It's finally here! ELA's Making Money with Sponsored Tweets series - Part I.
This series is an attempt to educate and hopefully get you making some extra money. Please note that I am not an expert, simply a consumer sharing her experience with you. I do not know all there is to know about ST, but what I do know and what works for me is what you'll find in this series.
Sponsored Tweets is a Twitter advertising platform connecting tweeters & advertisers. A part of the IZEA Corporation, tweeters can rest assured knowing the site is backed by the Better Business Bureau, Direct Marketing Association and the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association.
Everyone knows the massive reach Twitter has, so it's potential to bring in extra cash without a lot of work, is great! Part I will be somewhat of a basic tutorial. Though, it may seem juvenile to some, the more you know the better! So, let's get started.
The first thing to do is to create an account.
Set up is easy peasy. Once that is complete - your dashboard should look like this.
On the left hand side of your account dashboard you can see your personal information. This is self-explanatory, so I will only focus on the right hand side. NOTE: My personal pricing information is blacked out, however I offer my recommendations below.
1. Charge Per Tweet - There are 2 types of opportunities on ST, one of which is CPT. Based on your Twitter reach, you will receive a "suggested price" upon sign up. This suggested price is the default for you to show up to all advertisers, though you can adjust this amount to whatever you choose. Be aware that setting this amount too HIGH will turn some advertisers away when they can hire another Tweeter for a lower price. But if you set this price too low, you will be doing yourself a disservice. Know your worth and don't short change yourself. Consider Twitter your digital resume and present yourself in a way that is attractive to advertisers AKA your potential "employer".
1a. Cost Per Click - The other opportunity available on ST is CPC. The main difference between CPT and CPC is that, CPC opportunities are available to every ST member who match conditions set by the advertiser. For example, if an advertiser offers a CPC opportunity for members who have the word "entertainment" tagged, only those members would see the opportunity. The other difference between the 2 opportunities is the advertiser sets the price. Doing well on your CPC offers will count towards your overall "average clicks per Tweet". The better this average, the more offers you will receive.
2. Clickwatch - CW is an insurance buffer for advertisers. It is optional, though Tweeters who participate in CW are those who are willing to "make good" on their tweets. Participants share their tweets 3 times over the course of 6 days. If the Cost Per Click for their tweet is above $1.50, the system will come back & ask you to create a new Tweet. Performance is checked again after 48 hours. This will happen 3 times, unless the $1.50 threshold is met.
3. Non-Profit Offers - These are charitable offers & will be certified as such. Personally, I am a big believer in charity as well as karma. Though they are optional, I believe that these offers are the "gold stars" on your digital resume. I would highly recommend participating in these offers now & again.
4. Follow Advertisers - This to me is pretty self explanatory, however it literally means that you are following the advertisers from whom you receive offers. And if advertisers see that you've worked with them previously and are a supporter, the more likely they are to offer you additional opportunities.
5. Hour Between Tweets - This number is pretty important because some opportunities allow only 1 tweet per day. I have recently increased my tweets to: 18 hours apart. Advertisers are not attracted to Twitter feeds that are clogged with more sponsored links vs. organic content. Flip that ratio around and you'll be in a prime position for opportunities.
6. Keywords - On to my favorite part! Each account can hold up to 10 keywords/tags at a time. You can be as vague (see mine above) or as specific as you want, i.e. summer = hot dogs, pool, beach, swimsuits (things that would relate to summer). It is my personal opinion that your keywords are the key to putting you at the top of the "advertising" leaderboard search. I usually have a ratio of 5 general to 5 specific. Right now my keywords are reflective of my blog's niche - lifestyle. But just like posting on your blog or pinning to Pinterest according to the time/season, it's important to change your keywords every now & then to reflect the same. This post is a list of important dates bloggers can take advantage of when scheduling their editorial calendar and the same principle applies here.
Now that you've completed your profile you're ready to start receiving offers! Below I've listed a few reader questions to expand on the 6 steps above.
Q: Do you suggest using the "suggested price" assigned to me, or should I create my own? A: Truthfully, this is a personal preference. The "charge per tweet" is essentially your rate of pay. When advertisers are filtering out potential "employees", one of the things they look for is your CPC. The default is $0.73/tweet. If you average 25 tweets per click using the default price, your CPC would be $18.25. Now let's compare this to something simple like Craigslist. If you're selling (A) at $18.25 and I'm selling (A) at $15.00, who do you think is going to sell first? To find your average clicks per tweet, simply click on the tiny question mark next to your CPC.
Q: How do I get more offers? A: Simple - get lots of clicks per tweet and have lots of engaged followers in your feed. Advertisers want to see that you have a relationship with your followers. Don't be a wallflower. Reach out, make friends and seek loyalty. Those relationships are going to support you when it comes time to get those clicks!
Q: Do you have the free or Pro version of Sponsored Tweets? A: I personally have the Pro version. The Pro version makes you more visible to advertisers with priority sorting and your cash threshold for withdrawal is less. The money I make from ST far surpasses the $1.99 monthly charge it costs me to utilize the service.
Q: What about disclosures? A: The IZEA corporation and furthermore Sponsored Tweets is in full compliance with the new FTC guidelines regarding disclosures. For more information about how Sponsored Tweets uses disclosures, click here.
Part II of this series will focus on Best Times to Tweet, Knowing When to Adjust Your Pricing & Sponsored Tweets Referral Program. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below & I will address them in Part II.
