Are you a sex worker looking to promote your adult services on social media? If so, you’re not alone.
Social media has reshaped the adult industry, giving sex workers greater visibility and the opportunity to grow their brand.
Whether it be escorting or online sex work, advertising your services on social networks is vital for reaching out to current clients and attracting new clients.
However, with social platforms having strict terms of use and being known for banning sex work accounts, it can be quite difficult to promote your services on social media.
Find out which social channels are the best for building your sex work empire and how to promote your services.
Despite advertising sexual services on social media, many sex workers believe that these platforms are not welcome to them.
That’s because these platforms are notorious for banning and removing profiles that belong to sex workers.
However, this does not mean you can’t promote your sex work business at all on social media, you just need to be mindful of the type of content you are displaying.
As you probably know, many social media platforms prohibit explicit adult content. This often includes:
- Pornography
- Full and partial nudity
- Sex toys
- Offering sexual services
- Images focused on specific body parts, particularly erogenous zones (e.g., buttocks, breasts, etc.)
The above examples can put you at risk of your social account being suspended (if this happens, you may not be able to retrieve your page, meaning you’ll lose all of your followers, and the community you have built up).
Before attempting to promote your sex work business on social media, it’s important to read the terms and conditions of the platform.
Read on to find out ways you can promote your sex work business on social media with less risk of your account being removed.
You might be asking: If I can’t display explicit content on social media, how am I supposed to promote my sex work business?
Although this may not be as effective as explicit or suggestive content, you could go about it by promoting sex work in a more obscure way to help avoid your account being removed. Below are some examples:
- Post selfies fully dressed – Although lots of visible skin is more sexually enticing, you can still wear a seductive outfit that covers the majority of your body. This can be attire that accentuates your best features, such as tight jeans, which will look even sexier when striking a pose
- Be careful with language – This means being less direct about the services you’re offering. Try and use creative language in a way that hints or lets clients know what’s on offer without directly saying something like “I charge £100 for oral sex”
- Replace letters with characters & symbols – To stop social platforms from detecting explicit words, you can replace letters for symbols as a hidden code. For example, instead of writing “sex”, try “s3x”
- Upload softer videos – Instead of uploading graphic videos on social media, you can tease your clients by filming yourself in a romantic bedroom setting, for example. You can direct them to your website where they can find more information about where they can find your erotic content on approving adult platforms, such as Vivastreet
Here’s some more information on marketing your sex work brand on social media.
To fight against the shadow-banning of sex worker’s social accounts, Switter is a social media space designed specifically for sex workers. If you’re wondering how to use it, Switter is a sex-work friendly alternative to Twitter that has a similar appearance and function, and you join up just like every other social platform. If you’re looking to post ads, chat privately, and connect with clients and other sex workers, don’t miss out on this well-known social platform that is growing in the sex industry.
Best parts
- Switter is an open and free community where sex workers can network and build relationships with like-minded people
- It allows those in the adult industry to promote their services free of censorship and stigma
- It can be used to advertise adult content without the risk of being penalised (although rules and regulations may still apply)
- Like other social networks, you can use hashtags, repost and like others’ content, gain followers and follow other profiles
- Launching in 2017, it’s a fairly new platform with not many users in comparison to mainstream social channels, which means less competition
Hot tip: Share your sexiest photos, avoid sugarcoating your services, and network with other sex workers to get more involved with the adult community.
Drawbacks
- As it’s a fairly new site and not as well known as other social media apps, a lot of potential clients may not be familiar with this platform
- It hasn’t got as many features and functions as you may be used to on mainstream social platforms
Twitter is a free social networking site and online news application. Its primary purpose is to connect millions of people worldwide and for users to share news and information. Users can post images and comments, comment on other’s posts, and promote business products and services. Twitter is a great app for building a community, networking, and engaging with people.
Best parts:
- You can build relationships and trust with your clients and the sex work community
- You can converse with clients quickly and efficiently in real-time
- Twitter gives you the opportunity to express yourself and showcase your personality
- With every tweet, you can post links to your website to drive more traffic
- On Twitter, you can mark your account as sensitive. Warning messages will appear on your images so people who don’t want to see sensitive media can avoid it
Drawbacks:
- You need to be cautious with the content you promote on the platform. Having explicit adult content, such as pornography or full and partial nudity, puts you at risk of being suspended
- Twitter is fast-paced, therefore maintaining a presence on the platform requires a lot of time and commitment. Failure to post frequently could see your content get easily lost amongst the sea of other posts from active sex workers
- It’s very time-sensitive, so tweeting at the right time is important to avoid your content being missed by clients
- You are restricted by Twitter’s 280 character limit, which means that you need to communicate effectively in the most concise way
Hot tip: Be conversational, create a stunning bio accompanied with your finest photo, tweet during peak hours (the times your clients are most likely to use the platform), add appealing images to tweets, and limit your hashtags to 3 max.
Facebook is the largest social media platform with more than 2 billion active users – almost a third of the world’s population. It allows users to connect and interact with people online where they can post comments, share pictures and videos, chat live, and post links to news and other interesting content. Due to Facebook’s vast audience, you have a better chance of finding suitable clients.
Best parts:
- It’s the largest social media platform, so you can reach billions of potential clients
- You can promote or sell your adult products or services to a highly targeted audience
- It’s perfect for finding potential clients with similar hobbies and interests
- Facebook can now be used as a video chat tool, so you can have face-to-face conversations or intimate sessions with interested clients
- With a Facebook fan page, you can boost your escort brand and social media presence for your business
- You can use Facebook to host images and videos. The best part? Set privacy settings for individual albums so you can control who can see what you share
Drawbacks:
- Like Twitter, it’s easy to leave negative reviews or comments on Facebook that’ll be in public view. Be sure to spend time monitoring activity on your page and that issues are resolved as quickly as possible, as potential clients will be put off by bad reviews
Hot tip: Choose an engaging cover photo that reflects your brand/personality. Keep adding to your Facebook story with photos and videos, and speed up your response time.
Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social network for those that like visual content. Users can upload photos and videos to share with their followers and can have private chats. Like other social media apps, you can follow users and view, comment, and like other people’s posts, and post stories (photos and video clips in a series) like Snapchat.
Best parts:
- You can take advantage of all the visual marketing features like filters and emojis to make it look fun. We recommend not using too many filters, as this could mislead potential clients – which could result in bad reviews
- Instagram is an entirely visual platform. As a sex worker, your image is a big part of your branding, making Instagram an ideal platform for your business
- It has amazing purchasing power, with a third of Instagram users having used the app to purchase a product online. If you have other ways of making money online as a sex worker, such as selling fetish or sex products, this is the way to go
- Unlike other social platforms, if you want to keep your photos private (including your profile picture) for followers only, this can be achieved in your privacy settings. Instagram also doesn’t allow others to download photos
- Instagram TV allows you to upload videos of any length you want
Drawbacks:
- As Instagram is a very visual platform, it is important to ensure any images you upload to the platform are high-quality
- Instagram is only available for iPhone and Android users, meaning that those not using this type of technology won’t be able to access this platform on mobile
Hot tip: Give your photos a distinctive look, brand your hashtags, ask followers for a response, and make sure you like other people’s photos.
As the most popular video sharing site on the web, YouTube features billions of videos on its platform. Users can create their own profile to share or upload videos or watch, like and comment on other videos. If you’d love to star in your own videos and give fans a more personal experience and a chance to get to know you, then this is a great platform.
Best parts:
- Perfect for brand visibility, posting on YouTube will help potential clients find you on Google, the biggest search engine in the world.
- As the second largest search engine, YouTube has millions of visitors a day who watch nearly 5 billion videos, so getting your brand on this platform will reach a huge audience
- YouTube is great for growing your brand worldwide too. There are local versions of this video-sharing platform in 88 countries and 76 languages. So if you intend to expand your sex work brand to fans overseas, YouTube is a surefire way to get your brand exposed
- You can establish yourself as an influencer or expert in the adult industry, and gives you the chance to earn money
- Videos have shown to be great for engagement and turning potential clients into customers
- YouTube videos are so easy to share online, and people share more videos than any other form of content
Drawbacks:
- YouTube has strict guidelines for the type of content allowed on the platform. Be sure not to put up anything too explicit – as YouTube will be sure to penalise you
- It takes a lot of time and effort to become an established public figure on YouTube and is not a get-rich-quick scheme
- Everything is public, meaning that users do not have to create an account to access videos on YouTube
Hot tip: Make high-quality videos with professional equipment and lighting, keep your video short and sweet to maintain interest, and monitor responses regularly.
Looking for a personal way to bond with clients? WhatsApp is one of the most popular text and voice messaging apps in the world. It allows messaging and calls on both desktop and mobile, and users can send images and videos to contacts. You can broadcast statuses, set notification alerts, and use your phone camera to shoot photos and videos within the app.
Best parts:
- With WhatsApp, you can interact in real-time with clients and people who are interested in your services that are not active or regular users on social media
- You can send broadcast messages to clients updating them about your adult products and services or keeping them engaged with other relevant content to build a community around your sex work brand
- Like Snapchat and Instagram, you can put up live statuses that will last up to 24 hours
- As WhatsApp is a popular alternative to normal text, it’s the perfect app for sexting services where you can use fun emojis and multimedia free of charge
- WhatsApp identifies the people in your contact list who use messenger apps. This means there’s no need to spend time adding anyone manually, as clients who use this app will come up instantly on your WhatsApp messenger
- You can share your location with your friends and family for extra safety precautions. Note: Make sure your live location remains off so clients do not know where you are
- It allows you to change your number to a different one without losing your existing WhatsApp account. This gives you more privacy, and you can keep hold of your hard-earned clients should you change your number
- You can block any numbers you no longer want to communicate with
Drawbacks:
- If clients go into your chat, they will always see when you’re online, which can make clients more demanding and expect a quicker response
- As clients are likely to use WhatsApp through their normal number, you might receive constant messages, such as broadcast messages
Hot tip: Make communication fun with stickers and emojis and upload engaging statuses related to your line of work.
Snapchat is a photo-messaging social app with over 150 million users that allows you to share photos and videos that are permanently destroyed after 24 hours. If you want to showcase your brand in a fun way, Snapchat lets you do this with entertaining features including emojis, stickers, lenses and filters to create playful content.
Best parts:
- You can create engaging stories to share with your followers that promote your sex work services or adult products. Live stories are an engaging way to visually promote your brand and build a community
- As 73% of 18-24-year-olds use Snapchat, it targets a younger crowd. If these are the type of clients you want to target then this social network is the best place to find them
- A profitable bonus to the platform is that it offers a premium account where followers have to pay you to watch your stories. It’s commonly used to sell adult content by cam models, who commonly receive payment through Snapcash, PayPal and Google Pay
Drawbacks:
- If you post too often, you might run the risk of oversaturating your followers. Be careful not to get too carried away, and post with purpose, as your marketing message can be tuned out and disregarded in the future
- The app is designed to self-destruct, so you have no trace of what you shared, meaning it has to be shared repeatedly if you want others to see
- Unlike other social platforms, your followers can’t like or comment on your shared content, so you’re unable to know how people have really engaged with your content
- Sharing adult content can put your account at risk of being banned at any time
Hot tip: Add filters, text effects, emojis and stickers for visually appealing content.
As explained above, there are many different social media platforms that you can use to promote your sex work brand.
Not promoting your services on these social channels could mean that you’d be missing out on expanding your pool of potential clients and growing your business.
When you’ve set up your chosen social media platforms, add these to your sex work profiles or website to let people know you’re active on these networks.
As mentioned earlier, remember that such channels are sensitive to adult content, so it’s important to adhere to their guidelines and policies to avoid your page being removed.
It’s also important to remain vigilant when using these social media platforms. For safety purposes, make sure you do not display personal information, such as your location and real name, and make use of your privacy settings.
Also, if you feel under threat, make sure you report it. More information on how to use social media safely can be found here.
Set up your social media accounts and start marketing your sex work business today.