Lighting the high-speed CAM4 railway ablaze astride that mightiest of iron horses, is cam model conductor Nikki Night. And from those graceful shoulders, her patron network’s famed logo unfurls like a glorious banner, for she is one of its finest assets.
Flanked by kindred CAM4 heroines Ela Darling and Jelena Jensen, Night forms a sacred trinity of business-savvy seductresses. A veritable force of nature unto themselves, these fiery femme fatales lead cam models of every stripe onto increasingly prosperous pathways … destined for unprecedented greatness.
Record your own show and watch it! I can talk to you until I am purple in the face, but if you don’t see what your viewers are seeing, then you will never improve … ask yourself, ‘Would I watch me? Would I tip me?’ You should be a fan of your own shows before you ask someone else to be a devoted fan. -Nikki Night, Cam4
Night is the vanguard vixen devoted to performer training and development, commanding the battlefield of an increasingly competitive marketplace with self-assured professionalism. Like a field marshal, she inspires attention and respect immediately. And all who bask in her incandescent strength, who marvel at her ferocity, her wisdom and her cunning, are instantly galvanized into action.
What better way to catch lightning in a bottle, to billow the XBIZ Cam World sails with stormy gales, than to invite this badass babe-and-a-half to deliver her sermon on the mount? Witness thus, these glistening pearls of wisdom, from an unforgettable minx!
XBIZ: Tell us about your cam model journey. What led you to join this vibrant industry, and how have you evolved as a performer? Did your experiences prior to camming influence your approach to this unique biz?
Night: The story of how I started camming is not a unique one, but I was fortunate that it happened. I was broke, looking for options to make money that offered a flexible schedule, and one that didn’t include retail. I didn’t find anything, then one day out of the blue, one of my girlfriends called to tell me about how she started “internet modeling” (that’s how she introduced it) and that I should give it a try.
As she explained to me what internet modeling was, I started to recall seeing a few popup ads about cam sites (while surfing for porn) and thought, “How do these people even think to do this? How did they even know where to apply for this job?”
My lovely girlfriend was trying to give me vital information on blocking my location, how to sign up and what to expect, and all I wanted to know was if I could wear a costume. “Hahaha, um yeah, the guys will love that … just don’t be too weird or the guys won’t get it,” she cautioned. And there it was, Violet Night (my first online persona) was born.
I loved games, kinky roleplaying, sensual dirty talk and teasing ... so that’s what Violet liked. Over the years (like most performers), I became confident, tough and a whole lot smarter as to what I believe online — there should be a new name for “street smart” when it comes to the internet … “cyber smart” maybe?
XBIZ: How did you become involved with CAM4, as its performer coach and brand ambassador?
Night: It was my sister that initially hooked me up with CAM4, she was the bartender at a staff member’s favorite bar. And, being the beautiful, charismatic theater actress she is, they actually asked her if she would be interested in applying. She politely declined, and told them they needed to meet me. After taking their contact information she grabbed her cellphone and ran to the back office to call me.
I had just finished my show and logged off for the evening when I received this call from my sister telling me about CAM4. “I have a job opportunity for you … but it’s in porn,” she said. She was worried about me getting mixed up with this potentially “shady” industry. “Dude, I’m literally naked right now after masturbating on the Internet, I’m already in porn,” I replied. So, she passed on my info and I went for the interview and the rest is history.
XBIZ: You’re very adept at using various communication channels to keep your audience engaged, such as YouTube, social media and the CAM4 blog. Which of these have proven most effective, in your opinion? How do the analytics compare and which topics seem to generate the most interest?
Night: YouTube ... I get recognized from You-Tube all the time, and it’s interesting because I have way more followers on social media than I do “views” on my YouTube coaching videos. My theory as to why that’s the case, is because audiences use these platforms so differently — people are very accustomed to seeing tutorials on YouTube and regularly use it as a resource for information. As for social media, people use it more for entertainment and keeping in touch with current events. While all platforms are great, each is going to offer something different.
My recommendations to performers: Snapchat! You can sell your Snapchat, Premium Snapchat, private messages, etc. and of course, we can’t forget SnapCash. Tumblr and Reddit too — the traffic on these pages is mind-blowing, so if you are not already using these blog-style sites to upload pics, URLs, social media handles and such, you need to start! Twitter — other than the obvious reasons to love Twitter, it provides you with powerful analytics that give valuable insight on your followers … where they are globally, age, gender, spoken languages and their hobbies/interests. With this info, you can create tweets around things they really like. Say you have a huge following of men from London, England who are into soccer, you can tweet a picture of you wearing a soccer jersey before an upcoming match.
Whatever platform you’re on, make sure you include pictures, videos, relevant numbers, your room URL and such, so they can find you … and talk to them. Ask yourself, “Would I follow me on social media? Is this interesting?” If the answer is “yes!” then you’re on your way to being a social media star.
XBIZ: What are the most critical lessons you wish to impart to aspiring cam models? What about tips and tricks for veterans who have already mastered the basics — how can they take their game to the next level?
Night: Record your own show and watch it! I can talk to you until I am purple in the face, but if you don’t see what your viewers are seeing, then you will never improve. Just like the social media questions I talked about in the previous question, ask yourself, “Would I watch me? Would I tip me?” You should be a fan of your own shows before you ask someone else to be a devoted fan. Seeing things from the eyes of the person you are asking money from is a big step towards success.
XBIZ: Do you interface closely with the CAM4 team in executing their vision? Do they afford you a great deal of independence, with more of an overarching set of guidelines for fulfilling your mission?
Night: It’s funny you asked this, because just now the head of strategy asked me to participate in a “sprint” dealing with the first 24 hours on CAM4. A sprint is like a hack-a-thon where we focus on one thing only for five days, to perfect the product ... and I’m totally doing it. So, quite often I’ll work directly with the rest of the CAM4 team, but day-to-day I have quite a bit of independence. I’m lucky that my direct boss trusts my expertise and values my input so he can just let me do my Nikki thing.
XBIZ: What makes CAM4 a unique platform for cam models to perform on? How does it stay ahead of the curve and distinguish itself from the competition?
Night: I would have to say the community. CAM4 is like no place else when it comes to the amazing people that make up this site, performers and viewers alike. When it comes to the site itself, CAM4 is always working to improve our performers’ experience by building tools right into their broadcast window, like Roll-the-Dice, LiveTouch, Note (attaches notes to a viewer’s username that only you can see, and remain until you remove it) and private show rates that can be set up to 100 tokens a minute (CAM4 tokens are worth 10 cents each to performers).
CAM4 also offers other features to performers and viewers like FanClubs, MyShop (upload and sell videos from your profile) and the ability to broadcast right from your Android or smartphone with C4 Broadcaster app (available in the Google Play store). And we can’t forget coaching! CAM4 was the first site to offer free live coaching, and now it’s offered in seven languages worldwide — with male-specific coaching available as well — in English, French, Italian and German.
XBIZ: Tell us what it was like participating in XBIZ Miami. Did you find cam models receptive to your message? How would you describe CAM4’s approach to this year’s gathering? Your company definitely represented, big time!
Night: The show itself was amazing, but I should mention how impressed I was at all the prep work everyone did leading up to the show! Leah Mahi from XBIZ was introducing all the presenters and speakers weeks before the show so we could form a solid game plan for our respective panels. We had schedules and formed Twitter group chats to be in contact with each other and stay in touch on the latest show info. Needless to say, all the prep work paid off and the show went off without a hitch.
And the models … oh yes “bb” the models! I am always impressed (but never surprised) at how smart and business savvy they are! We kept this in mind going into the show, and decided to use this opportunity to film high quality promo content for our models that attended. It worked out perfectly! All the models at the show were amazing … I loved meeting them, helping them resolve problems they’re experiencing, listening to them and connecting with them on a business level when we talk about the industry.
XBIZ: CAM4 has some very potent industry figures in its arsenal, such as Ela Darling, Jelena Jensen and yourself. What’s it like working on such a killer team?
Night: Can I please start off by saying what amazing badass babes these two are! Ela Darling — porn star babe genius who is such an incredible role model I could just gush about her contributions to this industry and technology all day. Jelena Jensen — business savvy babe with connections to everyone and everything in the industry who works her fucking ass off … oh, did I mention she’s fucking Jelena Jensen?! Yeah. It’s an honor and a privilege to work alongside these women. Mic drop!
