Sex Industry Marketing is no walk in the park, if it was we would not exist as an Adult Industry Marketing Agency!
There are lots of hurdles to jump through to ensure your campaigns are safe for work and age-appropriate. This also applies to porn social media marketing! Social media marketing can be a tough nut to crack, especially in the adult industry.
However, Sweet Release Agency is here to help you avoid the most common mistakes adult film performers, independent sex workers and adult film content site marketers make with Porn Adult Social Media Marketing:
1. Failing To Plan and Create Adult Social Media Marketing Strategies and Content Schedules
They say failing to plan is planning to fail.
This is completely true when it comes to marketing the Sex Industry, many other "mainstream agencies" shy away, as they feel as though it is too hard. When in reality, the marketing methods and strategies used are exactly the same as any other industry.
The first step in any successful porn social media marketing campaign is devising a strategy. This involves setting goals; knowing your target audience; the tactics you’re going to implement and setting a time scale.
Time and time again, we see many Independent Escorts, Adult Film Performers and top names in Porn lose their minds and explode on social media about how their accounts fail in getting traffic, sales, the attention they crave (and in their minds deserve), but the content is missing the pieces to be attractive and APPROVED by the social media channels they so blindly use.
Despite sex industry marketing appearing similar to other industries, the one area where many people make mistakes are adult social media marketing.
Many adult entertainment agencies believe that because their client is not safe for work, their content cannot be. Nearly every social media channel has incredibly strict community guidelines. If they are not followed, they could have detrimental effects for your account. So, how do you avoid this?
Get creative with your content!
2. Failing To Track Analytics (Know The Numbers!)
One of the biggest mistakes we see being made with Sex Industry Marketing and Adult Business Marketing is the lack of monitoring. When running any social media account, it is essential that you track your porn social media marketing campaigns through analytics. This will not only allow you to monitor your progress from the previous month.
Social Media Analytics lets you see what content works well with your followers and what does not. This means that you can really refine what you post to meet your audience’s needs, this in turn improves your social media content and increases the quality of your social media channels.
3. Erotic Content On Social Media
Can you post Erotic Content on Social Media? One of the most common questions we get asked by a potential new client in the adult industry is, “how can we get our business known on social channels without being reported, suspended or shadow-banned?”
Below our team discuss the biggest problem with porn social media and how you can fix it.
It is a no-brainier that when it comes to sex industry marketing, trying to crack porn social media is the hardest barrier. Why? Because it is the one place where the majority of people spend their time. But it is also one of the most regulated places on the internet. When we think of porn, it is likely that nudity and explicit content come to mind. These are things that do not come to mind when we think of social media channels. However, content is often forgotten when running a porn social media account. Content does not have to be seedy to be a success. An Instagram account that is suggestive or attracts the audience to then visit a website can be just as successful. - Jett Black (CEO & Global Marketing Director at Sweet Release)
One of the biggest keys to success when running a porn social media account is what channels you are on. Rules and regulations differ greatly depending on the platform. So, before you go setting up an account on every form of social media to ever exist; consider your demographic and where you are most likely to reach your target audience.
Twitter; Facebook and Instagram have all recently reviewed and renewed their community guidelines. This makes it tougher for those who wish to post adult content. Yet there are ways to market the adult industry and attract an audience without being explicit. PornHub is hugely successful while following regulations. - Simone Wyatt (Social Media and Industry Relationship Consultant at Sweet Release)
Here is what you can learn from one of the most successful porn social media accounts:
Be explicit in the least explicit way possible:
PornHub’s Twitter account is incredibly clever in posting content in a safe for work way using innuendo’s; euphemisms and abbreviations.
Become a tease:
Another creative way of building engagement and driving more traffic to your site is becoming a tease. A traditional sensor bar covering explicit areas along with a call to action is guaranteed to leave people wanting more in no time.
4. What About Instagram?
Instagram is by far one of the most popular social media platforms. As a result, many businesses and brands utilise the platform to market their products or services to the public. The adult industry is no different many adult industry brands are posting their content on Instagram as part of their adult social media marketing strategy.
If you are one of those adult brands that are using Instagram for their porn social media marketing, be honest, have you read Instagram’s terms of use? Didn’t think so! And we don’t blame you, it’s not exactly an exciting read.
Our adult social media marketing team have done a bit of research, to bring you some of the rules you may not know about but definitely need to be following to avoid the dreaded shadow-ban!
Third-Party Posting Tools If you are using a third-party tool or app to post and manage your Instagram; you need to be aware that as of 2018 Instagram only allows tools and apps that are deemed trusted by Instagram themselves. Added to this, your page must be a business profile to use these trusted tools. If you are scheduling your posts on an untrusted tool and your profile isn’t a business one; you may be in trouble.
The Naked Truth Hopefully, this rule is pretty obvious, but we will include it anyway for the late-comers and newbies to the Instagram world. To put it as plainly as possible, don’t post naked pictures on Instagram. Instagram does not allow photos; videos and some digitally-created content that shows sexual intercourse; genitals, and close-ups of fully-nude buttocks. They also do not allow some photos of female nipples. However, photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. Nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is OK, too.
#InstaAddict Instagram is really in favour of creating a genuine online community of people and as such has algorithms in place to try and detect bots and spammers. In order to not be accidentally mistaken for a bot or a spammer, you have to watch the amount that you follow; like and post. With it being reported recently that Instagram now boasts a massive 1 billion monthly active users; it is easy to see why businesses and brands use the platform in their adult social media marketing strategies.
Banned Hashtags With great hashtag comes great responsibility. You need to be sure that the hashtags you have chosen to use for your posts are not banned by Instagram. An easy way to check is to start typing out the hashtag, as you do, you will see Instagram prompt similar or the same hashtag with the number of times it has been used by the Instagram community. If you don’t get this prompt by Instagram; the hashtag has probably been banned. It is always worth doing some research before you post. If you click on a hashtag you want to use, then look at the recent posts associated to it, you will quickly see whether or not content using these hashtags are banned by Instagram.
Running Fake Competitions Running a contest or promotion on Instagram is a great way to get new followers and get your existing followers to engage with your page. Although you may be reading this thinking that’s a great idea, we could give away that ‘anal for beginners kit’. Just be aware that Instagram avoids all responsibility of the competition and leaves you in full control. That means you are responsible for GDPR and any legal age requirements. If your competition gets reported by a disgruntled Instagram user; you could see your page get shadow-banned as a blanket move by Instagram. So, make sure that you have every angle covered when it comes to running your competition.