Recently, XBIZ asked some of the top studios what they do to cultivate a thriving cam model community, both within the studio and beyond on social media. Here’s what they had to say:
Co-founder Anthony Rivera said that within the studio, AJ Studios embraces a “win-win” philosophy.
We take our models out on holidays, not just to events where they are actually working on the studio’s image, plus we encourage and advise them to invest their money into different types of benefits. -Silvia, Angels Studio
“This is the number one reason we have had so many successes and became the largest webcam studio in all of South America,” Rivera told XBIZ, “but we are globally recognized for our professionalism and business innovation.”
Rivera pointed out that AJ Studios’ personal touch stems from it basically being a family business.
“I and my father started this company and have always kept a really strong family-based focus on it and believe that everyone in the day-to-day operations is valuable in the success of the business,” Rivera says. “No matter the success we have achieved over the years a constant always remains — AJ Studios always stays humble and knows that if you take care of your employees, they will be loyal and work to take care of the business that takes care of them.”
As for reaching beyond its walls, Rivera says AJ Studios strongly believes in partnerships.
“Sponsoring and supporting the industry that has supported our business, we have helped many new, up and coming small studios get a running start at attaining success in the industry,” Rivera told XBIZ. “That is why AJ Studios had a vision and started the LALExpo a few years ago, to help expand, support and enhance the markets in the webcam industry as a whole. AJ Studios and the LALExpo have become platforms to educate and promote understanding of the opportunities in the industry.”
“In an industry where so many people focus on singular issues or events, AJ Studios understands that seeing the big picture is the only way to operate its business and to help the webcam industry keep evolving,” Rivera concluded. “For companies to become trend setters, you cannot achieve success unless you get up every day and work hard to stay successful in the industry that we all love and appreciate.”
This self-starting drive is echoed throughout the camming community, from individual performers to the companies that bring them to consumers.
“LCM already has its own community of users,” Live Cams Mansion CEO Adrian shared. “All our models are interacting on social media with users, and we have a lot of visits by users during our 24/7 live voyeur spy cams.”
Underscoring the sense of family prevalent throughout the camming community, SmartChat Studio CEO Razvan Vasilescu told XBIZ “we are always together.”
“We try to be like a family and help any member of the family to understand the cam business,” Vasilescu explained. “We are trying the same on social media, to make people understand what the cam business is and to see the good parts of it.”
Studio 20 CEO Mugur Cosmin Frunzetti remarked, “We are proud of what we do and we help our models be proud of their work and be public about it, this is the most important thing for us. [Being] a cam model is a great career that turns girls into strong, independent, financially and personally successful women. It is a reason to be proud and to tell others about it.”
This emphasis on caring for and nurturing models is a hallmark of top-tier studios.
COO Mia Saldarriaga told XBIZ that JuanBustos.com is a model-centric company that fosters a great cam community inside its studios — and beyond.
“We are always making sure models are well-taken care of,” Saldarriaga said. “We help in every detail they need, and even the models that work from home count, with a logistics team and professionals available to answer any question and help them with what they need.
“Outside our company, we have a very big presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, where we post advice every day that helps the models to become top models in the sites they work,” Saldarriaga added. “We also have the JuanBustos University where we give live conferences every Thursday on different topics of interest for the models, broadcast through CAM4 and JuanBustos.com.”
Indeed, one valuable benefit that studios offer is the ability and expertise needed to educate talent.
Diego Hernández told XBIZ that M Group Stars provides constant training for staff and models.
“[We] also share that training and knowledge with models and staff of our allies. We share our pride for the industry and also the news we gather from shows and magazines such as XBIZ,” Hernández explained. “We have Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, and post daily about our models and other topics related to the industry.”
Calling respect, tolerance and loyalty the pillars of any relationship, Silvia from Angels Studio told XBIZ that this is what models get from the staff and management team at Angels Studio — and this is what the studio gets in return from its models.
“We take our models out on holidays, not just to events where they are actually working on the studio’s image, plus we encourage and advise them to invest their money into different types of benefits,” Silvia unveiled. “For instance, buy a car, an apartment, expensive clothes — whatever their personal goal is, they have our studio’s full support.
“When people have goals and know that someone has their back in case they fall,” Silvia concluded, “they tend to work more and better.”
This emphasis on long work hours ties in with the family feel of cam studio life.
“Most people spend more time at work than they do at home,” observed Charm Studios’ chief marketing manager Madalina Chiouru. “So we are trying to make them a little happier and to make them feel [like they’re at home]. Our first victory is, for sure, to make every model feel at home.”
“If we’re talking about social media, as we already say, ‘Charm Group has a marketing department!’” Chiouru exclaimed. “All the content from models goes through this department’s hands, and after processing arrives on Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other new platforms.”
LiveStudio CEO Alexandru Miulescu said he cannot take full credit, because he has a team that works closely with the models.
“Communication is the key in every community and we pride ourselves on a transparent communication with our models,” Miulescu told XBIZ. “In order to keep the team united we organize team building and try different challenges which we successfully complete.
“Concerning social media, maybe we aren’t as active as other competitors because for us it is more important to build and maintain internal communication,” Miulescu added. “Of course, we are aware of the social media importance in our daily life so for us every post or comment is a step closer to having an impact in people’s lives.”
NightProwl Studio owner Alexandru Gheorghe is another believer in the value of building family-style relationships as a key to better business.
“We aim to strengthen the relationship between models and to make them truly believe that we are not just employers and employees, but more like one big and happy family,” Gheorghe said. “Since we aim to be a happy family, we often organize thematic days such as ice cream day, candy day or fruits day, in the studio. We always organize birthday parties for all of the models and staff members, and we often get involved in outdoor activities to cover most efficient team building practices.
“Every Thursday evening, for instance, the entire team goes out, hitting the most trendy pubs or restaurant, and we call this activity ‘Pub Thursday,’” he told XBIZ. “Through these kinds of activities, we succeeded to create a beautiful and harmonious group that shows a particular desire to overcome their best results and which is also really proud of their line of work.”
Pro AVC Studio general manager Evelina Cirlan told XBIZ that nowadays, “a lot of people tend to forget that a community is a breathing, living thing and not just a mere social concept.”
“In order to cultivate a thriving cam model community you have to be dedicated entirely and be ready to listen to its voice, to educate accordingly, to help and support daily, to inspire and motivate long before inspiration and motivation are needed,” Cirlan explained. “Within the studio, we provide guidance to our models on all levels irrespective of the targeted field. We organize regular workshops that come to meet all the demands regarding their online activity, trends and issues that they might encounter at some point in their daily work. We encourage them to speak up. We get them involved in business trips and events that are meant to broaden their perspectives and understanding of their work, and we also empower them and challenge them to become the best version of themselves.
“Social media is excellent, but it’s a very sensitive tool that functions as a catalyst,” Cirlan concluded. “Therefore we use it accordingly, to continuously evolve and perfect our expertise.”
Clearly, today’s top cam studios focus on carefully cultivating staff and clients alike, leveraging their family-oriented outlook with the power of social media to foster a sense of community, purpose and pride in being part of the dynamic world of camming and the cutting edge of communication.