Several months ago, some of you came to me with questions about how I’m making money on Twitter.  I wrote about sponsored Tweets a few months ago but I’d like to answer your questions again today. 

Although it’s not a huge amount, I do make anywhere from $10-50 per month Tweeting for brands. However, I know of other bloggers who are making several hundred dollars per month on sponsored Tweets alone. 

Therefore, today I’d love to share all about how to do sponsored Tweets.

I’ll cover a little bit of my Twitter strategy, where to find sponsored opportunities, and how to use three of the major influencer networks for those babies. 

Twitter Strategy 

Firstly, I have about Twitter 11,500 followers as of this article. This is no coincidence – I have worked very hard to get it where it is. From the moment I signed up for a Twitter (business) account, I have actively followed relevant followers (similarly to my Pinterest strategy).

Twitter is my #2 referrer after Pinterest, even though there is a huge gap in numbers there. However, I make a decent amount of money from sponsored Tweets each month, so I do find it to be a valuable platform.
 

How to See Twitter Growth

• The first thing you’ll want to do is optimize your profile by adding keywords and making it visually-appealing. Fill out each part of your profile, focusing on relevant keywords that will help others find you based on the content of your blog. Make sure that you don’t have a sub-par cover photo and that you DO include your website in your profile. 

• Grab the Crowdfire app.  You’ll want to start following relevant people right away, and to do this quickly, you can use the free (or paid) version of Crowdfire. Once you connect your account, you can follow people based on keywords, hashtags, or follow people based on existing Twitter accounts. I like to follow the followers of other bloggers in my niche because I know those people are already interested in my topics. You can do this with the “copy followers” option in CrowdFire. You can also unfollow people who aren’t following you – which is super handy. 

• Follow as many relevant people as you can (they’re most likely to engage with your Tweets + blog) as often as possible. I sometimes use my phone to follow large amounts of people, but either way, I try to follow some new people every day. 

• Share the content of other bloggers in your niche. Once you start to engage with others, almost everyone will reciprocate. This will help you get traffic and new followers. 

• Get the free CoPromote app. This app helps you get retweets and engagement – which is super helpful in gaining new followers and getting some page views. It also looks good when you have a sponsored Tweet. Simply share the Tweets of others, earn reach, and then others will return the favor. 

Where to Find Sponsored Work

When it comes to sponsored Tweets, I have worked with these three influencer networks the most:

• IZEA
• Activate (formerly Sverve)
• BlogHer 

Although each network has a slightly different way of doing things, the overall idea is the same. You, the influencer, is paid to promote a brand in the form of a Tweet. 

Here are a few other influencer networks that do sponsored Tweets:

• Find Your Influence
• Socialix
• Fresh Press Media
• TapInfluence

Here’s how Activate works:

With Activate, you will almost always see pre-written content with images and a flat-rate for Tweets. This means that all you have to do is wait for opportunities – and the rest is taken care of for you.

Each Tweet will already meet FTC regulations because they will be written and Tweeted for you (you have to connect your account). I mostly see Tweets between $1-5 in price. This is partially due to the fact that they don’t monitor the engagement of your Tweets. (In other words, they don’t care if people don’t Retweet or like your Tweets.) It’s not much, but it can add up!

Here’s how IZEA works:

With IZEA, you will need to bid on sponsored Tweet opportunities. This means that you set a price within the brand’s budget based on how well you fit with the opportunity.  Sometimes you get matched up and you get the opportunity, and other times brands will pass you up for other influencers.

With IZEA, you will sometimes get to write your own Tweets, and other times you will have an exact copy that a brand wants you to Tweet. FTC guidelines are also taken care of for you with #ad or something similar. With IZEA, I’ve seen sponsored Tweets for anywhere from $3 to $15.

Once you write your Tweet within the network, it will be checked and Tweeted for you. Most Tweets are not monitored for engagement. Not bad! Note: IZEA has a free membership, but I pay for the $1/monthly subscription so that I can bid on more opportunities and cash out at a lower amount. 

Here’s how BlogHer works:

Once you have a BlogHer account, you’ll need to connect your Twitter account and apply to become a social media influencer. You then wait until opportunities open.

With BlogHer, I have only ever had one sponsored Tweet opportunity, but it was in the form of a long campaign. I had to do a series of Tweets and was paid $35 upon completion. While it was fairly easy, the process was a bit more complicated and required me to submit things myself, then upload the URLs of each Tweet so that engagement could be monitored. There isn’t a streamlined process with BlogHer – the way that campaigns work vary according to the needs of the brand.
 

Tips for doing sponsored Tweets:

IZEA is by far my favorite place to find sponsored Tweet opportunities, but that’s mostly because I see them more often with them. But sponsored Tweets aren’t hard to do – if you’re just getting your feet wet, here are a few tips:

• Follow the brand instructions closely and you shouldn’t have any problems getting paid.
• Try to choose opportunities that are relevant to your readers. 
• When in doubt, choose a mid-range price when bidding. I usually don’t even bother to do Tweets that only pay $1. 

That’s it! 

Have you ever done sponsored Tweets? 

Want to know how else you can make money blogging? Check out 50 Different Ways to Make Money Blogging.