Calvert Creative

Here’s another outstanding example of a simple way to use texting as a business power tool. The Obama Campaign will be announcing their candidate for Vice President by text message and email to any followers who sign up.

By signing up, campaign supporters and followers (and competitors, if they’re smart) get to be the first to know, direct from the source, a singularly valuable and strategic piece of information. In return, the campaign gains a phenomenal list of cell phone numbers, and can also send other messages to their followers as well.

The next hurdle will be for the Obama Campaign to hit the right balance on number and type of text messages. There’s a fine line between broadcasting information and spamming. The key here will be to offer customization. I can envision an entire site devoted to types of text feeds that I might opt to receive (news on particular policies, for example), and a way to contribute information as well.

Overall, a brilliant campaign move and a great use of new media. What other ways have you seen texting and other online media tools used well?