IZEA: SocialSpark and SponsoredTweets

By Wendy Piersall from Mom Blogging For Dummies

IZEA is a company that has two primary programs that match up bloggers and social media users with advertisers. Mom bloggers make up the largest segment of users — and its advertising clients are most interested in moms who blog as well.

These sites don’t work like a traditional ad network. Instead, they act like a marketplace in which bloggers can find advertisers to work with, and advertisers can find bloggers willing to write about their products.

The other difference with IZEA’s sites is that they don’t help you sell banner or text advertising. Instead, they offer opportunities to write about topics or take actions that advertisers are willing to pay for. They have two programs with which you can earn money that are relevant to bloggers and people who use Twitter: SocialSpark and SponsoredTweets.

SocialSpark

SocialSpark is a platform that makes it very easy to write sponsored blog posts that comply 100 percent with the standards from the FTC, WOMMA, and Google. It has also built tools that automate the measurement of your traffic and following on social media sites.

Result: Bloggers with more influence and visitors can charge higher rates, commensurate with the higher value they can offer to advertisers. But even newer bloggers can find opportunities in its marketplace.

SocialSpark has a simple system in which you set up a profile, browse opportunities in its marketplace, submit the blog post to ensure it complies with all regulatory guidelines, and get paid.

SponsoredTweets

Just as the name suggests, SponsoredTweets is similar to SocialSpark, but pays its publishers for sending out tweets instead of blog posts. It also has an automatic system in place to ensure you disclose that your tweet is an ad, plus measurement tools to give the advertisers insights as to how many people saw or clicked your tweet.