PRESENTING: OnlyFans is like Instagram for NSFW images. Top influencers explain how they're building big followings and earning 6 figures on the 'paywall of porn.'
OnlyFans is an online platform where users subscribe to content from creators of all kinds, but it's especially known for explicit content that's forbidden on other social media sites.
In recent years, OnlyFans has become the preeminent platform for people looking to make money off selfies — particularly risque ones. Sex workers, a term used to describe people who provide sexual services such as explicit images or phone sex for income, use OnlyFans to conceal this content behind a paywall and charge for subscriptions.
Due to 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% of the revenue. As a result, the site has been hailed as a key resource for these sex influencers looking to capitalize directly on their fanbase.
However, OnlyFans entrepreneurs face several challenges promoting their work because the content policies of most websites and social media platforms restrict the sharing of not-safe-for-work content. 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.
And, 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 fanbase and then direct it to their OnlyFans.
Despite these obstacles, OnlyFans sex workers have successfully built massive paying audiences, with some top workers even 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 "Savage."
Business Insider spoke with a number of OnlyFans' top entrepreneurs to find out how they built their followings from scratch, then converted them into a lucrative business.
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.