public static byte[] ConvertToByteArray(string str, Encoding encoding)
{
    return encoding.GetBytes(str);
}

public static String ToBinary(Byte[] data)
{
    return string.Join(" ", data.Select(byt => Convert.ToString(byt, 2).PadLeft(8, '0')));
}

// Use any sort of encoding you like. 
var binaryString = ToBinary(ConvertToByteArray("Welcome, World!", Encoding.ASCII));