Since Creators Spicy Tea's website is being censored by ISPs across the US, we will be slowly sharing the education library here as well to ensure it is well preserved. You can support the efforts of the team here. This resource consists of excerpts from the Direct Selling on Reddit | The Adult Content Creators Beginners Guide

Starting an Account on Reddit

Reddit is a forum based social-media-like platform that prides itself on community involvement and has a strong focus on anti-spam. As a promotional platform for adult content it provides ample opportunity, and ample road blocks. When it comes to selling on the platform, the roadblocks double, but so can the income opportunities when done right.

When on Reddit you will find plenty of different ‘social norms and standards’ that pretty much must be followed (or face the wrath of the trolls and redditors). Along with the platform social standards there are multiple other Reddit-specific details that a direct adult content seller must know of on platform. Lets get into it all!

Account Set Up

• Secure Your Account
  • Connect and verify your email address immediately.
    • This does a couple things. Not only does it help protect your account, it also helps show Reddit itself that you are a actual user and not a bot.
  • Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) to safeguard your account from hacking.
• Hide Your Post History
  • Turn off ‘Show Active Communities’ visibility so others can’t see the communities you’ve participated in.
    • This is especially important if you’re active in location-based subreddits, like those for your city or region.
• Review Privacy Settings
  • Go through Reddit’s privacy options and adjust them to ensure you’re not sharing unnecessary information.

Profile set up

When creating your profile there are a few things that are important to know and a few things that are important to have set up.

• Your username and display name
• Profile picture
• Profile banner
• Bio
• Social links
• Pinned post

Check out this video starting at 4:10 for tips on creating your profile!

Username Tips

• Your username can NEVER be changed! Double and triple check it when making it!
  • Some major NSFW subs will not verify or allow accounts with a Reddit generated name, so definitely make your own.
• Try and keep it the same or similar to all your other platforms and true to your branding
• Never use any of your real information.
• You can also set a display name. This will be shown throughout reddit instead of your username. This name is able to be changed.
• Though your profile picture may be hidden or replaced with a spoiler image on posts or comments elsewhere on Reddit, your username will always show. Be sure it aligns with your brand.

Profile Picture Tips

• Keep it a 1×1 square aspect ratio. The image will be converted to a circle. Be sure to keep the focus of the image centered.
• 💡Pro tip: If you export your profile image as a PNG with a transparent background, it will remain with no background on your profile when uploaded. Here is mine for example.

https://preview.redd.it/8zvi1u7m1mfh1.png?width=300&format=png&auto=webp&s=723ff0dbc47e675e818a2ec66476bac6ace056e6

Profile Banner

• Your banner sits at the top of your profile and can help set the tone of your profile.
• It is important to know that this is a very wide very thin space. Recommended dimensions are 1920×384 px

Bio & Social Links

• Keep your bio concise yet engaging. Try and mention your niche or focus to attract your right demographic.
• Get your personality into your bio! Don’t make it all about selling. Reddit is primarily a community focused platform. The community needs to be able to have an introduction to you as a human. Not just as a seller.
• Your profile has a section to include social links. The order of your links are very important as on some devices or browsers only the first will show.
  • Best practices for this is to always put your main platform first OR your link hosting site OR if you have it, your own domain.
• When it comes to adding your social links there are some important notes to keep in mind.
  • Heavily think through all possibilities before placing your payment links in your profile.
    • If you have them that public you run the risk of a minor sending money to you via a platform you use in the process of sex work. Even if you find out and return that, that will forever be on your statements.
  • There are some links and domains that are banned on Reddit and when used will either be filtered by the spam filter (which we will get to later) or get you shadowbanned (we’ll chat on that too). Check this resource, which is being constantly updated, for the ones we know of.

Pinned Post

Having a post pinned to your profile is crucial! This is a space where you can provide details about your offerings while also giving users a feel for your style. The below resource will go in depth on everything your pinned post needs to include!

TLDR:

• Short introduction to you and your content creation
• Limits and terms that buyers must know prior to reaching out
• Your menus
• Your contact methods and links
• FAQ section

This resource goes in depth on pinned posts and why it is so important to have one.

 💡Pro Tip: Use a text based post and add in images and GIFs to help break up walls of text and maintain visual interest. Check out the resource below to see how to do that!

The Reddit Know-How

Reddit is a tricky platform for many because it is often forgotten that it is NOT a social media platform. It is a forum based platform. On top of that it is a forum based platform that thrives on anonymity and a hatred for self promotion. With those in mind, the question usually is: How do I interact on this platform in a rule and etiquette conscious manner, and still promote?

Reddit Rules

You are responsible for knowing and following Reddit’s platform rules. Y’all, when you lose an account on Reddit it is so much more devastating and hard to build it back. You are not just losing an account and followers, but you now have to build you karma back from the beginning. Its easier to never give the admins an excuse to boot or shadowban you.

• Reddit’s core rules cover everything you can and cannot use the site for including the type of content you can and cannot publish.
• As we are planning to sell adult content we must know the rules on prohibited transactions.
  • Selling virtual sexual goods and services is not technically either of those. But physical sexual services are.
• Reddiquette is Reddit’s Etiquette policy as decided upon by both admins and users. It is very important to familiarize yourself with this set of policies as users themselves, the billions of users who flock to that platform, will interact with you depending on you following this set of policies.
• Reddit has guidelines for self-promotion. The general consensus is that it’s totally okay to be a redditor with a website, but not okay to be a website with a Reddit account. Generally meaning, it’s okay to use the platform as a user and sometimes promote your work, it is not okay to use the platform to solely promote your work. But let’s give those guidelines a deeper look.
• Reddit is strongly anti-spam. Knowing the rules regarding spam will help you plan your posting and platform behavior strategy. Not paying attention to these rules can land you caught in the spam filter. An AI based filter that will catch anything it deems spammy and take it down from the platform. Too many times getting caught in that spam filter will lead to a shadowban or worse,
• An important rule to keep in mind, and one that is a bit hidden is the 9:1 rule for links. That rule state that for every post or comment that includes a link taking users off Reddit that you make, you should have about 9 genuine interactions in the community that include no off-links.
  • As a direct content seller this can be tricky as your comment menu should include all your contact methods. The best way I have found to combat this is to link only to my pinned post which then contains all the important information.