Use Facebook to Build Your Mobile SMS Marketing Opt-In List

March 23, 2011 - PRLog -- SMS and text message marketing is widely recognised as a particularly effective form of direct marketing. It is quick to launch, cost-effective and the high read rates of sms messages (94% of text messages sent are read with 75% of those being read within 4 minutes) mean businesses running a text message marketing campaign can be confident their promotional offer or event announcement will be seen.
Also, as text message marketing is permission based I.e. subscribers have to opt-in and give you their mobile phone number before you can send them promotional texts, you know you are always sending your message to a customer who has a genuine interest in your business or service.
However gathering this mobile database can be a barrier to entry for many business owners.  uConnect (http://www.uconnect.ie), the leading mobile marketing service developed by Limerick based company uMobilize Promotions provide a range of tools to help their clients build their mobile database. And they have recently expanded this toolset by releasing the Facebook Mobile Club app which uConnect clients can currently install free of charge on their Facebook pages.
“We recognised early on that building their mobile club would be the biggest challenge our clients face in starting their mobile marketing program.” said Philip Culbert, co-founder of uMobilize Promotions, the providers of the uConnect service. “uConnect is primarily a small business direct marketing service and many of our clients do not have vast marketing budgets. Many of them would have tried e-mail marketing and would have an e-mail database, but may not have a database of mobile subscribers. As a result we provide a number of free tools to help them build their mobile club. These include a branded website plug-in form where consumers can enter their mobile phone number to join a clients mobile club. We also provide txt2join keywords and short code numbers which clients can display in store or print on promotional literature to gather subscribers”.
“However, more and more of our clients have contacted us to advise that they increasingly interact with their customers using a range of social media tools such as Facebook. To allow clients to capitalise on this we have released the Facebook mobile club app.”
uConnect clients can currently install the Facebook mobile club app free of charge on their Facebook page. Facebook Fans will then simply need to click on a “mobile club” link to display a client branded form where fans can enter their mobile phone details. These details are then automatically saved to the clients mobile database in uConnect.
Added Culbert, “ uConnect (http://www.uconnect.ie) is primarily a service developed to help small business owners such as retailers, restaurant and hotel marketers and bar/nightclub owners quickly and cost-effectively create marketing campaigns that will let them connect with their customers. The joy of the new Facebook app is that anyone with an understanding of Facebook can quickly install it on their page. You don’t need to bring in a web developer or technical expert to do this.”
Registering an account with uConnect is free of charge, with no long term obligation or month subscription. Clients simply purchase SMS credit online and “pay-as-you-go”.
Clients can register their free account at  www.uConnect.ie (http://www.uconnect.ie) and to celebrate the launch of the Facebook mobile club application, uConnect are currently offering 100 free SMS credits to all new users.

About uMobilize Promotions
uMobilize Promotions are providers of the uConnect mobile marketing service.
To find out more about their uConnect mobile marketing service, visit  www.uConnect.ie (http://www.uconnect.ie) or text UCONNECT to 51444.
UK Visitors plese visit  www.uConnectsms.co.uk (http://www.uconnectsms.co.uk)

Contact Information:
Philip Culbert
uMobilize Promotions Ltd
Sales & Marketing Manager
E: Philip.Culbert@uMobilize.ie
T: +353-61-503040
W:  www.uMobilize.ie (http://www.umobilize.ie)

# # #

uMobilize Promotions are the providers of the uConnect text message marketing and bulk sms messaging service. Using uConnect you can create and run your own text messaging marketing program quickly, easily and cost effectively.