While mobile apps and fundraising by text lead in tech-marketing sex appeal, simple often does the job best. For example, in 2008, then candidate Barack Obama announced Joe Biden as his choice as Vice President via SMS texting to interested Democrats. Instead of focusing on the dough, look for opportunities for engagement with mobile campaigns.

Non-profits can push URLs, facts and opportunities to parties who opt in to such lists. Your only limit is in your organization’s creativity. Some suggestions for potential audience engagement:

• Announcing volunteer opportunities
• Releasing breaking news
• Polls and calls for suggestions
• Questions and answers
• Requests for information
• Sending directions

One of the best uses for SMS – for organizations and businesses alike – is customer service. Questions, feedback and complaints fit wonderfully into a 160 max character medium. SMS allows for conversation – question and response – and offers users a quick, easy way to respond and get responses.

A few numbers to keep in mind as this all percolates: as of December 2009, 72% of Americans with cell phones had a texting plan – that’s 203 million Americans who are potential SMS audiences for your next campaign. Will it be easy? No. Could it be worth figuring out? Definitely.

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