Let's talk about what has worked and what hasn't. Firstly, if you've followed this at all, I've went from using the '1-833-TSCHUSS' branding to just using the number as '1-833-872-4877'. I've found the average person thinks the letters are just an aesthetic brand choice or like using '555' in a movie. Once I started putting up stickers and giving out totes with just the phone number random people actually started calling. I found that the less information I would include the higher the chance of someone calling to find out what it is. During Valentine's season I handed out tote bags with a large candy heart that said 'TXT ME' shortly after we launched the Text-A-Secret option. Some of these bags got mailed out across the country which led to a few week string of texts from California, through the midwest, and into Canada, mostly saying things like 'Hello?' and 'What is this?'.
Next let's look at follower numbers across social media. Regretfully I didn't take count of the numbers ten months ago, but realistically I only had one account actually creative and active. If I had to remember I would say the Instagram had sub-300 followers. Currently as of May 2024: Instagram: 1,316 Tiktok: 40 Twitter: 63 Threads: 52 BlueSky: 0. I'd be lying if I said I was active on anything but instagram. There's only so many hours in the day I can look at my damn phone. Instagram reels are well received and the TikTok videos have been increasing as my posts increase. Twitter is a crapshoot and most likely not worth the time in the long run as it's mostly robots and republicans. I do try to go on Twitter campaigns where I 'like' tweets that say 'I have a secret' or 'I have a confession' which has increased the follower count some. In addition to these, I have updated every personal bio with the number, continue with my 3D scan NFT's, have changed my fortnite username to the number, and basically spam it anytime I have the slightest opportunity in an array of appropriate and inappropriate settings.
Last blog post's guess: 15 calls a month. We're averaging around 40. Zing.
What's Next? I have a few things in the pipeline I'd like to share with the ambitious ones that have read this far. Last year while travelling to Detroit I bought a Canadian payphone off craigslist somewhere in Ohio. It's being transformed into an audio receiver that will clip files to an SD card placed in the coin collector. Paired with a 4" x 6" LCD screen we will have a working travelling payphone that can be used at live events/ popups with a little display.
We're also working on securing a server somewhere to be able to connect callers? That idea will be worked throughout the summer. Lastly, we wish to bring some sort of live entertainment in the form of answering calls / going live on one of the apps / going live in public? We recently gained another phone number that can be accessed from multiple devices allowing anyone to be able to take calls and record the conversations. This will be launching sooner than later once we work out all the safety features and technicals worked out.
Keep an eye out this fall as we're planning on making a location change.
As always, thanks for reading.
