Text Messaging: The Missing Link in the Houston Mayoral Social Media Strategy

Saturday, I attended the Gene Locke Social Media Summit, which was well attended; simultaneously there was a volunteer training session that featured Temo Figueroa, President Barack Obama’s National Field Director.

Over the past few weeks I have had multiple conversations with various campaigns in the Houston Mayoral Race in regards to their Social Media Strategy. Somehow, the campaigns do not think that text messaging is part of an effective Social Media Strategy.

I have been greatly disappointed with the feedback I have received from those with great influence on each campaign and their ignorance on text messaging as an effective communication tool. 84% of the total United States population is using mobile phones. Mobile phone users keep their phone on, an average of 18 hours a day. Think about if for a second … when you reach for your car keys or wallet/purse … what else are you mindful of taking along with your person?

Gene Locke had a good start to his text messaging campaign when I first reviewed it in May. Locke cleverly implemented a call to action through text messaging on yard signs, a tool used by real estate agents in major metropolitan areas to disseminate information to potential homebuyers, but those efforts have since disappeared.

I signed up to the Gene Locke text message alerts in early July and as of recently began receiving more campaign news on a consistent basis via a text message.

In a January article in the Los Angles Times, Scott Goodstein, the campaign manager that ran all of the text-messaging and social media communications for President Obama explains how he built a list of over 2 million mobile numbers.

Ready for the secret?

Goodstein states:

“We were able to take advantage of a large crowd of people who wanted to hear the senator’s message and we were able to convert that into action.

Once we knew that this was an effective way of doing it, at every one of those big rallies we’d have a field organizer stand up and ask people to text their state’s text-messaging keyword to the Obama shortcode.

They did that at every event and every surrogate event, and we were able to use that information to get more volunteers, raise more funds and get out the vote.”

Why is it that after every debate … forum … opportunity in which I hear Gene Locke speak … I do not hear his plug to “Text LOCKE to 70376” much like Obama did?

I do not see the keyword and shortcode promoted on yard signs as I once did and the website lacks any mention of the shortcode.

In fact, on their “Stay Informed” block located on the right side of the website … it now asks for your “phone number” when it used to ask for your “mobile phone number.”

That is a big FAIL! How the heck do you plan on moving your social media strategy from outreach mode (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to action mode (Text Messaging)?

How do you inform potential voters of early voting locations, polls closing or changing hours of operation due to bad weather, getting out the vote on election day or more importantly during the run-off in December when turnout is traditionally low? The answer: text messaging.

The point is, text messaging is a vital tool in the communications arsenal in a post-Obama election. From campaigns to city services … text messaging is the only tool to reach people regardless of income. African-Americans and Hispanics are 50% more likely to use text messaging. In a city that is minority-majority, you have to update the way you communicate to the way people get information, and pretty much everyone has a cell phone.

I had a brief conversation with Jose Soto of the Locke campaign in regards to implementing a Citywide Emergency Service that notified citizens of emergencies such as a hurricane via text messaging.

New York City and Philadelphia have implemented city emergency alerts via text messaging. This is not new … in fact back at 40 acres (University of Texas at Austin) the school implemented a similar program and we were notified when the school was closed due to inclement weather, etc.

As for the other campaigns …
I was critical of Peter Brown first TV ad for failing to implement a call to action. There was no keyword with a shortcode to find out more information on the ad. In fact, the ad only displayed a website for a mere 2 seconds out of a 30 second ad.

As for Annise Parker … when I attended an exclusive blogger lunch in mid-July, I inquired if they were going to implement a text messaging campaign … I was informed … Yes. Now, we are entering September, with about 10 weeks left and there is nothing yet.

In a 2008 study conducted by Credo Mobile and the Student PIRGs, it found that “text message reminders to go vote can increase voter turnout 4.6 percentage points when they are delivered on election day, and 2.6 points if delivered before election day.”

In a mayoral election with an open seat, the difference between who gets into the runoff and who goes home will be about numbers and who can get their supporters out. While I do not know how many mobile numbers Gene Locke has, he wins the text messaging race by default. Text messaging is not only for reaching young voters, for only a few cents per message, the campaigns can deliver vital information instantly.

The fact is, most people have multiple email addresses, and you do not own Facebook data, or Twitter data. If these services were to shut down overnight or have outages like they have been in the past few weeks, your campaign communications would be severely handicapped.