Social media outlets are a useful and safe-for-work tool connecting you with your fans. You are able to show off your personality and hobbies to your existing fans, while attracting the interest of new viewers! When first trying to grow your fan base, social media DMs can be used to network and connect with followers in the hope of gaining long-time and loyal viewers, though managing your time is key to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
As your follower accounts grow, you will see more direct messages coming into your social media inboxes, which is a great indication that you are doing things right! This means that your fans are genuine and interested in engaging with you and wanting to have a real conversation. As we all know, every now and again you’ll get those pesky dick pics. Filter through and pay no mind, unless it’s one you wish to engage with (LOL).
A simple like on a comment, quick emoji response or ‘thank you!’ can go a long way to building stronger relationships with your followers.
As a cam model, you have an established brand that aligns with your look, demeanor and the ideas you share throughout your social media channels. It is important for you to set your tone and the style of your responses, making sure they reflect your online persona. Once you set your tone, try playing around with creative response templates and selecting a few of your favorite GIFs! I love using GIFs … they help translate a feeling or response you want to convey and easily cut down on the reply time. This is a great trick if you have a ton of messages you need to respond to. Plus, GIFs strengthen relationships with your followers by mixing in a bit of fun in what might otherwise be a basic reply.
Although it may seem like responding to DMs immediately throughout your day makes the most sense, you’ll quickly realize it can interrupt your workflow and feel like a chore. One suggestion I have would be to set aside a specific amount of time each day and really think about your responses whenever possible, taking the time to whole-heartedly show your viewers you want to converse and connect more deeply.
I recommend spending at least a few 30-minute time slots daily when responding to your social media DMs and comments (don’t forget about those – they help get your social media channels extra attention). As far as what time of day to do this, that’s up to you, and if you’re a very popular star, you may need to expand the number of time slots you devote to answering DMs.
Once you get comfortable in your new social media routine – you will easily be able to manage the incoming flow of DMs without having unread messages continuously building up. There will definitely be questions that you don’t know the answer to; in that case, let the fan know that you are looking into it and will get back to them (if it’s worthwhile) – then make sure to flag it and don’t forget to respond!
Although fans are most likely asking unique questions – after receiving many DMs you may realize some of the same questions are being repeated (i.e. if someone is looking for your content links etc.) – putting together a response template will help ensure that you are getting all the information you want across the board and you are not forgetting or missing anything. This will help you respond to messages in a speedier way and will help you avoid rewriting the same sort of messages over and over again.
It is also important to utilize resources that are there to help you organize. For instance, your Instagram inbox has a filter function that can help you organize messages, so you can spend more time responding rather than sorting. The filter button can sort messages based on whether they’re unread or flagged. Start off by filtering the unread messages then move on to sorting and responding to the messages you had flagged.
DMs aren’t the only way you will be interacting with followers on your social outlets, because you can’t forget about comments and the importance of responding to the ones that stand out. Instagram and Twitter comments are important especially for the Instagram algorithm, because it identifies interesting content and will likely favor it when it comes to positioning your post in your followers' feed. If you are able to build conversations in your comments, you will improve your engagement rate.
Just as response templates are a great way to save time on rewriting the same message in DMs, the same goes for comments. Creating a list of your “go-to” responses is helpful, just make sure you don't sound too robotic. A simple like on a comment, quick emoji response or “thank you!” can go a long way to building stronger relationships with your followers.
As you can imagine, taking the time to manage your Twitter and Instagram DMs really does pay off in the long-term, so by using a blend of ready-made GIFs, standard replies to frequently asked questions and inbox filters, you can help ensure your followers don’t feel ignored.
Vicki Gray is a CAM4 account manager who can be followed @VickiGrayxxx on Twitter and contacted by email at Vicki@CAM4.com.
