses are flocking to advertise there. But big isn’t always better. SMS marketing is similar in many respects to Facebook advertising, and for some uses it is actually better. Let me explain and see if you agree.
You can target your market
One of the wonders of having 1.44 billion people at your disposal is that you can pick and choose who you want to see your ads. You can select by country, gender, occupation, hobbies, and just about anything else because Facebook keeps track of all that for every single user (scary, isn’t it?).
So while you can select the qualities you want the people who see your ad to have, you still get a random set of people. And I use the word random because they may or may not have any association with you prior to seeing your ad. It’s like having a big bowl of marbles all the same size, and that are generally blue, but mixed with other colours too. But you want only solid blue marbles so you stick your hand in and try to pick them all out. Mostly blue doesn’t count, or it might count occasionally. But in general, you’re looking just for solid blues (I know people aren’t like solid colour marbles, but stick with me on the analogy ok?).
Hopefully you’ve picked the right qualities, and matched your ad to those qualities, so your ad converts and gets the attention of all the solid blues. But it’s a lottery really, at least when you first run your ads and before you know what will work.
In SMS marketing though, once someone has opted into your list, they are pretty much guaranteed to be a solid blue. Sure, you might occasionally get one that turns out to be more purple than blue and they unsubscribe. But overwhelmingly you’ll have a list of people that are exactly your target market. And you have them as a fairly captive audience. You won’t be competing for their attention on their Facebook feed. Instead, you send them texts right to their personal phone. As of now, I don’t think Facebook ads can do that.
Data, data, data
Big data is getting a lot of attention these days. And for good reason. Data helps you understand things, find patterns and make predictions. Facebook collects hundreds of terabytes, or more, of data every day (one terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes) which it then sorts and aggregates into its advertising platform. That’s the reason you can target your ads to just people in Zimbabwe who like to watch science fiction movies, for example. But it’s all aggregated in to one big clump as far as the advertiser is concerned – you could never pick out a single person.
When you market to your own SMS list though, it’s your customers and your data. You may not be collecting or examining it yet, but the potential is there for you to learn a lot more about the specific people who buy from you. That means you’ll be able to better target more marketing and get even higher returns.
For example, say you have a store that sells clothes for both men and women. When you send out specials for women’s clothes, certain people will respond. Maybe different people respond when you send out men’s specials. If you keep track, you’ll be able to predict which ones are more interested in, and more likely to buy from, each offer. You can target your next campaign to just the one group and probably get the best results you’ve ever achieved.
That’s because you save money by not sending SMS messages to everyone on your lists, just the ones you knew probably wanted a men’s pair of trousers for 50% off. And because that list had the most likely buyers, the percentage of buyers would probably be high. Overall, that means a higher ROI because your data is the most informative and most targeted.
And because it’s your data, you can keep sorting and sifting it to see what else you can learn from it. Maybe those same people make different buying decisions around the holidays when they are shopping for others. Maybe there are other trends and insights you can gain to use in growing your lists. It’s all up to you really.
So which is better?
These are a couple of ways that Facebook advertising and SMS marketing are similar. But I also point out how SMS marketing can be better for certain reasons. Now, I’m not saying Facebook marketing isn’t good. It all just depends on what you’re trying to do and the budget you have to do it. SMS marketing offers a lot of benefits for businesses – especially small businesses that are trying to grow sales. So if you’re considering where to put your marketing resources, take a good look at what SMS marketing can do for you when compared to other options.
Related Articles
Why SMS is the Biggest Missed Opportunity for Marketing to Millennials
With the continued rise of different and more diverse technologies in the social and mobile web, it would be easy to dismiss the potential benefits of SMS marketing - and that’s exactly the reason you shouldn’t. An SMS is the unexpected visit of a familiar friend, and there’s one demographic that embraces an old trusted ally in this new, noisy digital world more than anyone else: the millennials.
Build Brand Loyalty with SMS Messaging
In a world where your competition can be found in just a few seconds, instilling brand loyalty in customers is a greater challenge than ever. One way to proactively reach out to customers is via SMS. The personal nature of SMS messages, combined with high read rates, gives you the opportunity to develop relationships with each customer.
5 Rеаѕоnѕ Customers Lоvе SMS Mаrkеtіng
With a ratio оf fоur mоbіlе devices tо еvеrу computer, іt’ѕ сlеаr where your сuѕtоmеrѕ аrе to be found. Mоbіlе mаrkеtіng is nо longer ѕоmеthіng уоu саn аffоrd to put оn the tо-dо-lіѕt fоr thе futurе; you need tо make sure your message is reaching people on mоbіlе dеvісеs nоw. SMS Mаrkеtіng is the perfect solution - it hаѕ proven to іnсrеаѕе сuѕtоmеr engagement tо unрrесеdеntеd levels and is incredibly low priced. Read on to discover 5 rеаѕоnѕ whу сuѕtоmеrѕ love SMS Mаrkеtіng.
4 Simple Steps to Staying Compliant When Using SMS Messaging
Yet another company (Quigley and Carter Limited) have been fined by the ICO for not having permission to send SMS messages. In this case, they had outsourced their marketing to a third party who then sent messages on their behalf. So is staying compliant with the regulations regarding SMS messaging so difficult? It doesn’t have to be.
The latest Ofcom report reveals why mobile marketing is so effective
How to Capture the Essence of Autumn in Your SMS Marketing Campaign
Do Your Customers Want Emoji in their SMS Messages?
Emoji are showing up everywhere. Should you be using these cute, fun, and illustrative icons in your SMS marketing? Your customers probably want you to. Around 72% of people have positive feelings about brands who use emoji. But before you get started, you’ll want to find out the details in this blog.
How To Know If Your SMS Campaigns Work
If you’re using SMS campaigns as part of your strategy to drive sales, sign ups, fund raise, or any goal, you’ll need to know if it’s working. You may be familiar with email tracking or other forms of marketing metrics but how do you measure the effectiveness of SMS campaigns? Here are five different ideas for you to try.
Using Perfectly Timed SMS Marketing to Engage Customers
One of the greatest advantages of SMS marketing is the ability to be personal. This gives the opportunity to engage customers based on any number of actions such as purchases and registrations. Some people call this kind of marketing "just-in-time" which describes the concept really well.
3 Reasons SMS Messaging is the Best Choice to Contact Everyone on Your List
One of the many benefits of SMS messaging is that it's personal. It can feel like a one on one communication or even conversation. But it's also one of the best ways to reach 10, 100, or even 100,000 people all at once. So even "one to many" communication feels like "one to one" to the receiver.