5 Ways to Use Group Texting to Keep Your Lifeguards Organized
Whether you manage a pool or are in charge of the lifeguards for a city or state beach or lake, it is important you keep your lifeguards organized this summer to ensure the safety of those who visit your location. Group texting provides a way for you to communicate with your lifeguards, even when they are off duty. You can send non-emergency information via text to keep the radio frequency open in case anything happens.
Non-Emergency Alerts
Keep your lifeguards apprised of non-emergency situations with a text.
When there is an emergency of any kind, you and your lifeguards typically rely on a radio or phone system that you have in place. However, you might find that there are other alerts that you want to make sure that all your lifeguards need to be aware of. By texting the information to your guards, you can feel confident that they will receive this information.
With this practice in place, your lifeguards will know to periodically check for texts during their breaks and other appropriate times. A guard will then read the text during a break and share the information with their colleagues so that everyone learns about the information without encouraging the reading of texts while on the stand.
Schedule Changes & Other Off Duty Communication
There are plenty of times where you might need to get in contact with all of your lifeguards, including those who are off duty, with important information. Text messages have a 98 percent open rate and are typically read within three minutes. This means you can feel completely confident that your employees will see the information send through text. This provides the best way to send any schedule changes, including those due to an illness.
You can also send other off-duty communication, including requesting for someone to cover a shift, updates to rules, things to watch out for, maintenance updates, and more. It is also beneficial to use text messages to send out reminders to your staff so that everyone is where they are supposed to be and on the same page when it comes to safety guidelines.
Small Group Organization
Group texting platforms offer features that make it easy to divide your subscribers into groups and send more targeted messages. You can take advantage of this to organize your lifeguards and send different messages to them based on their group. You might group them based on their shifts or locations so that they only receive information relevant to when and where they are on duty. Alternatively, you can have one group for your supervisor lifeguards and another for everyone else. This also helps you to take advantage of SMS marketing to draw people to your pool, lake, or beach while also using it to organize your employees, including your lifeguards.
Weather and Surf Forecast
It is important that lifeguards remain aware of the weather forecast. Even at an indoor pool, any severe weather or lightning could lead to potentially dangerous situations. Open water locations, especially oceans, are affected by tides, currents, and more. Although many of your lifeguards might look at the forecast on their own, you can ensure that they are up to date on it by sending weather and surf forecast alerts. Any changes could also result in an alert so your guards always have the most up to date information on the potential for dangerous situations.
Job Posting
With texts, people can respond to your job postings from anywhere
Another way to use group texting to keep your lifeguards organized is to use it when you look for new lifeguards. You can hang posters or flyers promoting the open position and include a keyword and short code that interested parties can text for more information. It has been found to be one of the most powerful calls to action. This can help you to find a larger pool of potential lifeguards and ensure you always have sufficient guards of the highest caliber.
It is also possible to use group texting to send emergency alerts to your clients or members. Learn more by reading this Group Texting blog post
Categories: Text Message Marketing Tips