Growing Your Adult Fanbase on Social Media Without Diluting Your Brand

By Dirk Hooper

Adult content creators have a delicate balance between being authentic across platforms and dealing with various levels of shadowbanning and censorship that regularly occurs on Instagram, TikTok, and honestly, all other platforms.

What follows are quality branding practices for dominatrices, cam models, LoyalFans creators, and all other adult content creators (like me, a fetish artist, kink photographer, and erotica writer), plus a breakdown of how to approach different social media platforms while staying true to your brand.

Keeping Your Personal Brand Consistent

Even if you’re on multiple platforms, and you should be, people need to see your brand shine through, no matter if you’re posting uncensored content on X, or if you’re doing lifestyle content on Instagram. It’s way too easy to confuse your audience if you’re not confident about your brand, or you’re not broadcasting your brand consistently.

You want to have a unified message, tone, aesthetic, and vibe that clearly indicates who you are and what you do. The people who have this figured out the best are the ones who succeed the most.

Step One: Define Your Personal Brand

Taking some time to do some self-evaluation will pay off so much for you. There are many aspects that define personal brands. The work you put into this phase of defining your brand will not just pay off now, but in the future. Knowing your online persona makes everything easier from now on.

You can start by asking questions like this:

• What are your core values as an adult content creator?
• What kind of persona do you want to project? Dominant? Seductive? Shy? Wild? Intellectual? Fun?
• What makes you and your content unique? How do you stand out from other people in the industry?
• What are your niches? If you’re trying to appeal to everyone, then you’re appealing to no one. Figure out what your special talents are.
• What is your target audience? Again, if you’re just trying to appeal to everyone then you’re going to get lost in a sea of sameness.

The more in-depth you can answer these questions, the more valuable the information is to you.

The idea is to take this information and make sure that mostly what you share is in line with your brand, your persona, your principles, and is aimed squarely at your target audience.

Step Two: Tailor Your Approach On Social Media

While being consistent is your goal, the reality is that different platforms have unique strengths and weaknesses that you want to take advantage of. Additionally, each platform has their own rules and terms of service that will affect what you can post and what’s going to get you the wrong kind of attention.

Here is a brief breakdown on several large social media platforms and how to approach them.

X/Twitter: Mostly Unfiltered

There are only a handful of large-scale social media platforms that allow adult content and X (formally Twitter) is the biggest out there. There are still many rules that you need to know and follow. Plus you want to be a good member of the community in general. But, if you’re a NSFW account holder, then this one is the most permissive.

I know plenty of creators that are still having problems though. So it’s not a magical land of milk and honey on X. But, if you want to reach a bunch of people with adult posts, it has the largest potential fanbase.

Tips:

• X is introducing new tools all the time. Keep track of new stuff, because they will push content using new tools. Live on X audio, live video, and longer form content is all getting heat right now.
• You can share hotter and uncensored content, as long as it’s within their Terms of Service. By all means, make use of X’s more permissive atmosphere, it’s one of the few large social media platforms where you can talk honestly about what you do. However, my advice would be to not give everything away all the time, or it’s going to be tougher to get people over to content you want them to pay for.
• Be there often. If you’re sharing a post once a week it will take much longer to build attention on X. Post at least once a day, and then make the rounds to see what others are doing and interact on their posts.

Reddit: Where Niches Thrive

Another large community that allows adult content is Reddit. One advantage that Reddit has is dedicated niche subreddits where you can find people who are interested in all kinds of things… maybe including you!

But, beware – Reddit has a well-earned reputation for insular vibes and a high regard for how they define authenticity. My best advice on Reddit is to join subreddits and try to get to know what’s going on there long before you post. Get a good feel for how people interact, or what they share. The last thing you want to do is fly into communities and spam your content.

Take the time and give more than you receive in communities, and they will reward you.

Also, create your own subreddit and start posting regularly there. You can get away with a lot more if you run the community. But reach out beyond that too.

Tips:

• Find your niche communities and make relevant comments on other people’s posts. You’ll establish yourself as a knowledgeable member and gain a quality reputation.
• Keep a cool head. Reddit can be a wretched hive of scum and villainy; you must be cautious. Don’t get in heated debates with people. Block them or ignore them.
• Being available consistently pays off on Reddit too. Remember, you’re trying to gain attention more organically, by participating, and then letting people look up your profile or find your own subreddit to learn more.

TikTok: Potential Crazyballs Engagement but SFW

TikTok is a great platform for lifestyle content, participating in trends, and having fun. But the key to success on TikTok is to stick to your brand while staying as far away from adult content as possible. You want to be sexy, but not sexual.

And under no circumstances should you do a hard link to your adult content! That will get you booted off the platform in a nanosecond.

If you walk the line properly, your safe lifestyle content will get people interested in doing online searches for more of you, so you want to use the same name you go by where your adult content is available.

The thing is, the right content on TikTok can go insanely viral, thereby exploding your audience.

Tips:

• TikTok content is most effective when it’s fast and fun. Be creative, do research on what content/filters/music works for other people, but mostly, have fun.
• Again, if you want to gain real traction you need to be posting daily.
• You can interact with other creators by commenting on their videos, resharing them, or even doing responses to their clips with your own.

Instagram: Aesthetic Lifestyle Content

Much like TikTok, you’ll want to watch out for anything that smells like adult content or hints at your job. Those things will get you shadowbanned or removed entirely from Instagram.

I can personally testify to the frustration that shadowbanning can cause. I can also say that even if your content is within the terms of service, you’re dealing with bots that will automatically flag your content, people who will jealously report your content, and underpaid and overworked content reviewers that will not advocate for you.

Instagram used to be the place for photos, but they are trying to be a TikTok clone now so Reels rule instead.

Also like TikTok, you’re going to want to focus on content that’s lifestyle oriented, rather than overly sexy content and hard sales posts. The strategy is to have the same name you have on your adult platforms and leverage the staggering number of users that Instagram has.

Tips:

• Instagram has largely always been about the aesthetic of your wall of images and that still applies now. Keep an eye on the overall look and quality of your feed.
• Your feed should have enticing content, but not too suggestive. Instagram now allows people to follow your Broadcast Channel through the DM system and you can be more direct with your followers there.
• I wouldn’t suggest putting an adult link in your bio and asking people to “follow the link in bio.” If it’s adult, that could get you banned. I’ve known situations where Linktree links have even resulted in problems. Link to other social media accounts and let people find your spicy content through research.

Step Three: Diversify Your Presence

I know the last thing you probably want to hear from me is that you should post in more places, but given how often platforms change their rules and how much of a target adult accounts are, it sure does make sense that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Besides X, Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram, there are plenty of other platforms that will allow you to post adult content. They are not as big, but if you get banned on one of the big accounts, you’ll be able to keep going until you can either build up your account again or get your old account back.

1. Tumblr – They were NSFW for a long time, then they were bought by a big company that didn’t want to be adult and went through a whole process of removing that content. THEN… they were sold again, and the new owners wanted their traffic back, so they invited adult content again. They are not as hot as they once were, but it’s legal to post adult content there now.
2. Mastodon – You have to have patience and a degree in rocket science to get on there, but in the right servers you can share adult content. I know people who swear by it, and I was a big fan of one sex worker server long ago, but due to lack of support they shuttered that server. Maybe it’s a good fit for you.
3. Bluesky – A lot of people who fled X went to Bluesky. If you have many fans already, they may follow you over there. I can’t seem to get much traction there, but they allow adult content and perhaps you’ll be different.
4. Sharesome – This is social media platform that was designed for adult content. They have built a nice collection of both creators and fans. You might have to post in Topics to get initial traction, but there are fans here and there are a few features that are designed to lead people to your adult content elsewhere.
5. Pinxsters – This is a scrappy upstart community that allows adult content and is run by a former adult content creator. The user interface is like Facebook, with similar features. You can post anything that’s legal and there is a monetization feature as well. What Pinxsters needs most is a lot more users and this is my attempt to help it in that regard.
6. Minds – One of the better platforms that has emerged from the cryptocurrency sphere is Minds, which is full of memes, and outlaw energy, but does allow adult content (just be sure to mark posts as such). It also has a decent number of users and a contrarian attitude.

Step Four: Unify Your Brand

There are many personal branding elements that will unify your brand across platforms and can be used on both NSFW accounts and SFW accounts.

• If you have a logo, you can use it across all platforms by watermarking your photos and videos. If they see your logo on Instagram and on LoyalFans then they will know they are in the right place.
• Use the same name everywhere. It’s so important that the spelling of your name and your honorifics (like “Mistress,” “Goddess,” etc.) is exactly the same everywhere you post. The reason? Because people will use that name to look you up elsewhere and you want them to be confident they have the right person.
• Things like consistent colors, a tagline, using the same fonts in graphics, or using the same avatar photo across platforms will unify your brand.

Putting It All Together

Once you have properly defined your brand and your target audience, seeded your brand across both NSFW and SFW platforms, and unified your brand through the right branding elements, then you’re ready to expand your fanbase without diluting your persona.

Your unique identity, tailored to each platforms’ strengths, while maintaining your tone and image, will allow you to effectively communicate with your fans and take your following to the next level.

If you need a new perspective or more expertise, I help both individuals and companies define their brand, broadcast it better through social media, and guide them through business dilemmas through the Adult Marketing and Branding Report. More information is here: https://sexynetworking.com/adult-marketing-and-branding-report/