For a long while now I’ve been studying the tweeting habits of an array of select adult entertainers. I wanted to know if Twitter really was a wise investment of your time as an adult entertainer?
Since there are obviously some successful entertainers using the Twitter service under their stage names, this led me to ask some important questions, such as:
Why would you use Twitter as an adult entertainer?
How is Twitter effective in enhancing your escorting business?
Is there a measurable return on your investment (time) spent using the service?
Is there any hidden value in using Twitter as an entertainer?
After months of conducting my own independent research I decided to also poll my list about Twitter to see what you think. Many of you responded and shared your positive experiences using Twitter to enhance your escorting business.
Others of you wrote in with your opinions of why you feel using the service for escorting is a waste of your time.
All of you presented very compelling points, and gave me a lot of food for thought.
What you helped me to discover through this in-depth study included new information such as:
- Why successful entertainers are using Twitter
- How you can get the most value out of your tweeting time
- Why Twitter is a good investment of your time
- What the hidden benefits of Twitter is for an escort
- The best practices you should use with Twitter
- What an escort should tweet and not tweet about
- How you can use Twitter like a rock star
- Reasons Twitter might not be a good tool for an escort to use
Your Top 3 Benefits of Using Twitter
I’ve been creating a model of how to use Twitter most effectively for an escorting business. From this research, I found that there are 3 major benefits for you to use Twitter for your escorting business. They are:
- Networking and Friendsourcing
- Creating Rapport with Clients
- Establishing / Maintaining Your Brand
Networking
Since joining Twitter I have watched adult entertainers connect to me and an array of other industry specialists. Some directories, such as Lovings.com has their own profile and will interact with you if you ask her a question. I predict more directories will be doing the same, in the future. I’ve also seen several lawyers interact with providers and give legal advice through tweets and DMs.
Friendsourcing
Networking on this level can really come in handy in a pinch. If you are stranded at the airport in a town where you know no one, easily reach out to your Twitter friends. A friend of your friend might be able to lend you a ride somewhere.
Creating Rapport with Clients
While my findings haven’t shown Twitter being very effective for you to attract new clients, it can still be useful for your current clients. When they are able to follow your tweets throughout the day, they see another side of and understand you as a person. This can work well in maintaining ongoing relationships with your regulars, and for broadcasting tid-bits of info you would like your clients to know about.
Establishing and Maintaining Your Brand
Creating a Twitter profile linked up to your website can send tidal waves of branding power to your audience.
Now that we’ve covered some of the current benefits, let’s explore how you can apply these effectively to your Twitter experience…
Beverly Fisher of
BeverlyFisher.com is always looking for new ways to market herself in a cost effective way, as an entertainer. She studied both marketing and advertising in college, and keeps a genuine interest in learning more about the branding process.
She recently responded to my poll with, “Yes, I use Twitter. I use it because it’s fun, and allows me to stay connected with friends.”
Some of the hidden (and not-so-hidden) benefits Beverly reported include:
- She gets many hits every day on her website through from Twitter.
- Her favorite clients follow her just to keep up with what’s going on with her.
- Some clients book appointments after seeing things she has written on Twitter.
- Beverly believes in the saturation method of advertising, therefore she finds Twitter one more avenue to keep her name out there. It is one more way for people to find her.
- Since using Twitter she has gotten more international traffic.
- She isn’t concerned with immediate results from her tweets. Some of her clients perused her website for a year before booking. She understands that advertising isn’t always about direct benefits. Sometimes those benefits take time to be felt. Since she does not offer same-day appointments, this works well for her.
- Upscale clients expect an upscale provider. Demonstrating that she is Internet savvy and showing her connection with others reflects positively on Beverly’s brand and the image she is trying to project.
- Through Twitter, she has been connecting with other providers; ladies she already knew, and ladies who were new to her. Making positive connections with other providers is VERY beneficial to her business. Often, after getting to know one another online, they’ll do banner exchanges; bringing more hits and interest to Beverly’s site. Further, these other providers will refer their clients to her, when the gentlemen are traveling to Beverly’s area. She does the same for them. Beverly says, “The clients are going to see ladies on their travels anyhow; why not see one of my friends? To me, this business is all about connections. Connecting with others brings me business.”
When it comes to the lulls in her tweets she stated, “I do have lulls in my updating. I’m busy. But the same is true for my blog. Doesn’t mean I can’t go back and start posting again, any time.”
What can you do about the “lulls”?
Tayjon of TayjonsEroticRide.com uses a special tool to do her real-time tweets. She schedules her tweets with Twuffer.
Every night she sits down and types out around 15 tweets for the next day. The tweets generally just say where she will be, random thoughts, and fun facts. Previous to using Twuffer she also used TweetLater and FutureTweets, but finds Twuffer to be better suited to her needs as an entertainer.
Another entertainer, who asked to remain anonymous, told of her experience using the TweetLater service to beat the “lulls” that can occur when you are limited on time, but updating your readers is important to do.
TweetLater costs $29 month and allows you to schedule your tweets to go out automatically. She spends about half an hour, every day, responding to people and scheduling her tweets and TweetLater takes care of the rest.
She also shared, “It drives traffic to my blog.” but also added the point, “I could see where this might drive some traffic, but whether clientele will find you on Twitter is another story. My best clients have tended to be gentlemen from 45-60, self-employed businessmen. I can’t imagine them having the time to be on Twitter?”
She brings up a great point about Twitter demographics that I’d like to share with you quickly.
Twitter Demographics
PEW recently reported that the median age of a Twitter user is 31, and QuantCast stats show that the service is most heavily populated by users whose financial bracket is in the $30 - 60K range.
While all income levels are represented on Twitter, the most substantial age group using Twitter is 18 - 34. In fact, this age group makes up almost one half of the users, coming in at 43%.
If you are like my anonymous friend above and you are most interested in booking with affluent gentlemen who fall into the 35 - 55 age range, Twitter does not look like the most effective site for finding them.
If you do decide to use an auto-updating service, such as TweetLater, make sure you don’t publish time-sensitive items that might get you un-followed. One of my ‘tweeps’ just posted an obvious auto-message about “tax time” and getting things done before April 15th.
Today is May 25th.
The magic of Twitter is that it is in real time. If you aren’t careful and come across like a bot instead of a real person posting, you could loose your following. Most users like the fact that Twitter is in real time, such as Ashley…
Ashley Devyne of AshleyDevyne.com commented that while she does use Twitter, her primary reason for using it is to network with other ladies in the business.
She went on to say, “I have met some really great ladies this way. I also like it because it is in real time, different then reading someone’s blog. I can reply instantly. It almost reminds me of instant messaging but your message goes out to a lot of people at once. I have many hobbyists who follow me on there, some are clients. I enjoy interacting with them. It is really nice to talk to like-minded people.”
Ashley openly advertises her Twitter address to clients and potential clients because she feels it is a great tool for a gentleman to get a feel for the type of person she is.
Remarking on the “lulls” that can occur with Twitter, Ashely said, “Life does occur so I do have lulls in tweeting. I joined last October, used it a lot for awhile, then life got the better of me and I backed off. I decided to check it out again after the beginning of the year. More people had joined and I found myself hooked again. I still find myself going a few days without tweeting, due to life getting in the way.”
Sophie of MissSophieSimone.com responded, “Twitter has been amazing in connecting with other companions. I’ve been able to share touring and marketing advice with new girls. I have made some friends, and even connected with a new doubles partner!”
Aside from the networking abilities the site provides, she made a comment regarding clients and how to effectively use the Twitter service to enhance your experience with them. Her thoughts were, “I haven’t met any gents on Twitter, but I do have regular clients that follow me. They like getting sneak peak updates into my life.”
Reese Rivera also uses Twitter. She uses it through a widget that allows it to be added to her website and myspace page. She said, “If it was contained to just the Twitter site itself, I doubt if I would use it.”
Reese finds Twitter is very useful to let the guys know more about her personality.
Once Reese began blogging she found that it increased her business. She feels that Twitter is an exention of her blogging.
Reese says, “I actually save time because I only have to create a very short message.”
However, she has not found that her tweets are showing up in Google searches. That is where Reese feels tweets are a supplement to blogs, not a replacement.
She feels that when Twitter is added to an entertainer’s website it adds a personal touch which connects a potential client in a way that helps him to make the buying decision.
Joanna of MsJoanna.com doesn’t use Twitter for three very specific reasons. Number one, she likes to remain a little more UTR than what some other entertainers are comfortable with. Number two, she prefers direct contact and likes to keep tabs on who is writing to her and reading her response. Lastly, number three, she feels Twitter has some security holes that she isn’t interested in getting caught up in.
While I am unaware of any big security risks Twitter poses, Joanna makes some great points for the entertainer who wants to stay under the radar. Twitter is public and very popular at the moment. It might not be the best avenue for the entertainer who wishes to keep a low profile.
Ami Divine adds in her thoughts on how her Twitter experience has been going so far. She finds it most useful because of the networking opportunities it has yielded. She deliberately searched for other articulate women to follow and they have provided her with substantial value in terms of support and advice.
She goes on to say, “I’m also noticing a pick up in terms of clients following me. I suspect there is in that a planned and plotted way to remind and inflame the occasional or on the cusp client, as well as to maintain your personae in the public realm as an exciting and vital woman they want to see.”
I’m with Ami on this one. I suspect there is a way to do this as well. So far, no one is really stepping up and revealing their secrets just yet, but we’re still investigating.
Even though the secret to enterprising on more appointments through Twitter hasn’t been revealed just yet, someone has been doing some great investigative work in that direction. Her name is Sofi.
Sofi just started following me on Twitter and told me that she would soon be enrolling in Escort Aristocracy. She has also inquired on how to enroll in my affiliate program. This is a great example of how new opportunities arise out of the connections you can make just by using Twitter.
That is the “gold” of Twitter, in my opinion.
Sofi went on to tell me, “I follow every guy that follows escorts and the guys following the agencies in Florida. I have not gotten anway near the responses that I expected. A couple of guys say they will book with me when they come to town, but it has not happened yet.”
Even though she is engaging with the exact guys she should be, no actual bookings have occured from the site, thus far, for her.
Sofi goes on to mention a great point, “People on Twitter seem to be focused on “following” and being “followed” by as many people as possible. I have had many women follow me who profiles say they are a Christian homemaker — definitely someone not interested in a high-end escort, which is clearly stated in my Twitter bio. I then directly message these people asking them what made them follow me and I never get a response.”
Sofi has really been attempting to work the Twitter angle to see if there are any bites for an entertainer. She has even been experimenting with sending DM’s to guys looking like good prospects. The gentlemen she selects to send private messages to are already following escort agencies, and appear to be mildly successful.
She rarely gets responses from them.
Her final thoughts are, “I will continue to fool around with it but don’t see it as a good marketing vehicle for finding clients.”
Though she doesn’t feel as though it is a good place to get direct sales, she feels it is still a great service for entertainers because of the networking capabilities. She has connected with providers on Twitter that she would of normally never met.
Adora of AdoraCash.com is using Twitter in hopes that on down the road she will see a bigger payoff. In the meantime, she is hopeful that her Twitter profile will bring more hits and leads to her website.
Although her research shows that Twitter might not be a great tool to use if you are trying to connect with new clients, she sees the value in using it for other things. Such as when she recieved some informative news on TER/TBD forums, simply by reading through her followers’ tweets.
Using Twitter: Best Practices
If you have been wanting to try Twitter out for yourself, here is a short and sweet “How-to” you can use to get started.
#1. Surf over to Twitter.com and sign up for your new account. Click the “Get Started - Join” green button to fill in your information.
#2. The sign up form will ask you for your “full name” and your “user name”, so let’s talk about the two briefly.
Full Name
Your “full name” that it is asking for will be your profile name when all is said and done.
This is where you will put your persona, or stage name. It’s important to fill this in correctly, because it will signify that you are a real person.
Other users will be much more prone to follow you and interact with you if you post as an actual person, rather than an entity, such as a business or website.
This name should be spelled out grammatically correct. Capitalize the first letter of each word, lowercase for the non-proper letters, and place one single space in between.
Good:
| Not so good: |
|
|
Erin Ann Myer
|
erin ann myer
ERIN ANN MYER
erin-ann-myer
EAmyer
|
User Name
Now, your “user name” will be your Twitter address when all is said and done.
The selection of this is also important, because this is the user name that people will refer to you by when you are engaging on Twitter. People will come to know you by this name rather than your profile name. Select something that is memorable and clear on meaning.
My recommendations, in order, are:
- Your name, no spaces, no underscores, all one long word.
Example: erinannmyer
- Your website name, no prefix in the front or suffix at the end.
Example: myhoneysuckle
- A cute nickname or online handle you go by:
Example: witchywoman
Examples of less memorable user names:
eam1978
2009_erintwitter
erin-twitter
Keep in mind, Twitter doesn’t give you a lot of characters to work with, and your most preferred name might already be taken. Do your best.
#3. For your password, use something you won’t forget.
#4. VERY IMPORTANT: For your email, be sure to sign-up with the email that you use strictly for escorting. Otherwise, if you use your personal email address, people who have you in their address book will be able to see your entertainer profile.
After you fill in all the fields during sign-up, you will be taken to a page where it will ask you for your email password. If you choose to, you can give the password to your email. Twitter will search your address book for all the contacts who already have profiles.
You can opt to use this function, or skip it. It will give you the control to check off people you do not want to connect with. You can always go back and do this step later.
Next, you will be shown a page of recommended profiles to follow. They will feature people such as 50cent and Kevin Spacey. Be sure to un-check all of the boxes of those you do not wish to follow, or hit “skip this step”. Otherwise you will be following a bunch of people you might not want to be following.
Your Twitter Settings
Once you are finished “signing up” you should immediately go to your settings and fill in your information. Your settings page has several tabs. Under the account tab you will find three important fields to fill out:
More Info URL
This is a great place to plug in your website, blog, or any other page where visitors can find out more information about you. Be sure to click the red link to find ways to incorporate Twitter on your website or blog.
One Line Bio
Hubspot, the creators of the Twitter Grader, submitted a report on their internet marketing blog that revealed data stating that having a full bio and website link on your profile will get you more followers. It was reported that profiles with a bio recieved 8 times more followers than those that did not.
So, what should your bio say?
This is similar to an Eros tagline. Your bio is just a short sentence that briefly describes yourself in an interesting way. Try to make it original, short, and sweet. If you are having trouble writing a bio for yourself, take a look around at what type of descriptions your peers are using and build on your bio from that.
Location
Then, of course, fill in your location. If you frequently travel to different cities, list them. As you can see I placed CR and CA, because I frequently travel back and forth to both.
Devices Tab
This is where you can plug in your mobile device and tweet from, if you choose to.
Picture
A photo of your face works best on Twitter. If you are not comfortable showing your face as an entertainer, then choose some other flattering photo of yourself.
While this rule is not currently heavily enforced, nudity in Twitter avatars is not allowed. Currently, you will still see profiles featuring nudity in the avatars from time to time.
With Twitter’s rapid rate of growth occurring right now, it is no wonder that they have bigger fish to fry than to scour their site for nudie pics.
However, when things simmer down (which won’t be too much longer) they will be enforcing this much more strictly.
The day they decide to start enforcing this, if your avatar has nudity, you risk having your account suspended. Save yourself a lot of grief in the future and go ahead and play by the rules before they start patrolling for it.
Design
The last tab I will talk about is the design tab. This is where you can customize what you would like your profile to look like. Have fun and play around with the colors they give you to use.
In the future, if you would like to create a custom background you can ask any knowledgeable designer to do this for you. Make sure they use “twitter” background specs so that it shows up properly on the devices accessing it. You should be able to find someone to create something special for under $150, perhaps less, depending on who you contract.
Or you can have a go at it yourself. Twitter Patterns and Twitter Images are two sites where you can find free backgrounds to use.
You will also want to use the proper specs, which are given here at Croncast, as well as some great additional points about Twitter backgrounds.
You are all set up, so now it is time to find your friends…
Follow People
Shortly after you set up your profile, you will want to go ahead and follow some other users. The ones mentioned in this article are an excellent place to start.
Erin (me!):
http://twitter.com/ErinAnnMyer
Lovings:
http://twitter.com/Lovings
NaughtyReviews:
http://twitter.com/NaughtyReviews
Beverly Fisher:
http://twitter.com/BeverlyFisher
Tayjon:
http://twitter.com/Tayjon_Reece
Ashley Devyne:
http://twitter.com/AshleyDevyne
Ami Divine
www.twitter.com/AmiDivine
Sophie Simone
http://twitter.com/SophieSimone
Reese Rivera
http://twitter.com/VIPReeseRivera
Sofi
http://twitter.com/Sofi_Samson
When you arrive at their profile, simply click the “follow” button on their page that looks like this:
You can also find people to follow by searching for them through Twitter’s “Find People” search, found in your top, right hand menu.
Another great place to look for fellow companions and industry professionals is at WeFollow. Here is the direct link to their escort page. You can also scope out the adult page for interesting people to follow.
Be sure to tag yourself on the WeFollow site before leaving.
Now, that we’ve covered WHY Twitter can be beneficial to you, as an entertainer, and HOW to get yourself started, let’s move on to the WHAT…
What Should You “tweet”?
What I’ve seen work best on Twitter is what I like to refer to as “un-advertising”.
It’s expected that you will be talking about yourself, but followers tend to frown upon those who oversaturate their feeds with the same old announcements.
When you mention your ads or website, it should be in a way that is “news worthy”.
Did you just update your blog, post new photos, or add a new feature to your site? Tweet about it!
Advertising yourself should not be the only focus of your messages, however. Your followers are going to be much more interested to hear new information rather than seeing your URL posted up over and over, again and again.
Post about current topics that are interesting to you. Post things that you think other people might like to hear about. For instance, post up the link to a great article you read today. Post the link to that funny photo your friend sent you this morning.
Don’t forget that Twitter is in REAL TIME.
Mention your new blog post… when you post it. It’s ok to mention it once more later. Just don’t mention too often. Remember, your followers will be reading your tweets when you post them, in REAL time. They will also start to notice when you repeat stuff.
If you start to sound like a tv commercial they’ve heard before, they’ll tune you out.
NaughtyReviews is a great example of a really effective way to tweet.
They post interesting stuff. They post links to their blogs right when they publish them. They also interact and engage with their followers.
Lastly, make sure you are tweeting appropriate things. Ashley Devyne brought this up to me and I could not agree more.
Avoid tweeting negative talk about a client, and don’t ever tweet that you are “dreading” an appointment. Remember, unless you have your profile set to “private” you tweets are public and can be read by anyone.
Not only are you in jepordy of possibly having the client you are referring to read it, but this type of talk is off-putting to all of your other clients, as well.
Remember all those industry connections you followed? Watch how they tweet. Engage and interact with them, and in a matter of minutes you will have the hang of it, too. A word of warning though… it can be very addictive.
Twitter’s TOS
You can read all about Twitter’s terms of service here.
Who is Twitter for?
You might occasionally have someone tell you “Twitter isn’t for escorts” or maybe you have told people this yourself, because you’ve never seen any intrinsic value in it.
Twitter is for everyone. Many happy and successful ladies use it to enhance their escorting careers. I’ve seen it empower entertainers just like you and I do believe it to be a valuable tool.
While it has not proven to be very powerful in collecting new clients, it is a pure gem when it comes to networking. It’s really hard to put an actual price-tag on that.
If you still aren’t comfortable using Twitter, that is perfectly OK. Use the tools that feel right for you.
Thank you so much to all the wonderful ladies who greatly aided me in completing this expose.
And a special thank you to you, the reader, for reading.
Please post your comments and additional information as a comment to this blog, so that other providers can share in your knowledge.
If you already on Twitter, go ahead and post your Twitter address in the comments below.
So I’ll be eagerly anticipating the rest of your advice. Thank you soooo much! You definitely have my respect & not many can say that :)”
Light-bringers and Candle-bearers