The glitz and glamour of YouTube stardom can be very appealing, especially to a cam model looking to expand their brand into the mainstream world. Building a successful channel can be a challenge, but one that can open a lot of doors for extra income through paid sponsorships, ad revenue and more.
And while I hear from many models on the daily who would love to venture into the world of YouTube in search of something more, many are afraid it’s an impossible dream because of their ties to the adult industry.
Never link to your room, and avoid posting any adult-related affiliate links.
It’s true that YouTube has a strict set of community guidelines that can be tough to navigate, but it is possible to create content related to your camming career without getting flagged by the internet police. Here are a few tips to help you get on the road to enhancing your brand and becoming the multi-platform, internet powerhouse you deserve to be!
Getting Started
Making your first YouTube video can be scary, even if you’ve been camming for years. A lot of people put this important first step off for months because they think they need fancy cameras and studio lighting to make a video. While those things do help, they are not necessary to start putting out good content viewers will enjoy.
Use whatever you have on-hand for camming and build from there. The goal is to get comfortable with talking in front of the camera to a brand new audience you’re not quite familiar with. This part gets easier with time as you get to know your subscribers, so for now just be yourself and the rest will come naturally.
Avoid the Age Restriction
Since you will likely be discussing adult themes in your videos, let’s talk about how to avoid getting your content flagged as age-restricted. It may not seem like such a big deal as your videos aren’t necessarily taken down, but it can greatly affect your ability to grow your audience and make money off your videos.
Age-restricted videos cannot be viewed by people who are not logged in to YouTube, and they are not eligible for monetization. That means if you make an amazing video that goes viral, but has the age restriction tacked on, you won’t see a dime. So, what would get your video restricted? Vulgar language, violence, disturbing imagery and nudity are just a few of the things you can get dinged for.
That doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get restricted for dropping an f-bomb every now and then, but try to avoid describing sex acts in detail, hate speech and certain four letter words that start with “c” and end with “unt.”
Choose Your Topics Wisely
Just because you’re trying to avoid the age restriction doesn’t mean sexuality is completely off limits. In fact, YouTube outlines clearly in its Terms of Service that sexual content is ok as long as it’s for educational purposes and not “sexual gratification.” That means you can absolutely talk about your life as a cam model as long as you are providing people with valuable information about what you do.
For example, if you’re aiming your channel more towards models who need advice on how to succeed, you could do videos on how to do your makeup for camming, how to stay motivated when you work for yourself and how to deal with rude customers. You can also do vlogs about your everyday life so long as you don’t show yourself camming in nude chat. If you’re looking to appeal to a broader audience you can even do sex toy reviews so long as you don’t actually use them on camera.
Ways to Build a Following and Get Traffic to Your Room
Building a following on YouTube is not so different from building a following on your camming platform. Post new videos consistently, engage with your viewers in the comments and encourage them to follow you on social media where you can let them know every time you push out new content.
This last tip doubles as a great way to bring new traffic to your room, because although you can’t post direct links on YouTube, you can drive people to your Twitter account and post links there.
Don’t forget to promote your YouTube channel to your friends and loyal customers; you’ve already built up that loyal fan base, so don’t be afraid to use it!
Don't Get Deleted
This is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a content creator, so do your best to avoid it by following YouTube’s terms of service closely so no one has grounds to report you. For example, it may seem pretty obvious that you can’t have minors on screen while you’re discussing mature topics, but recently I saw a performer have her video deleted because a minor happened to walk by while she was talking. It was literally two seconds, but it was enough for her video to be taken down.
Another thing to watch out for is the links you post in the description box. Never link to your room, and avoid posting any adult-related affiliate links. For example, I’ve seen models use their platform’s referral link thinking it’s OK because it went to a PG homepage, but their video was still deleted and it just wasn’t worth the risk. Pro-tip: Always save a copy of every video you upload. That way, if one of your videos is deleted for some reason you can always edit out the parts you were flagged for and re-upload it.
How to Generate Income
You can use your YouTube channel to generate extra streams of income in any number of ways. Once you gain 1,000 new subscribers or reach 400 minutes of monthly watch time (whichever comes first) you will be eligible to monetize your videos with Google ads. That means you’ll make money just by having people watch your videos, which at first seems like it isn’t much but increases exponentially as your views increase. Once you have a loyal following, start reaching out to brands you want to work with and see if they would be interested in sponsoring your videos or sending you free product in exchange for a review.
Once you’ve established yourself as a popular content creator, brands will start reaching out to you, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait for them. If you want something, ask for it. The worst they can say is no! Finding mainstream sponsors may be a challenge if your content is too adult, but sex toy companies, lingerie companies and even certain makeup brands will be willing to work with you if you ask. If you don’t already have a Patreon account you should create one of those as well, so your loyal followers can keep your channel rolling should you get demonetized for some reason.
Jackie Backman is the content manager for Cams.com. She has been working in the industry for over 12 years as a copywriter and social media manager, and has also been a content creator on YouTube for a decade. If you would like to contact Jackie, she can be reached at CamsJBackman@gmail.com.
