Whether it’s for fun promotions at sports games, bars and festivals, or a professional speaking engagement, using SMS voting gets your audience engaged and makes the event interactive. 

Mobivity’s 2.0 dashboard and modular system make SMS voting promotions a breeze — both the setup and reporting are built into the software and it takes just minutes to get started.

The first step is to set up the voting campaign before you assign it to a specific keyword. After logging into Mobivity 2.0, click on Modules on the the main navigation bar and then click on SMS Voting:

After selecting the SMS Voting module, the Voting Campaign page is displayed, click on Add Voting Campaign  (upper left) to go to the setup screen.

Once on the voting campaign setup screen, you’ll be able to add the name the campaign, up to four choices and include a thank you response (I’ve included sample text below). When you’re happy with your text, click SAVE.

After you save the campaign, you’ll be taken to the list of all the campaigns you’ve created. You can click on any of the titles to edit, view results or change the name of the campaign from this screen.  If you are satisfied with the campaign you set up, click Dashboard on the main navigation bar to assign the voting campaign to a keyword.

To assign the campaign to a keyword, from the dashboard, scroll to the keywords area at the bottom and click on the desired keyword.

After selecting the keyword, you’ll see the Keyword Detail screen which displays all the data for that keyword and allows you to change the behavior of the keyword. 

To setup the keyword for the voting campaign, click on Change in the Keyword Response Handler section of the screen (lower left). Then use the drop down menus to select “Voting” as the response handler and then select the name of the correct voting campaign for the keyword. Click SAVE and you’re done.

If you have any questions on how to use the voting campaign function in Mobivity 2.0,  contact us at support@mobivity.com or see my earlier blog post on the topic.

The Referral Engine, a terrific book by John Jantsch launches today. Check the site for some bonus offers today only!

Learn to market your mobile business from experts like John, Seth Godin and David Meerman Scott and other veteran marketers with real world experience.

Andrew Seybold’s article on wireless network issues is thought provoking. In the past applications for new cell sites for wireless coverage could take years. The FCC just made a change that is important to those of us in the mobile industry:

Recently, the FCC gave network operators a new tool in the form of a "shot clock" that requires planning commissions to meet deadlines of 75 days after submittal for a new site and 45 days if the site is existing and to be shared by another network operator. This new tool does not guarantee that the permit will be approved, only that it will be acted upon within the stated length of time.

My suggestion to all of you is to find out when there are hearings in your city, town, or county for tower sites and attend them if possible. Sign up to speak and be someone who stands up for the network operator and the new tower application. If you cannot attend a hearing, directing an email to all of the planning commissioners is the next best thing. In my community, I try to attend these hearings whenever they are held, and the planning staff usually appreciates having supporters there to offset those who make it a habit to show up and complain–not only about cell sites, but in many cases, every application that is submitted.

Read more about this important issue on Fierce Wireless.

Media Connections published this article yesterday and I agree with Lisa Donohue’s viewpoint that while it’s challenging, now is a a great time to be in marketing.

Following more than a year’s worth of conversations about recession, budget cuts, and having to do more with less, I’m afraid we may have lost sight of something very important: It’s a great time to be in marketing. 

Our industry has become about constant change — this is the new reality. There’s a new medium developed every day, for which we are required to become instant experts in the way consumers use it. The era of three-network simplicity has been gone for some time, and it’s not coming back. A new era — one that includes digital channels, mobile media, and social networks  — is upon us and will continue to expand exponentially. We can meet this era with trepidation, or we can meet it with a New Optimism. I choose the latter, and I urge you to make the same choice.

Mobile marketing is a great way to work in the new reality. Most vendors offer real time results and it’s simple to start small,  measure and optimize campaigns.  Understanding how consumers want to communicate with you is paramount to success, and interactivity is key. Mobile coupons, mobile alerts and mobile contests are great additions to campaigns with an array of media options.

According to Mobile Marketing Watch, LG Electronics is teaming with Marvel to roll out an elaborate marketing campaign ahead of the film’s May 7th release.

The essence of the LG “Iron Man 2″ advertising campaign is rooted in the following tag line: “Is it a lifesaver…a smartphone, or something better?”

From in-store promotions at select Best Buy outlets to a movie-themed micro site, www.lgim2.com (that happens to include an online film-themed game with built-in Augmented Reality experiences and text-to-win consumer sweepstakes), LG is playing a substantial role in the overall marketing strategy behind “Iron Man 2.”

It’s great to see mobile aligned with the franchise and the integrated campaign around the release of the movie. Cool.

Came across this article at the TMC Net and thought I’d share

A recent survey of about 300 college students conducted by Ball State University found that 27 percent own a smart phone as compared to the national average of 19 percent for working adults. The research also found that 99.7 percent of students have a mobile communications device and the rates of sending text messages, e-mail, photos and videos are increasing.

SMS has overtaken email and instant messaging as the main form of communication for college students, 94 percent of whom send and receive text messages.

When using their mobiles to keep in touch with family and friends with 59 percent text, 17 percent call, nine percent send IMs and seven percent use email.

As lucrative as many believe mobile marketing will be, there are warning signs. The study indicates 52 percent of respondents received ads on their cell phone in the last few months, up from 24 percent in 2005. But a backlash might be building.

"In 2005, we found that 30 percent of students said they were annoyed at getting an advertisement, and that has grown to 48 percent in the most recent survey," says researcher  Michael Hanley, Ball State journalism assistant professor.

"What good is an ad if nearly half of your target market is not happy about receiving it?" he asks.

We at Mobivity have been saying for quite sometime that Mobile Marketing can be an extremely powerful tool if used properly and destructive to a brand if used improperly. Messages and ads must deliver value  or offer some sort of appeal to the reader. Though the article does not elaborate on whether the ads are opt in text or mobile web, marketers still need to ask themselves "what person likes to see an ad or message that has nothing to do with who they are and what they like".

Granted we are still in the infancy stages with Mobile Marketing and we will experience growing pains, but marketers need to tread lightly as to not tarnish the image of potentially the most powerful marketing tool to ever be introduced. As a reminder, the world has roughly 6.7 Billion people with about 4 billion of them being mobile subscribers. This means about 60% of the planet Earth has a mobile phone. Now that’s power!!

Times are tough all over and everyone I know is cutting back everywhere they can. My wife and I were even invited to a “recession party” where we were supposed to bring our own food and drink (I was tired so we stayed home and ordered in. If I have to buy my food to take to a party I’d rather order in some Thai food and hit the couch)). It appears consumers all over are looking for a way to save and there is a growing demand for discounts and coupons in order to some extra money. A USA Today article addressing web search for coupons offered the following

As consumers troll online to save money, searches that include value words such as “coupons” rose 161% in December vs. 2007 to 19.9 million and “discount” rose 26% to 7.9 million, reports tracker ComScore.

Coupon distribution and redemption had been flat in 2008 until the fourth quarter, when coupon distribution rose 7.5% and redemptions rose 15% vs. a year earlier, the Promotion Marketing Association says.

“That’s when consumers suddenly starting saying this is for real and marketers said we need to react with more coupons to keep our sales up,” says Charles Brown, co-chair of PMA’s coupon council and a vice president for coupon company NCH.

The web has always been a great resource for discounts. It is so easy to simply search for a product  and then Google “coupon for that product” But what about Mobile? It appears its time maybe growing near with the downturn in the economy. The following is an excerpt from an article over at RCR Wireless

discounts delivered and redeemed via handsets — will be used by some 200 million mobile users by 2013, according to a recent forecast from Juniper Research. While nearly all mobile coupon activity is currently limited to the Far East, uptake will surge in Western Europe and North America over the next few years, the market research firm predicts.
“We believe that consumers will be attracted to mobile coupons compared to traditional paper, and by the ability to tune the types of coupons received to their personal preferences rather than receiving all types through the vanilla distribution mode that is allowed by paper coupons,” Howard Wilcox of Juniper Research wrote. “Today, the overwhelming majority of coupons are paper-based, but the mobile phone is the ultimate individual marketing device, and mobile coupon pilots show great increased redemption rates — often double-digit percentages.”

Take for example Kroger Super Markets who tested the concept in a  219-store trial in the Southeast and saw redemption rates as high as 20% — compared with print campaigns that typically result in a 2% return. How impressive is that. Mobile Marketing companies all over should be taking note.

We have been discussing this simple application delivered to phones via SMS here at Mobivity for quite sometime and it appears the hurting economy maybe giving the concept a much needed boost.

A few minutes ago my Blackberry made that distinctive “You’ve got an SMS – Come Check Me!” sound. I’m not one of those people who have it buzz or ding everytime an email comes in. If that were the case I would quickly ignore it. An SMS is usually something I want to see.

People still get relatively few SMS messages per day (unless you’re my kids), so we tend to look when they come in. As I have always said, Mobile Marketing is about the right message, at the right time, at the right place. Well that goes for targeted alerts and content as well.

The SMS I got was an Amber Alert. Along with Tornado alerts and Emergency Alerts, this is one of the greatest uses of SMS. It was targeted to phones within the relative geographical area, and provided all the information needed to get thousands of eyeballs looknig for an abducted kids.

AMBER ALERT: Bergenfeld, NJ VEH 1995 Grn Infinity J30, TAG XXXXX CHILD:17 WhiteF 5Ft3 120lbs Eyes:BRN HR:Brn: SUSP:19M:SUSP18:M:SUSP21:M

Luckily 30 seconds later a cancel alert message was sent. This one sounds like a 17 year old girl hanging with some older boys possibly. This is the first message I received in a long time (since Oct), so clearly it is only used when really needed. Hopefully all turned out fine.

I had completely forgotten that I signed up for these free Amber alerts. Sign up right now. A child abducter can not outrun the speed of SMS, and the more volunteers who subscribe, the better the chances of locating a child quickly.