Contact_Lists_for_Text_Messages

This is the second video in the two-part tutorial on “Parent Contact with Email to Text Message”. The purpose of this tutorial is to learn how to create and assign students to one or more parent contact lists using Gmail. In a previous tutorial, I demonstrated how to create one contact for one student and how to send a SMS to that one student’s parents. But what if you want to contact multiple parents about upcoming assignments, activities, or reminders? Here you will learn how to do just that and send a short message to individual groups.

I’ll provide a quick refresher on how to create a new contact. Click “Contacts” in the upper-left corner, then “New contact”. In the New contact screen, type the student’s name into the “Add name” field. In the Email field, enter the parent’s 10-digit wireless number, followed by the “@” sign, followed by their carrier’s domain name…for example 6155949310@txt.att.net. In the “Notes” box to the right, enter the parent’s name and any other information you would like to have easily accessible, like contact records. When finished, click the “Save now” button in the lower-right corner.

media type="youtube" key="IsUtrjbxl7U" height="349" width="560"

Once you have entered all your students, athletes, or club members’ parent information, you can easily create and assign students to one or more groups. To do so, click “My Contacts” in the upper-left corner to go to the Contacts window. At this time you should see a list of all your students you previously entered. Click the square check box next to each student’s name for the Group to which he/she belongs. Next click on the “Groups” tab, then click “Create new”. In the “New group” window, type the name of the Group, i.e. “Period 1”, “Cheer parents”, or “Chess team”…then click “OK”. You should now see the group to which the student is assigned at the right of the student contact field. Repeat these steps for each group you need to create, remembering students can be part of multiple groups.

Now you’re ready to send a SMS text to your parents; however this time, you will use the Bcc: field to protect parent contact information from being shared with other parents. Click the Mail button in the upper-left corner, then click “Compose mail”. To send a text to one individual group’s parents, click the blue “Add Bcc:” link to open the Blind Carbon Copy field. In the Bcc: field start typing the group name and click the Group name when visible. Type a short subject into the subject field, and your short message into the main Email field. This tutorial is intended for short messages only…longer messages should still be sent to a regular email address! When finished, click the “Send” button. You have now contacted multiple parents in an easy, efficient manner informing them of upcoming assignments, activities, or reminders.