While the common folks munch on popcorn and watch Elon Musk playing god on Twitter, work is not standing still. Let the fate of Twitter, just like Musk's plans for it, be unpredictable; we wouldn't want to write off such a vast and developed platform. So today, let's talk about how you can drive traffic from Twitter.
How can you earn money on Twitter
We have gathered a few popular strategies for monetizing traffic from Twitter for you. The choice of approach greatly depends on the vertical and product, but we are confident that there will be something useful for everyone in our selection.
Sponsored tweets
Twitter is a microblogging platform where people share and read news (and, of course, comment). Therefore, the most organic way to make money on Twitter is:
- Grow your blog
- Start placing advertisements on it
All you need at the initial stage is the desire to grow and earn... well, and free time (a lot of free time). To attract your first advertisers, you'll need around 2,000 to 3,000 followers because nobody wants to place their ads where no one will see them. So, you need free time - you must regularly publish interesting content to attract followers (you'll find other ways to attract followers as you continue reading this article).
When your blog is ready for advertising (has active followers, a complete profile header, a rich posting history, etc.), how do you find partners willing to pay for traffic from your blog?
For example, you can register on IZEA. It's an influencer marketing platform where businesses and influencers from around the world connect for collaboration. Of course, there are many other services, including Russian-language ones. Your choice will depend on your goals, geography, target audience, and other factors.
The bad news is that the number of companies (such as Volkswagen Group, General Motors) that have suspended advertising on Twitter has been increasing since early November due to uncertainty about the platform's direction under Musk's leadership. In particular, major brands are concerned that their ads will be placed alongside toxic content. Although Musk has made occasional statements about Twitter's profitability and the return of almost all advertisers, it's hard to take this at face value.
The good news is that there are still companies that remain active on the platform, and, to be honest, the chance to collaborate with a major brand with just 2,000 followers was quite small.
Affiliate programs
Finally, something that sounds familiar - affiliate programs. When you participate in an affiliate program, the advertiser pays you not for posting information about them, but for the performance of specific actions by your followers:
- clicking on a link
- registering on a website
- subscribing
- making a purchase, etc.
So, where can you find affiliate programs? You can try popular platforms like Adf.ly and Fiverr, for example.
When choosing an affiliate program, pay attention to the niche. It's appropriate to choose something that doesn't contradict the theme of your blog. Try working with advertisers whose products may be of interest to your audience.
Here, your main focus will be on conversions. Users must click on the links, or else you won't get paid. To increase conversion, learn how to direct your readers to the offer as organically as possible. It's worth entering Twitter with prior experience in driving traffic
Monetizing your profile header
If you have several thousand followers, you can place advertisements not only in your tweets but also in the header of your profile. Advertisers are willing to pay good money for advertising in the headers of popular microblogs.
The good news is that it's passive income, and you don't need to place advertisements every day.
The bad news is that it's challenging to make advertising organic when it's so noticeable, and you need a truly loyal audience so they don't get annoyed or unsubscribe due to such advertisements.
Campaign launch
Again, something familiar. You can use Twitter to launch your own campaigns. Before you start, you should know about the companies where you can buy advertising on Twitter. These include Google Doubleclick Bid Manager, The Trade Desk, GroupM UK Limited, Criteo, and Httpool (there are likely more companies). But this is more for general understanding, as you can buy advertising directly through Twitter using ads.twitter.com.
However, when choosing this option, you will encounter some obstacles:
- New accounts cannot create advertisements (and, in general, dealing with Russian accounts is quite challenging, but you can buy an account, for example, on eBay).
- Your account must not be private.
- Your account must be active.
- The URL of your account must match the final URL in the advertisement.
In general, advertising accounts on Twitter are quite similar to advertising accounts on Facebook*, so you shouldn't have any difficulties with this - everything is intuitive.
An attractive account for advertisers
We promised you a few hacks to gain followers. This is the part of the article where we'll discuss this - hooray! But first, let's talk about what you shouldn't do if you want more followers and offers from advertisers:
- If you want your followers to feel comfortable in your blog, don't turn it into an advertising dump. No one will read your blog if it's hard to understand what topic it covers because there's more advertising than content. Maintain a balance, act rationally, and don't say we didn't warn you.
- 'Sub for sub' still works in 2023 (although, admittedly, not as effectively). Don't try to subscribe to 1000 accounts in one day. This raises suspicion. Imagine: 7 followers and 943 subscriptions... and 3 tweets posted. Would you follow such an account? Probably not. The ideal follower-to-following ratio for a young account is 2:3.
Alright, if these points are clear, let's move on to your favorite part.
Resources for gaining followers
- Owlead is a tool that categorizes, filters, and identifies the most attractive accounts to build your audience.
- The same concept exists with Tweepi.
Conclusion
Twitter is a social network that offers you numerous ways to make money, including arbitrage methods.
The situation is currently uncertain: there are constantly updates to the platform that leave fewer opportunities for autonomous traffic work and tighten moderation, and in Russia, Twitter is officially unavailable altogether.
In any case, in our field, everyone has already gotten used to difficulties and knows how to adapt quickly to circumstances. Therefore, it's not worth discounting a traffic source like Twitter. Stay updated and don't miss your chance to benefit.