Coming soon: a content strategy webinar for SMS creators

We're hosting our first live session for InnerText creators: a working session on content strategy built specifically for the SMS channel. No slides-only presentation: the goal is practical, actionable advice you can apply to your own channel the same week. Details on timing and format are coming soon. In the meantime, here's what we'll cover, and the core ideas you can start using today.

Speakers TBD. We'll announce our speaker lineup shortly. If you're an InnerText creator or agency operator interested in joining as a panelist, reach out.

What we'll cover

1. Messaging cadence on SMS vs. feed-based platforms

SMS is not Instagram. You're not publishing into a feed where the algorithm decides who sees it, when, and for how long. You're landing directly in someone's messaging app: the same place they text their family and friends.

That context changes everything about frequency. One well-crafted mass message beats five mediocre ones, every time. The question isn't "how often can I message?" it's "is this message worth someone's attention right now?" Creators who treat SMS like a social feed and blast daily updates burn out their list fast. The ones who treat each send like it matters (because it does) build lists that stay engaged for months.

A good starting point for most creators: two to four mass messages per week, each with a clear reason to exist. More than that needs justification.

2. Fan segmentation using tags

InnerText lets you tag fans and send targeted mass messages to specific segments. Most creators start by sending every message to their entire list. That works when you're small. It stops working as your list grows and your fans become more diverse in what they've purchased, how engaged they are, and what they're likely to respond to.

Think about a few natural segments: fans who are free subscribers vs. fans who've already paid for something, high-engagement fans who've made multiple PPV purchases, and fans who went quiet after an initial burst of activity. A message written for someone who's already a buyer reads completely differently from one written for someone who's never unlocked anything. Sending the buyer-version to a cold subscriber feels pushy. Sending the cold-subscriber-version to a loyal fan undervalues the relationship. Tags let you write the right message for the right person.

3. Writing CTAs that work in SMS

On social platforms, you get visuals, carousels, captions, comments, and algorithmic amplification doing part of the persuasion work for you. In SMS, the message is the entire pitch. There's no image to do the heavy lifting, no comment section creating social proof, no repost giving you a second chance to land.

That means your CTA has to work on its own. The principle that holds up consistently: one CTA per message. Not "check out my new PPV and also follow my other account and also reply to let me know what you want next." Just one thing. And the framing matters; the unlock link should feel like a reward, not a transaction. "I made something I think you'll actually like: here it is" converts better than "new PPV available, $10 to unlock."

4. The 95% open rate reality

SMS open rates run around 95%, compared to roughly 20% for email. That means almost every mass message you send gets seen. Every single one.

That's an extraordinary reach advantage, and it cuts both ways. A great mass message reaches nearly your entire list. A lazy one does too. Creators who understand this treat every send seriously: does this message have a reason to exist? Does it offer something real: a piece of content, a moment of connection, something worth the few seconds of attention you're asking for? The channel rewards quality over quantity more directly than any other platform. There's nowhere to hide a mediocre send.

5. PPV pricing experiments

Most creators underprice their PPV content early on, usually out of uncertainty about what fans will pay. The first few PPV sends you do are actually pricing research; you just have to frame them that way.

Testing a range across your early sends ($5, $10, $20) tells you where your audience's threshold is. A $5 PPV that sells to 80% of your list and a $20 PPV that sells to 25% of your list can generate similar revenue; but the $20 version builds a different kind of fan relationship. "Worth it" in an SMS context means the fan felt like the unlock ratio was right: the price matched what they expected to receive based on how you sold it. That's a function of both price and copy, not just the content itself.

6. When to use voice notes vs. text vs. PPV unlocks

These three content types aren't interchangeable; they serve different parts of the fan relationship.

Voice notes build intimacy. There's something about hearing someone's voice in your messages app that no text can fully replicate. Use them when you want a fan to feel like they have direct access to you: a quick check-in, a reaction, something personal. Text conversations build rapport over time. The back-and-forth of a real exchange (even a brief one) turns a subscriber into someone who feels genuinely connected. PPV unlocks are the monetization layer: specific content, a clear price, a real piece of value behind the link.

The mistake is collapsing all three into "content I charge for." When everything is a sell, nothing feels like a relationship. When every voice note comes attached to a pitch, it stops feeling like intimacy. Layer these intentionally: use voice and text to build the relationship, use PPV to monetize it.

In the meantime, apply for InnerText and start building your SMS channel before the session.