I have been, or can be if you click on a link and make a purchase, compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value for writing this post. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
I recently took the time to check out Sponsored Tweets as an advertiser, and learned a bit from the whole experience. Here’s my story
I signed up as an advertiser, with minimal problems. I guess my email address was in the PayPerPost system, but I had no idea what my password was. Being the lazy guy that I am, I re-registered using my gmail address. I deposited $50 (the minimum) and got started.
I had to pick an affiliate offer to send people to, and I chose the Snuggie for Dogs (The Blanket with Sleeves™ (for your dog)). Why? I don’t know. I figured there would be dog lovers on Twitter and they’d give some pretty witty comments in their Tweets. I ran this offer on OfferShot, as they allowed social media.
I then created the opportunity in Sponsored Tweets. The instructions field confused me a bit… I wrote instructions to the users, but some of the users just used my instructions as their tweet. I wasn’t too happy with that. Beyond the title & instructions, you can target users based on many key factors, including keywords.
Twitter Options
Targeting in Sponsored Tweets
So I went through the process of creating an Opp(ortunity), and was given a list of users who matched my criteria, and then some. All of the celebrities, including web celebrities, are listed at the top, then the “normal” users who really matched my criteria. I looked through the recommended users, found some that were just junk, one that was suspended, and eventually came up with my list, as close to $50 as possible. For this opportunity, I paid between $0.50 and $5.00 per tweet.
Paying $0.50 or $5.00 per user doesn’t tell you much – the real cost demographic was clear days later, when I was able to see the CPC per user. One of the best results I had was from lovemy2doggies – I paid $2.00 for 56 clicks, for an average of $0.04 per click.
In the end, I paid $39.90 (some users declined my opportunity) for 203 clicks ($0.20 CPC). OfferShot showed 204 clicks, so I’d say the tracking was fairly accurate.
Unfortunately, these 200 clicks resulted in 0 sales 🙁
Maybe the offer price, $14.95, was too high for an impulse purchase? Maybe Sponsored Tweets works best as a method of brand awareness? Seeing as though I need to deposit $50 at a time, it makes testing a bit expensive. However, I may come back to it again someday.
As a Tweeter, I only had one offer, and declined it. However, I’m hopeful now that I changed some keywords and lowered my charge per tweet to only $1.00.
What have been your experiences with Sponsored Tweets? Have you used the service as an advertiser, or a tweeter? What do you think?
Comments
Logan Thompson
Very interesting Eric. For me, I don’t like the concept of sponsored tweets all that much. It just ads clutter and makes twitter less interesting. I follow people because I’m interested in what they have to say, not what they are getting paid to say. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve unfollowed a handful of people since they are avid sponsored tweet sellouts, I mean users. Good review though. I’m sure sponsored tweets is here to stay for awhile so it might be worthwhile as an advertising channel.
LGR
Good review. While I have signed up for SponsoredTweets I have not spent any time on it yet. I think there is more value in actually participating in Twitter and interacting with people when they are tweeting about certain things. I think the ads just turn people off. But you do have a point about brand awareness.
Eric Nagel
I don’t mind ads from my friends if they’re relevant. The problem is when people accept everything offered to them. I had one offer, and turned it down.
My review was mainly from an advertiser (affiliate) prospective, not from a tweeter’s point of view. As an advertiser, I think there’s potential – I just have to find it.
David D Ochoa
Eric, you also have to contend with the fact that many users are on their iphones/mobile when clicking on a link. If the offer page isn’t geared for smart phones, you’ve lost the sale before the user even saw the ad!
MoneyStance Reviewer
Thank you for your review of the Sponsored Tweets. We appreciate you sharing your opinion and doing the research needed to fairly evaluate the service. We have seen fit to link to this article in our independent Sponsored Tweets Reviews section. Anyhow, keep up the good work spreading truth.
drew
Good review, thanks for taking the time to write about it!!!
riftstalker
SponsoredTweets results in a lot of exposure (reach) but only a few clicks. The quality of the clicks, even when you make sure the message complies with your agenda, is abysmal – usually less than 1% even for a simple email signup.