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What Is MMS?
Taylor Tunnison • May 19, 2022

Most people are familiar with text messages. They’ve become one of the most convenient ways to communicate with friends, family, clients, and coworkers. Texting is so common that industry-specific terms like SMS and MMS now enter into everyday conversations. However, you may find yourself asking, “What is MMS, exactly?” Allow us to shed some light on this term, its history, and its business potential to clear up any lingering uncertainty you may have.

SMS vs MMS

Cellphone text messaging is a relatively new invention. Developers envisioned the short message service (SMS) concept during the 1980s and the first text was sent in 1992. Early mobile device software and hardware barely supported texting, and Nokia was the first manufacturer to offer SMS for users.


Short messages were limited to 160 characters because they piggybacked on other cellular signals. This combined with the rise of the public internet led to an explosion in text abbreviations. So called “textese” or “textspeak” condensed common phrases to simple acronyms like TY, LOL, and IDK. Many of these had such a profound impact on conversations that even they made their way into spoken language.


Multimedia messaging service (MMS) is built on SMS technology. While it was possible to send multimedia messages before 2000, service providers truly began offering commercial MMS in 2002. This introduced mobile users to a world of engaging texting options from audio and video files to images and animated GIFs. MMS took the world by storm, and in 2012, about 74 billion MMS messages were sent in the United States alone.

 

Text messaging and smartphones have become increasingly popular over the two decades. In fact, mobile users in the United States sent about 2.2 trillion SMS and MMS texts in 2020. This flexible communication channel opens up countless options for integration with other platforms and services. Nowadays, mobile users can get delivery updates, payment alerts, marketing promotions, and even two-factor authentication codes texted directly to their smartphone.

MMS Marketing

Digital technology opens up new avenues for marketing strategies. Websites, search engines, and social media networks are now essential for companies that wish to remain competitive in the 21st century. MMS marketing is also making a name for itself among these top-performing platforms.


Mobile users open texts messages up to 98% of the time, often within 5 minutes of delivery. Traditional advertising methods like print, radio, and television simply can’t compete with this open rate. According to a recent study, almost 63% of consumers would switch to a company that offers text messaging updates. This explains why 50% of the top 1000 online retailers incorporate texting into their marketing strategies.


MMS offers many advantages over SMS. For one, it’s almost always more engaging because our brains process images in milliseconds, up to 60,000 times faster than text alone. MMS also provides greater creative freedom when it comes to designing marketing campaigns. It allows companies to easily add a branded, personal touch while promoting their products and services to consumers.


The potential of MMS marketing is undeniable. It can connect companies directly to countless loyal consumers with the tap of a finger. This is critical because most people around the world own at least one smartphone. Also, smartphone use is on the rise, and it’s likely to continue for years to come. Businesses that leverage this trend can take advantage of the benefits offered by cutting-edge mobile technologies.

Don't Ignore Text Marketing

It's hard to overstate the benefits of text marketing for businesses. MMS messages, in particular, are fun, appealing, and almost infinitely customizable to suit the goals of any campaign or industry. While they’re somewhat new to the marketing scene, they’ve already established themselves as reliable means of earning a solid return on investment. If you’d like to learn more about text marketing, then we encourage you to contact us for more information. We’d love to partner with your business and put this unique channel to good use today.

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