The Social Media Age: Celebs Get Paid For Tweeting


Bangalore: It is no surprise that social media has become the new mantra for all. Be it getting in touch with people, making announcements or putting across a point, social media has many takers, young and old, and celebrities have taken to it too.

Indian celebs, like their Western counterparts, have started including social media in their brand endorsement contracts and are also said to be getting paid separately for tweeting about brands, reported Vijaya Rathore & Ravi Teja Sharma for The Economic Times. A health portal is said to sign an endorsement deal with actress Priyanka Chopra who has 4.2 million followers on Twitter and she will have to tweet about the portal.

Bunty Sajdeh, chief executive officer of Cornerstone Sport & Entertainment that manages endorsements for celebrities and sportsmen like Sonakshi Sinha, Virat Kohli, Sania Mirza and Prabhu Deva said "Twitter is a very big aspect of a celeb's reach. Sponsored tweets are certainly gaining traction in India," reported the ET.

Social media contracts normally include Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Instagram and websites of celebrities and can cost a brand up to 25 percent of a traditional endorsement contract. However the amount depends on the popularity of the celebrity in the digital space.

Social media deals are far more cost effective than traditional endorsement deals for brands, predominantly for top stars. However, social media deals cost at least 1.5 times that of what a brand pays to advertise in the online space.

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