Everyone seems to like twitter these days which is a really cool way of staying in touch with your customers, friends & colleagues. Basically twitter has presented itself as a micro-blogging platform where a user can shout out anything they want to his ‘followers’ within the limit of 140 characters.
I have just started twittering since last month (*yes I’m pretty late starter!) because initially by looking at it for the very first time, I couldn’t find any ‘value’ that it has for my work & my social life. However after reading a convincing post by Aaron Wall, I thought of giving twitter a try. Since then onwards I have been using twitter all day long, just to keep track of some of the leading experts in the Internet & Search Marketing field as well as to have some ‘fun’ with my online buddies.
Anyway the whole point of doing this post is to highlight some of the key monetization elements that an individual can explore using twitter. I assume you have the basic knowledge of what twitter is and how it works, so I will directly deep into some ideas which can make you earn money from your twitter.
- Direct Advertisement - If a lot of people are following you in ‘twitter’ or in other words if you have a ‘wide reach’ to a large number of twitter users, you can probably look into direct advertisements for monetization.
- Recommendation – You can recommend a particular product or service on behalf of your advertisers & peruse your followers to take an ‘action’.
- Promotion – You can help your advertiser to promote a new product or service to your twitter followers.
It works pretty much like niche marketing because, say if you are an Internet Marketer, It is very likely that most of your followers in Twitter are also from the same area which is why they have ‘followed’ you in the first place.
- Affiliate Links – If you are recommending a Product or a Service to your followers, you can always embed your affiliate link in your tweet. (e.g. Using a service like TinyUrl.com)
- Sales Pages – Instead of taking your followers to another website using your affiliate link, you might just want to promote your own product & services and sell them directly via your sales / landing page.
This is an area where every one can really look into. For instance say when one of your followers is asking for suggestion to choose a web host, you can always suggest him the best one from your experience but at the same time use your affiliate link which can earn you some quick cash.
- Product – You can do a paid review about a particular product (e.g. Internet Marketing software)
- Services – You can do a paid review about services that your advertiser offers. (E.g. SEO Services, Web Hosting Services etc.)
- People – You can also do a paid review about people. For instance, maybe you can review someone’s web design skills, or you may promote someone’s ‘twitter’ account for instance.
- Feedback – Example - “What New features would you like to see in Product X”?
- Brand Awareness– Example- “Describe product X in 140 Characters” or “Tell us why you like product X within 140 Characters”. The best answer can be given a cool prize sponsored by the advertiser.
- Auto Ads – There can be a mechanism or a ‘new’ 3rd party service which can actually help you to distribute or Tweet the “Ads” when you are ‘not’ tweeting or say when you are idle. An ad interval can also be set so that your frequent sponsored ads don’t annoy your followers.
- Sponsored Actions– Well this might sound like a weird idea but, I feel that some aggressive marketers might like it. Example – “I Love #Google. Re-tweet this message and WIN yourself a GPhone”. Since a hash-tag is used, all the massages can be tracked using that and a lucky winner can actually be picked from the pool.
Some of you may think that all these ‘monetizing’ options can actually turn twitter into an ‘evil’ place and slowly reduce its value. But let’s face it, if you aren’t fully utilizing all the areas of twitter today, somebody else will – tomorrow. But of course you should set a ‘limit’ on how many ‘such tweets’’ you are going to do on a day, so that your followers still consider you as a valuable contact rather than a commercial junkie.
So that’s all folks, if you like my article, you are welcome to add me in your Twitter - @saadkamal. Happy Twittering!
Vote for this post : 0
or Buzz it at Yahoo :
Comments
8 responses so far ↓
Todd Mintz on May 9, 2008 at 11:47 am
Uh, I think that other than the “Sponsored Contest” idea, most of these ideas are doomed to failure and would cause the person to be instantly shunned & unfollowed. Even with “Sponsored Contests”, you have to establish yourself in the community like Zappos…a bunch of real people who happen to run an online shoe website before you can even think about trying such a promotion.
Samirb on May 9, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I’m going to agree with Todd on this one. Monetizing twitter will be as unpopular as monetizing IM. Someone just did a contest and people complained about spam from all the @ replies. It’s a lot better to use your twitter account to build a community then use that reputation to leverage affiliate sales or a newsletter.
Saad Kamal on May 9, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Thanks Todd & Samirb for your views. Well basically it all depends on ‘how’ you are going to use this..and also whether you consider Twitter as a marketing tool or whether you think twitter is just a tool to tell others about what you had for lunch…
And obviously this isn’t going to work for ‘everybody’. People will only follow that they ‘want’ to follow. And even though they often post a lot of irrelevant and personal stuffs, it doesn’t really make us to ’stop following’ them =)
We like them thats why we are ‘following them’. And any recommendation that comes directly from them are basically considered ‘useful’.
But yes as I mentioned over doing this might cr8 some obvious problem. But certainly i consider twitter a marketing tool and there are lots of areas (application) of twitter that are yet to be discovered.
Barbara Ling on May 9, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I personally the best way to make money with Twitter is to use it for building your trust factor and NOT attempting any direct money-making from it.
The greater your network extends, the more people will know about your sites/blogs/etc. and the higher your traffic will become. It’s up to you to decide what to do with that traffic.
Data points,
Barbara
François-Xavier Bodin on May 10, 2008 at 2:54 am
Bullshit.
1.0 ad world desperately trying to hang to - not so new but worth a future - values such as :
- fair relationships
- trust
- moral
Don’t try to follow me, I’ll block you.
suzymiller on May 10, 2008 at 3:40 am
Like everything in life it is good to explore all the possibilities, and unpopular though your thoughts are Saad with many Twitter users, you are only speaking out loud the thought process of marketeers who use the application.
Personally, I have found the real value of Twitter to be in the building of a community and shared information and resources. I believe the marketing potential is in giving followers access to blogs and websites that may then exploit the marketing techniques you outlined. But the key thing is for a tweet to either connect with or provide something of value to another person, so any direct marketing potential needs to be one level down at least.
I don’t think seeing marketing as a dirty word is helpful since I do my marketing via a genuine enthusiasm to share something that is really good and useful. But I have lernt that even when offering something for free via Twitter, if it is anything at all to do with your business, all you have to do is be upfront about it. Pimping is fine as long as you call it what it is.
Real marketing is about informing and connecting with your potential marketplace, so Twitter definitely has a role to help find out what people want and how they feel about products, services, issues etc. I think it has a fantastic value regarding market research and testing out ideas with early adopters. Most of all however, as a way of boosting your own confidence in your ideas and keeping going via the support of the group - that is where Twitter is really of value to me.
eMarv on May 11, 2008 at 11:01 am
Excellent posts Suzy. I agree completely with you. (BTW, good-looking site you have.)
It really is about community building. The Zappos example is probably the best out there. There some other corporates out there that are trying to make it happen, too. They really have to show that they have real people behind the curtains. Most people naturally like straightforwardness, honesty & insight, online & off.
Saad, I understand you are just expressing your opinion. Everyone is entitled to one (especially on your own blog :). I will not automatically block if you decide to follow. As long as you don’t commercialize your account too much. :)
Have a great twitterday!
eMarv
Glenn on May 13, 2008 at 12:22 am
I am now following you on twitter.. nice post :)
Leave a Comment