SMS and MMS are both messaging services used by individuals and businesses for communication worldwide. However, while they are slightly similar in terms of service, their distinguished differences are often confused.
In today mobile marketing world, it is important to understand how these two messaging channels differ and what feature peculiar to each one makes them unique. Let’s take a look at what makes SMS different from MMS:
Definition
SMS stands for Short Message Service and is the most widely used type of text messaging around the world allowing the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices.
MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service and is a standard way to send messages including pictures, video or audio content among devices.
Messaging Size
Standard SMS allows a user to type in text up to 160 characters per message including URL links to webpages. Anything beyond that, the message would be split into two or automatically converted to MMS. On the other hand, standard MMS does not have a specific character limit. A user can send music, podcast, animation, and other interactive media from a specially designed cellular handset that is capable of receiving and sending MMS.
Mobile compatibility
MMS is majorly compatible with smartphones, tablets, digital watches or other picture-enabled devices. Analog devices and cellphones don’t support MMS which can be a problem if you’re trying to reach a wider audience using analog devices.
SMS uses cell towers for sending messages and is therefore compatible with both analog cellphones and smartphones.
For effective messaging campaign, you need to understand your target audience to know the majority of devices in circulation. If you find out by any chance that they are still hooked on old technology, try aligning your marketing campaigns to SMS. However if digital and smartphones are dominating your target market, you can incorporate MMS to your messaging campaign.
Different delivery protocols
The method of delivering each message differs. SMS are transmitted using a more traditional method that involves passing through the base station to another and different switchers as well as servers.
MMS relies on sophisticated communication methods that allow them to send media. TCP/IP technology is used to encode and decode the message from the sender to the recipient, making it easier for MMS to entail media files embedded in the message and has a significantly higher limit of characters.
TCP/IP messaging works through the internet protocol, allowing the sender to upload content and the recipient to downloads it when receiving it. That explains why MMS gives the recipient an option to download the media entailed by the message. It’s all because of the TCP/IP technology.
Pricing of SMS and MMS
The price of sending MMS and SMS differs due to the peculiarities of each messaging system. MMS will use more credit or airtime because it takes up more kilobytes and megabytes than SMS does. It is all down to the message characters’ size.
One MMS can use up to 3 SMS credits, which are quite costly but considering the efficiency of MMS for digital communication or marketing purpose, some may argue that is worth is. SMS uses fewer credits, which means you can add more numbers to your list of recipients and reach a wider audience even though your content would lack pictures or audios.
Bringing it together
The goal of knowing these differences is to work out a messaging campaign strategy that incorporates one or both of MMS and SMS depending on what suits your business and your budget. So while SMS is more affordable and concise, MMS offers more uniqueness and clarity of message which could be great for marketing. It’s up to you to decide what suits your campaign and business at any given time.
Bear in mind; if you don’t need extra features don’t pay for them. If you need to reach more people, save costs. That would make you stand a chance to increase the Return on Investment you will get from this mobile marketing technique that has been used by many businesses. SMSexperience is a reliable platform to help you get the best out of your messaging campaign. Contact a messaging expert on +234-706-8832-575.