Jake Paul & Gary Vee are texting me
Why I think Community.com and a one-to-many system is the future for creators.
More red dots to clean.
A while back, Gary Vee started posting on Instagram, asking his followers to text him. I never really thought much about it. I didn’t think I would text him, but due to his constant posting about it, I later caved in..
I texted the number and said, “Hey Gary! lol” knowing I would receive some kind of spam which is exactly what I received. I didn’t think too much about it and started to receive some mass texts from him.
A few days later, another person I was following on Twitter pinned something similar to what Gary Vee did:
I finally began thinking about this trend towards text messaging, when a popular creator I follow, Anna Akana, posted on her Youtube about Community.com:
Still, I thought, “what made Community.com so much more different than the average mass-texting platform?” SMS marketing isn’t new- what made Community.com so different and feel…authentic?
Current SMS marketing
At TTYL, I’ve thought a lot about using mass text message platforms to quickly source feedback for products. One of my first weeks in the office, I argued that text has the highest form of click-through (90% are read within 3 seconds) and gathering emails is a waste of time.
Many options exist, with monthly payment plans that range from 20 dollars to enterprise packages... but nothing made for super-fans around individuals.
The creator dashboards all mostly look the same, with bland enterprise colors and weird names (who came up with avochato?)
A people-centered approach
Community.com states: Community is not an evolution of social media. It’s a break away from it.
While, email (like this) and messaging focus on one-to-one relationships and social media acts as a one-to-many level, Community.com has found a sweet middle ground in the ability to mass text, but also respond individually.
“Between artists and fans, creators and patrons, faith leaders and congregants, companies and customers, elected officials and constituents. Between individuals with shifting layers of identity and relationship, with a constant desire for real, meaningful connection.”
Their blogpost is beautifully written.
When you text them, they add the contact right away:
Thoughts on the future of this product
Well, if I had a Community phone number instead of a newsletter, I would expect I would be sending a lot shorter and less polished texts more frequently - blasting you with what I’m seeing on Twitter, what I’m watching on Youtube or the funniest Tik Toks, etc. For TTYL, I would use this to talk to the superfans of the product and collect extremely fast feedback about different product pushes.
Any sort of tool for creators really excites me. I can’t wait for more creators to hop on this train of reaching out more authentically and also increasing their retention of the fanbase.
I do have a few fears about this tool. First off, the number of messages that Gary Vee, Ashton Kutcher, and Jake Paul should be receiving on a daily basis would be impossible for a single person to look through- completely defeating the idea or ability of them engaging individually with fans. I’m very curious about how they are managing to respond to certain fans or engage in some meaningful way and how Community.com’s influencer dashboard looks like.
But my main fear with this product are the dark messages many creators have to deal with and the guilt they feel for not responding. Anna Akana and Ryan Higa talk about their experiences getting very explicit DMs in this Off The Pill Podcast episode at 11:59:
Besides mainstream creators and celebrities, I could see Community.com getting in the hands of more smaller influencers and people building fanbases. Imagine your favorite small YouTuber who has 10K subscribers or a local indie band with a cult-following prompts you to personally text them. In this scenario, they would receive a lot fewer texts and be able to craft meaningful responses, invite you to secret shows or meetups, or even get personal feedback on new ideas and releases. Overall, I see this as a very useful tool by its ability to synonymously increase retention and reach.
Other things I’ve been following:
VSCO girls are dead now that Investment bankers and Snapchat HQ are explaining to employees what they are.
Paramount Pictures listened to fans and redesigned the Sonic The Hedgehog movie completely
Disney Plus Has Over 10 Million Sign-Ups One Day After Launch
Emma Chamberlain is apparently dating a Tik Tok boyoooo who recently started his youtube channel
Thanks!
Thanks for tuning in - lmk what you think about Community.com or other things mentioned in this email and curious to hear about your corner of the internet as well!