Promoting Your Services With Social Media and Other Free Sites

Free marketing is the best form of marketing for sex workers, but also something that sex workers (cam models primarily) seem to fear. Free marketing is as follows: social media (usually Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat), either ran by yourself or by what is commonly referred to as a “promoter”, which is someone who runs an account specifically targeting your field of work and “free” video hosting sites (Pornhub, YouPorn) or paid sites with free previews (ManyVids, Clips4Sale).

Twitter: The Sex-Worker Friendly Social Media Outlet

We currently live in a technology-driven generation so you can guess why social media plays such an important role in free marketing. Twitter seems to be the trendy sex-worker friendly social outlet that allows nudity, porn clips, and pretty much anything as long as it isn’t extremely taboo or openly posted in the profile or header photo. It’s a great form of free marketing because it is a direct line to your (followers) fans.

Instagram and TopDolls (The NSFW Instagram Alternative!)

Another important social media source is Instagram, which allows the user to share photos with captions directly to their following. There is a downfall to Instagram specifically related to sex work which is it is a non-nude app.

Snapchat: Marketing + Money From Premium Subscriptions

Yet another important social media source for marketing is Snapchat. Although Snapchat does not allow the sale of their services, or nudity, many sex workers have “loopholed” this by only offering nude Snapchat to paying or “premium” members. Why would someone report something they paid for, you know? Don’t let the premium Snapchat idea completely encompass your life though, because it is just as important to run a free one.

Every sex worker cringes at the word free, but they shouldn’t. I recently just made the leap into running a free and paid Snapchat and my paid Snapchat sales have increased from about one purchase a week to between five and ten a week. The key to your free Snapchat is incentive, do not give away ANYTHING that’s worth paying for. Free Snapchats are great for promoting sales, posting cute selfies, posting censored images to entice the viewer, and for keeping in contact with customers who are “testing the waters.”

Money and Traffic From “Free” Tube Sites

Next I will tackle the “free” tube sites. Notice how I put free in quotation marks? Well that is because if the clip creator actually creates an account and uploads the content themselves they can sign up for a program run by PornHub and YouPorn called the Amateur Program which is a paid program which pays for views and advertisements run on the videos you upload.

So while the viewer gets the “free” content (which if you watermark with your website or social media can actually become a paying customer) you are also making money and showing good examples of the quality of your content to a new pool of viewers. Side note: if someone uploads your content without your permission on tube sites, you can get it taken down. Do not blame the sites themselves for people on the internet who steal your material, these sites are building their business just like many of us are.

Free previews on clip sites are also important. This is what entices viewers to actually buy the content! My biggest suggestion is to ALWAYS watermark your content, so even if your free videos are stolen they will still direct the traffic back to you (more free marketing) and it’ll be easier to get taken down in the future!

Don’t Knock Free Marketing! It’s Worth The Effort!

Don’t knock free marketing! You may sometimes feel like it is exhausting and takes a lot of effort, which is a great time to take a break from it because those customers are non-paying! I hope this gives you a little insight into better ways to market your material!

For more marketing tips, check out the marketing section of this site.

Camgirls: Using Photos For Social Media Marketing

Social media within the porn industry is designed to be eye-catching and to “sell customers” on your brand.

Message / Branding of Shared Photos

When it comes to posting photos on social media, the first thing you should think about is the kind of content that you are posting and how that conveys your brand. For example, a model who posts a selfie with a headset on and controller in her hand will draw in customers who like “gamer girls.” Does this model know that she is attracting that kind of viewer, and is that the kind of viewer that she wants? That’s a very general example, because I’m sure any model wouldn’t mind that type of audience, but now think a little bit deeper into it.

If that same model posted a photo in her “I Voted” sticker, it may draw some of her customers to engage with her in political discussion, which depending on her political views and the potential customers political views could end either very well or very negatively. My main point here is: stay on brand! Anything you post is up to interpretation and discussion by the viewer. You can easily decide what “kind of model” you are by what you decide to post, and limiting personal posts can open up your brand to more general acceptance and customer traffic.

Quality of Photos Being Shared

Next in our photo tips is the quality, and what customers will assume based on it. Constantly posting photos that are poor quality will lead customers to think that any custom content or photosets they purchase will be in the same quality. The quality you sell in should be the quality that you’re advertising in. Posting only “duds” to social media can sometimes creative a negative idea in the potential customers minds that you don’t care about how you appear to others and that your content isn’t worth buying. While you obviously shouldn’t be giving away anything for free that is worth buying, you can creatively avoid that while advertising your good quality content still through censoring, watermarking, taking SFW versions of the photos, etc.

Layout of Photos Being Posted

The layout of your photos is a very important factor in advertising as well (specifically on Twitter.) The way that Twitter sorts your photos when you post them can sometime focus in on things that aren’t meant to be the primary focus of the photo. When it comes to posting photos the most eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing ways are to post one photo in landscape, two photos in portrait, or one photo in portrait and two in landscape. When organized in that way specifically, it is more visually appealing, and will not awkwardly crop the photos.

Adding Text / Messages To Photos

Marketing messages directly on the photos can also be very eye-catching, but many models make the mistake of putting all of the writing over their photos rather than as a caption/description. Words that are on top of photos are harder to read, and if you don’t contrast colors correctly it can be sore on the eyes. The best way to market your deals with photos is to put most of the deal within the caption, or create a separate graphic that isn’t cluttered to advertise it. (For example: on Twitter, pair a portrait style selfie with a portrait style graphic with the background the same color as your shirt in the selfie, and the writing in a contrasting color.) Even if you create a separate graphic for your marketing, you should still put the main points within the caption (especially website links so they will be clickable.)

Sharing Photos Vs GIFs

A lot of people assume that with photo marketing that it only has to be still photos, but with GIFs you can still promote the best parts of videos without giving away some of the things that video previews can (sound, mostly.) GIFs are a great eye-catching way to market videos, and can usually be easily created within your video editor or by using GIF creating websites like ezgif.com!

Starting a podcast can be a great way to connect with your fans and community

Starting an adult industry oriented podcast can be a great way to connect with your current fans and new fans or to connect with the adult community on a larger scale. When you’re hit with the idea for an adult podcast it can seem like a great idea to jump right in, but before you get your microphone set up and press record, let’s go through a few things that can help ensure your podcast will be successful and worthwhile.

Decide what kind of podcast you will be hosting

The first question you should ask yourself is what kind of podcast you are interested in hosting, and for starters will it be a video or audio podcast? Video podcasts have the benefit of luring more attention because adult industry podcasts usually feature adult industry creators and entertainers which customers love to look at. Audio podcasts have the benefit of requiring less editing, less storage space required, and more options for posting because when you talk about the adult industry through audio you don’t have to worry about getting flagged or reported for things like cleavage or inappropriate gestures. When you come to the decision of video or audio the next thing you should consider will be if you will be hosting your podcast solo, with a set group of people each time, or rotating guests. Your needs for a platform will greatly vary by the amount of participants and if you are doing audio or video.

Where to host and post video podcasts

Video podcasts can take place on many various platforms, if you’re looking for a podcast that you record and edit before publishing then you will most likely be comfortable with using something like Zoom or Skype. You can record your session and easily edit it in your preferred editor after the show, you don’t have to worry about rule breaking as you can edit out infringing topics or words, and you can record them at your own pace and cancel releases if they become no longer relevant. If you’re looking to host a live video podcast, Streamyard might be a great fit for you. Streamyard allows up to 6 participants and allows you customization options like changing your background, including banners, intro videos or photos, and more. Streamyard allows you to stream to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and more.

Posting adult industry podcasts can be tricky because there is a large stigma around the adult industry as a whole, while posting to typical video platforms like YouTube might get you lots of views initially, they are constantly updating their flagging system to censor topics that are adult oriented. Recently YouTube has begun banning creators from using the names of adult sites in their descriptions or links, even if the description or link does not lead to an adult platform. You may find success on YouTube as a “story time” podcast where you leave out specific names from descriptions, but anything that is specifically made to address the industry in any way that requires specific name usage can leave you vulnerable for flags and potential suspension/bans. XBIZ TV is a great adult friendly video hosting platform that was made specifically for the adult industry, it can serve as a good home base for your video podcast and you can syndicate your posts to many different video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Pornhub, and more) while having the ease of mind your collection will always be available directly on XBIZ TV. Another great alternative would be to start your own dedicated site for your podcast but we would highly recommend trying podcasting and building an audience before taking on a major investment.

Where to host and post audio podcasts

Audio podcasts are definitely much easier to share online even when they are adult industry oriented, if you are running a video podcast we highly recommend also turning your recordings into audio and posting them as an audio podcast. Audio podcasts require less active focus because the viewer knows they aren’t missing anything by not having their eyes glued to the screen, which allows your podcast to be listened to more often in scenarios where generally people wouldn’t think to pull up a video podcast (like in the car.) You can host audio podcasts anywhere you host video, and simply pull out the audio. Skype and Zoom both allow for audio only for those who don’t want to do a live podcast, and Streamyard also allows audio only for live streams.

You can host your audio podcast on BluBrry which is a podcasting platform where you can request to syndicate your podcast across all podcasting networks like iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and more. If you have your own dedicated website you can also use the BluBrry PowerPress plugin to host your podcast on your website as well as automatically take the information from your website to fill out the podcast page information on BluBrry. Audio podcasts can also be posted to video platforms if converted into a video with an image as the video placeholder, which can be the name of the podcast episode or the podcast name/logo.

Consider a fan website / membership site for a paid podcast

Depending on how adult your podcast will be, considering a paid fanclub website or membership site for your podcast can be a great option to make your podcast financially sustainable. Whether the topic of discussion will be super explicit or you just want to do some casual flashing or “nude discussions” you can turn your podcasting experience into a money making opportunity by hosting your podcast on a subscription site. Some fanclub websites will allow you to post free to view content in conjunction with paid content so you can also do partial podcasts that are SFW that you post for free with the upsell of unlockable explicit content for the subscription fee.

Make your podcast profitable by seeking sponsorship

If you already have a large following then you will likely have a lot of eyes and ears on your podcast which leaves you in an incredible position to seek out sponsorships. Companies will often work with podcast hosts for paid opportunities or free items in return for a mention on the podcast or for allowing a representative from their company to guest star on the podcast. If you are someone who is uncomfortable promoting companies for direct payment you can also place advertisements into your podcast for products or sites that you know and trust and utilize their referral programs to make it profitable for you.

Adult or not: get a model release

If you will be hosting guests it is very important that your guests complete a model release document because your podcast will contain either their voice, image, or both. Friendships can end but model releases are forever. This is especially important if your podcast will be a “series style” with documented episode numbers, needing to delete an episode because a guest no longer wants it hosted can be inconvenient for consistency as well as a loss of traffic.

Get comfortable promoting

If you podcast but no one listens, do you actually podcast? Get comfortable marketing your podcast on social media and consider joining adult industry groups on Reddit and Facebook to spread the word about new podcast episodes. If you do mention specific websites, tag them in your podcast posts for the potential traffic boost if they re-post.

Interesting podcasts triumph over high quality audio / video podcasts

Listeners would rather listen to something interesting in lower quality audio than something absolutely boring in high quality. While having good equipment can definitely help the legitimacy of your podcast, if you are just starting out then you should be fine with a basic webcam and microphone set up which is something most adult performers usually have already. Once your podcast becomes profitable, investing in a high quality microphone can make the listener experience better, but don’t sweat it if you’re just starting out!

Use link shorteners to track clicks and avoid flags/bans

Using a link shortener like Bitly can help you to not only track your traffic but also avoid bans on sites that flag for keywords. You can use this tool to see what topics get the most interest and outgoing clicks to decide what topics to cover in future podcast episodes, and you can also use this to link out to news articles or guides where flagged words are in the URL.

Aerie Saunders demonstrates video walkthrough of buying domain and setting up hosting

The recent concerns in the adult industry over payment processors dropping support and performers spreading out to new sites in an effort to find a platform that allows for their content to be sold has created a mass exodus from OnlyFans after they planned to ban pornography before rescinding the ban a few days later. Amidst the chaos of leaving a platform and directing customers to a new platform, many adult performers have displayed concern over the most efficient way to direct customers to their new preferred platforms. There is no better time than now to buy a personalized domain to make yourself more likely to show up in search engine results and to provide a quick and efficient link for sending customers and fans that will direct them to all of your new preferred platforms.

Aerie Saunders walks you through the process of buying a domain on GoDaddy, setting up your adult friendly hosting on HostGator, and installing WordPress onto the website.

The intimidating world of Reddit can be a high converting marketing hub for adult creators

If you have no experience on Reddit it can appear confusing if you have no background advertising on or navigating forum and thread based social networks. On the surface, Reddit looks like it has too many layers, in addition to the base rules to follow you also have to comply to the rules created by users to participate in their subreddits. Usually on social media you can expect to get interaction on your profile by using keyword rich terms that people can search for and find your posts with but Reddit throws the traditional experience out of the window and encourages you to participate in various subreddits in order to get a wider reach with your content. That doesn’t mean it’s bad; it’s just different!

Pick one or two photos or videos that you will use for your advertisements

Whether you will opt to market utilizing photos, videos, or GIFs you should pick one or two, it will help prevent you from providing too much free content as well as make it easier to select the photos or videos from your phone or computer. Now that you’ve selected the content you will be using, you are going to watermark it with your Reddit username. “u/WhateverYourNameIs” A majority of subreddits will ban users that watermark their content with a website link BUT your Reddit username is typically allowed and also encouraged. Many people will more than likely (unfortunately) scrape the content you post for re-post in different subreddits, for their own personal use, and sometimes even for catfishing. When you put your username on there it helps alleviate a majority of the problems that can come about from no watermark and it is easy to do since you are only using 1-2 pieces of content.

Where should I put my watermark?

I highly recommend putting the watermark somewhere that will cause the content to no longer be appealing if it were cropped out, so if you post a photo of your boobs put a semi-transparent watermark on the collarbone or right under a breast. You can learn more about watermarking and the benefits in Alice Skarys blog “Watermarking Adult Content: An Introduction.” To sum it up, the benefits of a watermark will almost always outweigh the time invested into putting the watermark on your content.

Create a list of your communities or utilize Reddits “My Communities” list

Whether you create a list of communities in your phone (with the link so you can easily click and open the subreddit) or you utilize the “My Communities” feature on Reddit (which can be found under the Home dropdown on desktop or the hamburger menu on the mobile app) use this list to very easily post in all communities you are active in. I prefer to create my community list in my phone because I separate the groups into sections; “Requires flair,” “Requires caption brackets,” “Does not allow self posts,” and “Requires external hosting,” are some of my lists in addition to my basic list of subreddits that don’t have any rules or requirements for the posts. I have these lists so I can easily manage my time and if I need to post quickly and efficiently I can skip over groups that don’t meet my needs at that time.

Vet your subreddits

How do you vet a group? Read the rules, make sure you don’t need to be verified to post (or if you’re okay with doing verification, get that out of the way before you start posting there) ensure you don’t have to put specific information in your title in brackets and that you are familiar with the process of posting there. You do not want to utilize a subreddit that makes you jump through too many hoops to post there because it will cause you to take a longer time posting and there is no guarantee you’ll make your moneys worth from marketing there. While verification is becoming more common in bigger groups with more users, remember that the verification process should not include things like free video calls, free content, or anything that is a financial loss for you.

External hosting for GIFs and videos

One of the biggest time suckers are subreddits that require external hosting and it is very common for GIF and video based communities. If you’re looking for external hosting for GIFs or videos, the most common websites used for these are RedGifs and Imgur. Using external hosting sites may be off-putting but they have an added benefit of you uploading your GIF or video content ahead of time and being able to access it when you join new communities, plus both external hosting sites actually have a good bit of traffic of their own and you may find yourself getting customer conversions from the sites themselves!

Make your caption / title something that can fit in any group

The easiest way to caption your photo, GIF, or video will be using a copy and paste that you quickly paste in and post so you can be on to the next post, that’s why when you’re coming up with your caption you should think of something that will provoke conversation and upvotes without “baiting” (as this is against a lot of subreddits rules) that will also fit into the various communities you are posting in. Asking questions will help to provoke comments or presenting “a challenge,” something along the lines of, “do you think you could handle all of this?” Since it doesn’t mention specific body parts or aspects of a niche, you’ll be able to get away with using this caption on your post in nearly every group.

Ensure your profile has a pinned post with links you are pushing customers toward

No matter what you are trying to up-sell, ensure that your profile has the links pinned so that when a potential customer clicks your profile they will see those links first and foremost. Reddit also has a pretty convenient linking feature now that allows you to highlight certain links on your profile but keep in mind some of the links to common adult sites aren’t allowed, so if you don’t use their pre-selected options I would not recommend putting in your own links.

Want more tips on growing your social media presence as an adult creator?

Whether you want a streamlined process or you’ve got the time to delve into crazy social media promotion, I’m more than happy to be your guide! Consider checking out my consultation options to dive deeper into growing your social media.