Learnings in Twitter Advertising: Sponsored Tweets

This is part one of a series exploring the use of Twitter as an advertising medium. In particular, I will focus on how individual Twitterers can become part of the advertising movement. Comments, ideas, suggestions, or corrections are all welcome.

SPONSORED TWEETS: GREAT SITE AS LONG AS YOU HAVE LOTS OF FOLLOWERS

The Basics:
1) Requires that your account be at least 60 days old, have a minimum of 100 followers, and at least 100 Twitter updates.
2) Every post will include some type of notification that it is sponsored. Everything from "#Sponsored" to "#ad" can appear. This is a requirement of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
3) $50 minimum balance before you can withdraw money. About average for this kind of thing.
4) Uses a combination of different metrics from Klout, Twittergrader.com, etc. to measure the "quality" of your Twitter account.

The Pros:
1) It works. In short, yes, you will get paid for tweeting someone else's ads. Given the level of effort that entails, this is almost free money.
2) Account settings are simple to establish and update...including keywords and category.
3) Website does a nice job sharing stats (e.g. clicks) which gives you a good sense of how successful your tweets are.
4) Full control over price per tweet. Sponsored Tweets does recommend a price per tweet (roughly correlated to $1 / 1000 followers you have), but in reality, you can set any number you want. Of course, Advertisers still have to accept your price.
5) You almost always write the actual tweet. The advertiser always provides instructions (e.g. links, words, requirements), but you can put the actual tweet in your own words. This is a great advantage if you are trying to ensure the sponsored Tweets are consistent with your other tweets. Of course, you still only have 140 characters to work with.

The Cons:
1) No option to opt-into adds because Advertisers only solicit you directly. It sometimes feels like you are waiting for one of the cool kids to pick you for kick-ball.
2) Related to #1, it can be a long time between paid tweets. Best to keep in mind, that this is free money...not instant money.
3) Advertisers seem to favor accounts with very large followings. Twitter accounts with small followings may get few opportunities.
4) Very difficult (if not impossible) to become a celebrity or recommended account by Sponsored Tweets. You can try, but don't expect it.
5) Sponsored Tweets doubles your per-tweet price for Advertisers. Said another way, whatever price you set the advertiser will pays 2x.

The Verdict:
Join Sponsored Tweets. It may take you a while to grow your account to $50, but given the level of effort, opportunity to present your account effectively, and the results, Sponsored Tweets is worth your time. As noted though, you need to really grow your followers to make money.

To sign-up, you can click HERE or on the Sponsored Tweets panel at the bottom of this blog.