One thing that today’s cam network operators agree on is the importance of recruiting and retaining models as a key ingredient of their success.
While adult content producers have long faced challenges in finding fresh faces, camming’s ubiquity and social media’s ease of use makes it simple for the talent to find the network, changing the equation.
Our dedicated performer coaches, headed by the fabulous Nikki Night, try to impart as much knowledge and confidence as they can to support performers through their camming journey. We try to build personal relationships with all members of our broadcasting community, whether they are brand new to camming or an industry vet.
To learn about the process in 2017, XBIZ asked a series of experienced cam network pros “How do you recruit new models to your network, fostering loyalty through shared success?”
Here’s what they told us:
Leading operators such as Eric Wexel from FreeWebCams “use everything from event and tradeshow sponsorships to Google Adwords, Craigslist and print media buys,” to recruit models to the network; while FriendFinder Networks (FFN) event manager Elli Rudolph said the company thought long and hard about how to motivate great performers to succeed and stay with Cams.com.
“A big differentiator for models is that Cams.com is a part of FriendFinder Networks,” Rudolph explained. “We invented online dating more than 20 years ago. It’s a massive dating network, and dating traffic is without a doubt one of the highest converting traffic sources for cam models.”
Rudolph said FFN has more than 30 million active members who are looking for a connection with someone who interests them, “whether that’s a real-world relationship or a virtual-only connection,” and noted that the company offers models “unprecedented incentives for expanding their audience.”
“For models who bring us new members through their social media, we offer 100 percent of that member’s spend on the model for six months, then 80 percent thereafter,” Rudolph revealed. “[This] demonstrates our dedication to helping our models succeed — plus the models love this unique opportunity to take control of their own business success.”
A model’s personal interests go beyond business, and this can influence their choice of network, too.
“As most, of our models are lifestyle fetishists themselves, we attend many lifestyle BDSM and fetish conventions around the country to promote the site and to recruit models,” My Fetish Live owner Michael Goldsmith told XBIZ. “That said, the vast majority of our models come to us via our affiliate network, MyFetishMoney.com, and through social media and word of mouth from other models.”
For his part, Jim Austin, Stripchat’s head of business development, said it amazes him how well-connected models are with each other.
“I think that our success is [due] to the fact that we have so many happy models on our site, that the word keeps spreading,” Austin explained. “So it comes down to word of mouth referrals and keeping our existing models happy.”
Austin told XBIZ the company has had great success at cam industry events in places such as Colombia and Romania.
“Models and studios really appreciate the fact that they can talk to me and our CEO in person,” Austin expressed. “We try to keep that hands-on approach at Stripchat and so far it is working very well for us.”
BongaCash senior affiliate manager Katy said BongaCams has become quite popular, “so now models find us themselves through BongaModels and the BongaCash affiliate network, but we still work hard to make sure each of them is satisfied.”
“Besides offering our models the best possible terms, which include weekly payouts, weekly contests, no chargebacks or refunds, gifts and other bonuses, we also visit webcam business events to help models make up their mind about joining our network,” Katy illumined. “For example, this year we have already visited the Phoenix Forum and AW Summit, and will also be participating in LALExpo, along with … The European Summit.”
This emphasis on word-of-mouth as a recruitment tool is shared by many networks.
“Most of our new broadcasters come to us through the incredible word of mouth Chaturbate receives from our existing broadcasters,” Chaturbate COO Shirley Lara told XBIZ. “They know that we provide the most diverse set of money making tools, which offer anyone that chooses to start their cam business with us multiple ways to earn the maximum revenue possible from a cam site.”
Model-to-model communications go beyond recruitment, as CAM4’s head of PR Derek Devlin said the company believes that training and mentoring is the key to its shared success.
“Our dedicated performer coaches, headed by the fabulous Nikki Night, try to impart as much knowledge and confidence as they can to support performers through their camming journey,” Devlin told XBIZ. “We try to build personal relationships with all members of our broadcasting community, whether they are brand new to camming or an industry vet.
“We strive to foster a welcoming approach that is seen by the industry as one of the things that set CAM4 apart,” Devlin added, “which in turn helps us attract those who seek a more supportive and approachable cam platform to make their broadcast home.”
For her part, VNALive’s Vicky Vette joked that she trolls popular models on Twitter as a way of luring them to her network.
“A lot of our models come in a myriad of ways such as by attending trade shows and chatting to them; messaging them on Twitter, or them contacting us when they see us in the press,” Vette told XBIZ, “and yes, through referrals (girls who like using our platform contacting us).”
Vette said VNALive is different than most cam networks since its “models use our platform as a way to keep members happy at membership sites.”
“Our pool of models is smaller because a lot of traditional cam girls don’t have membership sites,” Vette explained. “We keep an eye on membership sites that are released and if a girl fits, sometimes I hit her up.”
While these operators employ different recruitment strategies, they all share a reliance on social media and word-of-mouth as effective tools for finding and keeping the next generation of camming stars.
