Introduction to BulkSMS
There is a buzz currently about BulkSMS, this started in Nigeria sometimes in 2011. You will have heard a lot about how people are making Money and you would have obviously seen the effects via myriad of services that use BulkSMS today, especially in the Nigerian scene.
What is BulkSMS
Let’s define it by breaking the word down in to two “Bulk” and “SMS”, Bulk as we know it simply means plenty, SMS is a service on the mobile Network platform A.K.A Short message service, literary bulkSMS means Plenty SMS J. A single SMS is sent to a user on the mobile network e.g you pick up your phone to send SMS (text message) to your friend, you type the message, input the number, and hit the send key! Excellent service isn’t it? Yes, However where the problem lies is if you have a customer of member base of about 100 – 1000000 that you need to send the same message to, using the conventional method of inputting the message typing the number and hitting the send key will take you between 2 hours to 70 days (100 – 1000000). From my experience as a human being, I don’t think you will like to do such a repetitive job in 70 days( my calculations are based on you texting non-stop through the 24hrs of each day). If I tell you you can send this message in a minute to all the 100 – 100000 members/customers? Will you believe me? Whether you believe me or not, that’s the power of bulk SMS you can send a single message to 100 -1000000000+ people at once, the only requirement is for you to have those people’s number you would like to send it to. That is what bulkSMS is!
How can I send this BulkSMS?
To send sms to your contact phone, you will need a network provider(your sim card takes care of this to you), For BulkSMS you will need a reliable provider too, Like CloudSMS (http://www.cloudsms.com.ng), After you have registered with them, you will need to purchase SMS units. On your mobile whenever you send SMS via your network provider, you are charged for the SMS (most times very heavily) However BulkSMS isn’t like that, the cost of a SMS unit is usually hopelessly cheap for example in Nigeria mobile Network Providers charge you typically 15 naira per SMS, CloudSMS charges you 1.5 Naira (90% off!!!) hence you can afford to buy thousands or millions of units without breaking the bank. After you have bought the units and you have all the numbers you want to send to in a file (txt/csv).
You then login to the CloudSMS Account you created earlier, upload the contacts (you could add them for future use and save them under a group). And then Type the message and specify the sender ID(Sender ID is what Who your clients/members will see as the source of the message (you could use your company, association, organization, school name for this)) On CloudSMS platform there is a unique Send later feature that you can use to schedule your SMS to automatically send at a later date. If you simply want to send immediately, you hit send and Viola, you have sent your First BulkSMS, Within Seconds, your SMS will be delivered to all your clients however many they may be. You see how powerful BulkSMS/ Bulk Messaging can be?
What then are the uses of BulkSMS?
Depending on your industry or organization, the use of BulkSMS varies from one place to another, typically this is dependent on your need in your organization, the foremost and general use of bulksms is to send many sms to plenty people at the same time. Below are a list of few industries and ho9w they may apply BulkSMS, with this you will have an idea of how BulkSMS can be used in your industry or organization
Educational
- School fees payment notification
- Event notification to parents and students
- Brief Newsletter to parents and staff
- Other customised Message to parents
- Holiday greetings to parents and stakeholders
Banking
- Transaction alert notification
- Holiday greetings
- Breach notification
- Brief Newsletter to customers
- New product awareness to customers and potential customers
- Other customised Message to customers
Alumni Associations
- Due payment notification
- Holiday greetings
- Brief Newsletter to Alumni base
- Alumni Events notification
- meeting notification
- Other customised Message to Alumni association stake holders
Clubs
- Due Payment notification
- Holiday greetings to members
- Changes notifications
- Meeting notification
- Other customised Message to members of the clubs
Religious
- Motivational quotes by the Pastor/Imam
- What to expect in next service
- Church programme notifications
- Meeting notification
- Other customized Message to members of the Religious group
- Special Programme awareness
Business Generally
- Product Updates and information
- SMS notifications into software Applications
- Event Notifications
- Meeting notification for staff
- AGM notifications
- Holiday greetings to customers and clients
- New product awareness to customers and potential customers
- Other customised Message to customers
Developers
- SMS notifications into software Applications
- New product awareness to customers and potential customers
- Other customised Message to customers
Mostly, BulkSMS is a computer based application (you make use of it on a computer) you don’t need to have a dedicated computer to make use of it. You can use it on a shared computer
If you have questions, Please feel free to comment of call
08179092255 (within Nigeria)
2348179092255 (outside Nigeria)