23 Apr Building a community in sex work
You’re starting to gain traction, so now you might be considering working on your sex work community. Of course, there’s you and your clients, but sex work can feel quite isolating at times. Some of the most successful pornstars, cam models and adult content creators are those who embrace the building of a community. There are two main types of community that we will talk about here. Firstly, your internal one. This consists of you and your fellow sex workers and its main function is to provide support and advice, and generally work together. Secondly, your external community. This consists of supporters, fans, and clients. This community undoubtedly seems more scary and harder to deal with, but it’s worth it if you do.
Why is building a community important
This is your work. You must be seen to get paid. We understand it’s not for everyone to shout about your business from the rooftops, however, you can still market yourself with a high level of success and security. The best businesses are built on feelings of inclusivity, and feeling like they’re part of something. Think about finding your tribe. Having a preference for Nike over Adidas. It’s the same principle. Not only do your fans like to consume your content, they like to feel part of your life. Whether or not you exist on social media with a persona, you can take advantage of this to better your image, increase output and ultimately increase sales.
Personal Website and Mailing Lists
You wouldn’t think it but setting up a website with access to a mailing list can do wonders for your community engagement. Even if it’s just a landing page and links to your services, it’ll do the trick! Daily emails to your followers can add a sense of being thought about and genuinely being valued. They don’t even need to be NSFW! One idea which seems to work particularly well is using them as a diary entry. That way your fans will feel more connected to you and your daily life when not paying for your exclusive content.
Twitter is a great way to start to build your sex work community. Not only because you have a good chance of meeting potential clients. On Twitter, you’re able to network with more sex workers and those who work on the sector. From accountants to PR professionals (hi, that’s us!) it’s always good to use social media to network. You never know who may be following you. You might be next on the list for a PR package or shoutout from a household name in the adult community.
Something you can try is creating a specific hashtag or appreciation day for your business. Maybe you want to start #topsofftuesday or Stellar Sunday. Something related to your name. Something that’s memorable. By creating something like this and engaging with it each week, your increasing your authority in the sex work sphere. This only increases in impact as you grow. You can even start to run promotions such as retweeting your favourite each hour, as long as they’re following you. That kind of campaign really helps to snowball your success online.
Reddit is one of the most adult safe communities out there, it accepts all NSFW content as long as it’s legal. It is a great place to build a sex work community as there are quite literally millions of subreddits (essentially forums) which covers everything from the most specific fetishes to ‘Hot Girls’. You can make your own Reddit account and promote yourself on there. People on Reddit seem to be a lot hornier than Twitter, so you’re likely to be able to get a few new clients, or at least some leads. They’re also generally a lot more engaged and will not only upvote but will comment and share too.
Reddit is also great for asking questions to your fellow sex workers for advice and getting tips easily. There are many subreddits that are specific to you and your work, and you’ll find that they can get very niche! It’s also ripe for creating engagement and support groups that can help you in your internal community. They are places where people can send posts from other subreddits, and you can upvote them.
Discord
You could consider making your own discord server. If you have a growing community of fans and supporters, it might be a good idea to give them a place to connect and communicate. Perhaps if you also stream games on Twitch as well as offer NSFW content, or create content for Patreon, you’ll have a reason to set one up. The privacy settings are extensive which is key for the sex work community. You’re able to set up your own rules and can easily kick, block or ban people. You can have moderators who work in shifts to ensure your server runs smoothly and there are no disruptions.
Discord would also be a great place for a support network of fellow SWs. It’s a good idea to verify that they’re actually who they say they are, perhaps by sending a secret password to their email for them to enter when they join. Here you can vent about clients, get advice and share posts and news! Your internal community is just as important as your external one.
Of course, not all of these options will work for you or your business, so you don’t have to instantly open a Discord server or start a Subreddit for yourself right this second, but there are some methods which will work better than others. You never know, your business might evolve in a way that would allow you to start a new Twitter hashtag or Discord server for announcements when you get that spread in Playboy.Building a sex work community can be hard. We’re the experts on public relations so if you’re a veteran looking for somewhere new to cam, or if you’re new to the industry altogether and want to say hi, then send us an email at [email protected] or click here to contact us directly.