Since the beginning of Tinseltown, stars have been flocking to Los Angeles making it the perfect starting point for companies looking to connect fans with their favorite celebrities. After an Instagram star told tech entrepreneur Owen De Vries that they found themselves overwhelmed with constant messages flooding their social media channels, the idea for TipTalk was born. De Vries asked how many messages would be answered if paid to do so, to which the star answered as many as they could. That’s when de Vries teamed up with co-founder Zachary Melamed to launch the Los Angeles-based messaging platform TipTalk to allow super fans to connect with their favorite celebrities and influencers through private text, photo or video response, monetizing their time and knowledge.
TipTalk is the first company to introduce a unique platform offering a channel for verified influencers to connect with their fans on a one-on-one basis. Currently, fans have only been able to get this kind of access to celebrities through pricey meet and greets and book signings.
“TipTalk was founded with the mission of creating an authentic community for users that desire one-on-one access to influencers, while allowing influencers to monetize their time and knowledge,” says Melamed. “Whether our users engage for expert advice or just for fun, we hope that by opening up this channel to the hardest-to-reach people in the world we can help induce meaningful connections, while at the same time drive positive change through the causes our influencers represent.”
The app is home to influencers across a variety of categories including fashion & beauty, sports, esports, social media, industry experts and reality TV. Now stars like Olympic athlete Bode Miller, fitness guru Jayde Nicole and NFL analyst Jay Glazer can finally earn revenue for sharing their tips, tricks and knowledge with their next level fans. Each influencer sets their own “price” for engagement, which fans can purchase with $1 credits. The celebrity then has the ability to respond to up to 100 inbound messages at a time, and fans that don’t receive a reply within 48 hours will have their credits returned. The influencers receive 50% of the revenue, while Apple takes the standard 30% leaving TipTalk with the remaining 20%. Besides paying for their time, the app allows influencers the opportunity to donate a portion or all of the proceeds to a charity of their choice.
TipTalk creates unique and authentic experiences in a world where it’s rare to find customized media interactions. Adding new influencers weekly, TipTalk is connecting fans with some of the hardest to reach people in the world.
For more information, please visit TipTalkapp.com, follow TipTalk on Twitter, Instagram and like on Facebook.
