Non-profit Little Kids Rock pivots to
online education lessons during
COVID-19 pandemic.
64%
of email opt-ins also opted in for SMS alerts, indicating an interest in immediate notifications.
70%
of the external traffic to the promoted YouTube videos can be attributed to SMS alerts.
Little Kids Rock is a national nonprofit that transforms lives by restoring, expanding, and innovating music education in our schools. Their network of thousands of K-12 teachers across 44 states lead a national movement that brings innovative & inclusive music education to students.
Problem
In March 2020, Little Kids Rock had to completely shift their program service operating model as schools & in-person workshops closed due to shelter in place orders. Their constituents, music educators, were scrambling to navigate new distanced learning environments & needed new digital resources that could be used at home. At the same time, email was being overloaded with COVID-19 communication across all industries.
Little Kids Rock quickly needed to figure out:
• How they were going to stay connected with their community of music educators
• How they could best deliver more content in an online format
Solution
Little Kids Rock knew SMS would be a strong way to connect with their audience in complement to email communication. Within a matter of days, Little Kids Rock started creating tailored online content to support music educators working in a new environment, promoting the material, & providing their constituents the option to sign up for SMS reminders. Each time a new YouTube video or piece of content was released, those who had signed up received an SMS alert that included a link directly to the content.
Little Kids Rock focused on three main use cases for SMS:
Collecting opt-ins from new and existing community members who were interested in new content
Sending out mass SMS alerts for real-time releases
Using opt-ins for other announcements & to strengthen their contact list
Little Kids Rock reaches over
1 million K-12 students across 44 states nationwide
Little Kids Rock saw increased viewership in their digital resources that were distributed and shared via SMS messages.
The Role of SMS in the Future of Education
The landscape of education is changing with an upcoming school year that is unlike any that has ever been experienced. Many organizations are finding ways to cater to their constituents through delivery of digital content or a blend of in-person and remote resources.
Little Kids Rock plans to expand their SMS use by complementing business operations with the service. The organization is creating a SMS hotline—in addition to their phone hotline for teachers —to answer questions and troubleshoot issues the teachers they serve may be experiencing.
Since texting often prompts a faster & more consistent response than phone calls, there is a natural shift in exploring SMS as a communication tool.
To learn more about Little Kids Rock, visit www.littlekidsrock.org
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