With text messages less than 160 characters in length, Reform Immigration for America (RI4A) has generated almost a half million calls to Congress and the White House since the launch of its mobile advocacy list in early 2009. Fission identified early in the campaign that mobile messaging via text messages would be a key pillar in RI4A’s engagement strategy given their target audiences. And it worked. In the recent showdown in Congress on the DREAM Act, more than 70,000 calls were made in a single day.

The RI4A list is one of the largest bilingual mobile advocacy list in American history, with text campaigns run in both English and Spanish. In partnership with Mobile Commons and Fission Strategy, Reform Immigration for America recently released Reform Immigration with Your Cell Phone an in-depth analysis of how they built their SMS list from 0 to more than 150,000 subscribers in less than two years. You can download a snapshot and the full report here.

The recently released report details best practices and lessons learned including:

• Earned media such as TV interviews provided exceptional growth when the spokesperson mentioned a shortcode and keyword.
• Print and billboard ads flunked, while online advertising saw measurable results.
• Supporters who made calls were likely to forward on the message to others, leading to incredible list growth.
• Calls to action in the middle of a text message were most effective in English, while calls to action at the end prevailed in Spanish messages.

These are just some of takeaways from our experience working with RI4A. Want to know more about how the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign built the largest bilingual list in American History?

Download the report.