Safely Marketing an Adult-Based Business; Social Media and More

 Typically small independant adult makers have restricted themselves to one platform, (X / Twitter) under the guise of safety, which is a fundamentally flawed thought process and a recipie for disaster. By restricting your reach to one platform under the belief that it is the only safe place to be, then not only are you limited by the 1 "type" of customer who uses that specific platform but also to the whims of that singular platform as a whole. This has been made evident by Etsy's newest restrictions. 

Now I can hear, "But marketing is hard, expensive and takes so much time", and in some parts of that youre not wrong. It does take time and work. (Im gonna be tough here) But that's business. It's hard and time consuming. Expecially on a single person or small team ran operation. Although marketing doesn't have to be expensive nor is it very hard once youre used to the processes. 

Social media is the most accessible tool we as small creators have to market to our customers. 

But what are the processes and pitfalls of marketing your small adult industry business on social media platforms? Particularly ones that are not typically NSFW friendly? How can you safely market yourself through these channels? And how do you do it well? 

Lets consider how to maximise marketing across many social media platforms but also focus on how to do it appropriately and safety.

What are the challenges and risks? 

 - Platform policies and restrictions

 - Stigma and public perception

- Maintaining a safe social space without exposing others to content they may not / should not see. 

What are we hoping to achieve? 

- Reach and Engagement potential 

- Boosting brand awareness 

- An increase in sales 

Reading and understanding each platform's terms of service is essential for marketing an adult-based business. Each social media platform has unique guidelines that dictate what content is permissible. Violating these rules can lead to account suspension or banning. Common restrictions include prohibitions against nudity, explicit content, and suggestive imagery. Ensuring compliance with these rules helps maintain your account's integrity and prevents potential penalties. It's important to regularly review and stay updated on these policies, (as they can change frequently) to ensure your content remains within the accepted boundaries and your marketing efforts are effective. 

Each platform has a specific set of guidelines. I will link each below. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. Rather the most commonly used social media platforms and therefore the most effective to market on. 

Platform-Specific Policies

  - Facebook/Instagram: Strict guidelines on nudity and sexual content - https://transparency.meta.com/en-gb/policies/

  - Twitter: More lenient but still requires adherence to rules - https://help.x.com/en/rules-and-policies/x-rules

  - TikTok: Highly restrictive, especially concerning sexual content - https://www.tiktok.com/community-guidelines/en

  - Reddit: Community-specific rules with some leniency - https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy

So now we know what our limits are. Let's create safe and compliant content. When used correctly these points will help avoid content restrictions. Its also important to consider that some platform guidelines are more lenient than others (Reddit and X) so how each of these points applies to the various platforms will change. 

Some of these points may not be helpful for all makers due to their designs/niche. But I will elaborate on alternative/creative options. 

 (1) Using suggestive but non-explicit imagery (Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok specific) 

Do not show anything that looks like a penis. Yes this includes showing products that look anything close to a penis (human or animal). The only thing this results in is having restricted reach or your account's being banned on the platforms. 

Its also worth considering for platforms that work on an algorithm with hashtags as a component, that these hashtags play a role in not only your own content but that of your peers. When you use hashtags that other creators use and are consistently showing non compliant content (penis shaped toys) then you are restricting the reach of the entire hashtag. Yes you are essentially "cock blocking" for lack of a better pun other creators. 

For example; #fantasytoys & #siliconesculpture are some that I created and personally used alot of, but now I do not use them as frequently. This is because the algorithms have learnt that the number of creators who use those hashtags that are also creating noncompliant content has increased and therefore those specific hashtags have been driven down in the algorithm and as a result drive down the reach of every video that includes those hashtags. 

Yes your toys may all be penis shaped and that's OK. 

Not every platform will have guidelines that allow your work in full detail and that's OK too. What works for 1 may not work for another for many reasons. So what if all of your toys look like a penis of some sort? How can you use social media marketing on those restrictive channels? 

Examples: 

- Only show pouring videos/pictures 

- Show off your squishy designs and talk about the other options you have, but direct people to your website or other socials where you can show those 'other' options. 

- Show close ups without the full item being shown. 

- Get creative with how you do show products 

(2) Creative use of language and innuendo (all platforms) 

Make your content engaging, funny or educational.

Just showing a picture of a toy with no "hook" will only engage visually driven customers. This is a great opportunity to show who YOU are, your personality. People buy from people, not from pictures. Either because the business has built a trust with their customer base, because their honest and open or maybe their funny. Market yourself as much as the product 

The use of innuendo is also especially helpful to avoid guideline restrictions and often leans into humour. 

Examples 

- Depth Toy: "It will take you to new *wink* depths. 

- Fantasy toys in general: "You've thought about it, now make that fantasy a reality" 

- Educational: "When washing make sure your tentacle is thoroughly cleaned in between all those suckers *wink". 

(3) Focus on product features and benefits (all platforms)

Does your product do something that no one else's does? Is there a niche or need that youre marketing towards? 

Think about these as your "hooks". What does a customer get out of buying from you, or your product specifically? And aim your post, video etc towards that feature. 

Examples 

- You have a specific new colour option available. Your post will be all about that colour. Show it in different lighting, on different models, use new hastags such as #colourful #pink #blue (whatever the colour/s are. 

- You have a product with a specific element that helps people use that toy. Such as an easily gripable base, or straps. 

- You have a toy that can hold a bullet vibe. Show the product holding things like a bullet vibe. 

- A toy is specifically shaped for GSpot reach. Talk about that! 

-A toy has handpainting. Show that off! 

(4) Clear, respectful language & avoiding direct sexual references (all platforms)

Don't be explicit in your language. People don't expect to hear explicit language when they are on most of these platforms (Reddit is a little different with this).

Use the correct terminology for body parts where practical and guideline appropriate. Such as Vagina, Vulva, Anus and Testicles. Not only is it professional but also not using the correct terms for these parts of the body can lead to confusion. For example: I might use the word 'Doodle' instead of Penis and half of the world won't know what I'm talking about as it's mostly a regional specific slang. 

On platforms which are restriction heavy such as Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok you can use short hand, V (Vulva, Vagina) or P (Penis). For example; "This item is great for P owners". This is also highlighting a product feature like we spoke about above. 

Now we know what our guidelines are, and how to work around them keeping your business and the growth you've built safe. But your stuck on ideas? 

Content Ideas and Inspiration

There are many apps and services that can help you formulate ideas, know what people are looking for, and guide your creative process to get the most out of your social media. Let's look at some of the most common ones. 

(1) BuzzSumo: A free trial is available. Subscription plans for full access. 

Identifies trending topics and content ideas - This is particularly helpful to know what's going viral and why. What are people looking for? And then formulate your posts towards those topics. 

Analyzes your content performance across social media platforms - This assists you to know what's working and what's not. Not just comparing post to post but also platform to platform. For example; your Facebook posts are only reaching 5 people but your instagram posts are reaching 500. Why put so much work into Facebook if Instagram is where your getting all of your reach. It is also important here to note that the analysis of these is only helpful after effort. If your only posting to Facebook once a week but Instagram everyday then the algorithm is going to pick up your seeming disinterest in Facebook as a platform and not push your content out. Give it time to grow with proper effort before making a decision to scrap using a platform. 

(2) AnswerThePublic: Free and premium plans available. 

Generates content ideas based on popular search queries: This is useful for understanding what your audience is interested in. What are people searching for? What do they want to know? What do they want to see? 

Once you have your ideas you need to make the content. There are heaps of content creation tools you can utilise to assist you to do this. Many platforms have inbuilt editing software but most are subpar and fussy to deal with. Some external options are paid services but most have free plans also. External services/software are not required for social media marketing by any means, but may be helpful to you. 

Best Content Creation Tools for Social Media Posting

Alike inspiration ideas it can often be hard to design or write the actual content itself. From writing a post to creating pictures and videos there are many tools you can use to help with this. Many have free plans with the option for subscriptions/payment. These tools cover a wide range of content creation needs, from graphic design and video editing to writing and copy editing, helping you create engaging and professional social media posts.

Best Writing and Copy Editing - 

(1) Grammarly: Free and premium plans available. 

- An advanced grammar and spell-check tool. Not only useful for your social media posts but also your website product listsings. It can provide writing style suggestions and readability enhancements. 

(2) Hemingway Editor: Web version is free, desktop app is a one-time purchase

- Focuses on improving readability and clarity of text

Highlights complex sentences and suggests simplifications

Graphic Design and Visual Content

(1) Canva: Free and paid versions available. 

   - User-friendly interface with a wide range of templates

   - Suitable for creating graphics, infographics, videos and social media posts

(2) Adobe Spark: Free and premium options

-Easy-to-use design tool with templates for social media graphics, web pages, and videos

- Integration with Adobe Creative Cloud for more advanced features

(3) Piktochart: Free tier with basic features, paid plans for more options

-Focuses on creating infographics, presentations, and social media visuals

-Drag-and-drop interface with customizable templates

Video Creation and Editing

(4) Animoto: Free trial available, with subscription plans for advanced features

   - Simplifies video creation with drag-and-drop functionality

   - Templates designed for social media videos, including ads and promos

  

(5) Lumen5: Free and premium plans available

   - Converts text content into engaging videos

   - Uses AI to automate video creation from blog posts and articles 

*Lumen5 Ai Disclosure*

AI use is contentious and rightly so. To my knowledge Lumen5 uses AI to regenerate and reconfigure a new social media post or video from the existing one you directed it to recreate. It does not store or create further works from your posts and utilises public domain imagery and font. If this changes then I would remove Lumen5 from this list. 

(6) Adobe Premiere Rush: Subscription required, but offers a free trial

   - Simplified version of Adobe Premiere Pro for quick video editing

   - Ideal for creating professional-quality social media videos 

Photo Editing

(7) Adobe Lightroom: Subscription-based with a free trial

   - Professional-grade photo editing software with mobile and desktop versions

   - Syncs across devices for seamless editing

(8) VSCO: Free and subscription options available

   - Popular for its filters and photo editing capabilities

   - Community aspect where users can share their edited photos and help you source inspiration for your content. 

Now we know what our guidelines are, and how to create compliant content. We have our content ideas and inspiration. And we have tools to create the posts we need. But the algorithm beast doesn't stop there! Your engagement with your social media is the real key to social media marketing. This is where the hard work starts. But there are tools to help with managing and scheduling social media content. 

Engage with your community through comments, reposts, chats and lives. Building a community around your business is what will help it thrive. Don't drop a post and run, actually engage with people. Yes it's time consuming, and as I said before your probably not gonna like it but that's business. It takes time and effort to grow and only you can decide how much of these you yourself can allocate or want to contribute. But be aware that the effort in vs effort out equation definately exists. You may want to keep your business small and that's OK. So engage with it as such. If you want to build it, then engage as such. And remember not everything works for everyone! Are you putting in a whole lot of effort and seemingly getting nowhere? Lean back to your analytics. What's not working, tweak, change, reorganise. Doing the same thing thats gotten you limited reach and expecting new and amazing results is the definition of business insanity. 

(1) Post regularly. 

-This can be daily (which I reccomended in the beginning) to every 3 days or 1 post a week. Most importantly be consistent. This prompts the algorithm to know when your posting, and when to push your content. 

(2) Build a Community

  - Engage with followers respectfully. Answer their questions, like comments & respond to comments. Has a question that's been asked in the comments a good one? Then do a whole post about that question to answer it in detail. Share a pic of the comment and go into detail with your answer. 

  - Hosting Q&A sessions and live streams (within guidelines). Pouring on live, packing orders on a live. 

  - Encouraging user-generated content and social platform connections. 

Allow customers to request to see their toy demolded. If it's an inappropriate toy for a specific platform then divert viewers to a different platform. For example, the toy is penis shaped so cant be on Tiktok. Start the demolding on tiktok then pause right before the reveal, say "Hey we can't show this amazing order here due to guidelines but come over to my X and see a full demolding of this order". Then post the full demolding on your X. 

*Some creators charge for demolding videos. I personally don't encourage that. Yes it may be a few extra dollars, but you are saving time that you didn't have to come up with a new content idea, the customer will engage with it boosting the algorithm, and the good will generated is much higher in worth. 

(3) Schedule posts. Set aside a few hours once a month and plan out your content. There are also tools to help you with content scheduling and management. Anything that makes life a little easier is worth the inital effort! 

(1) Buffer: Free plan with basic features, paid plans for advanced options

   - Allows scheduling posts across multiple social media platforms

   - Provides analytics to measure post performance (has similar functions to BuzzSumo in this aspect).

(2) Hootsuite: Various pricing plans, including a free tier

    - Comprehensive social media management tool

    - Schedule posts, monitor engagement, and analyze performance

(3) Later: Free plan with limited features and paid plans for more functionality

    - Specializes in visual planning for Instagram, but also supports other platforms

    - Drag-and-drop calendar interface for scheduling posts

(4) Repurpose.io: Paid plan only. Small fee. 

- Allows you to post content to 1 platform, automatically reshares that content to other social media platforms that you specify.  

- Removes platform specific watermarks in the process for a cleaner post. 

Scheduling and managing your social media effectively will not only make sure you are reaching your customers but it also enables you to monitor your social media carefully. Monitoring your content is not just to know when something is or isnt working. But also to ensure that you are removing any comments or followers of concern, specifically minors. 

Closely monitor your content! Especially in the inital stages you want to ensure that you are 'in the right circles'. A key to remember here and possibly the hardest for many to achieve is to remain vigilant. Not only for policy changes, but also customer feedback, comments you need to address or suspected minors viewing your content. 

(1) Monitor your profiles frequently. 

- Daily, if not multiple times daily if a post gets traction, (ie goes viral) and adapt where you must. This can be a few minutes just to check over comments on posts. And if your replying to comments and engaging with potential customers on your social media posts then this is easy to do at the same time. 

(2) Regular policy updates happen 

  - Staying informed about policy changes

  - Adapt your strategies as needed

(3) Feedback

  - Seeking feedback from the community and adjusting content. For example: "I'm stuck on what to post, everyone comment below what you want to see more of". Not only does this give you more content ideas but viewers comments and engagement boosts the algorithm. This is applicable to every social media platform. 

(4) Checking comments and deleting the ones that need to be.

-This could be deleting comments with specific words that get flagged by platforms. Such as 'dildo' or 'sex toy'. 

- Does a comment look like it's come from a possible minor. Block them. It's better to be safe than sorry. Their safety relies on you and if they are not capable of making the right choices then you make it for them. 

The topic of minors accessing your content on social media has long been a hot topic within the adult toy community. And rightly so. We all want to ensure safety within our community. The key here is to remember that minors have access to every social media platform. No matter what we do, minors will be there. Twitter is often noted as being the safest with the least minors. But Twitters algorithm operates with incredible similarity to every other platform. Its been proven time again that minors can access the toy community on Twitter quite easily if they happen to fall into the space via the platforms algorithm. So realistically an understanding of "The Algorithm" and how to work with it to acheive your goal is incredibly important. 

Understanding algorithm factors can help us tailor content to align with algorithmic preferences, increase visibility and engagement, and ensure our marketing is reaching the right place and is safe for the community who is viewing it. 

Platform-Specific Algorithm Insights:

You can use these insights to assist your marketing efforts and to also maintain consumer safety. 

TikTok: Uses a highly sophisticated algorithm that considers user interactions (likes, shares, comments), video information (captions, hashtags), and device/account settings (language preference, device type). The more you engage with specific types of content, the more similar content is shown. 

Instagram and Facebook: Focuses on five key interactions—likes, comments, reshares, views, and saves. It also considers the user's past interactions with similar content and relationships (who the user interacts with most). 

Twitter: The "For You" timeline prioritizes tweets from accounts the user interacts with and those that are popular in the user's network, meaning your followers get posts shown to them based on what you engage with, not just their own engagement. For example: Person A engages with a lot of football posts, Person B who is Person A's follower does not. But Person B gets shown football posts because Person A engaged with that content. It also considers the recency and type of media in the tweet (text, video, GIFs). 

When creating safe content the links between how/what content we post and "The Algorithm" have to be considered and understood. How can we work with it to keep everyone safe while knowing its flaws. Then when we can not change the flaws the importance of adapting, creating safer content and monitoring is most important. 

Algorithms on "For You" pages, such as those on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, use a combination of factors to determine which posts to show users.

Here's how they generally work and things you can do to work the algorithm in favour of safety. 

(1) User Interaction/ Engagement History: Algorithms track how users interact with content (likes, comments, shares, saves) and prioritize showing similar content. The more someone interacts with a specific type of content, the more of it they will see.

What can you do - 

- Monitor you content closely. 

- Block any suspected minors viewing your content. 

Check your likes, shares and followers regularly. 

(2) Content Viewing Time: 

The amount of time spent on a post signals the veiwers interest. Posts that hold a user’s attention longer are more likely to be promoted. 

 

What can you do - 

-Block any suspected minors viewing your content. 

Check your likes, shares and followers regularly. If you are removing them their content viewing time immediately decreases to zero. 

(3) Content and User Metadata

Content Attributes: This includes the type of content (video, image, text), hashtags, and keywords.

Specific themes or topics can be pushed to users who have shown interest in similar content. 

User Profile: Basic demographic information (age, location, gender) and declared interests play a role in content recommendations.

What can you do: 

- Set your profiles to 18+ only. Is this fail safe? No. But you can not control how much access a minor has to general online content, google searches, what they list their age as or their parents monitoring of the minors social media. All of these factors occur across every social media platform and are not specific to one. 

- Use keywords that hone in your content to specific areas of the algorithm. Don't put #toy in a post because it will get categorised with kids toys! 

(4) Behavioral Patterns

Followed Accounts: The accounts a user follows help tailor the content feed, highlighting similar or related creators.

Device and Activity Data: Information about the user’s device, time of usage, and overall app activity also influences recommendations.

What can you do:

- Monitor your content closely and also watch your peers videos. 

- Share information about possible minors to your peers so they can delete/block them too. 

- Block any suspected minors viewing your content. 

Check your likes, shares and followers regularly. 

(5) Content Popularity and Freshness

Trending Content: Posts that are trending or becoming viral are more likely to be shown to a broader audience.

Recency: Newer posts may be given a slight edge to keep the feed fresh and up-to-date

What can you do:

- Monitor your content closely! (I don't think I've said this enough yet). When a post goes viral it is ALOT of work. Get help! Ask your friends to get involved to help you comb through comments and let you know who to block. 

- If it gets too much you can always "private" a post. This immediately removes it from the algorithm and stops it being 'viral'. 

- Block any suspected minors viewing your content. 

Check your likes, shares and followers regularly

(6) Feedback Mechanisms

User Feedback: Direct actions such as marking content as "Not Interested" or reporting posts help refine what is shown.

Implicit Signals: The algorithm constantly learns from implicit signals, like the speed of scrolling past certain content.

What can you do:

-In this case there's not alot you can do across any of the platforms. 

-When starting your social media profile your For You Page will be completely open until it learns you. Scroll your own FYP. Any minors or content that is aimed towards minors mark it as "not interested". This places not only you but your subsequent content outside of those areas of the algorithm.

If all of this becomes too much are there alternatives that lean towards social media without you having a social media account on every platform directly.

(1) Utilize specific Adult-Friendly Platforms

  - Identifying platforms with more lenient policies such as OnlyFans or Fetlife. While they are not mainstream, and the reach will be reduced, the audience on these platforms are primed and expecting content like yours. Provide it to them. 

(2) Leveraging niche communities

Are you a furry or create furry specialised toys? Then find where your community gathers. 

- Is there a specific social media platform they use Then focus your main marketing effort to your specific community. 

- Are there events for your niche that you can become a vendor at? 

(3) Be out and seen! 

- Attend markets, expos and Cons. Yes this can be stressful. But you are getting your physical items directly under the eyes of people who see your social media marketing. Generate excitement on your socials about where you're going to be. Get people there to see your products in person. 

(4) Email Marketing and Private Channels

Never underestimate the importance of email marketing and private channels. 

  - Building an email list for direct communication with your customers means your not totally reliant on social media.

  - Utilizing private groups and messaging apps for promotions. Discord or SnapChat are a great examples of this. 

Don't forget to direct your social media following to your email marketing or external channels. Sometimes a little discount on sign up helps, or specific channel promotions and discounts to encourage customer engagement with these alternative options. Remember with email marketing and alternative options such as Discord or SnapChat that the number of customers who engage will be different. For example your following on social media may be 2000 but only 20 people subscribe to your email marketing or alterntive channel. This is very normal! 

(5) Collaborations and Influencer Marketing

- Partnering with creators and influencers who understand social media and their consumer base is vastly helpful. This creator can post your work on multiple alternative platforms extending your reach.

Co-branded content highlights not just the creator but also yourself and your business. You are accessing that creators consumer base and leveraging their reach across their multiple platforms. 

(1) Be aware of things like "The Creator Fund" on Tiktok for example. This is specifically important for typically adult content. Despite all the care that you will take it's likely that some of your content will get flagged. Then not only will the money that you raised from the program be taken but your profile as a whole can and likely will be scrutinised much more highly. Putting you at risk of losing your following on the specific platform. In short; keep your head down. 

(2) Remember everything you put out on social media is marketing. You are highlighting yourself, your skills and your business. Act how you want to be percieved. Are you cute and sweet or sassy and playful? Allow customers to know a little of you. But please keep in mind your own social media safety. 

(3) This is a process! Don't expect over night success. A realistic time line is atleast 6 months to see traction.

Finally marketing isnt just about social media but it does play a huge role because of how it is so widely consumed. This is also not an exhaustive list of tools, policies, guidelines and tips. There may also be parts of this blog that you don't agree with and that's OK. The wonderful thing about diversity is that everyone has a difference of opinion and I'm only offering guidance on what has worked for us and people that we know and work closely with in other adult related industries. 

There will be other blogs coming with tips on being a business; with everything from website management, presentation, business image and all the nitty gritty things that are so often forgotten about. 

Until then, 

Manda