Each year, we gather data from brand marketers and social media influencers to gain insights into the changing SMS industry and provide guidance to better connect these two groups. Last year’s results showed us that there is:

• A general lack of awareness and understanding for disclosure requirements.
• Significant discrepancy between what a marketer and influencer believe is fair compensation for a tweet or blog post.

The survey is anonymous and only takes a few minutes!

We look forward to your feedback!

Get started:

The South Australian Tourism Commission was searching for a high-profile celebrity (or celebrities) to tweet about Kangaroo Island in return for $750 plus GST per tweet. The organization specifically mentioned “that the tweets shouldn’t appear to endorse but rather seem like an organic mention…”
See the complete article here.

We can’t speak to the Australian regulations but within the United States – and therefore, any tweet sent via IZEA’s Sponsored Tweets – the FTC requires disclosure. “When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed.” Read the complete Sponsored Tweets disclosure guidelines here.

One tweeters frustration with Matt Moran’s lack of disclosure sums up why it’s so important:

@trentlidstone said, “Interesting time re: pay pertweet, my advise, be honest otherwise if found out ie. Matt Moran your credibly is shot #kangarooisland

Often when looking at an account to make sure it is set up properly, I find that the keywords, or tags, are not set up properly.

Unlike optimizing for SEO, the tags you choose in Sponsored Tweets should NOT be to rank higher in the SERPs, but to match with the general themes that Advertisers attach to their campaigns. As such, if your tags look like the image below, you are not likely to get much work.

Successful tags are those which match most often with new Opportunities. For example, if a toy company created an Opp, they might tag it, ‘family,’ ‘games,’ ‘children,’ ‘entertainment,’ ‘Mom,’ etc. and match with Tweeters who use those tags. If a software company created an Opp, tags might appear as, ‘technology,’ ‘male,’ ‘business,’ ‘finance,’ etc.

10 Least Helpful Sponsored Tweets Tags

1. Your Twitter Handle
2. Blog/Blogger/Blogging
3. Multiple Iterations of ANY Tag (see #2)
4. Twitter
5. Social Media
6. Advertising
7. Internet
8. EXTREME Longtail Tags (example: Homeschooling in Nebraska)
9. Reviews/Product Sampling/Giveaways
10. Brand Names (example: iPhone, Nintendo, Nike)

10 Most Helpful Sponsored Tweets Tags

1. General
2. Family
3. Entertainment
4. Technology
5. Female (Or Male)
6. Business/Finance
7. Food
8. Fashion
9. Mom
10. Health

Disclaimer

Now that you know more about how keywords work, you can check your tags and update as needed! The goal is to be as broad as possible while still reflective of the content of your stream. If you add a technology or business tag to your account and you don’t tweet about tech or business, your tweet can be denied or your account deactivated.

As the leader in Social Media Sponsorship disclosure and quality, IZEA is committed to creating a positive experience for both its influencers (Tweeters) and brand partners (Advertisers).

To add value for our influencer audiences and for brands coordinating campaigns, we use a service called Adometry.  Adometry rates the quality and legitimacy of a click on twitter – is it an actual account or a bot?

We’ve decided to take this commitment to a new level by increasing the level of scrutiny placed on tweet quality via our Cost-Per-Click Adometry settings in Sponsored Tweets.

Historically, we have always been in one of the highest percentiles of examination offered by Adometry for verifying a click and starting today, we’re proud to announce we’re moving into their highest!

What does this mean for you?

For brands, it means further assurances that the budget allocated for a Sponsored Tweets campaign will be used most effectively and the results of the utmost highest quality.

For authentic influencers, it’s the opportunity to increase monetization within Pay-Per-Click campaigns because we’ve verified the quality of a click.

These changes will implemented with no additional effort by our user-base. In fact, it’s unlikely you will notice anything different in your regular interactions on the site or with our team. But you can sleep better at night knowing that when you work with IZEA, quality and scale are at the foundation of everything we do.

The big news in the Twittersphere this week was the acquisition of blogging platform Posterous by microblogging site, Twitter. When the news broke, there was a lot of speculation about the motives of the sale.  Was it a means to cannibalize Posterous’ pool of talent which includes several former Apple iOS Engineers?  Will the Posterous platform change or go away entirely?

Although the official word is that the site will continue, many Posterous bloggers have already begun moving their sites to a new domain. WordPress saw a 250% increase in account migrations immediately following the announcement.

The reactions to the news on Twitter were mixed.

Update: Tweets are back online!

The time has finally arrived! South by Southwest (SXSW), the country’s largest music, film and interactive festival starts TODAY at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.  We’ve been following the journey of those attending via the #SXSW hashtag on Twitter.

As expected, there is the usual excitement about traveling and speaking…

…as well as the food to eat, the people to see and the parties to attend.

There is also a lot of advice and education available for newbies and experts alike.

However, the biggest trend we’re seeing today is about…wait for it….WAITING! The registration line at SXSW is the big story today with many tweeting about their experiences and frustrations with it.

To the attendees, we hope that the line treats you well and that you make it through to the other side unscathed.  While you’re there enjoying the show, keep an eye out for IZEA CEO, Ted Murphy and IZEA CMO, Ryan Schram and make sure to say hello!

Ted and Marc discussed the secret of a sponsored conversation; what both celebrities and the average Joe have to keep in mind if they want to bring in the bucks and host an effective conversation. Check it out, listen below to get the inside scoop!

]]> http://sponsoredtweets.com/ted-murphy-takes-over-the-airwaves-to-broadcast-sponsored-tweets/feed/ 0 http://sponsoredtweets.com/izea-recognized-by-get-satisfaction-for-outstanding-customer-service/ http://sponsoredtweets.com/izea-recognized-by-get-satisfaction-for-outstanding-customer-service/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:07:25 +0000 Carri Bright http://sponsoredtweets.com/?p=19811

Get Satisfaction, the leading customer engagement platform, recently named IZEA a recipient of The Instant Gratification Award for the most comprehensive knowledge base resulting in super speedy resolution times.

This recognition is part of Get Satisfaction’s inaugural “Love Your Customers” Awards.

IZEA joins other leading brands with this prestigious acknowledgement, including AMC Theaters, MapMyFitness, Mint, Mozilla and Pampers.

For the complete release, click here.

]]> http://sponsoredtweets.com/izea-recognized-by-get-satisfaction-for-outstanding-customer-service/feed/ 0 http://sponsoredtweets.com/twitter-week-in-review/ http://sponsoredtweets.com/twitter-week-in-review/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:40:11 +0000 Carri Bright http://sponsoredtweets.com/?p=19331 There’s so much going on in the Twittersphere this week that it’s been hard to keep up! Here are the top stories that have had us all ‘atwitter.’

Twitter Censorship

Twitter announced this week that it will, upon receiving a “valid legal request,” block tweets from being seen in specific regions. However, they have expanded their partnership with Chilling Effects to provide further information about the censored information.

It seems that everyone had something to say about this news.  Canada’s The Globe And Mail published this article outlining why Twitter’s censorship plan is better than you think, while Amnesty International voiced their thoughts on what this policy means for Human Rights in the Huffington Post.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone maintains that this move is a “a huge win for free speech” while Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, addressed concerns about their policy in an interview he gave at the D: Dive into Media Conference saying that, “the company is focused on making sure tweets remain as accessible as possible.”

The Super Bowl of Tweets

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are at least aware, if not manically excited about the Super Bowl this weekend. So much so, that there has already been extensive monitoring and analysis of related topics on Twitter.

One post goes so far as to claim that Twitter is now the most important part of the NFL viewing experience.

Even the Twitter blog has chimed in to let everyone following the action know to use the hashtag  #SuperBowl to monitor the conversation.

Facebook IPO

The news that Facebook had filed their S-1 with the SEC in preparation for becoming a publicly traded company became a trending topic on Twitter almost instantly.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, penned this letter to investors and Tweeters world-wide voiced their reactions 140 characters at a time.

Twitter Tip of the Week

Make use of link shortening services like bit.ly to pare down long links and provide you more characters to express your thoughts.

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