Is your name too porno for Facebook?

,

Naked Man holding a sign that says Facebook in front of his groin

Many porn stars are on Facebook.  There are lots of people in adult entertainment that have profiles and pages.  One of the big issues with being in adult entertainment and being on Facebook is promoting yourself without getting your account deleted. One of the first things you have to ask yourself is, is your name too porno for Facebook?

To make sure that you are within Facebooks terms of service, the content of your posting has to be chosen wisely.  Keeping that in mind, the name of your Facebook Page also has to be chosen wisely.  So what happens if you didn’t?  Until very recently you would have been stuck with it.  Even worse, you might have to delete your page or have your account deleted.  If you have built up a following, then deleting your page is probably the last thing you want to do.

So what are some reasons you might want to change your page name?

  1. You notice a grammatical error
  2. You thought you were being clever and realized later that you weren’t
  3. Your company changed its name
  4. You had your agency in your name and you left your agency
  5. Your name is location-based and you move
  6. You think that you must have a location in your name, and then figure out that you don’t
  7. You have a date in the name and it expired, but your page didn’t
  8. You realized that you used a foreign swear word
  9. You realize that having F*$% in the title of you page is not the best idea ever
  10. It is clearly pornographic

Facebook is testing a new feature in Facebook Pages that will actually allow you to change your page name.  The catch is, you can’t have too many likes on your page.  What they are not telling us is how many is too many.  So if you have thousands of people who like your page, it is most likely too late to change the name. But if it is a newer page, you should still have time.

So consider the “porn quotient” of your Facebook page name. You may now be able to change it.

/by

Porn not Verified on Twitter?

Are you verified on Twitter? Does it matter? Is it important?

For some people getting verified on Twitter is extremely important. Twitter verification is essentially a big blue check mark that says you are the real deal! It is Twitter’s way of establishing authenticity behind a well know and public persona. It is used for public figures, ie. politicians, celebrities, rock stars, etc.

Jenna Jameson verified on Twitter

One issue that a lot of adult stars face is the inability to get verified. Maybe someone already claimed your name and won’t give it up, not doing anything with it, just cyber-squatting.  Maybe they claimed your name to spam.  Maybe they are just posing as you.

Your name is a brand. You have worked hard at getting name recognition and you should be able to reap the rewards, not some random person in cyber-space who doesn’t know you from Adam. What is even worse than someone squatting on your name is if they are spamming or misrepresenting you.  Are they damaging the good name you have built?  This is, of course, why Twitter started verifying to begin with.  But many people in the adult industry have had great difficulty getting verified, or getting Twitter to help them resolve issues of cyber-squatting or spam/misrepresentation.  And yes we speculate discrimination.

Pornstar Tweet felt strong about this issue as well and created their own verification system for the stars they list. They vet the stars on their list and with any they can without a doubt authenticate, the readily offer their own check mark. Though unfortunately their check mark only appears on the list on their site and doesn’t translate to the Twitter avatar.

However, Twitter not verifying is quickly becoming a mute point because they are no longer verifying accounts. Since the change to New Twitter, many verified accounts have even lost their prized check mark.  Though support@twitter does say they are restoring them to their rightful owners.

The change to new twitter seems to come with the promise of a change to the verification system.  Apparently the verification system was in its beta form and Twitter will be rolling out a new and improved system.  Maybe this new verification system will be more open to verifying adult stars who have worked hard for name recognition and deserve to have that little blue check mark!

/by

Social Media & Sex: Adult Entertainment at Blogworld

,

Pete Housley, Kelly Shibari, Nina Hartley and Jamye Waxman at BlogworldIt is safe to say that adult entertainment is under represented in social media.  However, that is better than not represented.  At Blogworld Expo 2010 among all the wonderful and informative panels on social media, blogging, public speaking, brand building and PR was an adult entertainment gem tucked away.

The seminar was NSFW: Exploring Porn and Social Media, with speakers Adria Richards, Jamye Waxman, Kelly Shibari, Nina Hartley and Pete Housley. Though most of you probably know, this panel made up a power house of social media in adult entertainment.

This should come as no surprise, but many traditional SM strategies were discussed as being the same in adult entertainment as they are in mainstream media.

  • Make sure you have a point of view you are always promoting, this helps establish a voice.
  • 80% conversation and 20% call to action
  • It is all about engagement

Adult entertainers are more discriminated against in social media than other public figures.  Pete Housley told a story of an adult star whose name was taken by someone else on Twitter.  The person who claimed the name was squatting with it and refused to give it up. The star had to assume a different twitter handle. Of course this means that the benefit of her brand recognition for her name is received by someone else.  She also tried to get her account verified by Twitter, so that her non-branded twitter handle would be acknowledged as the real adult star.  But because she is an adult star, Twitter did not address her issue.

Though Twitter does not specifically prevent adult entertainment from networking on their service, they won’t really go out of their way to help anyone out either.

What this means is that adult entertainers have to work harder and smarter to maneuver the social media sphere. Of course, if you have to think about and plan out a social media strategy then it is far more likely to be successful then they people who just wing it.

So maybe the inherent disadvantage will prove to be a marketing advantage in the long run? What do you think?

/by

Spam is definitely not Sexy

, ,

TWAM

The different social networks fill various needs for its users. Linked In is better for B2B and professional networking. Facebook is your social circle online. Twitter is everything from friends to business to news. If you are in the Adult Entertainment Industry then you are most definitely on Twitter. In fact, you might not be on the other social networks because they make it so challenging to successfully market yourself.

So you are on Twitter,  how do you get people to visit your blog, your site, buy your product, vote for you, etc. In essence how do they become clients?

The biggest mistake people make is spam. We have all seen the people who get out there and talk about their product…all day…all the time…incessantly…ad nauseum. If you want to be ignored, do this. You will be hidden on Facebook and no one will read your tweets.

The adult entertainment industry is riddled with Spam. Hell, you could argue that it is a driving force behind the industry.  So what is the balance between marketing yourself and being flagged for spam.  If someone flags you as a spammer then you will be hidden, or unfollowed, or simply ignored.

If you want people to become clients, then you need to become friends first. You need to become a real person online.

  • Be the person who shares information.
  • Be the person who says good morning and wishes people happy birthday.
  • Be the person who re-tweets other peoples blog posts and pictures.
  • Be the person who offers good advice, for free, for no other reason other than you can.
  • Be the person who responds when someone mentions you
  • Be more than a pretty picture and a sexy link

Now you are dynamic. You are interesting. You are a source of information and you are someone people will look to. In the midst of all this good will, tell people about your website or video release. Ask them for to check it out. If you are looking for votes, then ask for support. Ask people to spread the word. And when they do, thank them. Pepper your own goals into your relationship development. Your friends will respond to your requests. They will read your posts, they will go to your site, they will give you their support. They will do this because you are multi-faceted and not all about yourself. They will do this because you have build real relationships with them. This relationship will drive them to spend more money, refer you to other people and will create a lasting (and profitable) relationship with your clients.

/by

Talk dirty to me on Twitter

, ,

Follow Me StockingsI am sure you are sitting at your computer, wearing your sexiest of sexy underwear and fully oiled up while you are tweeting away with all your Twitter followers. I am sure that you have a deep and meaningful relationship with every single person you tweet with and when they send you a pic, you really are crazy attracted to them.  Ok…so now that we are done with those urban legends lets talk about building relationships that help people actually believe it when you tell them this.

Following a conversation on Twitter is much like following a conversation in person.  If someone says something to you or asks you something, you have to respond accordingly.  Too many people engage with fellow tweeps without paying attention to what is actually being said.  They will respond to a question with a sales pitch, or a thanks for taking a look at our website. What you don’t want to do is leave your potential client thinking that you don’t actually hang on every word.

I recently had an interaction with an Adult Tweep and she asked me to send a pic.  So I did.  People often want to know what I actually look like, for some reason people don’t believe that my little twitter icon of the girl with the veil is me! ha ha…yeah, so they are right.

So I sent her a link to a pic of me and then a pic of me from my wedding.  She sent me another DM telling me I was hot and asked if I were single….. um, yeah.  I said, well no. Obviously she was not actually paying attention to what I was saying.  Through more conversation it became clear she had no recollection of me, despite a number of conversations. This is not a singular experience. This is a synopsis of many conversations.

No one expects you to actually know, and remember, every person you talk to. But no one wants to think the show is a show. If you want the casual observer to become a client, they have to think you mean it. So the trick is to fake it till you make it.

It can be very hard to keep up with the myriad of conversations that happen on Twitter.  The more followers you have and the more interesting your content, the more people will want to engage with you.  This is why capitalizing on your momentum is integral.

Twitter applications like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite make following your conversations much easier.  When you receive a mention you can click “in reply to” (in Tweetdeck) or “show conversation” (in Hootsuite) to see the interactions you are having with that person.  This will allow you to respond appropriately.

This simple method of following your conversations will allow you to deepen you existing relationships, develop new relationships and demonstrate to other followers that you not only engage but your engagements are important to you. Then when you share a link to your website or suggest someone look at your product or join your vid-chat or webshow, they will be far more receptive and it won’t be taken as spam.  When you engage in the conversations, people will click your links, go to your sites, retweet your posts and tell their friends to follow you.

So take the time to respond conscientiously, it is worth the effort.

/by

Promoted Tweets on Twitter: Open to Adult Entertainment?

, ,

Twitter just announced that it is officially rolling out sponsored accounts and promoted tweets.  This means that certain accounts will be paying to be in the “suggested user” sidebar. Certain accounts being bigwigs like Xbox and other large corporations. The suggestions are on people interests.  Twitter has an algorithm that factors in the people you follow, commonality among the people you follow,  as well as key words and hashtags. Their goal is to make the suggestions relevant to you, so you will be more likely to follow the sponsored suggestions. But will twitter blackball the adult industry the way that google has? Are we likely to see Playboy or Jesse Jane as sponsored accounts?

Twitter has also released that third-party applications will be feeding promoted tweets.  Currently if you are using twitter.com to do your primary tweeting and feed reading then you will already be use to seeing promoted tweets in your streams, especially when following hashtags. However if you use hootsuite or tweetdeck then you have been saved from promoted tweets.  Well, not any more. If you use hootsuite then you will start seeing promoted tweets in your stream. This would be the perfect spot for adult promoted tweets. Anyone who follows keywords like porn, adult, boobs, tits, sex, etc. would have a promoted tweet camping at the top of their keyworded stream.  And honestly the audience who follows those keywords and hashtags would probably be pretty receptive to a promoted topic related tweet. But the question remains…will Twitter make this available to the adult industry?

Right now people are wondering when Twitter is going to make these marketing options available to everyone and/or anyone? Right now the select few who get to use this service will be paying a premium for it. Despite the likelihood of high costs, I am sure there are many in the Adult Industry who would be extremely interested in taking advantage of such premium twitter real estate. So lets see if the Adult Industry will get a chance to bid for this prime Twitter real estate.

/by

If size matters in Porn does it matter in Twitter?

,

7_Veils Twitter

The Adult Entertainment Industry is saturated with custom Twitter backgrounds. It is rare that you will find an adult star without a custom Twitter background.  Honestly, this is smart.  If you are an adult star then you need to brand yourself!  Market yourself! Get your face and your name out there in every way possible.  If you want to be successful then people need to know who you are.

Twitter has just changed the game a bit with their new design.  All those wonderful backgrounds are nearly invisible.

The new twitter has changed the Twitter interface. The basic changes are the columns are wider and have some improved usability functions.  There are some other back-end improvement that will help usability and browser loading. But what you will notice is the bifurcated screen. Basically a fancy term to mean split screen.  Your feed is on the left and your navigation and stats menu is on the right. Now when you click on someones twitter ID or their avatar, instead of taking you to their profile page, it will open up an abbreviated profile on the right side of the split screen. Plus the right side of the screen is now bigger, making it easier to navigate.

Where this makes usability a better for a variety of reasons, it is rendering the old custom background less valuable. Yes they are still there, but effectively no one can see them.

The reason custom backgrounds are so important is that they allow you to merge branding with your social media activity. Unfortunately the change has rendered our beautiful branded backgrounds unusable for most people. However, this is not as severe for those of us in the adult entertainment industry.

Lets face it, if you are a beautiful and sexy  adult star then people want to see you. They want to look at pictures of you.  They want to see as many pictures of you as possible without having to pay for it.

Though we want them to pay for content, you have to offer a teaser.  So for most people the reduction of their available space for custom design was cut in half and rendered mostly useless, the adult industry is an exception.  People will expand their browser to its full size because they will want to see more pics of you.

Can you still have a custom background?

Yes! The new interface width is 1040px, leaving roughly 100px on the left for your branding. This is not a lot of room for design or information content. What this means is that you will have to be more selective on the content you place in this area.  On the right of the menu, there is more space, though this won’t be easily seen either.  However, if you want to put up a picture gallery, this would be the place to do it.

Who will see my new custom background?

Not many people. Mobile devices will not see custom backgrounds at all. If you open a profile from your stream, New Twitter now opens it in the right side bar instead of going to their profile page. To see the full Twitter page you have to open your browser window all the way, meaning 1080px. Not everyone browses this way and not everyone’s screen is big enough, or set up, to open a window that large. Banyan Branch says that the full Twitter screen will only be viewed by an estimated 5% of Internet users. However, if people think that they can see some provocative pictures of you, they are more likely to look for them than not.

How to Create a New Twitter Background?

Create a document that is 1980 x 1080 px.

Only 41-312 px will be visible. 41px are visible to all browsers and 312px are visible to 4.6%. Best to keep your content to 41-108px on the far left of the screen.

When you are done, save it as a .png

The New Twitter backgrounds are not as valuable as the old custom backgrounds. Your real estate has been significantly reduced along with the visibility. However, it is still important to have a custom background. It still helps branding. It still makes you look more professional and it can still drive business. So don’t toss the baby out with the bathwater. Keep a custom background, just boil it down to basics and make it clean and simple.

Now you biggest decision is what to put on the left, which is roughly 1.39 inches wide, to create the most impact in a small space.  Like they say, size doesn’t matter right?

/by

New Twitter & Adult Film Stars- Is it Less Sexy?

,

If you are in the adult entertainment industry, actor, producer, photographer, etc. then you will be familiar with custom Twitter backgrounds. It is actually rare to see someone in the adult entertainment industry who does not have a custom background.

But since September 14th, has the new Twitter release made custom backgrounds become a thing of the past?

Before the new release, a custom background on your Twitter page was a important facet of building your brand. Custom backgrounds allowed any company or individual to show PG13 publicity pics, show off awards, promote a new film or drive traffic to a website. It was a great way to hook a new follower.

Technically custom backgrounds still exist. It’s just that the re-design of Twitter‘s interface prevents them from being seen. In the new interface, “You will now find @mentions, re-tweets, searches, and lists just above your time line – creating a single, streamlined view on the left of the screen. On the right, you can see the features you’re familiar with, including whom you recently followed and who recently followed you, favorites, and Trending Topics.”

The re-organization of information does make the navigation of Twitter much more intuitive but presents a new challenge in branding and identity.

Twitter users will now have to build their brand awareness or their public persona primarily by the content of their tweets. The new interface encourages users to share more multimedia. However, you still have to post interesting content to entice followers (and would be followers) to click-through.

Ultimately, I do not think this will change the way in which people tweet. Yet, the new interface does re-emphasize the importance of your tweets and the relationships you build.

It is not how you look but what you say that matters. So increase your engagement by posting more pics and make sure your Bio can hook followers!

/by