Are Celeb Tweets Worth the Money for Small Businesses?

“Summers almost here! Keep a girly figure, eat yummy subs! @Quiznos coupon for a $2.99 sub? Yes, please. Those 108 characters rakes in $2300 for MTV star JWoww, according to a recent Inc.com post. Getting JWOWW to tweet about your new product or upcoming sale for $2,300 a pop may sound a bit ludacrious, but as Twitter continues to grow it may not be that bad of an idea.

In a recent TechCrunch post, CEO Dick Costolo rambled off a pretty impressive array of stats. In September 2010, Twitter was seeing about 90 million tweets a day. Earlier this year, that figure jumped to over 100 million per day and has now reached a shocking 250 million a day.

Not only do celebrities often times have huge following but a tweet can get retweeted indefinite times for a huge ripple effect.

A case in point about the power of celebrities on Twitter was demonstrated at Business Insider’s Social Media Analytics. The movie, Fast Five, received much hype on Twitter when released but quickly slipped into Twitter world obscurity after its opening. Interest didn’t’ spark again until Tyrese posted a tweet about Fast Five that got retweeted hundreds of times.

I realize the example above doesn’t directly relate to small business marketing, but it is one of many that demonstrate the power of celebrities.

As Inc.com points out, small business owners must keep in mind the whole celebrity endorsement tweet is pretty trendy right now. If you are thinking about adding Lindsay Lohan to your roster of tweeters hocking your goods avoid using the celeb tool too much as the impact could wear off quickly.

Also, Inc.com points out hiring controversial celebs may provide an extra push in short-term sales, but in the long run it could damage the reputation of the brand.

I find some of the Twitter endorsement fees way too high, but I am not dismissing celebrity endorsements as a way to advertise. People spend thousands a day on Google Adwords, PR, product endorsements, and traditional advertising campaigns. If the celebrity followers have access to your service or product, it may be worth taking a stab at it.

Check out the list below I compiled from two Inc.com posts about celebrity Tweets. The fee is quoted from their articles, but I did update the number of followers.  The Inc.com article had Khloe Kardashian with 2. 8 million followers and she is now up to 5 million. Crazy.

 

Who would you choose to Tweet about your product?

Tags: celeb tweet, celebrity endorsements on Twitter, celebrity tweets, endorsed tweets, Inc.com, Khloé Kardashian, Twitter