Get your tweets sponsored!

UTV has entered into a partnership with IZEA, that will help create new monetisation opportunities for the estimated 12 million Twitter users in India.

Active Tweeples can now postulate 'There are no free tweets in the world!', for they have an opportunity to get their tweets sponsored. IZEA Holdings Inc. has announced an exclusive partnership with UTV to bring its SponsoredTweets.com platform to India. This also creates a new monetisation opportunity for all the Twitter users in India.

The sponsored tweets can either carry a message about a product or a service, or they can carry links to help increase traffic to businesses' websites. Twitter users get an opportunity to earn money for sharing sponsored content within their Twitter streams. They can set their own rates for sponsored tweets and get paid per tweet. An advertiser can select a user on the basis of his/her clout on Twitter. An advertiser or sponsor can either choose from a common man or a celebrity for sponsored tweets.

It also presents a unique opportunity for small businesses to advertise and reach out to a focused target audience. Marketers get to choose from one of the two models for their Twitter advertising campaigns. They can either choose a cost-per tweet (CPT) model or cost-per click (CPC) model. The same model applies to a Twitter user.

A sponsored tweet will differ from the other as per the requirement of the advertiser. A tweet may carry a message, while the other may only carry a link. Some of the tweets could have both the message and a link to click on.

UTV and IZEA have signed a contract for a period of five years. Together, they have been successful in roping in celebrities including Lara Dutta, Anurag Kashyap, Mahesh Bhupati, Neetu Chandra, Devi Sri Prasad, Pooja Gandhi, Rohan Bhopanna and Tanushree Dutta.

Internationally, IZEA has celebrities such as Kim Karadashian, Lindsay Lohan, Maurice Edu, Tony Lucca, Diddy, Mike Tyson, Nick Cannon, Ryan Sheckler, Audrina Patridge and Dawn Richard on the SponsoredTweets.com platform.

SponsoredTweets.com will not just rope in celebrities from showbiz, but celebrity chefs, famous hair stylists, comedians and authors who are active Twitter users.

Speaking on the deal, Sameer Pitalwalla, senior vice-president, UTV Interactive, says, "This is the first time that something like this has been launched in India. It is an ideal platform for advertisers, celebrities and users to connect and capitalise on their Twitter handle. It is also a democratic platform for anyone to place an advertisement."

On promoting the new platform, Pitalwalla tells afaqs! that UTV plans to leverage its media muscle in order to promote SponsoredTweets.com. "We will make use of our popular TV channels like Bindass, social media and our celebrity digital business that has an existing roster of 35 celebrities to spread a word about this platform."

Ted Murphy, chief executive officer, IZEA, says, "A Twitter user can earn up to US$100 a month through this platform, whereas a celebrity can earn several thousands of dollars in a month."

SponsoredTweets.com will retain 50 per cent of the sponsor amount that a Twitter user gets. The percentage share in a celebrity tweet remains undisclosed.

Murphy says that this platform could also be helpful for small businesses with limited marketing budgets. "It is an economical, focused medium to spread awareness. A company can really start small and work its way up using this platform."

IZEA is operating in social media sponsorship for several years, with initiatives like WeReward, SponsoredTweets and SocialSpark.

Some of the businesses that have used the SponsoredTweets.com platform internationally include 1-800-Flowers, Armani Exchange, Bloomingdales, Boost Mobile, Charter Communications, Cheese Doodles, Coldwell Banker, Computer Associates, Dish Network, FOX Home Entertainment, KAO Brands, LG, Microsoft, NBC, Purex, Red Plum, Stouffers, Time Warner Cable, Tony's Pizza, Volvo and Weinstein Films. The company claims that the return on investment for the advertisers is measurable and traceable as it is available in real time.