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Every national election since the internet became relatively universal seems to bring with it a new "killer app" for politicos - it’s often something that connects the online and the offline, or something that helps campaigns do do something they already did in a whole new way. In 2004, it was the blog, in 2006, it was YouTube, and with 2008 looming, several technologies emerge for what could be the next killer app. Will it be social networks, with MySpace’s broad utilization and Facebook’s ability to leverage existing networks, and candidates own social networks, which let them integrate fundraising and list-building tools right into the interface (and keep their message from appearing alongside those annoying "<verb> the <noun> and win a free ringtone" ads)? Will it be Twitter, letting people alert their networks of apolitical friends when they’re going to vote? Maybe aggressive and innovative search engine marketing techniques to match paid search links with hot issues?

Two campaigns are betting that it might be SMS, which has been around since 1992, but which has finally achieved widespread use in recent years. Even if it’s not this cycle’s killer app, SMS will still have a role to play, and the Edwards and Obama campaigns have been experimenting with the technology in ways NPOs can emulate with their own members.

The Edwards campaign pioneered an innovative way around the prohibitive fees for mobile fundraising (contextual sidenote here: SMS fundraising has been somewhat stalled in the US for a variety of reasons, but the bottom line is that carriers often cap you at $5-$10/donor, take a 40-50% cut of the proceeds, and hold your money for a long as three months. In Europe, where regulation on carriers is greater, fundraising directly through SMS is doing significantly better).

On June 21, the Edwards campaign sent text messages to their 13,000-person SMS list with the text:

John Edwards wants 2 talk 2 you! Hit Reply. Type ‘CALL’ & hit Send. John will call YOU right back! OR call 202-350-9749. txt STOP 2 unsub.

Folks who hit their call button were connected to a robo-call from Edwards asking them to donate, and telling them to stay on the line for an operator to take down their credit card number. Clever move on the part of the Edwards campaign - I wonder how many people called in and how much they raised? [Update: we don't have numbers, but the Edwards campaign team have posted some info on how they did]

TechPresident’s Justin Oberman wonders if this will be nearly as effective the second time, or when another organization tries it. But using robo-calls and phone banks makes use of the “impulse gift” strength of text messaging while getting around its weaknesses. The question for non-profits: do you have anyone with the star power to make people want to call you right away, then keep them on for the donation?

Barack Obama’s campaign is going with a different approach with their new “Obama Mobile” tool. In the process of building their list, they’re asking members to sign up by texting “GO” to 62262(OBAMA). When you sign up, the first message you receive is,

Thanks for joining Obama Mobile. To get a free Obama sicker reply STKR & type your complete mailing address. Txt HELP for help, STOP to quit. Std rates apply.

Smart move here by the Obama campaign - once they have your mailing address, they can solicit you with direct mail, and geotarget you as as a potential volunteer for your state’s primary or caucus.

After you send in your address, you’re encouraged to visit the website to get free Obama Ringtones (which I found a little silly, but then, I like my phone ring to sound like… a phone). I was also messaged again on 6/28, asking me to tune into the Democratic debate and txt back my thoughts afterward. Those responses provided fodder for Obama blog posts, which in turn remind people to sign up for mobile updates if they haven’t - a sort of circle of Web 2.0.

The key takeaways here? First, that every tool builds on every other tool. I found out about Obama Mobile because his blog was on my RSS reader, but he sent out an email a few hours later to encourage folks to sign up. Second, SMS is feeding direct mail and the blog, just as the site, blog and email are feeding the Obama Mobile - and everything feeds fundraising. With a series of actions that each feed into another medium, Obama’s building all his networks at once, to keep people engaged on multiple levels.

So far, only Edwards, Obama, and Clinton have set up SMS campaigns (or if others have, I couldn’t find them on their sites), though we’ll probably see others join in soon. Whether it will be the Killer App for 2008 will likely have to wait for election day, because all this SMS list building is ultimately leading up to one message on November 4, 2008: “Vote <candidate> 4 Change 2day!”

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Marketing, SMS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.