Our first INSPIRE webinar, hosted in collaboration with the Free Speech Coalition, was a huge success thanks to our panelists, moderator, and the wonderful viewers who raised so many amazing questions! Because there is only so much time to chat in a live webinar and there was so much to talk about, we wanted to provide you with some of the most pertinent information that was covered in the webinar and also answer any questions our panelists were unable to get to.

 

 

Have a question that we didn’t address? Let us know! Email success@fancentro.com to hook up with one of our success coaches for one-on-one assistance.

 

Looking for more information on how to sharpen your brand and grow your business? Check out Centro University for amazing courses by industry professionals.

 

The TOTAL Picture

 

One of the best bits of advice on this webinar came from Tilly Toy, and featured a formula that she uses to create a ton of content in a short amount of time. By mixing and matching things like outfits, locations, and camera angles you can spend a few hours recording and walk away with several unique pieces of content to share. Let’s take a look at how it works.

 

T- THEME 

O- OUTFIT 

T- TOY

A- ANGLE

L- LOCATION

 

According to Tilly’s TOTAL strategy, mixing and matching the above elements can help you come up with a great deal of content in a short amount of time. For example, let’s say you set up your camera to shoot you on your living room couch. You can remain there and shoot several different shows if you switch up some other elements. Change your outfit, grab a different toy, or even alter the camera angle to create a whole new piece of content. Your fans aren’t picky, they want to see YOU so they’re not going to be exhausted of one location if it features several different elements, or of one toy if you use it with a few different themes. Be creative and make a list of what types of shows you can generate in a single day by using this technique.

 

This is the type of out-of-the-box thinking that will help you not only succeed in your business, but make your life a lot easier. We also loved MelRose’s tip about DMing fans the audio of a particular show for free along with a pay-to-unlock link to the entire video. That’s the kind of innovation you’re going to need in order to really tease and tantalize your fans into spending money on you.

 

Branding, setting yourself apart, and dealing with constructive criticism 

 

A major factor of joining the adult industry, especially if you’re coming in as a brand new talent, is establishing your brand and standing out from the crowd. Here are some of our best tips for succeeding with a new brand.

 

Be Consistent: Fans have particular tastes, and if all they’re looking for is nudes there are plenty of places they can find them without any trouble. You want to give them an entire experience, and that’s where your brand comes in. Branding yourself can be as simple as catering to a particular niche or fetish or focusing on specific types of content. Whatever you choose, be consistent with it so your fans will get the experience they come to expect from your content. That’s not to say you can’t step outside your box from time to time–variety is always a good thing! But just be careful that your content doesn’t become too general because that is going to hurt your brand. Find your lane and pave it exactly the way you want to so fans will want to drive down it again and again.

 

Set Yourself Apart: This one is a bit trickier, because unless you’re going waaaay outside the box, you’re likely to encounter someone (or a lot of someones) with a similar brand to yours. One of the first and best things you can do to overcome this problem is to study your competitors to see what they do and, more importantly, what they don’t do. When you find holes in the genre, you’re finding opportunities that you can fill. It’s absolutely fine (and nowadays, inevitable) to have a brand similar to someone else, so you need to come up with another way to set yourself apart. Creating a unique aesthetic (mood or look) for your content can be a great way to get noticed. Having an interesting point of view or shooting style (think about the popular NoFaceGirl) can also bring fans flocking your way. You want fans to be able to look at a moment of your content and be able to identify it as yours — that’s successful branding.

 

There’s a famous story about a burlesque stripper who was hesitant to actually, you know, strip. So she didn’t. Her entire show was based on the illusion of stripping, but in reality she never showed a single thing she didn’t want her audience to see — and she was a runaway success. Sometimes it’s not about what you are showing, but rather how you are showing. Nudes? That’s a no-brainer, anyone can find them anywhere. Your fans are looking for an experience, so that’s what you have to give them. Find out what excites, motivates, and gets them to dig into their pockets.

 

Dealing with Constructive Criticism: There’s an old saying about receiving criticism that goes something like this, “Take what you want and leave the rest behind.” Everyone and their brother has an opinion and some of those opinions might be worth a bit of consideration, but if you take every single piece of constructive criticism to heart you’re going to be pulled in a million different directions, and what’s that going to do? You got it…it’s going to hurt your brand. The best tact to take when it comes to dealing with ‘helpful advice’ is to listen to it, thank the giver, and then decide which, if any, of that advice is worth a deeper look. You may find help in unusual places or you may find that their constructive criticism isn’t so constructive after all, but at the end of the day you listened…what you choose to do with that information is up to you.

 

Finally…don’t take it personally. Criticism comes from a lot of deep places and while some people may have a genuine desire to help you, others might just like the sound of their own voice. Don’t take things to heart. This is a business, just like any other business, and how you run it is completely up to you.

 

New to FC? Here’s What to Focus on

 

Being new to any industry can be daunting, but being a new face in the adult industry is especially difficult, bearing in mind how many big name adult stars took their business online in recent months. FanCentro is well aware of this, so we’ve designed our features to be helpful for everyone, whether you’re sending out your first piece of content or loading 100 clips at a time.

 

Features, features, features: FanCentro has four main areas that can help you earn money: Feed, Clips, DMs, and private social media accounts (from these you can earn Tips for even more income.) It’s very important to have content in each of these areas, so the first thing you will need to do as a new performer is come up with a library, however small, of content that you can post for fans. If your profile is empty when fans arrive, it doesn’t exactly bode well for their experience and they’re less likely to follow you. If, however, you have an absolutely loaded profile, with a Feed subscription and Clips to choose from they’re going to be much more likely to want to click that Follow button (and as soon as they do, you can unleash the DMs!).

 

Put your best face forward: There’s a secret weapon on your FanCentro account that a lot of people take for granted: the About Me section. About Me is more than just your chance to talk about what you offer, it’s an opportunity to reign in traffic using SEO. If you are completely in the dark about the power of SEO, do a bit of research. A few well chosen keywords and phrases can be the difference between pulling in traffic and getting lost in the muddy waters of the web. Create the most interesting and specific description you possibly can — this is often the first time fans will see you, so you want their experience to start right away.

 

Dealing with Stolen Content

 

Stolen content is a sad reality in the adult industry, so it’s crucial to have a strategy in mind for battling potential theft. Your best bet? DMCA. DMCA protection is the best insurance you can buy against stolen content. DMCA services scan the web for unauthorized uses of your content and then requests they be removed on your behalf. You can also submit links if you find your content being used without your consent.

 

Choosing a Stage Name

 

This might seem like a daunting task, but choosing a stage name can be fun! This is your first opportunity to grab your fans’ attention and let your creativity shine. When choosing a stage name there are a few tips that can help narrow the field.

 

1. Remember your brand – you want to link your brand to your stage name as much as possible.
2. Be memorable – you don’t want a name that people are going to struggle to remember. Make sure your stage name is catchy and flows. When considering potential names, memorability is one of the key elements to shoot for. Alliteration, play on words, or a twist on an existing famous name can set you apart and make your presence pop.
3. Create a narrative – you want a name that’s going to tell your story, so the first thing you have to consider when choosing a name is what your story is. Let’s go back to NoFaceGirl, because she is such a strong example of how a stage name can reflect everything about your brand in just a few letters. Don’t complicate things, start simply and see where your imagination takes you.

Still need help? There’s a Centro University video that talks about how to choose a stage name here.

 

Working Alone or with a Partner

 

Whether or not to work with a partner is a highly personal area of performing in the adult industry. Some performers are happy to go 100% solo, some have regular partners, and others do a combination of the two. Whether you perform on your own or with a partner is completely up to you. Some performers work exclusively with their significant others and some choose to partner up with others in the adult industry that they know and trust. Your comfort level and safety are the two biggest things to consider when choosing to shoot with a partner or not.

 

Bringing a Large Fanbase to a New Platform

 

A lot of people wonder about how to break into the industry as a newbie, but a lesser asked question is what to do if you’re a veteran in the ranks. How do you transfer an existing fanbase onto a new platform–especially if you have plenty of content already available online? The good news is that it’s easier to move a healthy fanbase than creating one from scratch, but you also don’t want them to feel like they’re paying for content they’ve already seen. Creating original content is the best way to make your fans happy and create a continued sense of loyalty. For these performers, utilizing the features on FanCentro can be especially useful, because you can upload a mix of new and older content–saving some of your existing content for “Throwback Thursday” is a great way to keep your fans happy. Remember, it’s unlikely that your entire fanbase has seen every bit of your available content, so loading up your page with as much as you can is still a great idea–and the good news is, as a seasoned performer, you’ll have a ton to choose from. It’s all about marketing–FanCentro allows fans and performers to get closer together than ever before, so bank on that intimacy. A nice DM to your fans (it can be a mass DM, they’ll never know!) is a great way to welcome them and let them know they’re in for a great time.

 

Again, we want to thank our panel, moderators, and participants for helping to make the first INSPIRE workshop a huge success!

 

Watch the entire webinar here!

 

Check out Centro University for more tips, lessons, and advice, plus information on upcoming webinars!