Rapper Cardi B has announced she’s making an OnlyFans account. For US$4.99 a month, her fans can see behind-the-scenes content from her recent Wap music video with Megan Thee Stallion. In recent years, OnlyFans has become the pre-eminent platform for people looking to make money off content – particularly risqué content. The platform’s rise in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic has helped it enter the mainstream and provide an additional source of income for strippers and sex workers. OnlyFans reported 3.5 million new sign-ups in March, a 75 per cent increase from previous months. Now, with personalities like Cardi B and Blac Chyna on the platform, it’s another venue for celebrities to monetise their massive followings and promote their latest work. YouTubers, influencers, and reality TV stars have also found success marketing uncensored content on OnlyFans. Because of the site’s lack of content restrictions, creators can upload photos and videos containing nudity. Users then place this content behind a paywall and charge subscriptions for access, keeping 80 per cent of the revenue. As a result, the site has been hailed as a key resource for sex influencers looking to capitalise directly on their fan base. However, OnlyFans entrepreneurs face several challenges promoting their work because the content policies of most websites and social media platforms restrict the sharing of content that is not safe for work (NSFW). The architecture of the OnlyFans website also presents challenges because it lacks a “Discover” feature or recommendation system, meaning users can have trouble finding new creators to follow. Because users are unable to see an account’s content until after they subscribe, it’s challenging to convince a user to pay unless they already know the creator. This Catch-22 inhibits growth, as it forces OnlyFans creators to rely on other social media sites – many of which are hostile to sex workers – to build their fan base and then direct it to their OnlyFans account. Despite these obstacles, sex workers on OnlyFans have successfully built massive paying audiences, with some making six figures from their accounts. The website has soared in popularity during the pandemic, and Beyoncé recently name-dropped OnlyFans on Megan Thee Stallion’s song Savage . While most entrepreneurs are unlikely to replicate the kind of NSFW content available on sex workers’ pages, the techniques that they use for building audiences, creating unique content, and retaining subscribers can be applied to any industry that relies on user-generated revenue. Unique content is the key when you’re trying to convince users to pay for it. If your material is so standard that a user can find it elsewhere for free, chances are they will. King Noire, a sex worker on OnlyFans who specialises in kink and BDSM, says that finding and developing a niche should be a creator’s first priority. “People subscribe to me because my content is unique,” said Noire. “There might be other people who do something similar, but they don’t do it with my expertise or flavour.” Because OnlyFans generates revenue for its creators through subscriptions, the key is identifying and catering to an overlooked niche rather than branding yourself as a lowest common denominator creator. In the world of subscriptions, depth, not breadth, is key. OnlyFans sex workers agree: the NSFW content attracts users, but the connection keeps them. “What other platform allows you to text with the people you watch online?” says OnlyFans creator Erica North, who doesn’t identify as a sex worker, but whose account is in the top 0.17 per cent of creators and has netted her more than US$250,000 in 2020. North, in particular, doubles down on the sense of intimacy that the site affords. Rather than use OnlyFans primarily for sharing nude content, she turned to the platform as a way to monetise the lines of communication she had established with fans across the United States. “I tell people, ‘My favourite feature on OnlyFans is talking to people’,” said North. “I really mean it when I tell them that I’m there for them, I want to talk to them, and that doing so is the best part of my day.” King Noire agrees, especially since word-of-mouth recommendations can be the most helpful channel for getting new fans. “Despite how technologically advanced we get, nothing will give your profile a better boost than a fan who feels like you’re in their corner,” said Noire. People subscribe to me because my content is unique. There might be other people who do something similar, but they don’t do it with my expertise or flavour King Noire, a sex worker who charges for content on OnlyFans High-quality content is the most critical factor in a channel’s success, but for every minute you spend working on your offering, OnlyFans entrepreneurs recommend spending twice as much time promoting it. Especially on a site like OnlyFans, where built-in restrictions limit the number of people who will discover your content, a concerted effort to push material out is critical. OnlyFans entrepreneur Miss Henley, a sex worker who is in the top 0.5 per cent of the OnlyFans community and whose page has generated US$100,000 in revenue in the past 12 months, says she splits her efforts about 70:30, with most of her time going to promotion. “If you’re not being your own biggest billboard, then you’re doing a disservice to yourself.” The OnlyFans community is intensely cooperative. Creators plug each other on social media call-outs or on their channels to help make up for OnlyFans’ lack of an automated recommendation system. Sex workers will also recommend each other directly to their clients using discreet communication apps such as Telegram, Signal, or Discord. On social media, OnlyFans creators employ an unofficial payment scheme when promoting one another, said Amber Killion, a sex worker whose gross revenue has already topped US$100,000 this year. If both parties have similarly sized audiences, they often tout one another for free. If one has a larger fan base, they might charge between US$35 and US$70 for a promotion, says Killion. Many creators, though, will plug the work of others they admire without any prearranged agreement. “I feel like association with other NSFW creators is the biggest asset that you could have as far as promotion,” said Miss Henley. “I’ve never heard of anybody successful that doesn’t associate with accounts outside themselves.”