One of the biggest take aways for me from MTV's 2006 research on youth activism was the need to make it simple for teens -- local, easy to participate, a click away or a text message away. The folks at Do Something called to let me know about their new campaign with the Sprint Foundation to alert teens to local volunteer opportunities via text. It's funny, because the voicemail they left was talking more about the celebrity angle. I think that's totally secondary. What they've set up is...really, really smart. It's opt in (of course) with your interest and then offers 1-2 a month (not too many). What can you take away from this effort (besides getting teens you know to sign up?):
Cell phones are a direct line to teens - if executed well (see following points), you are guaranteed to reach them.
SMS campaigns must be opt in - Not only do they consciously decide they want what you're offering, they can be specific about what types of offers they want to receive from you.
Don't overdo it - 1-2 times a month sounds manageable. If you have something of value to offer weekly or even daily, make sure they choose that rate of delivery.
Whether it's an alert of a sale or free movie passes or better yet, a volunteer opportunity, I think this model can be very effective if done right.
Posted by anastasia
Wireless
Comments
Interesting stuff. I would think all of these points would hold true for adults, too. I'd love to hear about more groups which are using this model successfully... the problem I've found with things like text and email is that it's so easy and so virtual and so small that people can very easily forget commitments they make through it!
Posted by: oakling | April 2, 2008 10:50 AM
I agree with this- we have been testing out SMS with our peta2 network (only people who have opt-in), and so far it has been very successful.
Posted by: Lara Sanders | April 2, 2008 12:28 PM