A Broadcast is the mass sending of messages to your opt-in database.

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You can personalize messages with any information in your database [EG: first name, etc.] or just send out a standard message. In our Invovle Corporate level accounts you can also include dynamic content. Contact us for more information about Involve Corporate level accounts.

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If sending out a Priority text message, you have 160 characters or for a Low Priority message, less than 120 characters. You can see your current character total on the Message template screen of the Broadcast module when setting one up. Character totals include spaces and line returns (even though you can't see them).

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You may have pasted content directly from Microsoft Word or another Microsoft program as they commonly include characters (such as hyphens) which are not standard and may result in unexpected results. Always paste from Word into Notepad and then into the Message template screen or type out your message directly.

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You can send a message to anyone in your Individuals database, to anyone who may have interacted with you or to a list you can copy and paste directly into the Broadcast module. You must first setup your target in a Group prior to setting up the Broadcast if they are not already identified in a Group. Be aware that you should only be sending messages to those who have opted-in otherwise your message will be received as SPAM. You may invite people with a single message to opt-in to your Group if they have interacted with you before, but do not send out spam Broadcasts. You should closely observe all best practice principles and legislation.

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Click Campaigns > Broadcasts and then click New Broadcast on the top navigation bar. Follow the step by step wizard, selecting Next at the bottom of each page. You can also jump steps once you are familiar with the wizard by hovering over the Arrow page marker just above the Next button on the bottom left of the page, jumping steps will save any information you have entered. You can easily jump back to any previous pages to check entered data without losing anything, all data is updated. You can also use the History Navigation if you are mid-way through setting up a Broadcast to jump to another part of Involve and come back to the same point in the set-up wizard without losing your place. To access the History Navigation, there is a small arrow up the top right, just below the top navigation bar. When you click on this, you should see a drop down with the history of pages within Involve that you have accessed.

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On the Recipients screen, you use the Criteria builder to create the rules for your targets. This is as simple as choosing the Group that you want to send to. BE SURE TO CLICK THE ADD CRITERION BUTTON WHEN YOU HAVE SELECTED THE GROUP THAT YOU WANT. Once you have selected your Group, click the calculate link next to matching individuals. If the number is 0, then no one in your database matches the criteria that you have set. In the full version of Involve you can define criteria across all channels; online/offline behavior, email, voice and mobile.

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By default all campaigns you create are enabled, meaning they will run according to the rules you setup. You can elect to disable a campaign so that it does not run. This gives you the option to check, review or have it approved without it accidentally running if it is forgotten.

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You should only send messages between 8AM and 10PM. This limitation exists so that you do not send your customers a text message in the middle of the night by accident and ruin your marketing database contacts and reputation in one go.

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Work out the equivalent time in the time zone that your InvolveMobile account is set to.

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By default, the time and date setting in Broadcast is for 1 hour ahead of your current time zone. Your current time is always available in the top right of the Involve dashboard. You can change this in the Administration module. If you want to send your Broadcast immediately, set the time and date to the current time, even if that time is past by the time you complete setup, the Broadcast will run instantly when you click Finish. It is advised that you do not change the time until you have double checked it for accuracy.

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As many times as you like. If you edit the Broadcast and simply change the time/date it will run again on the new time/date. In the Broadcast Report each Run will appear as a separate report and will show each total. This is useful for first running a test or series of test broadcasts. If you change the target recipients, we recommend that you create a new broadcast.

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Setup the Broadcast as normal, except on the target recipients screen, create Criteria that selects only you or your seed list (you may be in a Seed Group, you can enter mobile/cell = your number or simply use cut & paste). We recommend that you do this each time you setup a new Broadcast. Once you have received the test message and have approved it - you can click on Edit for that Broadcast (main broadcast screen) and simply update the broadcast time/date and the target recipients and click Finish. The broadcast is now set to go. In the Broadcast report there is an option to choose which "Run".

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On the main Broadcast screen, choose the broadcast you want to copy and click on Copy New. The entire broadcast is copied and only the time/date and the title is updated.

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On the target recipients screen, there is a De-Duplication option, so that a single phone number will not be sent a message more than once. Some clients may have Individual databases that allow multiple registrations per phone number, for example a husband and wife sharing the same number. It is recommended that you use this option by default to protect your database.

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As long as you have pre-purchased the amount of messages that you want to send, there is no limit to the number of text messages that you can send out. If you are relying on post-pay at the end of the month, you are limited to 5000 outbound sms messages for the month.

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Text messages that are sent to commercial customers should contain information on how to Opt-out with the expression "Txt STOP 2 OptOut".

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If a subscriber has texted in STOP, they are automatically opted out and this will be notified both in their Individuals profile and they will be listed in Individuals > Opt-out List. By default all Broadcasts clear any targets who are on the Opt-out list. To add someone manually to the Opt-out list, search for their Individual record, highlight the row by clicking on it, then select the Actions link and click on Opt-opt list > SMS.

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No. Depending on the size of your group that you are sending to and the time of day, it may take some time to process or for the various carriers to transmit. There may also be occasional delays with a single carrier. If you decide to send again, check the Broadcast time/date and the outbox to make sure that none have gone out, delete the broadcast and set up a new Broadcast.

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Your message must be 160 characters or less for Priority messages and less than 120 characters for Low Priority messages. Unless you are fluent in text speak, type out what you want to say, and then go back and abbreviate. Look for the easy ones first: For = 4, You = U, Tomorrow = 2moro, Before = b4, To = 2, Today = 2day, See = c, Your = UR, Why = Y, Thanks = Thx

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