Posts

F-Bomb Tweet? Who Cares?

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It was big news last week when a horrendous tweet was sent out by Chrysler that not only insulted their customers and community, but also dropped the F-bomb.

Chrysler Retweet: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f**king drive.”

This is highly damaging to their brand because it is offensive to so many people.  Of course part of what is offensive is the causal use of the F-bomb.  But really, who cares?  Well, a lot of people.  And this is where the Adult Industry and the rest of the world diverge in some ways.

If you are in the Adult Industry and you drop the F-bomb no one really gets upset, at least not in the same way that the vanilla world does.  People might question why you are being unnecessarily crass, but even that may be unlikely.

What is interesting, though, is that the F-bomb is still generally a Twitter no-no. Even in porn you don’t see people using it very much and when they do it is usually in direct reference to a sex act and not used as an exclamation or just for shock value.

Studies have been done to show that negative tweets are no good. They can cause you to lose followers or slow your network growth.  Despite what people say about drama drawing attention, Twitter has shown that Tweeps like to keep it positive.

This makes me wonder if the F-bomb, despite its myriad uses and meanings, is generally thought of as a negative word; maybe that is why even in Adult business it is used with restraint and avoided whenever possible.

Of course the F-bomb was not the only problem with the Chrysler tweet. The fact that it dissed their entire community and consumer base is the bigger issue.  Even porn stars would not be able to get away with genuinely insulting their audience.

The take-away? Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and use the F-bomb sparingly, if at all.

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Promote your porn on Twitter, promote your brand on LinkedIn.

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Veronica Vaughn LinkedIn Profile

Veronica Vaughn promotes herself as a business owner first and adult star second. Like Veronica, keep your social networks connected. Her LinkedIn is for networking but her linked Twitter account is for promotion.

LinkedIn is the largest business networking site.  It is where you go to post your resume, find jobs, meet people, make connections, create business alliances and have access to amazing business resources. This is not generally where you’d think of porn.  In fact, the public does not usually think of any adult star as being invested in business.  However,  the most successful porn stars have great business heads; that is why they are successful. .

LinkedIn has generally been the forbidden network in porn. Most people in the adult industry have not viewed LinkedIn as an adult friendly platform. This is true, it isn’t.  But it is not against people in the adult industry, it is against using the site as a promotion for porn.  In all fairness, it is against using the site as commercial promotion for any business.  The network is not actually about promoting business, it is about building business connections.

Much like Facebook, it is primarily a self monitoring community. If your profile is essentially spam, you risk being deleted. If you spam groups, your posts will be deleted and you may be removed from the group. If you are obviously engaging or promoting illegal activity, you will be deleted.  But if you are focusing on developing your business connections you will be fine.

LinkedIn is a place where adult stars can focus on the business side of their networking –  meeting producers, studios, agents, distributors, managers, etc.  LinkedIn groups are  your greatest resource.  There are groups for every possible topic. Interested in Social Media? Join the group Adult Social Media and keep on top of what is happening in social media in adult entertainment.

Join a group, read the discussion and then take part. The more you use the groups the more they will benefit you.  As you participate, you will meet people and expand your network.

Are you needing information? Ask the group.

Are you needing help? Ask the group.

Are you looking for business connections? Ask the group.

To network on LinkedIn you just need to position yourself as a business person.  Promote your porn on Twitter. Network your brand on LinkedIn.

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Xbiz awards, no props to tweets

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Muscle Barbie dressed like a school girl writing on a chalk board

Friday Feature Photo: The beautiful, and very fit, Muscle Barbie

During Wednesday night’s Xbiz Award show, Twitter was flooded with pics and commentary from the red carpet.  Stars posted tweets ranging from getting ready for the event to comments on the happenings.  The next day’s tweets were even more overwhelming.  All the photos that were taken started flooding the twitterverse.  More comments and talk about the previous night’s activities were the trending topic for adult tweets. Though Twitter gave a nod to Xbiz, Xbiz did not give a nod to Twitter.

First thing Thursday morning the list of winners was posted. Those of us who were not yet in the know ran to the site to see who won awards.  Consummate tech geek that I am, I checked the tech section first.  I am curious to see who won best website and best web services, but I am more interested in the topics.  As the internet plays a deeper and more integral role in porn (reaffirmed by Pink Visual launching their cloud site), the categories for Web/Tech are becoming more significant.

Sadly, there was no category for social media. No category for Twitter. No category for innovative social media networks. Nada.  I am sure organizations like Adult Talent Registry would like a chance for recognition. What about twitter campaigns that companies like Adult Trading Card Company have launched? It is unusual to be on social media and not have heard their names.  Then you have the tweet aggregating powerhouse, Pornstar Tweets. And who is kidding who here, the porn stars would love a chance to get some recognition for their tweeting prowess!

So although the Xbiz awards did not recognize the social media muscle that the adult industry is flexing, efforts are not going unnoticed.

Congratulations to all the winners of real categories from Xbiz. Maybe I should create my own social media porn award. What do you think?

Feature Photo Friday: I met Wendy Rider, aka. Muscle Barbie, on Twitter.  I saw one of the pictures she posted and was blown away. Not only is she beautiful, but she is fabulously fit!   She is a WBFF Pro Figure competitor, Playboy model, International Fitness Model, and personal trainer. Yup, she is the whole package.  Her site is not only pictures and cam, you can get live fitness training from Ms. Muscle Barbie herself!

Check out her website: www.musclebarbie.com

Follow her on Twitter: @musclebarbie

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My, What a Sexy Twitter Voice You Have!

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Paris Hilton tied up in a microphone cord

Anyone can be sexy. What makes your voice unique in the Twitterverse?

Finding your voice is an important part of the social media process. It seems like this should be easy, especially if you are in the adult industry, but it is not. All you have to do is be sexy, right?  Maybe not.  Crafting your online personality is an important part of your branding.   Thousands of people in the Twitterverse are sexy, so how are you different? What makes you unique?

The crafting of your personality needs to be carefully based around your objective and your audience. Although you may have an idea of who you are online, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be what elicits the most responses from your audience, or drives the most click-throughs.

Are you a dom? Do your followers want to be bossed around? Are you a vixen? Do you need to be coy and illusive? Are you a Diva? Do you need to be strong and demanding?

You not only need to figure out who you want to be, but you need to figure out who your audience responds to strongly.  For some people, primarily talking to other porn stars works for them. Their fans want to see the behind-the-scenes of the porn life.  For most, this is not enough.  You have to actually talk to your fans and relate to them.

When I first start working with a client, I take a splatter approach to posting. I experiment with a variety of posts, with different tones and content. I do this to begin establishing what their audience will respond to. Your online followers are a unique group, thus you cannot base your communications on the success or failure of someone else.

If our online personalities are a product of our branding, they can also be extremely formative to the evolution of our branding. Pay attention to what your audience responds to, because if your goal is to reach them for sales, support or awareness, you need to know what approach and tone will engage them. Remember, you can’t just bat your eyes on Twitter and get people to do what you want, you have to offer substance and make that substance uniquely yours.

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Doms on Twitter: I don’t follow you, you follow me!

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Profile picture of Joe Lusty

Does your Twitter Strategy include who you follow and why? Branding extends to how you manage your social media.

 

When creating a Twitter strategy, always  keep your audience in mind. Generally speaking, I tell people to follow their followers. After all, following doesn’t cost you anything and it helps grow your network faster. It also aids in social proof. However, it is not right for all people.  If you are in the BDSM community, following back might be counter to your image.  

When you start on Twitter you need to decide the personality of your account. This is a key part of your branding. If you are a dom, and use your tweets to continue that persona, then following back might be the wrong solution for you, especially when it comes to following clients.  As a dom, you might need to work a bit harder for your networking while telling your audience, “You follow me! I don’t follow you.”  

The important part of this is consistency.  If you are going to not-follow as a Twitter strategy then you need to stay true to that. You will also need to find other ways, such as engagement, hashtags and content as primary ways to grow your network.  

Not following can be as much a strategy as following. You just need to make sure your strategy is in alignment with your branding.  

The image used in this post was provided by Joe Lusty. He is a producer, director, photographer and performer.  A full-time photographer, he has some beautiful xxx photographs that are both provocative and artistic. Visit Joe’s website at www.joelusty.com

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What’s the Next Big Trend in Porn? (part 2)

On Monday we spoke about the “next” trend in porn.  With threats of pirated content and free amateur tube sites, the survival of quality porn is being threatened. The adult industry is no stranger to being on the front end of the technology adoption curve and cutting edge tech strategies.  We are already seeing how mobile and 3D are coming in with a bang.  But the new trend in strategy is engagement.

Not only are studios creating more ways to deliver content, they are finding more interesting ways to deliver it.  Riding on the popularity of “webisodes” on mainstream networks like NBC and FOX, you might start seeing your favorite porn star, like Jenna Haze, creating webisodes.  The neat thing about them is they are much like sitcoms – you get attached to the main actors. When you combine webisodes with Jenna Haze’s great Twitter strategy then you will have a more interactive experience because Jenna will be able to drop clues about the up and coming episode and discuss the past episodes with fans.

With interactive sites that feature webcams with chat, live Q&A’s with fans, Skype, vidchat, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more, we are seeing porn tearing down barriers.

Joanna Angel, the owner of Burning Angel: “I think things that are becoming a lot more community oriented. The wall of the porn star is breaking down and I think we’re moving in a direction where there’s a lot more interaction between fans and stars.”  (Joanna Angel as quoted on CNN)

Whether it is communication on live chats or Twitter, or virtual cams where the customer controls the toy, the porn world is going to be getting to know their fan base. If you want to stay ahead of the curve you better figure out your engagement strategy.

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A Review of Paper.li: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Topless woman reading a newspaper

Is a news aggregator the best way to keep abreast of news on Twitter?

Paper.li is a news aggregator. It gathers Twitter posts from a keyword, a list, or  a specific Twitter account and collects what it perceives to be the popular stories and tweets. It then puts them together in a unified format that is like an online paper.

I decided to try it out to see what I thought about the service:

The Good

  • Gathers news from the sources of your choice
  • Is a good clearing house of recently tweeted news
  • Great way to view what has been happening online without having to go through thousands of tweets.
  • Easy to set up
  • Easy to read format
  • Visually appealing
  • Nice way to promote people’s tweets and posts
  • Self Promoting, it posts the paper for you
  • You can have morning and night editions, daily or weekly
  • Once you set the parameters, it will create itself according to specifications
  • Establishes authority for people mentioned in the paper

The Bad

  • You cannot edit the paper, only parameters from which it pulls information
  • You do not control who it references in your tweet about the paper coming out
  • You do not have editorial control over your paper
  • You cannot chose what posts get put in and what gets left out
  • No approval before posting
  • Promotes the paper as something you created

The Ugly

  • Not everyone you put in your paper will want to be in your paper
  • People might get mis-credited for posts due to re-tweeting
  • You cannot fix a mis-post
  • Promotes a message as an overall source when it is pulling news based on set parameters as limited as a single Twitter account.

The positives about Paper.li far outweigh the negatives. Overall I feel it is a valuable resource, however the bads and the uglies do cause concern. The lack of editorial control is the biggest issue I have.

In a paper I created to try out the service, a story was mis-credited.  The Tweep that it was mis-credited to pointed it out to me. Of course, because of the lack of editorial control, I could not change it.  To remedy the situation I deleted the paper.

I have also experienced this in other people’s papers. I have seen posts I have written credited to other people. Of course when pointed out, it could not be fixed and properly credited.

I based my paper off a list I created called “Adult Industry”  that became the name of the paper.  Though I could have changed the name, I didn’t think to change it.  So the name indicated that the paper was representative of all Adult Industry, when in fact it was not. It was a sampling of the industry.  Most of the papers I have seen seem to convey the same thing. They are called things like “Music Daily” “Tech Daily” “Adult Daily”.  As readers we are not privy to the parameters of the paper, and most people would probably not think to ask.  So in the name it establishes a sense of authority that is not necessarily warranted.

My review:

I think that Paper.li is a great tool and has a lot of potential, but I also think it has some bugs to work out before it achieves that potential.

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Las Vegas, I have Landed!

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Las Vegas Sign

I have arrived at the Adult Entertainment Expo! Las Vegas, I am here – and I am ready to tear up the town!

Since I did get on a plane at 6 am I’m a little beat. So I’ll freshen up, transform my travel-worn hair, face and clothes into sexy and cute, and go talk to all the wonderful stars!

I will start live tweeting soon and will post pics to the 7 Veils blog and Twitter feed.

Stay tuned!

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Paid to Tweet: Did you just sell out?

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Twitter bird holding a dollar bill in his beak

Is being paid to Tweet a great way to earn some extra money doing what you already do or are you selling out and compromising your Twitter integrity?

Everyone wants to know how to make money online and with their social media accounts. You are using them anyway, why not get paid for it?  Well, there is such a thing as getting paid to tweet; sponsored tweets are probably the easiest way to get paid for tweeting. But what does it do to your credibility? Does getting paid to tweet an ad affect your authority, or public opinion? Did you just sell out?

There are many services out there where you can sign up to become a sponsored tweeter.  What happens is: you sign up, they analyze your Twitter account for reach and influence, and then they create a pay range based on these criteria. The range is anywhere from $0.50 to $10,000 per tweet.

However, only people like Kim Kardashian are getting paid $10,000 for a tweet.

Paid to tweet or paid for a tweet

Wondering what the difference is between being paid to tweet and paid for a tweet? I don’t blame you.  Plenty of people are paid to tweet. What this means is they work for someone like an individual client or a business and they are paid to take care of their Twitter account, including making posts.  They are acting as a representative of the person, company or brand. This also means they can promote their own products without it being considered an ad.

A person who is paid for a tweet means that their tweet is an advertisement.  It is not something they would normally post, it’s like a commercial in the midst of their Twitter stream. It is something they are getting paid to tweet, but not paid a commission or bonus for sales.

I’m in Porn

Excellent!  Don’t worry, you are not excluded.  Porn stars can get paid to tweet! You can become a sponsored tweeter or an advertiser.  Twitter continues to be a place in social media where porn is not totally back-listed, even with sponsored tweets.

Rules of Engagement

Yup, there definitely are.  If you are a sponsored tweeter you have to make it known that your tweet is an ad.  Oftentimes, the hashtag #ad is used.  If you use a service that pays you to tweet, like SponsoredTweets.com or PaidPerTweet.com, they will give you parameters for your tweets: the appropriateness of your phrasing, not slandering the client, not using swear words and making it clear that the tweet is an ad.

Ultimately even if you don’t use a service, you have to mark a paid tweet as an ad. The FCC is regulating this and they will fine you.

I want to make the big bucks

If you want to make the big money with sponsored tweets, like Kim Kardashian, then you basically need to be famous. Oh wait..you are famous!  Well then, you will want to go to either SponsoredTweets.com or Ad.ly – these work with celebrity clients and will be able to help you command a high price.

Your Reputation

From an advertiser: As an advertiser it is in my interest to pay someone with good reach and influence to tweet my ads.  I will reach an audience I don’t normally reach and generate leads I would not otherwise be able to create. The better your reputation, the more I want you to tweet for me.

From a Tweeter: This is a great way to make some extra money. Most of your tweets are your own but then maybe 1 out of 50 you are paid for.

From a Follower: Most of the time I don’t mind seeing the very occasional ad.  But I do wonder, when I see one, if your Twitter is about making money or about engaging.  I question the integrity of your feed.  Do I understand it? Yes. But I also know about sponsored tweets. What about the people who don’t?  Did you just sell out?

Did I just sell out?

Since the ability to make money with sponsored tweets is based on your influence and your reach, if you are a popular and engaged Tweeter then you will be able to command a higher price.  However, if you are exceptionally engaged, you might be compromising your authenticity and integrity. It may seem a bit extreme to say that if 1 out of 50 tweets is an ad you have automatically compromised your integrity, but remember, it may be an issue for your followers.

The conclusion

Once you get your first payday your 1 in 50 tweets might become 1 in 20, then 1 in 10. So be careful; making money is addictive and getting paid to tweet is simple.   Before you know it you may have compromised your entire account, lose followers, lose influence and now your Twitter isn’t good for anything. You are just another spammer.

So keep your end goal in mind;  your Twitter is ultimately about you and putting forward your message. You could be ok inserting the occasional ad.

As a follower I prefer that my tweeps don’t ad.  It bugs me.

As a Tweeter, I decided not to ad because it bugs me as a follower. However, I understand why people do it.

As an advertiser, I think it is a good opportunity to expand my reach.

Do you think you will become a sponsored tweeter?

**Side note, 7 Veils was not paid to mention any link in this post. We do not blog for money.  There are many pay-for-tweet companies out there, we just listed a couple of reputable ones.

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