Text Messaging

Every where you look people are text messaging. In fact, Americans on average send 357 text messages per month versus 204 cell phone calls. Those numbers are higher when the cell phone user gets younger. 72% of Americans have a paid for text messaging package on their cell phone which equates to 203 million people. Almost 60% of cell phone users who are 13 years old + are considered regular text message users. In another study 42% of teens indicated that they could text message blindfolded. The same study also revealed that a majority of teens preferred text to talking on the phone because it allows them to multi-task.

There is no doubt that text messaging is the communications wave of the future. Any parent can tell you that if they call their teen, they are more likely to get a text message back then an answer or return call.

It is not all that different for adults. While adults are less likely to have a drawn out conversation through text, many would say they would prefer to respond to simple phone calls through text or email.

Do a little case study of your own.

• Pick five adults and five teens, call each of them and leave a message asking for a return call.
• Then pick five more teens and five more adults and text them the same message asking for a response.
• Record the times you called or text messaged, and then record their response time.

I’d love to hear what response times you got. My guess would be that you will get a response at least ten times faster through text and that at least a few of the “phone call group” would text back rather then call you.

I have learned as a youth minister that I am waisting my time to call a bunch of teens to invite them to something or get the word out about an event, and even just to chat. My time is much better spent sending them a quick text or a message on facebook.

Utilizing Texting for Ministry

So, as a person involved in ministry at the parish level, or even on a national level – how do you take advantage of this technology and leverage it to help as you evangelize those in your ministry?

Use your own phone?

Sure you could use your own phone, but that means you either have to add members manually each time you text or you have to keep everyone in your ministry as a contact in your cell phone. Some do this and they are fine with it. This will work best if you have a good smartphone or a phone that can categorize your contacts in an efficient way. Still though, depending on your phone it can get mundane trying to send out your message. You also have to watch out for sending limits, some phone carriers limit the number of texts that can be sent at one time.

Streamline using a service

If you want to get serious about communicating effectively with people involved in your ministry then you need to look at options that will help you be efficient. There are numerous options out there for “text messaging services” or “broadcast SMS services”. These are online services that you can subscribe to to send out your text messages to groups – whether its ten people or 10,000 people all at one time. This is by far the best way to maximize your reach and streamline your messaging. Using a service such as this will allow you to not only communicate with those already in your reach but to expand. If you are finding that texting has worked great with your teens, what if you took this to your parish as an idea to do for the entire community?

Using a service will allow you to effectively connect with groups large or small and give you an easy way to allow people to subscribe to your updates.

Ideas for Utilizing Text in Ministry

There are no doubt numerous ways to utilize text messaging as an evangelization tool. Here are a few ideas to get your mind rolling:

• As a fast and easy way to update your community about upcoming events, or last minute changes.
• Start a prayer chain that allows community members to text their requests which can then be forwarded to the prayer chain in an instant.
• Remind parishioners about a special collection, or a Holy day of Obligation, or a parish fundraiser.
• Remind your teens about upcoming youth group events, or invite them out to a spontaneous dinner.
• Share scripture quotes or inspiring messages on a regular basis to help your community grow closer to Christ.
• Start a text service sharing inspiring quotes from great writers. People can subscribe to your service and you can set a regular schedule for sending them out.
• Send prayer reminders to attendees on a retreat the week after to help them keep going in their journey and remind them of the great weekend.
• Run contests or games using text messaging with your youth group. You can do a “fastest texter” contest on a bus trip, or a text only trivia game. (If you are using a service this is very easy and a great way to get them used to using your customized number that you will receive from your SMS service)
• Use your personalized number as your contact for teens instead of your personal phone. Many Diocese and Churches have made it a policy that youth ministers and volunteers are not allowed to use personal cell phones to contact youth due to their safe environment policies. If you are using a service you would be able to use the number you are given as a way for teens to text you while keeping in the policies of your church.

Who do we recommend?

Okay, so of course now you’re probably Googling “broadcast SMS” to find a good service and you are probably overwhelmed by the choices and the prices. We have done the research and have found what we think is the best SMS service for your ministry buck.

TATANGO

No, I didn’t just stutter, it is called Tatango, and it is a very easy to use Broadcast SMS interface that I personally use in my ministry. In my next post I am going to walk you through Tatango and show you why I think it is such a great service. In the meantime, if you don’t feel like waiting you can check it out for yourself. There are no contracts and you can try it out for free if you’d like or pay for one month and cancel if you do not like it. Or come back tomorrow to read more before you buy. (You can read part II here)

The guys here at www.newmediaministry.com have secured a 15% discount just for our readers. Click here to sign up and simply enter the code “L84OTQCK” at check out to receive your discount.

UPDATE: A fellow youth minister asked me if this Tatango thing was legit, he is concerned with entering his teens information and then suddenly they start getting spammed. This is a very valid concern. I can assure you that Tatango does not give out your list. I also can assure you that your text will be professional looking and your subscribers will be impressed. To prove it to you I’d like you to text NEWMEDIA to 68398 and wait for my reply text. Or you can click this link below, enter your info and I’ll text you back to show you how it looks.