The case for doing business within the realm of social media is extremely compelling. The question, however, is how does a business tread that fine line between providing business value and ROI while remaining authentic and retaining its credibility within the communities to which it belongs? One company, IZEA, thinks it has a solution in something called “Sponsored Tweets”, although not everyone is convinced this is actually a good thing.
IZEA is the social media marketing firm that created the “Sponsored Conversation” marketing technique within the blogging space back in 2006. In a sponsored conversation, a business or advertiser pays to have bloggers write about their product or brand. This allows businesses to receive low-cost exposure within the blogosphere, and it provides bloggers a way to subsidize their writing. One of the catches for businesses is that there is no guarantee that the bloggers who participate and are paid in this model will actually favorable reviews about the product or business in question. Indeed, IZEA is pretty explicit on this point – citing a Forrester Research report that notes that lists lack of message control, no guarantee of positive reviews, and trust issues as potential downsides to sponsored conversations for businesses.
IZEA is bringing its successful sponsored conversation technique to Twitter with something its calling, “Sponsored Tweets”. Launched today, IZEA is working to sign twitter users on sponsoredtweets.com – and these users will join the ranks of “Celebrity Tweeters” who have already signed. IDEA president, Ted Murphy, is even offering $1000 to the ten-thousandth tweeter who signs.
The idea of sponsored tweeting is not without its critics. Brennon Slattery at PC World is certainly among them. Even with the the requirements of full disclosure of the sponsorship, he writes:
Sponsored Tweets — and services like it — are damaging Twitter’s already bruised reputation by turning it into an advertising spam-fest rather than an innovative tool connecting people.
I think he makes a fair point, except that regardless of how much of a spam-fest Twitter may or may not become as a result, it is still entirely a social media phenomenon. Because of this, annoying spammers will see their whuffie decline as real people unfollow them the way we always run from the zombie hoard of spamming marketers. Sponsored tweets, or pay-per-tweets are a natural progression in the marketing viability of the medium. What will be interesting to see is how people walk that fine line between legitimately mentioning a product or service they like and abusing the trust we have when we choose to follow.
So – our best advice is that you’re more likely to see your reputation suffer as a tweeter if you constantly hawk something – regardless of whether you’re tweets are sponsored. The key, as always, is to treat your followers as if they’re depending on you to be honest and open with your opinions and brief 140-character thoughts – again regardless of whether you’re getting paid for those thoughts.
Because, well, they are depending on you.
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