In a world dominated by digital media, radio remains an enduring and beloved medium. With the advent of SMS marketing, radio stations have found a new way to engage with their audiences: running a texting contest. Studies show that SMS messages have a 98% open-rate (compared to 20% of Emails) and that 75% of customers want offers sent via SMS. Other studies predict by 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will be using SMS and messaging, rather than native apps.

With this in mind, it is clear that texting contests are a fantastic way to keep the excitement alive, but creating a successful one requires careful planning and execution. In this guide, we will explore the key elements to construct a winning texting contest for your radio station (or other businesses) in 2023!

 

Contents:

 

1. Pre-Contest: Setting the Stage

Before launching your radio station’s text marketing contest, it’s essential to establish the groundwork for success. This involves offering enticing prizes, clearly outlining contest rules, and promoting it across various platforms.

 

Appealing Prizes:

To attract participants, consider prizes that align with your audience’s interests, such as exclusive concert tickets, tech gadgets, cash/gift cards, or unique experiences. Choose prizes that create excitement and resonate with your listeners.

Clear Contest Rules:

Transparency is crucial. Provide straightforward rules, including eligibility criteria, contest duration, entry instructions, prize details, winner selection, and privacy consent. Clear rules foster trust and ensure a fair competition.

Multi-Platform Promotion:

To maximize participation, promote the contest through on-air announcements, social media, email marketing, your station’s website, and partnerships with other businesses or influencers. A comprehensive marketing strategy broadens your reach and boosts engagement.

 

2. Keyword Handling: The Foundation of Success

Think of keywords as your audience’s ‘ticket’ of entry into the contest. Keywords are the lifeblood of any texting contest. They are the gate, the gatekeeper, and the bridge between your audience and your radio station. Understanding how to handle keywords is crucial for your contest’s success. Let’s cover some of those crucial factors.

 

Case Sensitivity: 

Radio stations don’t want to play a guessing game with their listeners. That’s why platforms like Text Groove treat keywords as case-insensitive. It might sound like a minor detail, but avoiding case sensitivity is a game-changer. Listeners don’t need to worry about getting the capitalization right, which can be a barrier to participation. This is, of course, unless you 

Match Types: 

Flexibility is key, not all contests are created equal. Some may require exact matches, while others benefit from a little flexibility. Text Groove understands this and offers three match types:

  • Exact Match – This lets listeners add extras, like emojis, names, or stories, alongside the keyword. It encourages creativity and engagement, but the set Keyword needs to match exactly within the message.
  • Perfect Match – The set Keyword must be the entire message with nothing else before or after it. If you want to ensure that only the keyword is sent, this match type is ideal. 
  • Relative Match – The set Keyword can appear anywhere in the message (on its own, or within another word. Perfect for contests with variations like ‘ERA’ and ‘ERAS,’ this match type offers flexibility while maintaining accuracy.

 

3. Scheduling: Automation Made Easy

Running a texting contest shouldn’t require a 5 am wake-up call. Scheduling your contests ahead of time allows Text Groove to manage the timing, so you can focus on creating a great radio experience.

 

4. Engagement: Keeping Listeners Hooked

To make your texting contest a true success, it’s essential to maintain engagement and cross-promote your station. Text Groove offers tools to help you achieve this effortlessly.

Auto-Reply: 

The first step to keeping listeners engaged is to ensure that they receive timely responses. Automated responses provide a sense of instant gratification. Additionally, personalizing messages with fields like [first_name] makes listeners feel valued and appreciated. Here are a couple of examples of how to keep the engagement going:

  • “Tune in on weekdays for more chances. For more contests: [website].”
  • “Hey [first_name], tune in at 10 am tomorrow for the winner announcement.”

 

Contest Mode: 

Ensuring fairness and efficiency in your texting contest is vital. Text Groove’s Contest Mode helps you prevent multiple entries from the same listener.

Text Groove’s clean interface ensures a streamlined experience for both radio stations and their listeners. You won’t have to sift through a clutter of ‘KEYWORD’ messages, and listeners can enjoy undistracted 1:1 chats with your station.

 

5. Post-Contesting: Harnessing Analytics

Your radio station’s success depends on more than just the contest itself. It’s crucial to analyze the results, understand your audience, and fine-tune your future campaigns. Without data feedback to rely on, it will be difficult to improve your audience reach over future contests.

 

Analytics: 

Luckily, Text Groove provides a comprehensive stats page for diverse reporting needs. It’s a goldmine of information that helps you understand what worked and what didn’t.

Selecting Winners: 

Choosing the winners is a breeze with Text Groove. If you wish, you can easily select multiple winners and send custom messages to each one. Managing large-scale contests also becomes efficient with the ability to group keywords.

Keywords: 

The sky’s the limit when it comes to keywords in Text Groove. They are unlimited, allowing you to reuse, copy, and optimize as needed. This flexibility ensures that your texting contests can evolve and adapt to your station’s changing needs.

 

6. Why Text Groove?

In 2023, radio stations need to stay at the forefront of technological advancements while maintaining their unique charm. Text Groove is the ultimate platform designed with radio stations’ specific requirements in mind. It offers unparalleled efficiency, user experience, and results, making it the perfect partner for radio stations looking to take their texting contests to the next level.

Texting contests are more than just a fun way to engage with your audience; they are a strategic tool to build brand loyalty, increase listenership, and keep your station top of mind. With the right platform like Text Groove, you can effortlessly construct a texting contest that resonates with your audience and elevates your radio station’s success in 2023. So, let’s get those contests rolling, and keep those listeners tuning in!