Partnership creates new sponsorship network with over 500,000 individual social media publishers and 400MM+ monthly image, video, blog posts, status updates and check-ins impressions across all properties, including content from over 1,000 celebrity users.
ORLANDO, Fla., March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — ImageShack, one of the world’s largest photo hosting companies and IZEA, operator of the largest social media sponsorship network, announced an exclusive partnership to create the largest diversified social media sponsorship (SMS) network in the world. The partnership allows advertisers to engage in SMS campaigns at greater scale through an integrated offering that spans virtually all social media platforms and content types. Advertisers can leverage the content streams of millions of social media content creators ranging from college students to A-List celebrities.
“Celebrities use of social media is creating a tremendous amount of fan engagement, especially through images and videos shared on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms,” said Jack Levin founder of ImageShack and yfrog. “An average of 125,000 people view just one Taylor Swift photo shared on yfrog.com, that represents huge interest in viewing celebrity social streams, as they unfold in real life. With the re-launch of yfrog, we developed a unified interface to organize these social streams and make them useful. Our partnership with IZEA will help brands and our users engage in a way that is relevant to those streams.”
Both companies have been successful in developing highly engaging campaigns for advertisers that involve celebrities. yfrog recently developed a campaign for Sony Electronics that incorporated video from the band Weezer; the program was noted as one of the top campaigns of 2010 by Universal McCann. IZEA teamed with Diddy and Microsoft for the 12 Days of Tag, a campaign that matched a top brand and celebrity with charitable giving using Microsoft’s Tag technology, earning the campaign a coveted spot as a finalist in the 2011 Social Media Influencer Awards.
“This partnership allows both companies to represent the largest, most diverse offering in the social media sponsorship space,” said Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of IZEA. “By extending Sponsored Posts and Sponsored Tweets to include promoted pictures, videos, and custom galleries, this partnership will allow advertisers to reach highly engaged and relevant audiences, with compelling content served in and around the original stream.”
Agencies and brands interested in learning more about this partnership by visiting http://izea.com/pics.
About ImageShack
With more than 50 million monthly unique visitors, ImageShack is one of the largest independent image hosting companies. ImageShack powers two major websites: Imageshack.com and yfrog.com. ImageShack is headquartered in Los Gatos, California and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Felicis Ventures. ImageShack, launched in 2003, was founded by Jack and Alexander Levin. For more information on yfrog or ImageShack visit www.imageshack.com.
About IZEA
IZEA is a world leader in social media sponsorship, operating multiple marketplaces such as WeReward, SponsoredTweets, and SocialSpark. Our mission is to empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence. IZEA is venture funded by Inflexion Partners, Village Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and DFJ Gotham Ventures. Learn more at www.izea.com.
