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Follow Friday: More than just Shameless Promotion!

Are you growing the quality of your network with Follow Friday?

What is the point of Follow Friday? People ask this all the time. It so often seems like it’s just gratuitous plugging of people’s friends.  Well, you are not wrong; however, you are not right either.

What is Follow Friday?

Follow Friday is a hashtag event that happens every Friday.

People tag their posts with #FF and then list names of tweeps they want to give a shout out to.

Why should I bother?

What Follow Friday promotes is engagement.  People offer the coveted #FF to a list of people they engaged with that week.  It is tells everyone who reads your tweets, “these are people I talk to, and people who talk to me”.  These are individuals with whom I have real relationships – they are concerned with conversation rather than just promoting their message.

So when some gives you a #FF they are telling all of their followers that you are a quality tweep.

The FF Strategy

#FF is as simple as listing names.  However the way you group people matters.  You do not talk to them without thinking about what you say, so do not #FF without thinking about it first.  Put similar people in like groups.

  1. When you group people in a niche you can categorize your #FF by saying “My social media #FF” or “My adult super star #FF”. This allows for easier and more effective networking.
  2. People can be peculiar about who they are grouped with. I had a social media tweep comment about being grouped with a bunch of porn stars. Afterward I realized they did not necessarily want that association. They know that I am in social media for adult entertainment, but they weren’t.  So you might not want to have your business development tweeps in with your Titty Tuesday tweeps.  Its like a seating chart at a wedding. Just because they like you does not mean they like each other.

FF Tools

  • Follow Friday Helper is a good tool. It makes it easy to see who you have been engaging with and helps you put them all in one tweet.
  • Top Follow Friday will let you see who is endorsing whom.
  • The Twitter Tag Project will look at your last 200 tweets and identify who you have engaged with and will create your #FF post.

It is Monday. You have all week to collect your Follow Friday tweeps.

Will you #FF?

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10 Tips for the best Twitter Bio

Tights with "Follow me" printed on the legsHaving a strong Twitter bio is important. This is your first impression – your first chance to get someone to like you. This is also how search engines find your profile, so you want to make sure it is SEO optimized.

Once a week I go through my new Twitter followers and I decide who I am going to follow back.  I consider a lot of factors in deciding why I follow or don’t follow someone.  One of the biggest reasons is their bio on Twitter.

Think of your bio as your 10 second elevator pitch. You have 160 characters to tell me why I should be interested in you.  If I like what I see, maybe I’ll click your profile and check out your most recent posts.  If those are interesting then I’ll follow you.  But the bio is your handshake.

5 Tips for a strong Twitter Bio:

  1. Tell me who you are. Are you a public figure? What do you do? Why are you here? I want to know who I am following
  2. Web Address: if you have a website, put the url in your bio.
  3. Don’t be crass or abrasive.  If you seem unfriendly and rude, then why would I want to follow you?
  4. Don’t try to sell me.  If your bio is trying to push a product, that tells me that you are about your sales and not about engaging with your followers.
  5. Be charming. Be nice. I want to think that if I follow you that you are approachable.

5 Tips to SEO optimize your Twitter Bio

  1. Web address in the bio. This is an easy way to have your Twitter associated with your business in the search engines.
  2. Business name in the bio. When people search for you, they often search for business names, so include it.
  3. Use industry key words in your bio. Do some keyword research and make sure to use some of the big keywords, that way when people search for those you have a chance of coming up in the search results.
  4. If your name is branded, use your name. This way when people search your name, they have an even better chance of finding you.
  5. Don’t shorten any words.  Search engines don’t search for abbreviations of words. So unless your key term is usually abbreviated, spell it out.
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Video Tutorial: How to Send a Direct Message on Twitter

A big question I often get asked is how to send a Twitter direct message. Especially after the New Twitter came out, some people were not sure how messaging worked.  So I put together a video tutorial to walk you through how to send a DM on Twitter. Enjoy

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Cyber Monday: Top 7 Ways to Make Money and Build your Network

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womans legs and the bottome of her skirt, next to her holding a shopping bagCyber Monday is a notoriously big online shopping day. Why does that have to exclude adult shopping?  If you have a site and you sell something, then you should be taking advantage of the buzz about Cyber Monday. Adult sites can use this opportunity as a great tool for driving sales, making money and building your network.

From a business perspective this is an excellent way to work on your social media efficacy.

  1. Promote your promotions!

    Tell people that you are going to offer special deals just for Twitter and Facebook. Build the buzz around what you are going to do. Make it sexy and tell your fans and followers that you are going to do something special just for them, so they better stay tuned.

  2. Use your upcoming deals as a way to grow your network.

    Tell people to spread the word. Use growth benchmarks to give special secret deals, like “When I hit 500 fans I will give away a ….”. If you post videos then tell them that you will do something special on the video or post an exclusive photo.

  3. Exclusive Deals

    On Monday, offer deals that are only available on Facebook and Twitter. Give them access to special content or make a video that is only available if they use a promo code.

  4. Post deals constantly throughout the day.

    This will encourage people to stay tuned to your updates. You can even schedule these tweets so they keep coming on a regular basis and you can focus on engaging with your new and massively growing network!

  5. Set up an auto-DM

    Create a one-day direct message that sends a promo code, or a link to special content to new followers….and promote the fact that you are doing this.

  6. Re-Tweet Promotions

    Tell your followers that you will do a special giveaway to people who retweet your offers.

  7. Promote You

    Tell people that you are going to be online talking and tweeting with everyone.  Make access to you part of the deal. Create times of the day where people can ask you questions, or where you will do a live feed. Tell them that you will offer special content or deals for the people you talk to.  Promote yourself as a way to promote yourself!

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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!

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Social Media & Sex: Adult Entertainment at Blogworld

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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?

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Spam is definitely not Sexy

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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.

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If size matters in Porn does it matter in Twitter?

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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?

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