Whether you’re an influencer, artist or entrepreneur, you know how much your success depends on your followers and fans. You’ve started to make a splash in your field so far, but you want to raise your profile — and your earnings — right? Who doesn’t? Well, achieving that goal is all about sustaining and growing your audience.
If you want to grow, you need to take advantage of all the tools available. The awesome news is that one of the most powerful tools out there is one you might have overlooked entirely. It’s one you take so much for granted in your own life, you probably forgot you have one. It’s so old school it’s new school again.
That’s right, folks. We’re talking about the phone. Specifically, a public phone number!
No matter where most of your action happens in the social media world — whether that’s YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or any of the others — having and sharing a phone number is a must these days. Here’s why.
If you’re reading this, then you should know: you’re doing great. You’ve gotten as far as you have already because you’ve been rocking the task of creating and sharing fantastic content that your audience loves. They’ve subscribed to you, they’re following you, they’re trusting you. Why? Because they like you, and they like what you have to say, and they want to hear more of it. Nice!
Now that you’ve made it this far, it’s time to step to the next level and give your followers that more that they want. That’s why it’s time to get a public phone number.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the why here. A phone number is a must because, in the end, what your most passionate followers and fans really want is connection. They want a relationship with you. A public phone number is a way to let them in to a new level of connection. It gives them more of you.
There’s some science that backs this phenomenon up. Right now, the vast majority of interactions between content creators and their audiences fall under the banner of what are called parasocial interactions. Put simply, parasocial relationships are built on one-sided interactions between audience members and media figures, creators or influencers. Any time you release content, you’re inviting your audience to form a bond — and these bonds can run deep. They form the basis for almost every fandom in the modern world.
By bringing in a public phone number, digital content creators have the opportunity to forge the more personal and direct connections that their audience craves.
Think about it from your followers’ perspective. It’s one thing to follow an influencer or coach. It’s another to have their name and number saved to your contacts on your phone. When you have someone’s phone number, even if you’ve never met them, it feels like they’re someone you actually know, someone who is actually important to you. Connecting with someone on the phone feels way more intimate and more authentic than a social media page ever will.
In other words, having a public phone number as an influencer or entrepreneur opens up the door for a whole new type of connection with your followers and fans. They’re going to love it — and that’s going to benefit you, too. Keep reading to find out why!
Having a public phone number unlocks something huge for you: it gives you the ability to send direct text messages to your followers and fans.
Here are just a few reasons why being able to text with your audience is a really big deal:
Text messages are how people communicate and share the things that matter most to them with the people closest to them. Sure, your followers will share your posts on social media with their own audience. But if there’s something they really want their best friend or partner to see, right away? They text it.
According to marketing studies, as much as 84 percent of social sharing happens these days through text messages.
You can share something on your social media platform, or you can send emails, but you can’t guarantee your followers or fans will actually see or read them. Text messages, on the other hand, have a stunningly high open rate. According to one study, 90 percent of all text messages are opened and read within 3 seconds of being received. That’s pretty tough to beat right there.
We all know there are tons of social media platforms and apps out there right now. You might be using a few of them, and your followers probably use even more. But no matter what social media channel your audience is using, pretty much one thing is for certain: they’re using it from their mobile phone. Everyone has a phone. Having a public phone number lets you skip the social media filter and go straight to the simplest communication method there is: texting.
Because they’re more direct and more likely to be quickly opened, text messages are a faster way of communicating key information. They’re especially great for time-sensitive events and promos, of breaking news and updates. If a communication is high-priority, it’s going to get noticed a lot faster through a text.
By having a public phone number, you can share your content or offer your services directly to your audience through texts. You’ll be amazed at how much this can help your profile grow.
There’s another benefit to having a public phone number, too: it puts you in more control of your communication options.
Without a public phone number, you have to rely exclusively on your main social media channels for sharing your content and talking to your followers through your public feeds. That’s great, because it means you can communicate with thousands and thousands of followers and reach even more. We’re not knocking social media here. But it also means your communications are always going to be limited by whatever social media platform you’re using.
Think about it this way: whenever you’re sharing your content, you’re always at the mercy of the system or platform through which you share it. Whether a follower sees your post or not on their feed isn’t up to you. It’s determined by a complex algorithm that none of us will ever understand. You’re always competing with the thousands of others sharing content on those same platforms, too.
Meanwhile, the options for one-to-one communication with your followers and fans are limited without a phone number. If you want to communicate with someone directly, that means either replying to their public comments or sorting through all your DMs to have one-to-one conversations. Let’s be real, too: sometimes these public social media spaces can be really toxic. Haters gonna Tweet, right?
But a public phone number lets you connect and talk with your audience one-on-one easily in your own safe space. No more diving through DMs or wading through endless comment chains. This is why so many celebrities started turning to text messaging in recent years. As actress and producer Kerry Washington put it when she posted her phone number online, “Social media is amazing but sometimes it's hard to sift through and really connect with the people who matter to me most.”
Another perk: with a public phone number, especially one that gives you a texting platform too, you can start directing your content in a more targeted and meaningful way. Imagine giving your best fans the option to join a VIP list where they get exclusive messages from you that no one else does. Or you can connect one-to-one with individuals to find out what’s on their mind, or even offer them personalized services, like a coaching experience.
Having a public phone number lets you take control of one-to-one audience conversations by cutting out the middleman of social media channels.
In other words, a public phone number opens up a lot more possibilities for you. What do you have to lose by giving it a try?
We’ve covered lots of reasons why communicating with your audience with a phone number is a must these days. But let’s get the obvious statement out of the way, too. It needs to be a public number.
Giving out your actual phone number — the same one that your mom and your brother and your best friend uses to call you — would be crazy. It’s bad enough when that weird cousin you haven’t seen in 5 years texts you randomly with some promo code to save $5 on a grocery delivery. You should NOT be giving out your personal private number to every random fan — and possible hater — out there. You’d never have any peace.
This is where your public phone number comes in. You stay protected but accessible at the same time. You can choose when and where and how you use your public phone number, and you can avoid it entirely when you need to.
You can’t ever turn off your personal phone number, at least not for long. What if your mom needs help finding something to watch on Netflix and she can’t reach you? She’d never forgive you. But a public phone number lets you keep your private life and public persona separate — just how it should be. Trust us: you’ll stay a lot more organized — and a lot more sane — with a dedicated public phone number.
To sum it all up: having a public phone number is one of the most important tools you can have in your toolbox for creating and sustaining meaningful connections with your audience. It lets you share content directly to your followers and protects your privacy at the same time. The possibilities for this type of connection are endless. It’s time to stop waiting and give it a try!
Are you ready to get your own public phone line and more?
Toosa, a powerful new audience communication platform, will be launching soon. Don’t miss out! Get on the waiting list now for updates and find out how to be one of Toosa’s first users.