Like your lunch to stay nice and cold without the pain of your ice pack ruining that perfectly crafted sandwich? We sent some of our bloggers the Packit to resolve their soggy sandwich woes and they were a hit! Packit Plank for the win!

The holidays are here, so you know what that means…food, food, drinks, food, eggnog and food.  Basically, those extra couple pounds are inevitable – I mean, who can say no to the candy canes, gingerbread cookies and fruit cake (ok, maybe we can pass on the fruit cake.)  Slim-fast decided to help some of our bloggers start their New Year’s Resolutions of getting healthy a little early this year!  They sent our bloggers their best tasting shake ever, coupons off their next purchase and a talking button (which, by the way, we keep at our desks to hear how good we look – yup, it talks!) A healthy creamy milk chocolate shake? Don’t mind if we do.

Cook much? Some bloggers received Carapelli Olive Oil to enhance their cuisines’ character and make their taste buds’ day. It’s great on the go!

We know you have the gift of gab, you are a blogger after all. We paired some select influencers with the LG Doubleplay phone from T-Mobile - the phone was equipped with service so those publishers could see everything it has to offer. Social Media, undeniably everyone’s favorite gift from the web, was at their fingertips so they didn’t miss a tweet. They occasionally used it for –brace yourself–making phone calls. We caught someone taking a tweet break using their Doubleplay…Busted!

We want as many bloggers as possible to be eligible for these awesome campaigns. Haven’t received an offer for a product sampling campaign yet? Be sure you have your preferences set up properly within your account so you are eligible for these super fun campaigns.  It’s as easy as going to the “account” tab in your SocialSpark Publisher dashboard, clicking on “overview” and reviewing Step 5 on that page.  If you have “Product Sampling” checked, you are telling Advertisers you would love to test out their samples and create a post about it

What would be your dream Product Sampling campaign?  Do you want to test drive a race car?  Try out the newest hang-gliders on the market?  Maybe try cooking with the world’s spiciest hot sauce?  Let us know!

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

1. What originally attracted you to the IZEA community, and how did you find out about it? I first found out about the IZEA community through my blog buddy’s site. I was intrigued with the idea of SocialSpark. I thought being a part of this community could allow me to work with companies and products that I would like to share with my readers as well as make money at the same time.  Win win.

2. Why Lil’ Luna? I chose Lil’ Luna because my mom’s maiden name is Luna, and I’m one of the many crafty ”Lil’ Lunas” in the fam {plus, I liked the way it sounded.}

3. What’s been your favorite SocialSpark Campaign? I’ve had several SocialSpark campaigns I have enjoyed, but I’d have to say the one about the movie, Monte Carlo was my fav. I planned a night out with my niece, and we had such a great time watching the movie. I loved promoting it on the blog because it was so adorable.

4. What inspires you to blog? So many things inspire me to blog but the biggest one would be the fact that I love sharing with people {my readers} all the amazing things out there in the world. From crafts to deals and recipes to tips, it is so fun for me to share these things with my readers and inspire them. I have also “met” so many amazing people and have loved getting to know so many bloggers that inspire me on a daily basis.

5. What’s one word of advice you’d give to bloggers who are looking to increase the quality of their content? If I had to offer someone advice about quality blogging, I would say to CHALLENGE yourself. Challenge yourself to do things no one ever has. Be original. Be fun. Be YOU!

6. Complete this thought: If I could I would____. If I could I would…. Like to meet all my “virtual friends”. We are scattered all over the world, but I would LOVE to meet every one of them and be friends with them IN REAL LIFE!

Kristyn’s blog can be found here

1. What originally attracted you to Sponsored Tweets? I have been a publisher with IZEA for about three years, and got in on Sponsored Tweets pretty much the day it started. I was already an active Twitter user and I wanted the opportunity to promote and connect with products and businesses. The extra cash doesn’t hurt, either!

2. What has been one of your favorite campaigns to participate in? Boudreaux’s Butt Paste! There’s a personal story behind it; when I was starting out as a writer in New Orleans about ten years ago, I interviewed and wrote a profile on the inventor of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, George Boudreaux, when a one of the country’s largest retailers decided to pick up his locally-sold product and distribute it in stores. A few years after our interview, his product started selling like crazy, and he sold his formula to Blairex Laboratories. He’s one of the most genuine people I’ve ever interviewed, he makes a great product I use and recommend, and his story really is a great one about what small entrepreneurs can become. I’ve participated in quite a few Sponsored Tweets and IZEA campaigns about Butt Paste on Twitter and other social media outlets, and I love to share Mr. Boudreaux’s story and my memories of talking with him “way back when.”

3. What do you love most about Twitter? It has almost eliminated my need for text messaging! Sometimes your friends don’t want to hear about everything you’re up to, but chances are, someone on Twitter wants to know what you had for lunch, what’s good on TV or the funny thing that happened to you while you were at the grocery store. And they share it with other people. Who share it with other people! It’s a great way to connect with like minds, as well as the organizations and brands you love.

4. Finish this: Without Twitter I would______. Probably lose friends over their their text overage charges! (see above.)

5. What do you do to market yourself, and get new followers? I do so much to market myself! I have business cards that I send with just about every piece of mail that ever leaves my home – from items I’ve sold on auction sites, to care packages I send to friends, to anything else I can think of. The cards have my Twitter page and a link to my blog – http://bellesouth.blogspot.com – which also links back to my Twitter page. I have links on all my social networking sites. But the most important thing I do is be myself! I respond to people, I retweet things I find interesting, I don’t hide who I am. I’ve built up a decent following in the past few years without compromising myself.

6. Any advice to other Tweeters on how to get more Sponsored Tweets Opportunities? First of all, I don’t think it’s important to get more Sponsored Tweets Opportunities, but rather quality opportunities. You can log in to find tons of opportunities that don’t necessarily fit you or your followers, and consequently, your followers won’t click with the product or on the links. Play around with your topics and see what suits you and your followers the best; what would they want to look at? There are opportunities available on just about every topic.

• Do NOT be a robot! Be a real person! Nobody wants someone who just tweets ads all day on their feed, and you might be unfollowed or worse yet, reported for spam. Spend most of your time tweeting about other things – yourself, your hobbies and interests – and engage with your followers. You will be amazed at what relationships you can develop just through 140-character messages.

• Keep your integrity. This is paramount! If you absolutely cannot stand a certain brand, product or business practice, don’t promote it! You will lose the respect of your followers if you are not genuine. Promote products and services you really believe in. You will get a lot more appreciation in return and a lot more followers if people come to trust you and want to know what your thoughts are.

• Participate in the IZEA and Sponsored Tweets help forum on GetSatisfaction. I’ve found that IZEA has a great staff that really does listen to my concerns and wants me to succeed. If I have an issue, I’ll head over to the forum, post my thoughts and usually hear back from someone within 48 hours.

• Do NOT get discouraged. IZEA is the real deal, but like anything, it takes time, patience and work. If you want to make money, meet good people and build a real following, IZEA is a top-notch and trustworthy company to work with. You may not be swimming in piles of gold after two weeks, but you can make some extra income to help you pay the bills.

Follow Eleanor’s Tweets at @bellesouth

1. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear WeReward?15 minutes. Haha every second counts when I’m waiting to take a picture at my current location. Always being on the move, that allots for a ton of cash.

2. What device do you claim rewards from? An iPhone 4 with IOS 4.3.5.

3. Where have you checked-in the most? Truthfully, it’s hard to say–I’ve exceeded the limit for multiple businesses. Even so, I continually check into said locations to up my total reward count. Those “Izea Love” bonuses really add up

4. What’s been your favorite WeReward reward claim so far? I’m a big dog lover, so I’d say the Milk-Bone products reward. I mean, you win on multiple levels by making your dog happy, having a cute photo, and earning some money.

5. What company would you love to see using WeReward? While I’d love to see more Products/Tasks available in WeReward, I think it’s more important for businesses to officially hop on board with the service. While their rewards would increase for us users (10 cents to 50 cents!), their potential monetary gains would as well. With more people turning away from television and turning towards the internet, social media/social advertising is the way to go.

6. Most importantly, what’s your favorite way to eat bacon? A couple of weeks ago, a friend turned me onto Bacon Salt. With a seasoning like that, bacon can be included on everything!

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

IZEA Holdings, Inc. (IZEA:OTCBB), the world leader in social media sponsorships, today announced the release of WeReward Insights, a new survey feature for its WeReward mobile rewards application that allows consumers to earn money from brands by performing real-world actions with their mobile device.

Through WeReward Insights, advertisers can offer surveys to segments of the WeReward app user base. WeReward holds a wide range of opt-in demographic data, such as purchasing habits at stores and restaurants, which can be analyzed and aggregated. The secure, anonymous data is then available to brands as a detailed, real-time snapshot of their targeted users.

“Brands and consumers directly benefit through the use of WeReward Insights,” said Ted Murphy, Chief Executive Officer. “Advertisers gain unprecedented visibility into the demographics of the respondents because the platform provides them with aggregated information about purchasing, opinions, location, and mobile task behaviors. Consumers that complete surveys are given another way to earn cash rewards for only a few minutes of their time. Our WeReward ecosystem offers the biggest variety of rewards for people to earn money for checking into places, using products, downloading mobile apps, and now completing surveys.”

Brands can set their own WeReward point amounts for each survey, which are placed into the user’s account upon completion. Each point is worth one penny, and users can transfer their points to real cash at set intervals to PayPal accounts.

“Ever time a user contributes information, it makes WeReward Insights smarter and more valuable to our client-partners,” said Ryan Schram, Chief Marketing Officer. “We can tell you if Democrats prefer Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or if iPhone owners are more eco-conscious than their Android counterparts. The entirety of this data enables businesses to better understand their customer, and in turns, helps them to make more powerful marketing decisions.”

The WeReward mobileapp is currently available to iPhone and Android device users. Businesses and consumers can also signup at www.wereward.com.

About IZEA
IZEA Holdings, Inc., (“IZEA”) is a world leader in social media sponsorship, operating multiple marketplaces including WeReward, SponsoredTweets, and SocialSpark. IZEA connects advertisers with social media publishers, helping them monetize their social media presence. The company has completed over 2,000,000 social media sponsorships for customers ranging from small local businesses to Fortune 50 organizations. For more information about IZEA, visit www.izea.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Please read the full statement and disclosures here: http://izea.com/safe-harbor-statement

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

1. What originally attracted you to the IZEA community, and how did you find out about it? I found out about IZEA when I was first contacted about doing something for a Pier One campaign.  I didn’t do that one, but kept hearing about Social Spark from some of my blog friends.  I decided to officially sign up and I’ve been a part of IZEA for about 4 months now.  I have enjoyed the program a lot and the fact that there are such varied topics that are offered.

2. Why Southern Hospitably? If you mean, why did I name my blog Southern Hospitality?  Well, it’s because I’m a Southern girl, born and raised in the South and enjoy all that my Southern heritage brings me.  I enjoy sharing about the South on my blog, along with my family, food, shopping, thrifty decorating, and anytime I travel, I share all of those trips too.  I’m proud to be Southern

3. What’s been your favorite SocialSpark Campaign? The Hill’s Science Diet dog campaign was a lot of fun.  I featured my sister’s 2 doggies in the video and they got to benefit from the toys and action shots.  We had fun doing that one and putting it all together.  I loved getting the Sony video camera too, that was a nice bonus!

4. What inspires you to blog? I love sharing ideas and inspiration with others out there who enjoy the same things I do.  I’ve been online for over 10 years in many arenas of decorating forums, so blogging was a natural outreach with that.  When blogs began, I jumped on board in 2007 and haven’t slowed down since. It has now turned into my full-time business and I still love it so much. The community and friendships have been so rewarding too.

5. What’s one word of advice you’d give to bloggers who are looking to increase the quality of their content? Write from your passion.  If you write about things that you love and are passionate about, then readers will appreciate that and come back for more.  I think that is the key to successful blogging.  Writing about things that you love and enjoy, sharing with the blog community will come natural.

6. Complete this thought: If I could I would____. travel around to all the blog conferences all the time, blogging and meeting new friends.  Blogging has been so much fun for me!

Rhoda’s blog can be found here

1. What originally attracted you to Sponsored Tweets? I believe in honest and transparent sponsored posts. Sponsored Tweets attracted me with its full disclosure with each tweet.

2. What has been one of your favorite campaigns to participate in? InColdStorage Vintage campaign donated 20% of its sales to saving shelter pets. I enjoy campaigns that donate portions of proceeds to good causes.

3. What do you love most about Twitter? I love Twitter’s ability to connect with so many individuals and receiving the latest news within seconds of something happening in the world.

4. Finish this: Without Twitter I would______. have less entertainment online.

5. What do you do to market yourself, and get new followers? I participate in several freelance writer communities. We are very good at supporting each other, re-tweeting each other’s links and helping promote our work. Joining Twitter-based communities, posting frequently on Twitter and taking the time to socialize are the best ways to make your account noticed on Twitter. Also, check each sponsored opportunity link before you post it to your account. Twitter followers appreciate honest links with quality information.

6. Any advice to other Tweeters on how to get more Sponsored Tweets Opportunities? Turn in your sponsored opportunities in a timely manner. Respect the advertiser’s time. Advertisers will in turn favorite your account and offer you more paid opportunities.

Follow Nina’s Tweets at @writingdivas

1. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear WeReward? Cold, hard cash (well, the electronic kind, which works even better for me)

2. What device do you claim rewards from? iPhone 4

3. Where have you checked-in the most? I’m guessing Dancing Goats Coffee Bar or Stone Soup Kitchen, since the app no longer wants me to take photos at either place.

4. What’s been your favorite WeReward reward claim so far? Nielsen Mobile Rewards, since joining was worth 1000 points (and I keep earning rewards each month)

5. What company would you love to see using WeReward? There’s already a great selection of national retailers, but Lowe’s would be a good addition to that roster.

6. Most importantly, what’s your favorite way to eat bacon? That would be the tempeh bacon (known as BC) from local vegan meatery Gutenfleischers

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

The Facts : Analytics users are preferred by Advertisers

• 92.85% of the offers are made to blogs with Google Analytics turned on
• Blogs with GA turned on get an average of 13x more offers
• Blogs with GA turned on earn an average of 8.5x more

So, today we thought we’d go over what Google Analytics is, why it’s important to you, how you can enable this and how it can help you make more money from what you are already doing well.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free service provided by Google that analyzes traffic data it gathers about your website.

Why should I have Google Analytics?

With Google Analytics, you can track pageviews and visitors to your site over time, drill down into which pages are getting the most traffic, and discover which areas of your site have the highest bounce rates. Finally, there’s an easy way to get insight into the search keywords you rank on and discover how effective that email newsletter really is.

Why does IZEA need this information?

It’s important to our advertisers to know how many visits a site gets on average before they can justify purchasing a post on your site. In addition, traffic is one of the main segmentation criteria when Opps are created. So, although you blog may be a wonderful fit for a campaign, if we are not showing any traffic for it, it will not be seen by the advertisers and you will not get Offers.

I already have a Analytics account, what now?

If you already have an account set up with Google Analytics, then all you need to do is sign in to your Analytics account, log in to SocialSpark and click the ‘Not Verified’ link next to ‘Google Analytics’ on your ‘Your Properties’ page

and then on the button to claim it.

How do I set up an Analytics account?

If you do not already have an account with Google, create one!

Once your account has been created, you will need to find your tracking code to install to your blog.

Once you get your code, copy it to your clipboard and paste the code into your blog’s template, preferably immediately before the closing body tag. If you’re not sure where the closing body tag is in your site’s templates, try installing it in the footer. Then follow the steps above to authorize this in your SocialSpark account.

Will Analytics *really* help my blog to make more money?

Yes! Not only will providing your traffic stats allow you to be matched with more campaigns, but the better your traffic is, the higher those Offers will be. In addition, SocialSpark keeps a close watch on traffic to automatically mark your blog as notable or premium which will bounce you into a higher income bracket and bring those high dollar Opps your way.

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

When you log into SponsoredTweets.com you will notice a new PRO button (located on the right hand side, just above your “use our api!” and “referral program’” buttons) . Clicking this button brings you through the signup process to upgrade your account to PRO. PRO accounts are $9.95 per month and have three core benefits:

Try it Free for 30 Days

All users are invited to try a PRO account free for 30 days (credit card required). The fee for PRO accounts will be deducted from your balance. If your balance won’t cover the fee we use your credit card as a backup. You can cancel your PRO account at any time. Our hope is that the additional exposure and lower cash out makes SponsoredTweets an even more profitable social media sponsorship marketplace for you.

Your Cost Per Tweet, FAR and CPC still matter

While a PRO account can help you get more exposure that exposure will only help if your cost and historical performance are in line. Be sure to check out your suggested price in your account settings.

Not interested in a PRO account? No problem! Basic accounts will always be free.

If you have questions you’re welcome to leave them in the comments section here. You can also direct them to @spontwts on Twitter, or refer to our Support Forums.

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

You guys rock!

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing

The Winner!

“My husband and I couldn’t have planned a better vacation for us. We are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this June, and are now able to return to the same island where we vacationed for our honeymoon!”

How awesome is that?! (TIP: You can get to know Stephanie at her website. Be sure to check out her “Fun Facts” page – there are some listed there that made me laugh out loud!)

The Prize!

Stephanie has won two (2) round-trip tickets from her nearest airport, and hotel accommodations to Maui’s The Ritz Carlton Kapalua. And me? I’m pretty jealous – this place looks amazing! I may just have to convince Stephanie to hid me in her luggage….

Stephanie’s blog can be found at SomewhatSimple.com, and she can be Followed on Twitter at @SimpleStephD.

Congratulations, again, Stephanie! Have a fantastic trip!

This is a post from: IZEA : Social Media Marketing