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Advertising on Your Twitter Profile – Speak Up

by Travis Campbell   Comments

twitter-balloonOnline marketers are always looking for ways to extend their reach, and where there is an audience there is often advertising.  Twitter’s audience is growing, fast, and therefore presents a unique opportunity for advertising.  There are some emerging players.  Interested in your thoughts, would you want to make money by posting tweets advertising other peoples products or profiles?  How about paying to have your own advertweet posted on someone else’s Twitter stream? This post reviews 3 models and gives you a chance to chime in. 

Advertising with Your Twitter Profile – Speak Your Mind

With 19 Million visitors in April, Twitter’s growth chart is impressive.  It has hit the main stream, as you see various media outlets advertising their Twitter handles on air, ESPN, NBA, and Foxnews to name a few.  For those using Twitter for business, it’s not only appealing for publishers to earn money for ads on their profile, but also businesses who want to reach potential customers? What if you could intersperse ads in your Twitter feed and get paid for clicks, or be paid a flat fee based on the number of followers you have?

Allow me to present three ad models for Twitter advertising.  Quick definitions, a Publisher earns by sending ads, an Advertiser pays to place ads and get more exposure (ok, you probably knew that).

1-Give Me Your Twitter Background

Publisher- You sell your Twitter background for a set period of time (7 days, 30 days). 
Advertiser- You furnish custom Twitter profile backgrounds with your message and branding.

2-Tweet It Up

Publisher- As a subscriber of an advertising service, login and select an ad you want to tweet, you are paid per click, or per # of followers you have.
Advertiser- Put your ad on the ‘market’ for publishers (Twitter users) to choose from, again, you pay per click or per # followers.

3-Targeted Tweets

Publisher- Since you have taken the time to build a targeted following, and subscribe to a service that can match you with advertisers, you receive bids to place twitter ads on your profile from reputable sources.
Advertiser- You subscribe to a service that identifies Twitter profiles which have targeted followers in your market. You can bid on placing regular tweet ads on those profiles.  Pay per click or pay per # of followers.

Chime in- As a publisher what do you think about monetizng your Twitter feed? And advertisers, what is most appealing about Twitter ads?  You see this as part of your Twitter marketing strategy one day? Which of the 3 models get’s your vote (if any)?  Share your thoughts and ideas below.

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Filed Under: Social Marketing
Tagged: twitter ads, twitter for business, Twitter marketing strategy

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    Comments

    • I am not sure which of those models is going to take the day.

      However, I can guarantee you that advertisers are salivating over the targeted audience development taking place on Twitter. Considering every Tweet and Retweet from well developed Twitter profiles, endorsing your product or service is a personal referral.

      I see Twitter as the next frontier of "permission marketing." If Seth Godin was rewriting that book today he would be talking about Twitter, not email.

      There is lots of opportunity to discuss in this topic! Thanks for stirring our thoughts Travis.

      <abbr>Bill Rice’s last blog post..[News] Obama Approves Enhancements to Mortgage Refinance Program</abbr>
    • Travis Campbell
      Bill-

      Very astute observations. I think you are on to something that some business minded Twitter users are latching on to as well. The Google pattern is worth considering, they established themselves as a reliable search engine, then monetized with ads in a way that didn't jar the user experience.

      It will be interesting to see how Twitter monetizes itself, as well as how 3rd party ad networks pop up with ad oriented services. Don't be a stranger :-)
    • 1. I don't think anyone would mind about the background... most only look at them when deciding if they should follow, so would mainly target new contacts. Even less useful is that you can't put links.

      2. To many of those and I'd unfollow - social media should be about conversation, not presentation.

      3. If you've taken the effort to create a following interested in a subject, this would be akin to a list of contacts who have opt-in to receive and could opt-out any time they wanted. If you could create such a following, it would be of most potential value to the Advertiser

      Mike Lazarus

      <abbr>Mike Lazarus’s last blog post..New ACT! by Sage YouTube Channel</abbr>
    • Travis Campbell
      Mike-

      Thanks for pitching in your two cents for each of the three proposed models.

      Regarding, "social media should be about conversation, not presentation." Some say, social media, in particular Twitter (for business) is like email, having many uses. As the discussion goes, email is used for simple messages to friends, short updates to customers, and marketing of products and services.

      How would you respond to those who hold that position?

      Again, thanks for chiming in.
    • I guess it depends on the content... I don't want marketing for stuff I can find on their web site. in the same way I run spam blockers on my email, I soon stop following those where it was marketing rather than information

      I did this post on my views.
      And this presentation I'm doing to teach Sage AU about it.
      <abbr>Mike Lazarus’s last blog post..New ACT! by Sage YouTube Channel</abbr>
    • Travis Campbell
      Mike-

      Ok, so you might tolerate ads if they are people or companies you really want to follow, but when it comes to purchasing, you won't be checking their Twitter streams for any 'deals' you prefer to visit their website?
    • If it's someone I'm following because their tweets are interesting to me and they offer a special applicable to me, sure I'll look. That's how I got on the beta of SocialScope and some other products.

      But most of the "deals" I see are not applicable out side of North America, so that probably colours my view.

      There are some streams that are a constant list of products for sale... they follow me, I look at their profile and move on. But spam works (or there would be so much of it)... and some of these streams have a lot of followers - I just don't know why.

      BTW: When I tried to change the blog post with the ConnectLuv pull-down it froze FireFox and I had to kill it. Never seen FF killed that way. I tried it again and got the same result.

      <abbr>Mike Lazarus’s last blog post..New ACT! by Sage YouTube Channel</abbr>
    • Travis Campbell
      The ole 'down under' bias... ;-) You probably get that lot! And yes, spam and abuse (per Chris' comment) is everywhere online and offline.

      Not sure what to tell you on the CommentLuv, If you are registered with them, it should work fine to pick a blogpost.

      Thanks again.
    • Carter
      I just had my first stream of "strangers" start following me on Twitter...it was great. Now with these tips I feel like I might be able to to find some success with this! Thanks so much. (sorry I don't have much of an opinion at this point, I'm still getting started)
    • Travis Campbell
      Carter-

      If you are on twitter for any amount of time, indeed a "stream of stangers" you will have :-)

      We are all learning, so you fit right in here.

      There have been quite a few comments on 3 Rules of Using Twitter for Business, there might be some things in there to help set you in the right direction.
    • I have no problem testing it. I wouldn't mind to test stuff that are contextual and not interfering with the conversation. As an example, I signed up for Magpie that would put ads in your tweet stream, but at first it didn't happen anything and later on I changed my mind due to the "spam" attitude and the risk that your natural voice gets distorted by ads.

      <abbr>Martin Lindeskog’s last blog post..LIBERTAS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION?</abbr>
    • Hey Trav,

      Good discussion piece.

      With regard to #1, @johncmayer was advertising coke and a few other products off to the right (need big resolution). I just checked and he's changed it. I meant to get a screenshot of that.

      I think #2 is happening already. I know that I promote affiliate products that I think are valuable to my followers (or at least a segment of them).

      I am not aware of a service for #3 but I am sure there are some startups out there. The only issue here is that the Gods at Twitter can change their Terms of Service and Acceptable Use with a few key punches.

      I think everything should be monetized if there is benefit. The only problem is that you get abuse, no matter what. Just take a look around and see how many fake users there are already on Twitter.

      Chris
      Proud owner of 3 sticky kids
      Follow me on Twitter
      <abbr>Chris Fossenier’s last blog post..Easy Google Profits Pure Evil?</abbr>
    • Travis Campbell
      Chris (Proud owner of 3 sticky kids)-

      Thanks for your input.

      I'm not familiar with the @johncmayer ad, perhaps he was approached by Coke directly. What #1 would be is a service, allowing Twitter users to make their background space available for advertisers. The user "opts-in" his adspace, and makes the background available for purchase by an advertiser.

      Regarding your mention of "Abuse" do you think Users and Advertisers should hold off until Twitter formally releases it's own ad network (as Google did), supposing they have a better handle on abuse of their service (than a 3rd party Twitter Ad network)??

      Are your kids sticky all the time? :-)
    • If I think of my twitter stream and profile as my home, then all of the above would inappropriate. I talk about products I like. I don't pitch things to my friends.

      If I think of my twitter stream and profile as a business site, I reflect on my dad's saloon, he had what was appropriate to his customers ... beer signs for the beers behind his bar. He still never pitched them when he was talking over the bar. He answered their questions about the products he had on offer.

      <abbr>Liz Strauss’s last blog post..Just Sayin - With Grace</abbr>
    • Travis Campbell
      Liz-

      Thanks for dropping by. You present an interesting analogy. Building closer to home (internet lingo), just as people use email for different reasons, people use Twitter for different reasons.

      So, for those using Twitter for business, would you agree that it makes sense for them to post *related* information to their business or industry? If followers understand and expect that, then it is acceptable?
    • It sounds like "soft marketing" or "soft sell". And yet, physical marketing seems lack of reach.
    • I think of the feed not as a media with eyeball to sell to.. but more of a way I can listen to the market and engage customers and prospect individually.

      My "NO RULES" philosophy says "go ahead and try whatever.. we can follow or unfollow based on what we want" .. so I'd never say "don't do this"

      However, it feels like selling out for the quick buck instead of building trust and rapport for huge returns later.
    • Travis Campbell
      Warren-

      Excellent point, it is a source of immediate market information. So while it isn't your style to put ads in your stream, what about buying ads in other peoples streams?

      Do any of the models presented fit within your Twitter style as a publisher or consumer of tweets (or visit profile pages as in #1) Warren?

      (BTW, my son's middle name is the same as your first, not a common name for sure)
    • It becomes more and more difficult to earn money with twitter by posting serious interesting and relevant ads, because of the quickly increasing amount of scam ads.
    • Patrick-

      Good point, part of the reason users need to build up reputable profiles, so advertisers will want to advertise on their stream.
    • I would love to make a few bucks off my Twitter traffic, nice backend. However you are going to have to target your friends highly, they are going to have to want what is displayed. I am still on the fence, but then I am a direct response marketer.
    • Chris-

      Indeed. Targeted, and an audience that sticks around because what is offered is valuable to them (tweets). This type of profile is even more valuable to advertisers.
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    Hi, my name is Travis Campbell, I operate this site. I'm here to share what I can from my lessons marketing online. With sizeable investments in continuing education, various software products and services, I have had some winners, and some losers. One way I can extend what I've learned is by writing about it, here... and helping you along the way.

    - Travis Campbell

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