Recently, while I was waiting for a doctor’s appointment, I glanced around the waiting room and noticed how many people were using their cell phones. No, they weren’t talking on them (as we all know that is “SO RUDE!”) but they were texting.
Both young and old were just tapping away. I was sitting by an 8 year old girl whose fingers were flying. Curious, I asked her about her texting habits. She told me that her mom gave her and her sister unlimited texting on their cell phone. However, the two children were limited to the number of calls they could make each month. Needless to say, my mind started thinking about how texting could aid in our industry today and in the future.
If you recall, Joe Biden was announced to the world as Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate over SMS text messaging. Nielsen estimates that the Biden text was received by 2.9 million mobile phone users in the US over the course of that weekend last August, making it one of the biggest, broadest mobile marketing stunts to date.
In a recent Nielsen Mobile Report, it’s found that text messaging has become the prevalent form of mobile communication worldwide. According to the report, Americans are sending more text messages than making calls on their cell phones. Such mobile usage is really an indicator of customer behavior. Consumers who can be reached through their mobile behave in ways that require different tactics than other channels. Here are other highlights from the report:
- U.S. mobile users sent an average of 357 texts per month in the second quarter of 2008 versus an average of 204 calls in the same period.
- In the last two years text messaging has grown a whopping 351%.
- The pre-teen – age 24 seem to have the highest recall of any advertising text messaging at 53%.
- When you look at the other age categories: 25 yrs-34 yrs had a recall of 16%; 35 yrs-54 yrs recall was 12%; and 55 yrs and older remembered only 10%.
- It’s also stated that African-American and Hispanic mobile subscribers are more likely than the typical texter to engage with some form of text messaging advertising.
With more than 82 million people texting on a regular basis, shouldn’t we consider having this in our marketing budget?
In the Nielsen report it states, “This goes to say that text messaging has embedded itself in the American communication lifestyle,” and our industry needs to start planning on how we use this technology.
So, how does the real estate marketer begin engaging buyers and sellers with this form of marketing when one has the standard 160 characters to tell her story?
First of all I recommend that you learn more about how to use this technology to the fullest. One very useful site is the Mobile Marketing Association. Here you’ll find posted guidelines for using text messaging, consumer best practices, case studies and much more.
Next learn from non-real estate companies which are using this media in their marketing plans such as Coke and Domino’s Pizza. American Airlines uses text messages to remind travelers of their itinerary and alert them of delayed flights and gate changes. And, many more retailers are using texting to send sales alerts and coupons.
How do we engage the population of prospects out there using texting? Are you already putting a strategy to work for your own business? Post a comment here and let’s see if we can find the best practice of texting in the real estate industry.
