A number of people lately have been asking me “How do I make money using Twitter?”

A lot of people are looking for ways to make money online nowadays, and with social media becoming more of the popular choice for spending time online, it only makes sense to find ways to monetize on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, SnapChat etc…

So here are six effective ways that businesses and entrepreneurs have made money online using the social media platform ‘Twitter‘.

How To Make Money On Twitter

1. Use Twitter to Crowd Source products

The t-shirt retailer, Threadless, has been using Twitter to ask its followers to submit proposed t-shirt designs for the chance to be paid some cash. The company created a website where people could easily submit their tweets for consideration, and also where people voted for their favorite. The campaign was a resounding success. Threadless received more than 100,000 submissions and over three million votes. More importantly, the company was able to develop and sell 23 designs, creating a new income stream for itself.

You can use this idea to create income opportunities for your business by asking your followers for help with your products, allowing them to make an emotional investment and take part in the creation process. Then you need to reward them for responding.

2. Sell products

Dell Computers made millions by using its @DellOutlet Twitter account to tweet discounts and promotions for Dell computers and other products. They gained over half a million followers and generated over a million dollars in sales in just under two years of tweeting.

You can follow Dell’s lead and make your own followers aware of special deals, discounts and promotions to generate buzz, stimulate sales and make money on Twitter.

3. Generate leads and find customers

Heather Townsend is the author of the book, “The Financial Times Guide to Business Networking.” She started her business networking consultancy right after she had been laid off by her former employer, and claims that 80 percent of her leads had started as followers on Twitter.

Like Miss Townsend, you can nurture relationships you build with your Twitter contacts: offer help to people when they need it, provide answers to questions they may have and contribute useful or interesting information. Then you can capitalize on these relationships by pursuing contacts who may have need of your products and services, converting them into customers.

4. Develop and sell Twitter-related products and apps

UseQwitter.com for example, is a freemium service that performs a single, simple task: it notifies Twitter users when they are unfollowed by their followers. The basic service is free, but the site charges for premium services. The site grew to over 180,000 active subscriptions. The site was then eventually sold to another company, providing the original developers with an additional windfall.

You could identify gaps in Twitter’s service offering and fill that with an app of your own. Your target market will consist of the entire Twitter user base. If your app or service fulfills a pressing need, you could charge people for downloading and using it. You may even create enough interest for investors, and sell your creation for a tidy sum.

5. Tweet for sponsors

SponsoredTweets.com is an online platform that allows you to make money on Twitter by charging sponsors for communicating their advertising messages to your followers. You set the amount you want to get paid for every tweet you make, choose a category and select keywords you want to work with. You then wait for advertisers to contact you and take you up on your offer, paying you the amount you specified for each tweet that you make.

All throughout the process, the tweeter has full control over his or her account, and may choose the wordings of the tweets, or may choose to reject the tweet altogether.

6. Hold a sponsored contest

Holding a Twitter contest is a great way to create buzz, engage your audiences, generate new twitter followers and grow your brand presence. Back in 2010, KFC awarded USD 20,000 scholarships to people who tweeted the most creative answers to the featured question.

Twitter contests have become quite popular. You could ride the wave of this emerging trend and make money on Twitter by organizing contests for local businesses, which will pay you for the service. There are several types of Twitter contests you can set up. You have already seen how KFC solicited the most creative answers. You could select winners through a random draw, organize a photo contest, award users who provide the best answer to questions and much more.

We hope you enjoyed these 6 highly effective ways to make money on Twitter.

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