Getting Your Text On with TextID

If you are in Phoenix, and you have yet to attend one of the Phoenix Social Media Club’s monthly meetings, you are clearly missing out.  This is a monthly meeting of people that are social media fanatics and newbies, and each month we get to hear about all of these great new things coming down the social media and .NET pipeline.  I’ve attended it rather poorly in the past, but I regret it each time I miss out.

I didn’t, however, miss October and with PodCamp AZ this weekend (November 1-2), you need to know about one of the coolest ways to pass out your business card with 600+ people expected to be in attendance.

Let me introduce you to TextID.  The folks at TextID have created a way for you to rent a keyword such that when that keyword is sent to 555-411, whatever message you program in will be returned as a text message.  For example, I leased the keyword “steve” (how fitting, don’t you think?).  Here’s what comes back, as a text message:

Steve Belt
Realty Executives
steve@teambelt.com
www.realphoenixliving.com
www.teambelt.com
(480)215-9490
(480)383-8701 (fax)

Now think about this for a second.  Instead of handing out a business card to someone new that you meet, encourage them to text your keyword to 555-411.  If they do, they’ll get all of your business card info, but even better, all that info is in their phone.  If they have a smart phone, they can probably immediately click on your email address, website, or phone number.  All of your information is right where you want it to be: in the device that they never leave home without.

Don’t believe me:  Text “steve” to 555-411, and see mine for yourself.  I’d love to be in your phone anyway.

Even better, though, is the folks at TextID think that this could be an ever better way to get home info into the hands of potential buyers.  To that end, they are offering a special pricing just for REALTORS.  Contact Mike Halvorson (mikeh@textid.com) and he’ll hook you up with a package of multiple IDs to be used for each property you have listed.  Then, you could hang a rider that gives the texting instructions with that property’s TextID.  Naturally, the resulting text message would give price/size/your contact info/website.  And here again, you’ve found your way into a potential buyer’s phone.  Who are they going to call when they need an agent, even if it’s not your listing they want to buy?

Yea, I know I’m fanboying TextID a bit here, but I really do like the product/concept, and am just beginning to get my hands around all of the creative ways it could be used.  FYI, you will never get the name or cell phone information for the folks that request your information.  You can, however, see the number of people each month and in total that are using it.  They have ID plans that start from $5/month on up to $30/month (which, may get you up to 10 IDs as a REALTOR).

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