As the mobile space evolves, due in part by the intersection of social, the role of SMS as a marketing vehicle is expanding.

Retailers and brands should be incorporating SMS into their mobile commerce sites to let consumers share and recommend a product they are viewing from their device via text message. Brands such as Gilt Groupe, Amazon, Best Buy and Target are encouraging their existing and potential customers to share via an SMS feature within their commerce-enabled mobile sites.

?When compared to a particular product message coming directly from a brand or retailer, as it usually does, the message is more powerful in two ways,? said Doug Wick, director of product marketing at Digby, Austin. 

?First, the product is coming from someone the recipient knows personally and trusts,? he said. ?Second, that person might know the recipient's tastes and be sharing the product because she thinks it will be something her friend will like.

?When compared to other sharing channels ? email, social sites ? it is both more immediate and more one-to-one. For those reasons, it is probably the most likely to get a recipient's attention.?

Consumers shopping Gilt?s mobile site, for example, can tap to recommend a product and then get an option to share via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email. 

SMS is an important option to include, since consumers are more likely to trust someone they know. 

According to the Nielsen Co. 90 percent of consumers surveyed trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 percent trusted consumer opinions posted online.

?Shoppers are highly likely to check out something that has been recommended to them by a friend by clicking through, and even if they don't end up buying that product they will likely end up browsing and becoming familiar with a retailer's general product assortment,? Mr. Wick said. 

?This could mean a newly acquired customer and all of the value associated with that new relationship,? he said. 

According to a recent report by Pew Internet, 73 percent of adults with mobile devices use SMS on their phone at least occasionally.

Text message users send or receive an average of 41.5 messages per day, with the user sending or receiving 10 texts daily.

?SMS is a great medium for sharing because it is very low-barrier for the sender ? unlike sharing to social sites where a login is necessary,? Mr. Wick said. ?And it grabs the immediate attention of the recipient. 

?Also, as a communication channel it is something mobile users are accustomed to using to communicate with their friends, and it can reach any friend regardless of device type or presence on a social site,? he said. 

Brands and retailers are already relying on SMS as a channel for service. For example, letting shoppers set reminders or notifying them of shipment and delivery. 

Additionally, SMS can be used for marketing and loyalty through collecting opt-ins on a mobile site or by other means and building a database of interested consumers. 

These types of campaigns must be as targeted as possible. 

?Because the channel is so personal and immediate, a noisy or irrelevant marketing message over SMS will do a lot of harm to a retailer/shopper relationship,? Mr. Wick said. 

?It is best to allow them a high degree of control over how they are contacted in SMS and use it as a vehicle for the relationship, not as a primary venue for pushing offers,? he said.

Mobile Marketer Senior Editor Giselle Tsirulnik interviewed Wilson Kerr, director of business development and sales at Unbound Commerce, Boston, regarding the role of SMS as a sharing instrument. 

Here is what he said: