Starting Over After Losing 22.1K Followers on Snapchat
TL;DR: I lost my 22.1k Snapchat followers, 200+ paying buyers, after relying almost entirely on Snapchat as my sales funnel. I do have an old Reddit with ~27k followers, but it’s tied to a posting method I no longer use (free nudes to as many subs as possible, B/G content, unedited low quality content) and I don’t wanna do that anymore so I’m debating whether to rebuild that brand or start completely fresh. I’m now trying to figure out if I should try to rebuild what I already had or if I should start over with a clean slate and fresh branding. If you’ve successfully rebuilt after losing one of your main platforms, I’d especially love advice on keeping vs changing your brand, transferring an old audience vs starting over, which platforms/traffic sources are worth prioritizing today, and the biggest mistakes you’d avoid if you could start over.
I’m posting this from a throwaway account because I don’t know if I want to use my old Reddit account and alert my fans that I’m getting active again, but I am willing to verify by any means necessary to prove that I am in fact a former/coming back content creator.
Hello everyone! I’m looking for advice from creators who have successfully rebuilt after losing a major platform/audience. I had 22.1k followers on Snapchat and over 200 paying buyers with years of buying history. Snapchat was essentially my entire sales funnel, my audience was loyal, high paying, and I did very well there. Unfortunately, I was permanently banned this weekend and I lost access to everything, including buyers I had just been working with. I learned a lesson the hard way that many people post here on this sub, NEVER build your entire business on one platform, especially Snapchat. I also learned the hard way that I wasn’t properly backing up my content. I thought that because my account was older I wouldn’t get in trouble, but I was wrong. I lost years of photos and videos that were only stored on Snapchat, so I’m now moving everything to external storage and building an actual physical backup system, as well as finding a new app with filters to record on.
The frustrating part is that I do have another established audience. My Reddit has around 27k followers, but I intentionally stopped promoting it years ago. My old Reddit strategy relied heavily on free nude content, and I eventually felt like I was constantly having to give more and more away for free or push myself into riskier content just to convince people to buy (outdoor and cheating content to name a few). After 4 years of doing that (2019-2022), I quit to focus on college and my mental health. After a few years away and some new diagnosises, I eventually came back to sex work with a completely different mindset and much stronger sense of self and self worth. I wanted to be more intentional about my brand, my boundaries, and the quality of my content. That’s when I started posting on my Snapchat again. And then Snapchat disappeared overnight. 😭
Now I’m stuck between rebuilding what I had or starting over fresh with a clean slate. On one hand, I would like to start over with a new name and identity because I have a lot of old content I’m no longer proud of. When I started at 18, I used a username and accounts that were connected to my real life identity (not my real name, but it was a username I used on basically every account I ever made on my own before starting sex work, so everyone in my real life knew) posted low quality/unpolished/unedited content, and made a lot of decisions that I wouldn’t make today at 25. I also used to do B/G content, which I no longer do and have no current interest in returning to, and I know that Reddit has only gotten more difficult to promote on over time by reading some of the posts on this sub. But I’m the other hand, I know I have something valuable:a recognizable brand name,loyal buyers, a genuine love for this work that keeps me coming back, and skills that only come from years of experience.
Right now I’m considering rebuilding across a few platforms, but things are very different from when I quit 4 years ago so I’m not sure what the best method is. I’ve been namely looking at Fansly, Playboy Club, Hidden and Stripchat for the paid content and Telegram, Instagram, TikTok as more of a sales funnel for reach, direct messages, and daily updates/teases. I’ve also considered reviving my old OnlyFans, especially since I have fans with their rebill on there and they accidentally got charged recently when I responded to a message asking about my Snapchat ban, so it’s the first time my account was “active” in years and many people got charged that rebill. But onlyfans has price limits that are too low with my current prices, as I used to charge $60 a month for my premium snap for 3-5 nude posts a day as well as customs that easily passed $100, and I’m unsure if I should just post less on my OF or just continue to leave the platform alone. I’m honestly overwhelmed by the number of choices and don’t want to make the same mistake of putting too much into one platform or giving away too much content for free or underpricing/overpricing myself and regretting it later on. So here’s a list of questions for anyone who has the experience and is willing to answer:
If you lost your biggest platform and had to rebuild, would you keep your existing name/brand or start completely fresh? Especially if said brand was similar to your real identity?
If you had an existing audience but wanted to raise the quality of your brand and leave your old content behind, would you try to migrate that audience or treat it as a true rebrand and start from scratch?
What platforms or traffic sources would you prioritize right now if you had no following, and which ones would you not waste time on?
What is the biggest mistake you made when rebuilding that you wish someone had warned you about?
If you could start all over again today, what would you do differently and why?
I’m especially interested in hearing from creators who have gone from losing everything and coming back even better than before, because I truly do believe that my content is higher quality and as such my comeback should theoretically be even better than my original run. Any advice and feedback is greatly appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read this giant wall of text lol!