IZEA Launches Sponsored Tweets

I’m sure most of you who are on Twitter are already familiar with Twittad and Magpie, Twitter advertising networks/services that provide Twitter users a way to make money on Twitter. Yesterday, IZEA, the company behind Social Spark and PayPerPost unveiled its newest online money making service called Sponsored Tweets.

What is Sponsored Tweets?

Sponsored Tweets is a Twitter advertising service that matches tweeters with advertisers. It allows marketers to hire both celebrity and long tail twitter users based on categories, keywords and other data. Twitter users tweet out messages on behalf of the advertiser in a transparent and honest fashion. SponsoredTweets.com is a self-service platform.

Homepage
Sponsored Tweets - Make Money on Twitter

What makes Sponsored Tweets different from TwitThis and Magpie?

Compared to other Twitter advertising services that were launched before it, Sponsored Tweets is not only well funded but it also learned from the mistakes and weaknesses of its competitors by adapting transparency, ethics and employing the help/services of celebrity Twitter users.

To get a closer view of how it works, I’ve signed up with Sponsored Tweets and this is how the control panel looks like:

Sponsored Tweets Control Panel

As a user, you can set the price/amount you charge per tweet or click, select the ad type, your tweet category (business, entertainment, technology), specify content type (everyone, mature, adults only), define keywords and set up the notification settings. The user can accept or reject offers or opportunities from advertisers. If the user decides to accept a certain offer, the user’s account will be credited within 24 hours after the tweet was sent. Once the account accumulates a minimum of $50, the user can then withdraw the money.

Transparency, Ethics, Disclosure

Disclosure is 100% mandatory. Sponsored Tweets require all advertisers and tweeters to include a disclosure phrase to their tweets. Sponsored Tweets goes an extra step to ensure 100% disclosure by using an automated disclosure engine. Below is a video on how the automated disclosure engine works:

Celebrity Tweeters

Sponsored Tweets Celebrities

One of Sponsored Tweets’ strategies is to use celebrity tweeters to endorse and use the product. Such celebrities include Kim Kardashian, Playboy Playmates Holly Madison & Kendra Wilkinson, comedian Carrot Top, chef Bethenny Frankel and web celebrities like Chris Pirillo, Neil Patel, Jeremy “Shoemoney” Shoemaker and John Chow just to name a few.

My Take:
If you ask me, Sponsored Tweets and the likes only work for Tweeters who have a large following and have a certain level of authority on a certain niche. Even if you have a large following and even if you’re a celebrity, not all of your followers will want to click on a link especially if they know that it’s a sponsored tweet.

Although earning extra income would be a nice idea, I’ve stayed away from these type of services from the first time they were introduced. I’ve already deactivated my account on Sponsored Tweets. Like I said earlier, I only signed up for an account just to have a closer look on the system and I have no plans of reactivating it. I’m not saying that this is bad and that you shouldn’t use it or sign up with them. Its just a personal preference of mine and I want it to stay that way.

How about you guys? What do you think of Sponsored Tweets? Would you sell sponsored tweets on your Twitter account? Would you click on a sponsored tweet link? Please share your thoughts.

This post may contain affiliate links that allow us to earn commissions at no additional cost to you. We are reader-supported so when you buy through the affiliate links, you are also helping or supporting us. 

12 Comments

  1. @Harsh – Me too and still had the feeling when I did this review. But as time has passed by, I’m beginning to think that Sponsored Tweets is not a bad idea. I might even give it a try, but I’ll have to think it over really well before I do that.

    Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! :)

  2. I never liked the idea of making money from tweets, but Sponsored tweet is one of few programs which I actually liked…
    Probably control over ad tweets is something which I always wanted..and since its been recommended by some big players..I don’t mind trying it out…

  3. @DiTesco – You don’t have to say sorry because you opened up or raised some very good points there my friend. I like the idea of opening a second Twitter account just for “making money”. I might even try it out sometime. Hehe

    Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about this topic and looking forward to see you share and participate in future posts. Have a nice day! :)

  4. First question is do you want to make money online? Making money online is doing business. While this may sound controversial, doing business on Twitter is something that everybody is “unfortunately” doing nowadays. Even Twitter themselves released a Special Guide to doing business on Twitter. Dell and other major brands are using it.

    Now back to sponsored tweets. I know that most of people like you and Jan and Elmot are friends and use Twitter to communicate and get more friends. Obviously everyone knows that it is possible to have more than one account on Twitter.

    If you want to make money online, this is my suggestion. Open an account that is tailored for sponsored Tweets, like magpie, revtwt, twittad, etc. Grow your follower base by using the tons of tools out there. Tweet something related to your chosen niche and launch campaigns of sponsored tweets. Here is an example. I created an account about hot deals. I tweet promotions, offers, coupons and posts about places to visit, reviews of products, etc. In between these Tweets, I launch affiliate links, sponsored tweets etc. People who follow “@deals” know that it is what I tweet about. Now there is a fine line between doing this and considering it as SPAM. I don’t DM and Tweet only the same things in different timelines. If my followers find any “hot deal” I promote, they click on it. Also remember that there are people using Twitter search ony for this purpose and they are all potential “clients”

    The example above does not hurt your reputation nor credibility. They don’t even know that I am @deals. I have several accounts and use each one of them for a specific purpose. Obviously @ditesco is the one I use for Tweetering as it was made to be:) Ocasionally, there will be some promos in there too:)

    Sorry for this long comment (almost a post actually). This is my first time to comment here on your blog.

  5. @elmot – Well you have to coz if not, Jan will get mad at you. Hehe just kidding ;)

    Yes, I agree and I understand what you mean. Like I said, this new service will be viewed differently according to the users preference and how they use Twitter. In your case and with Jan’s, this type of service would be inappropriate.

    Thanks! Glad you like the changes and the new blog mascot. Yep, I’ve had it designed to look a bit like me. ;)

  6. I agree with Jan Jayps. Though I only have a little following on my twitter, almost all of them are friends and those who chose to follow me. And having followers, it also means that you have to take care of them and not bombard them with tweets like this, quite uncomfortable with me.

    Hey, love the makeover, the new header! And of course, the mascot? Looks like you eh? wahehehhe!

  7. @Gem – I deactivated it coz I had no plans of using it. They also don’t have a referral or affiliate program and even if they did, I won’t use it coz I don’t want to promote something I don’t even want to use.

    I’ve had offers from Magpie and Twittad but never accepted them. I also opened accounts with those sites for testing purposes.

    Oh really? Well you wouldn’t lose me as a follower/friend but I sure won’t be clicking on it if I knew it was a sponsored tweet. Hehe :D

  8. @jan – Only 5k followers? Thats already a lot of followers, I even only have 800+. :P

    That’s a good point. Sponsored tweets becomes appropriate or inappropriate depending on your own personal preference and how you use Twitter. In your case, since you use it as a communication tool, it wouldn’t be appropriate if you do sponsored tweets.

    Hehe..yeah, that’s a good way of testing and having hands on experience with a certain product/service. ;)

  9. I feel uncomfortable doing sponsored tweets. Not because I have only 5k followers – there’s merit in having large follower base as you point out – but because I treat Twitter as a tool for conversation and making meaningful connections.

    It’s not holier-than-thou attitude. I understand some will like this type of extra income. And who’s to say, don’t go there. It’s bad idea – that sort of thing. Each person has a different stand on this and each one is valid.

    All I am saying is that I’m not sold on the idea of sponsored tweet. I don’t click them. Even paid posts I rarely read – what more paid tweets. Unless of course if the tweet talks about products I care about. And there are only a handful of them. Ahahaha.

    Nice tactic, JP. Registering to get better view with sponsored tweet and deactivating once your done with the screen shot. Another trick learned. :)

  10. I am greatly attracted towards this. But somehow I feel its a pain for my followers. I personally don’t like anyone I am following tweeting about a “sponsored product”, so I guess its the same for my followers as well.

  11. Hey,

    Even if you don't do sponsored tweets, I think you should not have deactivated your account – well I was thinking you should have promoted at least an affiliate link to Sponsored Tweets. It's one thing I do even if I don't intend to use the service.

    Still, most in social networking sites are aware of sponsored Tweets. I don't earn much in Tweets so far, my magpie is still far from the minimum payout. I have tried those ones in SocialSpark but I eventually figured that those CPCs links are more effective in blogs.

    My tweets are a mix of sponsored from non-sponsored ones. I did not lose friends like you so far. :-p

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

JaypeeOnline