Twitter is growing quickly. While it may not rival Facebook’s member count, 500 million total users and 170 million active is nothing to scoff at. For marketers, doing business on Twitter is a good and very necessary offering to have.
The great news is that there are five reliable ways to make money on Twitter. Not every idea works in every market, but at least one of these should work for almost any market with an active presence on Twitter.
1) Sponsored Tweets
The service known as Sponsored Tweets connects Twitter users and advertisers to allow users to monetize their timeline and advertisers to expand their reach in a way they may not have been able to do previously. Advertisers have the ability to filter who sends tweets about their company, products or even blog content out to their Twitter timeline. Twitter users have the ability to choose who they are willing to Tweet for, and at what rate of pay.
2) Ad.ly
Ad.ly is similar to Sponsored Tweets, but the pay is considered by many to be slightly better. Those trying to monetize their Twitter account may want to give both a try to see which platform offers them more per tweet. A user with tens of thousands of followers may get several hundred dollars for one tweet in some cases.
3) RevTwt
RevTwt functions almost exactly like Ad.ly and Sponsored Tweets, but their reputation is not as strong. Most of the complaints are from Twitter users and occurred two or three years ago, but once a reputation is soured online, it is very difficult to get it back.
If RevTwt is part of your Twitter money-making strategy, it may be best to make sure it is a small part until you are sure your experience is a good one.
4) Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing may just be the most popular business model on the internet. It requires no products of your own, and in some cases, does not even require a website.
Many affiliates tweet hundreds or even thousands of times per week, make liberal use of hashtags (to help their tweets receive extra exposure outside of their normal following), and have multiple accounts and identities to expand their reach.
Affiliates may link directly to the merchant or to websites they own that have a review of the product on the site. It is quick and can be effective, but it is a strategy largely dependent on volume.
5) Finding Sales Leads
Twitter is a great place for marketers to find potential sales leads. The best way is to simply use Twitter’s Advanced Search function to find recent tweets based on keywords. You can also adjust the search based on geographic location, user accounts and more.
From there, it is a question of engaging with potential leads by following them, responding to their tweets, and if they follow you back, sending them direct messages to hopefully direct them to a location away from Twitter where they may sign up for a product or service or perhaps just more information on your offer.
Making Money On Twitter Is Getting Easier
Because of the expanding user base and more user statistics showing high points in activity, marketers can use Twitter to make money easier than ever before. It just takes testing and persistence to find the strategy to work for you.
Featured images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
Loren Stacks contributes on behalf of SecureYourTrademark, a site dedicated to trademark search and security.