Posts

PETA goes Dot XXX

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PETA has long had provocative imagery in their ads. Many people have criticized them for exploiting women in their promotion of animal rights. But they are taking their nakedness to a new level. PETA is launching their own .XXX site. Though they might not be aware of the controversy in the adult industry regarding this TLD, they are definitely not only preventing anyone else from using their branded (and trademarked) URL, but they are capitalizing on it.

I am sure this will come as a mild surprise to many people. Though if you have really paid attention to their marketing campaigns, it is not a big leap. Of course, if you paid attention to their marketing campaigns, anyone who was looking to capitalize on a big name .xxx left unclaimed after the “sunset” period for trademarked URL registration, would not have had to think hard to come up with a PETA knock of porn site.

PETA is aware that this is a controversial move, but they have been in the center of controversy since they started their nude anti-fur and nude anti-meat ads.

Here are some ads that a few well known porn stars have already been featured in. Will the new site open a new more mainstream modeling opportunity for adult stars?

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Being Interviewed on The Elm Avenue Show

On Wednesday I am going to be interviewed by Elm Avenue. This is a online video interview show that talks to people in the adult entertainment industry to help educate people who are interested in learning more about the adult industry. The show was started by Extralunchmoney.com founder Benic Way. The idea came from the launch of Extra Lunch Money. When Benic and his partner Eric were starting the business, only one of them had experience in the adult industry. As two good tech savvy people they hopped on Google and started to research.

For any of you who have ever tried to research actual adult business, and were not just looking for porn, you will know that the information out there is sparse. Often times people have to go to the conferences and attend panel after panel to learn about the inner workings of the industry. As a frequent panelist, I can tell you that they are an amazing resource and give you direct access to many of the leading industry experts. However, not everyone can afford the time or money to go. Not to mention that you might not want to wait until the next conference to learn about the industry.

Benic and Eric decided if they were going to do the research they should contribute back to the community and share their knowledge. Much like industry blogs…like this one…there are many people who want to share their knowledge and help other people navigate the murky business waters. However, the issue in adult is there are not many industry blogs that share inside information. Though more are coming into development all the time. I even know of some interesting adult business communities that are in development. 😉

Launching Elm Avenue was a great way to get even more in depth information from people within the industry.

On Wednesday I am going to be one of Benic’s featured guests. So stayed tuned and I will blog about the interview and share the links next week!

And if you are wondering why it is called the ELM Avenue Show.. ELM – Extra Lunch Money. 🙂

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ICANN opens up TLD Registration- Are you ready for .Sexy?

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Friday Feature Photo Tara Lynn Fox Adult Trading Card

Friday Feature Photo: Tara Lynn Foxx on her limited edition Adult Trading Card

So .XXX is not the only top level domain that is throwing their TLD into the ring. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization that oversees TLD’s is opening up registration.

For most people we never think about our TLD, except maybe when you are registering a new web address (URL). In the adult industry, with all the hullaballoo about .XXX, I think it is safe to say that TLD’s have become a common topic of conversation. Whether you are for or against it, .XXX is making people think about the importance of their web address real estate.

.Com is the prime real estate on the internet. It is such prime real estate that most people assume you are a dot com. If you don’t have the prime domain then you might  be sending web traffic to the site that does own your dot com.

Every once in a while a site like GoDaddy.com will try to convince us that a TLD like .CO will be the next .com. This is more a marketing push to get people to register .co instead of, or even in addition to, a .com. Of course there are other issues with .co, like people thinking it is a typo or mis-remembering it as .com. To date, dot XXX is the only alternative TLD to gain traction as a plausible dot com replacement.

Despite dot com continuing to dominate website naming conventions, a few have managed to worm their way in. The TLD .me is one that is gaining popularity as it gets incorporated into URLs and in certain ways become phrases, like tungle.me a calendar and meeting scheduling website. “Hey, just tungle.me” is becoming a phrase people are starting to hear. Show.me is a real estate social network.

Another TLD that has made a splash is .ly. You might be wondering what sites use that. Well, how about Bit.ly. This is the number one website used for shortening web urls for social sharing. Almost every adult star and adult website will be familiar, and have likely used, Bit.ly at some point in their social marketing ventures.

So despite the overwhelming cost ($184,000) to submit a new TLD to ICANN, do not be surprised if you start seeing some interesting ones out there like .you or .whatever or .sexy. They may not overtake .com but will any of them get traction? Or will dot XXX be the only top TLD to cause a stir?

Tara Lynn Foxx is this weeks Friday Feature Photo. Make sure you chat her up on Twitter @taralynnfoxx. She is a great gal to tweet with. Not only will she keep you up to date with her appearance and updates to her site, but she might get a little flirty in her tweets with you. I love a good flirty tweet!

Hit up the Adult Trading Card Company to learn how to get a card like hers! Follow them on Twitter @ATCCompany

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Tweet Dirty to Me at Exxotica Miami

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Getting into Adult A-ZExxotica Miami is right around the corner and I am getting very excited! I am a part of Michael Fattorossi’s Adult from A to Z seminar series at the show.  I am pairing up with Pete Housely from The Naughty Tweet Network for a panel on social media for adult entertainment.

Social media is extremely important if you want to make it is the adult industry.  But doing it right is even more important. We are going to be talking strategy, tips and tricks for using social media to promote your adult business. Learn how to do adult social media right!

Tweet Dirty to Me

Social media is the most effective marketing strategy for any business, but with so much out there it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed. How much business are you losing because your social media is missing the mark? This talk will help you decide what networks you should use, teach you how to reach your audience, grow your sales, get more clicks to your website and show you how to grow your networks, your reputation, your popularity and your influence. Whether you are a veteran Tweeter or completely confused by tweeting, learn how to leverage the power of social media for you business or brand.

If you are coming to the show you should make sure to come by and see the panel. It will be really informative. Plus it will give you a chance to pick mine and Pete’s brain on social media. This is a chance to ask us anything about social media strategy! We will be sharing our thoughts and tips on how to manage your social media in a way that will actually get you clicks, grow your network and show you what ROI (return on investment) in social media actually means!

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How Adult Compares in Social Marketing

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The old spice man

Old Spice was one of the most successful social media campaigns ever. It had sex, nudity and humor and was everywhere.

Social media integrates traditional marketing strategy with the social component.  It has become the powerhouse for marketing campaigns.

The Social Media Examiner recently released their Social Media Marketing Industry Report. The top findings show that social media is growing in its influence. Most marketers are increasing their social media efforts across the board. Though the report did not feature an adult section, most of the findings are reflected in the Adult Industry.

Here is a list of the top findings:

• Marketers place high value on social media: A significant 90% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business.
• Marketers want to know how to monitor and measure ROI and integrate those results into their strategy.
• Social media marketing takes a lot of time: Most marketers are spending a minimum of 6 hours a week.
• Video marketing is on the rise: 77% of marketers plan to increase YouTube and video integration into their social marketing plans.
• Facebook and Blogging are the two social media platforms marketers want to learn more about.
• The top benefits of social media marketing: Social media marketing is generating more business exposure (72%) and improved SEO (62%).
• The top social media tools: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs are the top social media tools used by marketers, in that order.
• Social media outsourcing is underutilized: Only 28% of businesses are outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing.

The adult industry is no stranger to the power of social media marketing.  Twitter is the playground for porn stars. It is an excellent way to grow networks, keep up with industry happenings and promote content.  But adult has not turned its back on any of the social media networks. Despite ongoing issues with Facebook, many stars continue to rock the Fan Page.

An interesting finding in the report was that video content is generally dominated by large companies.  The time commitment and tech requirements of video are often prohibitive to a lot of small businesses and solopreneurs. Video is one of the best forms of marketable content; it is far more likely to go viral and be shared across Internet platforms (ie. retweeted, posted in blogs, on Facebook, shared via email, etc.). Adult is actually ahead of the curve on the use of video in social marketing. This is not surprising since video is a cornerstone of the industry, but even un-produced content, like video blogs and behind the scenes shots from camera phones, are being actively used in marketing strategy.

Blogs have come in as the number one growth area for social marketing. 75% of marketers say they want to increase their blogging efforts.  Adult blogs are starting to emerge but finding good content has been a struggle.  Most adult sites do not know what to blog about, and the blogs end up focusing on product or site promotion. However, blogging is a great tool for driving traffic to your site. It will even allow adult sites to post content on Facebook, or other sites that frown upon adult content, as long as you keep your blog free of adult images and video.

The biggest inhibitor is the time factor.  When most people get into social media they worry about the time commitment.  Though there is a high percentage of people in Adult who invest their primary marketing efforts in social marketing and spend a lot of time with it, this concern is reflected in the Adult Industry. The Social Media Marketing Industry Report shows that marketers who invest more time into their social marketing found more success.  The great thing, though, was that even people who spent 6 hours a week still gained significant business results:

6 hours per week

  • 58% use social media for a minimum of 6 hours per week. 
  • 65% showed an improvement in their SEO
  • 78% showed an increase in their web traffic.
  • 81% said that social media helped increase their exposure

Less than a Year

  • 45% reported new partnerships
  • 52% had new sales lead generation

More than a Year

  • 73% reported improvement in their SEO

More than 3 years

  • 47% spent 16 hours or more per week on social media
  • 72% reported that social media helps close sales
  • 72% strongly agree that social media increases business exposure
  • 91% report increased traffic to websites

Facebook leads the pack, followed closely by Twitter. If this report were done specifically for Adult, I believe the result would have been reversed.  Twitter is still the social powerhouse.

Social media has become the most effective long-term marketing strategy. It drives traffic, creates business partnerships, facilitates alliances, increases exposure, generates sales leads and improves brand reputation.

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Adult Classifieds get a new venue!

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Friday Feature Photo: Kyle King

Friday Feature Photo: The sexy Hot House Exclusive star, Kyle King

The adult ad section on Craigslist caused a big scandal in the United States. Craigslist received a lot of flack for their adult ads.  The “Craigslist Killer” was reported to have trolled the personal ads to find his next victim.  Despite intense scrutiny and a very public lambasting, Craigslist was not particularly interested in removing this section. In fact, the law sided with Craigslist. According to first amendment lawyer Doug Mirell, “The Communications Decency Act says that essentially those who are simply providing a bulletin board by which others can post their content is not going to be liable for the content itself.” When people cried out about moral responsibility, or about the site being used to facilitate human trafficking, the site reminded people that Craigslist had actively helped authorities track down people engaging in human trafficking. In the end, their adult/erotic section was removed.

Many people asked, “Where are adult ads going to go, now that they are gone from Craigslist?”  Duttslist has answered that question.  It is a site that is set up like Craigslist, following the same style of user interface. They have made no secret of their adult ad section, in fact they feature it; in their “Hottest Ads” section, you will see the most popular of their adult ads.  They also offer more traditional community ads, making the classifieds site robust like Craigslist. but they are catering to the adult industry.

Duttslist is a two-person operation. Mike is the owner and Jen is the media consultant. Their most popular city is Toronto, but they are quickly spreading into major US cities.  Active on Twitter, various message boards and escort review boards, Duttslist is actively promoting their site as the new source for adult classifieds.

Their promotions are working because they are averaging over 200,000 page views a day, with more than 15,000 unique daily visitors, and it just keeps growing. They offer three different levels of ads, from the free classifieds to sponsored ads.  Though they are not competing with Craigslist, since Craigslist no longer offers an erotic services section, they are raising some eyebrows over there, because they did receive a cease and desist from them.

Ultimately it comes down to the fact that the adult industry was looking for a good adult classified site and Duttslist answered their call.  Make sure you check out their site and visit them on Twitter

Friday Feature Photo: Kyle KingThe amazingly sexy Kyle King is this weeks Friday Feature Photo. I met him at the Phoenix Forum this past weekend, and was immediately captivated. Obviously he is incredibly good looking with a body I could eat sushi off. But he is also a really nice guy.  I had a number of wonderful conversations with him.  Kyle is a Hot House exclusive, and has starred in a number of great Hot House movies. He also has a blog where he shares his thoughts and pictures from his travels, talks about his life and presents some exclusive sexy pics.

Make sure you check out Kyle’s Blog

Find him on Hot House

And chat with him on Twitter @KyleKingxxx

 

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The Phoenix Forum and the Importance of Conferences

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Feature Friday Photo: Ruby Violence

Friday Feature Photo: Coquettish and fetish, all wrapped into one; the exquisite Ruby Violence.  

Next week I am heading to Arizona for The Phoenix Forum, a networking and educational business event for the Adult Industry.  Though I was hoping to speak at the event, I will have to settle for simply attending (well, that’s what happens when you ask too late).  It should be a great opportunity to have some in-depth discussions on business trends and social media.

I really enjoy going to conferences. They are an excellent way to network, make some great business connections, make new friends, learn about up-and-coming trends in the industry and get your face in front of people. As a social media strategist, I spend most of my time behind a computer screen, so being able to get my face in front of people really helps! Plus, I love opportunities to talk to people about what they are doing and have some off-the-cuff social media discussions.

This weekend is Adultcon. I wish I were able to go to this conference as well. One of the challenges is deciding which conferences you are going to attend – they can be expensive, time-consuming and energy-consuming.  It is not possible to attend all of them, unless you are a professional conference-goer. Most of us still have to work when we are not conferencing (and even when we are), so balancing the work and travel can be challenging.

How to Evaluate a Conference

  1. How important is it? Some conferences are really big and significant to the industry. These should be priority.
  2. Is it important to you? Some conferences might be really important to fans and stars, but not to businesses. Make sure you know why you are going; attend the conferences that meet your needs.
  3. How much time and money can you can invest? Like I said, conferencing is expensive. We would all love it if someone were paying all our expenses, but that is not usually the case.  Take a look at how much time you can afford to be away from your daily life, because when you are conferencing you are not doing your regular business. Then take a look at how much you can afford to spend. The costs add up quickly: registration, travel, hotel, car rental, food, entertainment: what seemed like a nice $300 trip just cost you $2000.
  4. Are the business connections important? Sometimes you choose to go to a conference not because of the content it is offering, but because of what its attendees are offering.  Take a look at who is going and if there are people important to your business or brand then you might want to make an appearance. Conferences are about networking, so make sure the networking is valuable.

I decided that The Phoenix Forum is crucial for me, mainly for the networking. I already have some important meetings set up and am looking forward to the new connections I will make.

While I am there I will also take advantage of what the conference is offering. Some of the seminars I am thinking of attending are:

  • Frenemies- Learning from your competition or arch-rivals
  • Technology and Monetization: A 2 Way Street
  • Listening to the consumer Are your price models effective? Learning from consumer spending habits.
  • Head in the Cloud- integrating cloud computing
  • Dot XXX How is .XXX affecting your business?

I am also planning on going to the YNot Grand Prix. This will be my first Grand Prix, so I am pretty excited. Remember, networking is as much about being social as it is about talking business. So make sure you go to social events, but don’t burn yourself out. Ultimately you are there for your business, brand or personal promotion. Don’t let the parties get in the way of your goals.

I’ll head out to Phoenix on Wednesday and will dive into networking and conferencing first thing on Thursday. I already have some great meetings on my schedule, but am looking forward to those that will come up spontaneously . If you’ll be at the forum next week and would like to meet, make sure you email or tweet me.

I will be blogging about the conference and will be live tweeting the entire time. Hopefully, I’ll have some great information to share. I will keep you posted!

Friday Feature Photo: Ruby ViolenceThe fabulous Ruby Violence is the Feature Friday Photo.  Ruby and I met through Twitter when I tweeted about her being on the cover of the new DVD, Girlfiends #9. An avid tweeter, @rubyviolence is a great person to tweet with, quick to respond and a good conversationalist. Her website has a lot of  content, from videos to pictures, and a great blog that gives you tantalizing previews of her site.  Ruby’s blog not only previews sexy vids and pics, but she shares insights about her photo and video shoots. Her philosophy is “Violently Sexy”, which says that women can be beautiful and sexy without being ‘sluts’ or ‘whores’; they can be sweet and pure and still be strong. This ethos is captured in her photos and her demeanor.

Go to her website: www.rubyviolence.com

Talk to her on Twitter: @rubyviolence

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Tweet Dirty to Me at Exxxotica Miami

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Exottica Miami Seminar: Hot to Get into Adult A to Z

Learn about getting into the Industry from highly specialized business experts.

7 Veils is coming to Miami!  I will be presenting as part of Michael Fattorosi’s seminar series, “Getting into Adult – A to Z“.  Michael is heading up and moderating this 3 day workshop. He’s an Adult Industry lawyer, and you can find him on Twitter @pornlaw.

Getting into Adult – A to Z will teach you how to get into the Industry, in front of and behind the cameras. There will be valuable discussions about business strategy and career management.  Definitely a great opportunity to speak to highly specialized Industry professionals about your adult career, and get some personalized advice and tips.

I will be presenting: Tweet Dirty to Me: learn to use Social Media to get the clicks. You will learn how to use Social Media to reach your audience, get people to talk to you, promote your brand, and of course get them to click your links!

I will post more about the event as we get closer, and I am very excited to be taking part in this conference. Let me know if you’ll be attending!  While I am there, hit me up about your social media strategy – I just might have some good suggestions!

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