Fetlife Promotion How-To for Adult Content Creators

Creators spicy tea has always believed in the wisdom of the crowd being greater than the wisdom of the individual. This resource has been created by our team member Cinanom the creator of creator resource chats.

Fetlife is a website that kink-minded people use to connect with each other, learn about kinks and honestly, its mostly a hook-up site. They don’t advertise it that way, they want to be known sort of as a facebook for kinky people, but as someone who has been on the site for over 12 years, most of the time, people are on fetlife to hook up or jack off.

This makes advertising a bit harder and needs to be done ethically and responsibly. Similarly to advertising on dating sites, it’s unethical and mean spirited to present yourself in a way that makes it seem like you are looking for more than clients.

Its also harder to advertise without pissing people off. You really want to come across as you are on fetlife for the community but you also have fansites. Keep this in mind when creating your profile and posting. People will respond much better to you if you are using the site as intended and aren’t pushing your links.

Community Guidelines 

You can find the Terms of Service here to read in depth about each of these bullet points:
https://fetlife.com/guidelines/legalese/terms-of-use-hwfvu

• Everyone using the site must be at least 18 years of age, they are pretty serious about this and might ask you to verify your account with a government issued ID. You can also do this voluntarily and verify before they ask you to.
• Do not post any media that you don’t own or have the permission to post. Something a little weird about this site is that you don’t need a model release form if you post content that has other people in it, though when uploading anything you do have to click a box that says you own the content or have permission to post it. It is very similar to porn websites that make users “pinky promise” that they are 18. It may be that the standard model release form (2257) is based on American law and fetlife is a Canadian company. Fetlife takes DMCA takedowns seriously though and if you dont have permission to post media that has other people in it, it can put your account at risk. Find more about this here:
  https://fetlife.com/guidelines/legalese/2257-exempt-qr23c
• Hate is not allowed. Trolling, attacking, making fun, bullying, stalking or harassing other members is prohibited.
• You are not allowed to make criminal accusations against another person in a public forum
• Do not upload any media including minors. This includes things like packaging that may have a minor on it and includes links to any content that may promote having any sexual relationship with someone under the age of 18
• You are not allowed to create a profile for a business, organization, website or event that is not related to kink/fetish/BDSM/leather. Profiles for kink related businesses will be reviewed and accepted on a case by case basis. This dosent count towards sex workers as far as I could find, its talking about people selling lingerie, sex toys and other things.
• You are not allowed to sexualize, promote or publicly fantasize about murder, animal abuse, necrophilia, cannibalism, beastiality or anything to do with sexualization of minors.
• You cannot create events to promote sessions with phone sex operators, professional dominants or professional submissives. 
• You cannot publicly post the schedule, price list or phone number of phone sex operators, professional dominants or professional submissives outside of a group explicitly created for the posting of that information.
• You cannot publicly solicit for clients. It is unclear if this is for online or in person services. You for sure cannot sell in person services on here but the wording is a little vague so err on the side of caution
• You cannot offer for sale any firearms, explosives, weapons, items that promote hate, child pornography, controlled substances or pharmaceuticals, counterfeit or stolen items, goods/services that do not in fact exist, registered or unregistered securities, items that violate the rights of other parties, or items  you do not have the right to sell.
• All content must follow the laws of the country/state you live in.

Content Guidelines

Find full and detailed descriptions of the guidelines here: https://fetlife.com/guidelines/content-guidelines/content-restrictions-7tywg

You cannot post anything about any of the following:

• Minors, CSA and CSAM (including anime/cartoons)
• Incest Play
• Snuff and Necro Play
• Cannibalism Play
• Fantasy Pushing
• Scat Play
• Blood Play
• Gun Play

Now that we have discussed the legal parts of using the website lets dive into how to actually use the website to promote.

Fetlife Premium/Support

Fetlife has a premium or support membership that locks some content from being viewed by just anyone. To be clear, this is something fetlife makes money off of. They have no way to set up a membership to your profile. Videos are locked and you can only scroll so far on the explore pages and activity feed. You need to keep this in mind when you are posting your content as most users will be using the site for free. There are still plenty who have the support membership, so posting clips can still be a viable way to promote yourself, but the most eyes are going to be on pictures and writings.

Find more about the support membership here:
https://fetlife.com/support

How to be found and seen

Explore pages, groups, and how to use them!

For You 

This is where people are going to find content similar to content they have already liked. This is basically the exact same concept as any for you page. This is going to be completely dependent on what the individual person likes and has interacted with in the past. There is no specific way to end up on someones For You page, but not using the same tags on your posts every time will put you in a broader category and make it more likely your content will show up in more places.

Fresh & Pervy

This is where your content goes up when it’s first posted. Depending on the time of day and how many users are around, this page can move fast so figuring out the best times to post is important. There are no hard set rules on this unfortunately, from the research I’ve done, weekends are harder to get traction on things because there are more people posting or people who are looking are busier with life so there isn’t as much time to look. The page moving fast and people not being able to look at it a lot means that you are less likely to be seen. Play around with your timing and see what works best for you, keep in mind when most people are online and looking for material to masturbate to. Also keep timezones in mind.

Kinky & Popular 

When your post gets a lot of love and a lot of interaction, they will end up here. The algorithm apparently depends on the type of media you’re posting, how much interaction its getting, and what else is being posted at the same time. (You can post pictures, videos and writings). Pictures are what is going to do best, but posting writings and videos are also helpful and can help build the personality that most buyers are looking for. Remember that videos can only be seen by premium members of the site. Don’t count videos out though, if someone is willing to spend some money on fetlife that means they may be open to purchasing porn in general. Post quick clips or fun behind the scenes stuff you use for promo, just don’t only post videos. Writings are also a little less popular than pictures, but still can do extremely well on the kinky & popular page. I often see writings about sexy dreams someone has had, retelling one of their favorite sex memories or even just talking about what kinds of things they like to do in bed. I recommend taking a peek at what kinds of things are popular and basing some of  your own content around that. I also use kinky & popular as an inspo page for when I’m feeling burned out or have a content block.

Groups

Groups are really great because they depend less on timing things to get interactions. Your post goes up there and depending on how large the group is and how fast things move, you may have many eyes on your posts for a long time. I recommend joining groups based on how you want to promote yourself. Make sure you read the group’s rules before you join them, some will automatically kick you for having a link on your page. Be extremely careful about mentioning you sell content in the groups, most of the people using the site are there for casual fun and you pushing your content can stick out like a sore thumb. Its best to go into the groups intending to use them like regular members do.

There are groups you can join that are very specific. They can be for kinks or for what type of content is to be posted there. There are also groups that are a little more vague, where people are mostly just looking to show off and talk about things.

I recommend joining groups that are more in between. I like to post in groups that have a theme of sorts (Titty Tuesday, Hump Day, Freaky Friday). How those groups work is you post a picture to your fetlife account on the specific day (for example, Tuesday, I would post a picture of my tits) and share the link to that post in the designated thread.  Members of the group would be able to see the thread and could check out my link, letting me get interaction on my post and eyes on my profile. Them liking your post may also push you up to the kinky & popular page.

There are also often local groups, but be careful when posting in those. Especially if you are trying to keep your location a secret. Most people in local groups are looking for hookups and wont take kindly to being asked to subscribe to a profile.


Events

Events are a great place to network and hand out business cards. You can find like minded people or other creators at events as well. I have heard of creators finding success in handing out polaroids or business cards with QR codes on them at bigger events. I normally bring branded stickers with me when I go to events. Keep in mind though that not everyone taking something from you will be subscribing.

 I do not normally RSVP to any events on my selling fetlife profile as I hide my location so be very aware of what you are doing. Most of the time the RSVPs and guest lists are public. I will RSVP to an event if I will be travelling for that event (the naughty but nice shows I travel over seven hours to attend, or events I will be attending while already in another city). You can change the ability to see RSVPs in your settings, but comments on the event threads will still show up. I also don’t trust settings all the time so I tend to lean on the side of caution. Having your location leaked is a big deal.

Posting and Uploading Media

To upload pictures, videos, writings or updates, click the big + at the top of the page. It should be next to your notifications.

Status Updates

Use this like social media. Its mostly text but you can add audio or put up a poll. You can change the privacy of the update so it goes out to everyone or just your friends. This is a good way to add updates to your profile, talk about what you’re up to or what your plans for the day are. I’ve seen creators post when they are doing a new photoshoot to get some hype, post when they are taking a break, or even just little blurbs about being horny or what they are up to for the week. This is a good way to connect with the people on the site and can make your profile feel less businessy.

Pictures/Videos

When you upload a piece of media you can either do it directly from the site or email the media to a unique address. I have never used the email route, but its interesting to have options.

Once you’ve picked your media, boxes will appear for you to enter a caption, tag people and add tags.Caption your media with something that could drive engagement. Ask a question or make a statement that might have people liking and commenting. You don’t need to tag yourself in your own picture, but if there are any other people in your picture it is common courtesy to tag their fetlife profiles as well. I tag myself anyways because why not.

I highly recommend you take advantage of the tags. You dont need them to be put on fresh & pervy but it will help people find your media later if they are looking at certain kinks or tags. Use things that relate to the picture. You only get five so I would suggest using two that are broad (pussy, boobs, butt) two that match your brand (goth, bbw, girl next door) and then one tag that is more niche (lipstick, fishnets, boots). I think of broad tags as the things a lot of people are into, that mostly falls into the vanilla side of content and the more niche or specific tags as fetishes or kinks that are very specific to the type of content or kink you are trying to portray. Play around with the ratios of your tags, this is just what works for me. I find that doing it this way reaches your audience in different ways and can broaden who sees you. Try not  to use the same tags in every picture, if you feel like you are using the same tags a lot try posting a different piece of media so you can be pushed to a different audience.

Find a list of the top kinks and fetishes here:

https://fetlife.com/fetishes/most_popular

You will need to certify that everyone in the picture consents to having it uploaded and that everyone is 18. You will have to do this for every single picture you upload.

This is also where you click the box to make something your profile picture. As far as I know, uploading a picture is the only time when you can do this, if you want to use an older picture as a PFP you will need to reupload it. You cannot make videos a profile picture.

Writings

Don’t think writings are a waste of time. There are always writings on the Kinky & Popular page and a lot of people really enjoy reading their porn. Title your writings in a flirty and fun way that makes people want to read it. The site has formatting options to make it look pretty and depending on what you’re writing, I would definitely encourage using them.

You can attach audio or record audio to put out with your writing. This can be you reading your post or some extra thoughts you think might go along with the post to make it better.

When picking a category, choose what your writing most closely relates to. A journal entry could be about fantasies you have, experiences or even dreams. Erotica would be for short stories and Notes are good for updates or information. It doesn’t seem like picking a category is needed to post the writing but choosing one will put a little header on your writing and may help someone decide to read it or not.

Tags work the same as other media, pick things that focus on what you wrote. I don’t recommend using tags like “writing” or “story”, they take up one of your 5 tags and users can see that is what it is in the category they are looking at. There is also a whole section on the website  under “more” to find specifically writings with its own fresh & pervy and kinky & popular pages.