About SMS

What is Social Media Sponsorship?

When a brand engages social media publishers to talk about their company, do a product review, talk about a new movie release, or help promote an online contest, we call that a social media sponsorship.

A social media sponsorship is a rapidly emerging word of mouth strategy that enables brands to provide material compensation, such as cash, coupons, products, points, trips, etc. to social media publishers to promote and/or review their products and services through blog posts, status updates, checkins, or other unique experiences.

By maintaining the authenticity of the publisher’s unique voice and opinion and adhering to the required disclosure (according to the FTC’s guidelines), social media sponsorships fill a growing void between public relations and advertising and can become an important, effective, and measurable part of the overall marketing mix.

A Growing Trend

According to PQ Media, the leading provider of alternative media econometrics research:

• The value of total social media sponsorships grew 13.9% in 2009 to $46.0 million, driven by higher demand of brands to be included in social media content, as well as their acceptance of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines on transparency regarding brand references in social media content.

• Cash-sponsored social media (services offered by IZEA), is the fastest-growing social media sponsorship segment, with spending rising 37.3% in 2009 to $10.3 million, driven by brand requirements to reach out to specific influentials in particular demographics, such as young females and working mothers.

• Total social media sponsorship spending is expected to increase 23.6% in 2010 to $56.8 million, driven by a stronger overall advertising and marketing environment as the economy improves, as well as continued pressure on brands to increase their presence on social media networks.

• Cash-sponsored media providers will become the largest social media sponsorship segment in 2011, reaching $65.2 million in 2014, or a 40.5% share of spending.

In May 2010, IZEA licensed PQ’s Media’s Social Media Sponsorships Forecast 2010-2014.  According to PQ Media, “this is the first-ever report to size, structure, forecast, and validate the growth of this burgeoning category within Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WoMM).”  To receive your copy of the report, please fill out the form here.

Positive Buzz

Social media sponsorships have generated positive reactions among consumers recently, according to a Psychster study released in March 2010.  According to th e study, sponsored content ranks first among online strategies designed to prompt an individual to link to a brand based on the interaction with the content.

Over the past few years, IZEA has enjoyed the opportunity to work with great companies such as Microsoft, Bloomingdales, H&R Block, Sears, SeaWorld, Schwan’s, and countless others in developing highly successful social media sponsorships.  As a leader in social media sponsorships, IZEA has delivered more than 1,000,000 sponsorships since 2006.

Why SMS?

Guaranteed Posts

Unlike traditional public relations, sponsored conversations are agreements between the advertiser and social media publisher. The publisher is provided compensation in exchange for exposure to their network.

Trackable Results

Sponsored conversations enable our advertisers to embed tracking links and pixels. We are able to report actual traffic and conversions delivered to a client’s destination site or local business.

Performance Driven

Advertisers pay based on a completed action (such as a post, tweet, check-in, purchase or click)

Scalable

IZEA has over 400,000 registered publishers in our network, allowing us to seed a conversation on thousands of blogs overnight.

Social Media Search Optimized

Sponsored posts, tweets and checkins appear on search engines, social networks and other discovery sites.