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A year ago, actress Ashley Tisdale came up with the idea of starting her own blog so fans could learn more about her. After meeting with her digital management team, the idea for lifestyle website The Haute Messemerged.

“The Haute Mess is a site that we like to call an editorial style online magazine,” the former Disney actress explained. “I am the editor in chief, but it’s not me blogging. It’s about me sharing my audience and spotlighting my bloggers.”

Tisdale is one of a growing number of celebrities exploring the idea of turning themselves into online brands. From Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to Blake Lively’s Preserve, more stars are establishing themselves as digital media entities whether that is through their own website or amassing a large number of social media followers.

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IZEA Featured

From Ted Murphy, IZEA Founder & CEO

IZEA, an online marketplace that connects social media influencers with brands, said digital media has opened up the door to smaller brands. CEO Ted Murphy explained that these “micro endorsements” can provide support to a specific cause without forcing a brand into a multiyear contract at much larger numbers. It’s brokered deals for stars from the Kardashians to Neil Patrick Harris.

“We did the first paid celebrity tweet with Kim Kardashian in 2009,” he said. “We paid her $10,000. That was unheard of, and now a $10,000 tweet is pretty commonplace. The six-figure deals are less commonplace, but they do exist.”

But, it’s not all about money. Echoing Heller, Murphy said that many celebrities still value remaining authentic. He said he even got a seven-figure offer for a specific celebrity to tweet about a product, but they turned it down because they didn’t want to go against their principles.

Murphy said it’s still about maintaining who they are and their personal connection with fans, which is also the most valuable to brands.

“Followers isn’t the biggest metric; it’s the level of engagement on the tweet,” Murphy said. “That’s the No. 1 thing we look for and the clients look for. We want to see how these messages spread and what type of relationship does this celebrity have with their followers.”