ThreeParts

Two Ways To Send Text Messages To Your Youth Group For Free

Jan 12, 2009 Mobile

There are several text message services aimed at youth workers. However, it’s probably fair to say that all of them come at a cost. The more youth you have, or the more messages you send, the more you pay. But what what if you could text your students for free? You can.

The first one can only be accomplished if you have a self-hosted WordPress blog. When WordPress is installed on your own web host, you can add plugins that may not be available WordPress.com or other blogging platforms. EasySMS is a plugin-based-widget for self-hosted Wordpress blogs that you can add to your sidebar. It’s a small form on which the user must give their full name, phone number, and select their carrier. They must also agree to be responsible for any charges associated with subscribing to your SMS service (you can customize the message). After filling out the form successfully, a confirmation code is sent to the phone, which the user must then return to the site and enter in the form.

This method is great because you can split your subscribers into groups, sending custom messages to each one. To state the obvious, you could setup groups for Jr. High, Sr. High, and Parents. Another plus to this method is that you manage it from the admin area of your blog. So while you’re posting youth group news, you can immediately send out a message to the group telling them to visit the site, or give them the headlines you just posted. The downside of this method is that it requires your subscribers to visit the site in order to receive messages from you. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how engaged your students are with your website.

Last week I had a speaking engagement in New Orleans where I presented, “Ten Things To Do, Not To Do, and To Be Aware of With Technology”. I love getting the opportunity to speak because I am able to share what little knowledge I have acquired over the years, as well as get feedback from others. During the presentation, someone spoke up about their method for texting a group, which I found to be a pretty smart idea.

Every mobile carrier assigns a suffix to their phone numbers that works like an email address (For instance, 615-555-5555@txt.att.net). When using this address, the email you send will be sent as an SMS message to a mobile device.  You can setup groups of contacts using your email service or desktop email client. Then you can send messages directly to targeted groups via their mobile devices without the subscriber having to visit your site (as long as you have received their permission at some point).

View a list of carrier suffixes here. The original file was found here.

Hope this helps!

Tags: communication, free, Mobile, sms, text, texting