How to Use Rich Media in Your SMS Content
The participants of your program want to hear from you directly. Short daily audio messages have been proven to increase the attention paid by participants and the value they receive. It also helps build and enhance a direct connection between the participant and you.
With Authoritive, you can send content automatically using MMS (Multimedia Message Service), which enables you to directly incorporate text, images, gifs, and very short audio content into your program messages. Any rich media file that you attach to a message must be smaller than 500 KB. You can send direct link URLs to your participants for larger images, audio files, or videos. (Note: do not use bit.ly or other common link shorteners since T-Mobile considers them spam and will filter these messages).
Sending Audio Messages
Audio messages that are under a minute in length must be compressed to 500 KB or less and turned into an mp4 video with a branded image of your program. Otherwise, these audio messages must be sent as direct links. We recommend adding intro and outro music of 2-3 seconds for a better participant experience. You can see an example below.
Sending Images
JPG and PNG files under 500 KB can be sent directly to your users, and larger images can be sent via direct links. Using a daily image as a message header increases the program's brand value and visual interest (use the same image in the first message block every day). You can see an example below.
The image above is a JPG, 1200 x 480, 156 KB
The following image sizes and aspect ratios work best in MMS:
- 1280 x 720 (16:9)
- 1280 x 960 (4:3)
- 720 x 720 (1:1)
Sending GIFs
Short GIFs converted to MP4 can be great for replies where you want to provide affirmation and additional encouragement to the participant. For phone network and SMS/WhatsApp compatibility, all rich media should be converted into MP4, jpeg, or png formats.
Many GIFs to MP4 converter tools exist. One that we recommend is veed.io. Not only can it convert your GIFs to MP4, but it is also an online GIF maker where you can create animated GIFs from videos.
Once you have your final MP4 files under 500 KB, you can add them as attachments in any messages within your programs. Learn more about building SMS content in the Authoritive Platform here.