An Important “Message” about March for Meals

Since 2002, Meals on Wheels programs have come together to shine a spotlight on seniors in need with March for Meals events in communities across the country during the month of March.

Whenever major events like this are planned in your service area, it’s a great time to piggy-back on the free media attention and engage with your donors.

Most of you will be utilizing some sort of social media to generate support for March for Meals. You’re probably actively using your Facebook presence before, during, and after events to engage your donors. You might have created an event page on Facebook to post details and encourage followers to share and repost. Maybe you’re giving sneak peeks on Twitter about the headliners of your event? Posting pics on Instagram to show how much fun people had at last year’s event? And the tech-savviest among you might be sharing live streams and updates with followers during your events.

Whether you’re doing some or all of the above, consider adding something NEW to get the word out this year. Try messaging your donors!

Here’s what Lautman’s Digital Account Manager, Rachel Kottler has to say about using SMS (Short Message Service texting) and MMS (text messages with pictures, video or audio content) to reach your donors:

Text Messages Are a Great Way to Reach Your Donors
• 95% of Americans own a mobile device.
• On average, Americans send or receive 41.5 messages per day.
• 75% of people age 50-64 send and receive texts!
• Text messages are read before emails.

It’s Quick!
• Your canvas is about 160 characters, so it won’t take long to write, edit, approve and send.

It Just Works!
• Texts are estimated to have a 99% open rate.
• Response rates average 90 seconds.
• Action rates, response rates, click through rates, conversion rates are 2x-4x higher than e-mail or social media.
• By getting donors on your mobile list, you are increasing their value.

For more details and examples of how this works, check out this presentation.