From the time I started working at NationBuilder, one of the most consistent issues I heard from our Australian customers is that we don’t support text functionality – until now. I’m happy to announce that the same text features used to increase engagement for our U.S. customers are now available in Australia!

FrontlineSMS has built an API integration with NationBuilder to essentially create the same native functionality, on a third party platform. We’ll break this down first by text blasting and then we’ll move onto text keywords.

Text Keyword with FrontlineSMS
When a supporter texts a keyword to your number, the system will reply with requests for additional information, such as location and email address, tag that supporter accordingly, and create a new signup record for them. From there, NationBuilder Match appends additional data, like individual social media accounts, to the supporter’s profile.

You can now do the same thing using FrontlineSMS. Just following these steps:

1. Link your NationBuilder account with your FrontlineSMS account.  

From your control panel in NationBuilder, go to Settings > Developer > API Token. Copy the token you see there. It will be a long string of characters similar to the following:

After you copy the API token, go to the control panel in FrontlineSMS.
Select Activities > Upload to NB:

And drop in the token here, preceded by the following string of characters https://nationslug.nationbuilder.com/api/v1/people?access_token=:

You’ve successfully connected FrontlineSMS and NationBuilder! Now, let’s add a keyword.

2)  Creating your text keyword

Go to your FrontlineSMS page. From the Activities tab, click on the Text to Join hyperlink:

Now, add the word you want people to text to trigger the followup questions. FYI: capitalization doesn’t matter.

Here’s what happens when a someone texts in the keyword:

The above screenshot is from my text messaging service. Every message after the keyword triggers an auto reply asking for more information from your supporter.  

Here is what’s happening as your nation receives those responses:

A profile with a name, email address, phone number, and relevant tags is created in your nation. Pretty soon, NationBuilder Match will also pull in my social media accounts.

If you need help learning more about text keywords and how to use it to organize your community, give your NationBuilder organizer a call and we’ll be happy to help!