The topic of advertisements on Twitter is one that is controversial. Some users hate the idea, others think it is the natural evolution of Twitter. While Twitter does not have any official means to allow companies to advertise on Twitter, there are several third-party companies that do.
Currently Twitter is really trying to educate companies about how to effectively use Twitter. There has been some speculation that Twitter is going to try to generate money through various add-on tools and services for business and professional users. The only signs of a Twitter ad network came a few months ago when Twitter revamped the home page for users to include a Twitter "word of the day". Some see this as a placeholder for future ads on the site.
So how does a company leverage Twitter to promote products and services? This is where the third-party Twitter ad networks come in. Typically the advertisers have a choice on how they want to pay for their sponsored ad: Pay Per View,
Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead, or Pay Per Sale.
Pay Per Tweet is very similar to the traditional cost per thousand ad impression model. The pricing is structured so that you pay more for those Twitter accounts that have a larger following.
Pay Per Click is the advertising model where you pay when one of the Twit's Followers clicks on the sponsored ad link within the tweet. The price can vary from a few cents to several dollars.
Pay Per Lead is the advertising model where the advertiser will pay the Twit based on an actual lead (sign up form, contact request, demo request,...).
Pay Per Sale offers the advertiser to pay when a sale is completed on their site.
One of the big sticking points to sponsored Twitter ads is how to disclose that the Tweet is paid. Some of these Twitter ad platforms have started to use
hashtags to label Tweets as sponsored. The problem is that there is no standard hashtag being used by these ad networks. Some are using #ad, #sp, #spon, or even leave it up to the individual Twit to create. There was a recent a virtual summit from Techcrunch looking at some of the issues around disclosure (
read more).
Here are some of the top Twitter Ad Networks:
TweetROI.com - matches influencers with marketers. They allow the influencer to write the tweet (with approval) so Twits can recommend products in their own words. Advertisers do provide a "suggested" tweet ad. This service offers a Pay Per Tweet ad model.
SponsoredTweets.com - is a new player in the Twitter advertising space. The parent company first launched the Pay Per Post model that allowed for sponsored posts on blogs. Sponsored Tweets is the same concept which matches up advertisers with Twits. This service provides the option for the Twit to rewrite the original offer with approval from the advertiser. They offer a Pay Per Tweet or Pay Per Click model.
Be-A-Magpie.com - one of the first Twitter ad networks. They offer the Pay Per Tweet, Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead and Pay Per Sale models.
AdCause.com - Their selection criteria to find Twits is pretty robust. They provide the ability to match advertisers up with Twits by Twitter ID, Follower count, Country, State and City. It looks as if they offer a Pay Per Tweet model only.
BeTweeted.com - This service believes in using "
social media responsibly". A bit different from some of the other Twitter ad networks, in that they require that the Twit include the @companyname into their sponsored ads. They believe this can help the advertiser potentially gain additional Followers for the advertiser's account. This is a Pay Per Click ad model.
RevTwt - This service offers advertisers a Pay Per Click, Pay Per Tweet and Pay Per Lead ad model.
PayMeTweets - They position themselves as a micro-promo tool for Twitter. PayMeTweets requires that Twits follow their @PayMeTweets account and retweet their posts. Looks to be a fairly new service as their current Twitter account only has 79 followers. This is a Pay Per Tweet ad model.
Here are some additional Twitter advertising opportunities for companies.
TwittAd.com - This services allows Twits to sell their Twitter account background image to advertisers. It looks like you can drill down to find Twits that match by category, location, Follower count, pricing and by keyword. They also offer a Pay Per Tweet ad model as well.
FeaturedUsers.com - is a Twitter application ad network. Your Twitter profile is displayed on the Twitter apps in the FeaturedUsers.com network. The advertiser is charge a per impression fee.
I would like to know if you have come across any other unique Twitter advertising opportunities that you may know of. I hope this post helps your company find additional advertising avenues through Twitter. Good luck.