X (Twitter) Ads: Why You Need Them and How to Use Them Right

Before being rebranded to “X”, Twitter was, well, Twitter – a platform where users shared a mix of text, images, and videos. Its main allure lied in its blend of real-time news updates and user-generated commentary, creating a vibrant platform where people would discuss all kinds of topics, from lighthearted ones to more serious.

 

Both back then and now, advertising platforms like Facebook and Instagram often steal the spotlight, leading to advertisers spending less on X (Twitter) ads.

 

However, X offers unique advantages that can bring the advertising efforts of different kinds of businesses to a new level. Even with all the controversies, there are many reasons why you might need to include X in your advertising mix.

 

In this article, we’ll talk about what makes X ads worth it and delve into the best practices that will help you navigate this advertising landscape successfully.

 

Why choose X Ads?

There are three key benefits that X (Twitter) ads can offer you:

 

1. Unique audience engagement

Even though X (formerly known as Twitter) is not among the top-10 social media platforms based on the number of active users, people are still actively using X and spend about 34.1 minutes a day on average on the platform.

Most popular social networks worldwide by the number of monthly active users. Source: Statista

 

It takes third place after TikTok and YouTube in terms of the time spent there, which is pretty impressive. 

The audience you can reach through X ads won’t be as large as the number of people you can advertise to on Facebook or Instagram, that’s obvious. However, the higher engagement and activity rates on X in comparison to other platforms seem promising for many advertisers.

Average time spent per day on social media platforms in the US. Source: Statista

 

In short, X is great for real-time interaction, making it perfect for campaigns that need quick feedback or engagement. X users love to jump into conversations, retweet, and share posts, which can potentially make your ads viral if you do everything right.

 

You can also use this to create buzz around your events or promotions, making your brand more recognizable among people outside of your core audience.

 

2. Targeting potential

X provides different targeting options:

• Location: target people in countries, regions, metro areas, cities, postal codes, or a radius around a location;
• Language: target people who speak certain languages based on their post history and who they engage with;
• Device, platform, and Wi-Fi: target users based on the devices (including Wi-Fi connected) and phone models they use to access X;
• Age and gender: target broad (e.g., 18+, all genders) or narrow audiences (e.g., females or males of 18–30 years old) based on these parameters;
• Conversations: target people based on the content and topics they talk about;
• Events: target users who discuss online and offline events;
• Post engagement: target people who’ve seen or engaged with your ads or posts before;
• Keyword: target or exclude users based on the keywords they’ve searched for, used in their posts, or engaged with;
• Movies and TV: target people who talk and engage with posts about movies and TV shows;
• Interests: target users with specific interests from 25 categories;
• Followers: target people who follow your account; Follower lookalikes: target people similar to followers of specific accounts;
• Custom audiences: target users from your customer lists, or those who visited your website or used your app.

With this variety of options, you’ll definitely be able to find the right people for your campaigns and run highly customized ad campaigns. However, keep in mind that the platform’s demographic makeup tends to be skewed towards men, who account for more than half of all X users.

 

This doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to reach female audiences, but it might be a lot easier to find customers on X if your primary audience consists of men.

The distribution of X users by gender. Source: Statista

 

Let’s also mention the key benefit of X ads, which is keyword targeting – it helps you reach people discussing relevant topics in real-time. This contextual relevance means that users are far more likely to be receptive to your ads, so the ad performance is likely to be better as well.

 

3. Potential partnership with Google ads

After a drop in ad revenue experienced after the rebranding, X is now looking to outsource some of its ad sales by teaming up with the Google Display Network.

Advertising revenue of X (formerly Twitter) worldwide from 2017 to 2027. Source: Statista

 

Advertisers will be able to use Google Ads Display campaigns to access X's home feed inventory, but the deal's specifics aren't revealed yet.

 

This partnership can potentially offer advertisers a chance to reach X’s more than 200 millions of daily active users using Google Ads' tools. If there is also a data integration between the platforms, it could take the user journey tracking process across both search and display campaigns to a whole new level.

 

At this point in time, it’s not clear what this deal will bring. However, if the positive predictions come true, the partnership can become one of the key reasons to use X ads for many businesses.

 

Now, let’s go through the basic ad formats available on X and their specifications.

 

X (Twitter) ad formats and specs

Types of Promoted Ads on X (Twitter). 

Text ads

You can share your message with a simple text ad (aka ‘promoted tweets’): it will look like regular posts and include likes, replies, favorites, and reposts.

 

This ad format blends in with other X content, so your ads will feel more organic and help you reach a wider audience beyond just your followers. It’s ideal for increasing brand visibility and engagement, and you can track metrics such as likes, retweets, and replies to check how well these ads perform.

Text ads specs: your copy should be no longer than 280 characters including the link text.

 

Image ads

Image ads let you showcase your products or services with a single photo. They're easy to create and can be effective for multiple goals. Users can repost, reply to, and like these ads.

 

There are several types of image ads available on X:

• Standalone image ads,
• Image ads with website buttons,
• Image ads with app buttons,
• Image ads with conversation buttons,
• Image ads with polls.

 

Here are the specs common to all Image ads:

• Ad copy should be less than 280 characters including the link;
• File types: PNG or JPEG;
• File size: maximum 5 MB.

Each type of image ads also has some unique specs, so let’s go through them.

 

X Standalone Image ads

• Image size: 1200 x 1200 pixels for 1:1 aspect ratio, 1200 x 628 pixels for 1.91:1 aspect ratio;
• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1.

 

X Image ads with website buttons

• Image size: 800 x 418 pixels for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 pixels for 1:1 aspect ratio;
• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1;
• Website title text: 70 characters or less.

X Image ads with app buttons

• Image size: 800 x 418 pixels for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 pixels for 1:1 aspect ratio;
• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1;
• App title text: 200 characters;
• Call to Action: Play, Install, Open, Book, Shop, Connect, and Order.

 

X Image ads with conversation buttons

• Image size: 800 x 418 pixels; Aspect ratio: 1.91:1;
• Conversation card (appears as a post in the timeline): post copy’s length – 280 characters or less, hashtag text’s length – 21 characters or less;
• Pre-populated user post (shon once a user clicks the CTA): post copy’s length – 250 characters or less, headline’s length – 23 characters or less;
• Thank You text (shown after a user does a repost): copy’s length – 23 characters or less, Thank you URL’s length – 23 characters or less.

 

X Image ads with polls

• Image size: 800 x 418 pixels for 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 pixels for 1:1 aspect ratio;
• Aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1;
• Poll options: 2-4 response options;
• Poll text: maximum 25 characters; Poll duration: from 5 minutes to 7 days.

 

Video Ads

Video ads help you grab attention and tell a compelling story in a dynamic way. They're easy to create and can drive people to your website or app or motivate them to engage with your message.

 

Video ads specs

• Copy: 280 characters or less including the link;
• File types: MP4 or MOV;
• File size: 1 GB max, but it’s best to use files under 30 MB;
• Length: 15 seconds or less is recommended, but X supports videos up to 2:20 and even more in certain cases;
• Captions: X recommends using closed captioning or text overlays;
• Thumbnails: PNG or JPEG, 5 MB;
• Looping: videos will loop if the video length is under 60 seconds.

Keep in mind that there are also several types of video ads available, so check the specs for each of them as well.

 

Vertical video ads

Vertical videos allow you to share your story, reach more users, and drive traffic to your site or app. They are great for discovering new content and connecting with brands, and can increase your reach by 10% compared to Home Timeline ads.

 

This format is super engaging, with full-screen viewability and sound on by default, making you and your products stand out. You can add a button to drive users to your site or app, which appears after one second of your ad. Keep in mind that users are 7x more likely to follow, repost, like, and click links in vertical video ads compared to the same ad on the Home Timeline.

 

Also, some case studies point out that vertical video ads can be more effective than standard promoted videos, since they tend to get higher engagement rates.

 

Vertical video ads specs

• Maximum resolution: 1080 x 1920;
• Minimum resolution: 720 x 1280; Aspect ratio: 9:16;
• Video length: 15 seconds (recommended), up to 2:20 supported;
• Sound: sound is on by default for this format, so make sure to create your videos with this in mind;
• Captions: X recommends including subtitles and captions if the video has spoken word audio or voiceover.

 

Carousel ads

With image or video carousels, you can share a story in multiple visuals and direct users to your website or app with a single ad. This ad format is perfect for highlighting the key features of your products or services.

 

Carousel ads specs

• Number of slides: 2–6 images or videos;
• Image carousels’ size: 800 x 418 pixels for a 1.91:1 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 pixels for a 1:1 aspect ratio;
• Video carousels’ size: 800 x 450 pixels for a 16:9 aspect ratio, 800 x 800 pixels for a 1:1 aspect ratio;
• Image carousels’ aspect ratio: 1.91:1 or 1:1 for all assets;
• Video carousels’ aspect ratio: 16:9 or 1:1 for all assets;
• Mixed media carousels’ aspect ratio: use consistent ratios, e.g., 1:1 image with 1:1 video;
• Link: one web or app destination for single-destination carousels, up to six web destinations for multi-destination carousels.

 

Moment ads

Moment ads allow you to share a story from various perspectives instead of just a single post. You can create, gather, and promote a series of posts to craft an engaging story.

 

Moment ads specs

• Copy: 280 characters or less.

 

Other ad formats on X (Twitter). 

Follower ads

Follower ads help you raise awareness and gain new followers by promoting your account to certain X users. Basically, their purpose is to increase your follower count. They’ll show up as Promoted posts in people's timelines and as Promoted Accounts in the Who to Follow sections.

 

Follower ads specs

• Copy: 280 characters or less including the link;
• Text only: images or videos aren't supported for this ad type.

 

Amplify pre-roll ads

Pre-roll ads let you connect your brand with premium content your customers already enjoy, like sports highlights and top clips.

 

Pre-roll ads specs

• File size: maximum 1GB;
• Video length: 15 seconds or less, maximum 2:20;
• File types: MP4 or MOV;
• Video aspect ratio: 1:1 is recommended;
• Recommended video size: 1200 x 1200 (minimum for 1:1 is 600 x 600), 640 x 360 for other aspect ratios;
• Branding: X recommends it throughout the whole video;
• Captions: X recommends using close captioning or text overlays.

 

Amplify sponsorship

Amplify sponsorship ads help you elevate your brand by partnering with top publishers and creating a strong association with premium video content. This can include pre-roll ads before video clips, live video pre-roll ads, and branded content integrations.

 

Amplify sponsorship ads specs

• File size: maximum 1 GB;
• Video length: 6 seconds or less, maximum 2:20;
• File type: MP4 or MOV; Aspect ratio: 16:9 or 1:1 is recommended;
• Recommended video size: 1200 x 1200 (minimum for 1:1 is 600 x 600); minimum 640 x 360 for aspect ratios other than 1:1;
• Branding: X recommends it throughout the whole video;
• Captions: X recommends using close captioning or text overlays.

 

X Live

X Live lets you create memorable moments and connect with your audience in real-time. Many marketers using it to livestream product launches, conferences, and so on, and your business can do it as well to amplify your live content and spark conversations.

 

X Live ads specs

• Resolution: 1280 x 720 is recommended, maximum is 1920 x 1080;
• Frame rate: 30 fps is recommended, maximum is 60 fps;
• Keyframe interval for OBS: every 3 sec.;
• Keyframe interval for Wirecast: 72 frames for 24 fps, 90 frames for 30 fps, 150 frames for 50 fps, 180 frames for 60 fps.

 

Event page specs

• Description: 280 characters or less;
• Links: you can use external links (e.g., pre-orders, ticket sales, other O&O site);
• Carousel: can include no more than 5 videos;
• Hashtags: autopopulating if you write the post in the post bar;
• Timeline post: maximum 5 terms, e.g., hashtags, keywords & phrases, or executive names.

 

Timeline takeover ads

Timeline takeover ads are the first ads of the day people will see when they open X. This can put your business at the top of the conversation, giving you more visibility and potential engagement.

 

Timelime takeover ads specs

• Copy: length depends on what format you’re using, so check the specs for it;
• Supported formats: Image, Video, and Carousel Ads, X Live, Promoted Ads with Conversation Buttons and Polls, Branded Hashtags, and Branded Notifications.

 

Trend takeover ads

Trend takeover ads take the place alongside what’s trending in the Explore tab, hence their name. Trend Takeover+ ads let you add immersive creatives to your message, making it more likely to be noticed by X users.

 

Trend takeover ads specs

• Trend hashtag (required): 20 characters or less;
• Trend description: it’s optional, but X recommends using it. It can be 70 or less characters long;
• Companion Promoted Ad (required): 3–6 Promoted Ads (image, video, gif, etc.) that will be shown in the home timeline and make the trend easier to discover.

 

Trend takeover + ads specs

• File types: 6–second looping GIF, MP4, or static image;
• Aspect ratio: 16:9; File size: 5 MB for image, 15 MB for GIF;
• Trend hashtag: 16 characters or less;
• Trend description: 30 characters or less.

Keep in mind that this placement has no age restrictions, so you have to make sure that your assets are appropriate for all ages. X also recommends avoiding clickbait phrases like “50% off”, “Buy One Get One Free”, “Limited Time Only”, etc.

 

Branded hashtags

Branded hashtags can help you let people know what personality your brand has and what makes it unique. You can make it a part of the conversation by adding creative elements to your hashtags.

 

Branded hashtags specs

• Hashtags: up to 5 hashtags that are associated with emojis;
• Emojis’ size: 72 x 72 pixels, must be clearly visible at 16 x 16;
• Frequency: hashtags cannot be mentioned more than 250 times on X over the last 30 days if they’re not directly related to brand conversation;
• Background: light or dark, but X recommends not using all light colors;
• Logos: keep them to a minimum, as multiple logos will be too small and hard to recognize at 16x16.

 

Branded notifications

Branded Notifications help you get even more personal than Branded Hashtags: they deliver time-triggered, automated @mention posts to opted-in users when it matters the most.

 

There are three types of Branded Notifications:

1. Scheduled Notifications: instant opt-in notification posts and single scheduled notification posts to each opted-in person;
2. Subscription Notifications: instant opt-in notification posts and multiple scheduled notification posts to each opted-in person;
3. Instant Notifications: instant notification posts to each opted-in person.

 

Branded Notifications specs

• CTA and notification posts: follow the same specs as for Promoted ads;
• Supported ad formats: Standalone Image and Video Ads, Image and Video Ads with Web and App buttons, Image and Video Carousel Ads with Web and App buttons (single destination), Image and Video Ads with Conversation Button, and Moment Ads.

 

Dynamic product ads

DPA ads help you show the most relevant products to both existing and potential customers through retargeting and prospecting campaigns. This ad format is great if you want to reduce your Cost Per Purchase and increase your ROAS.

 

Dynamic product ads prerequisites

• Tracking: you need to use the latest X Pixel or Conversion API to track events;
• Available events: you can track Page Views (i.e., visits to your website), Content Views, Adds to Cart, Purchases; Product catalog: you need to set it up on X Shopping Manager;
• Catalog size: you can upload up to 1M products or an 8 GB feed file;
• Catalog uploads: use Scheduled Feeds to upload and sync your data every day or several times per day;
• Filters: use them to create specific sets of products to advertise.

As you can see, X has a lot of ad formats to offer – you can pick the ones that suit your business the most. For more information about ad creative specs, visit X Ads Help Center.

 

X (Twitter) ads best practices

1. Pick the right objective

Here are the campaign objectives you can choose on X:

• App installs: you can advertise your app to increase the number of downloads;
• App re-engagements: this objective allows you to get people to take specific actions in your app;
• Video views: this helps you get more people to watch your videos;
• Pre-roll views: this allows you to place your ads alongside top-quality content;
• Followers: with this, you can promote your account to gain more followers;
• Engagement: this helps you boost interactions with your posts;
• Website traffic: you can drive more visitors to your website;
• Reach: you can make your ads more visible;
• Website conversions: this allows you to get more conversions on your website.

You can run different types of X ads campaigns based on the stage of conversion funnel you're targeting. 

 

To choose the right goal for your X ads, think about what you want to achieve. Do you want more people to know about your brand, get them to interact with your posts, or drive sales? Pick a goal that matches your main aim and consider your conversion funnel: to get maximum results, it’s best to run campaigns for each level or stage of the funnel.

 

You can run awareness campaigns with objectives like Reach or Engagement for cold audiences who don’t know about your business yet, and conversion campaigns aimed at generating specific actions in your app or sales on your website for warm audiences through retargeting campaigns.

 

2. Create ads that fit the platform

X (Twitter) is a bit different from other advertising platforms because people tend to be more direct in their communication style, which sometimes leads to brands receiving less than favorable comments under their ads.

 

To avoid this, create ads that will fit into the user experience on the platform without disrupting it or feeling like a nuisance.

 

Here’s what you can do to achieve this:

Keep your ad copies short and engaging

Let’s be clear here: most X users don’t like seeing too many ads when they’re scrolling their feeds. And if the ad’s text is long and boring, they won’t pay any attention to it.

 

X recommends keeping the copy length to 50–100 characters and being clear – don’t add too many details to the text and focus on one specific benefit/offer instead.

 

Choose a fitting CTA

Don’t beat around the bush and tell your audience what you want them to do, e.g., “click to read more” or “follow our account”. Make sure that the CTA matches the campaign objective: if it’s higher up the conversion funnel, use something less-demanding like “read more”; if it’s a sales campaign, use a stronger CTA like “buy now”.

 

Leverage a sense of urgency

Nothing works better than using people’s FOMO to get them to click on your ads. If you’ve got some time-limited offers or deals to promote, don’t neglect to mention it in your ad copy.

 

Don’t use hashtags or mentions without a need

The more clickable things you add to your ads, the more likely it is that people will click on hashtags or mentions instead of the links to your website or app. So, avoid adding anything that can distract your target audience from the action you want them to take.

 

Use strong visuals

Visuals are crucial on any advertising platform, and X is no exception. To get people to stop and check out your ad, try including pictures, GIFs, or videos that will catch their eye and match your ad copy.

 

Humor and memes can work really well on X, and if they fit your brand image and personality, it can be a great opportunity to get more clicks and engagement on your ads.

 

Don’t use long videos

If you choose to use video creatives in your ads, make them 15 seconds or less – otherwise, many people will just skip them. Keep in mind that in pre-roll campaigns, users can skip the video after 6 seconds, so the shorter it is, the better.

 

Also, to get more people hooked on your video creative, try adding text overlay to them: this format works well on most short-video platforms like YouTube Shorts or TikTok. Don’t forget to include your brand’s logo in videos as well to increase brand recognition.

 

Test and rotate different creatives

Running several ad formats at the same time and testing multiple options will help you keep your campaigns fresh and find what people engage with the most. Try different tones of voice, visuals, video lengths, CTAs, and so on to achieve optimal performance.

 

3. Find the right target audience

As we’ve said previously, there are many ways to target users on X for your ad campaigns, and you can apply the same tips for choosing the right people as on other platforms. That is to say, research your audience properly, identify the traits they share in common, and use the platform’s targeting filters to select them.

 

However, we have to mention one important thing you have to do while running X ad campaigns, which is avoiding click fraud.

 

As Mashable reports, there is a potential issue advertisers can face on X – running their ads for bot accounts instead of real users. The key thing to note here is that it doesn’t mean that every click or impression you might get from your X ads will be fraudulent. Moreover, this is a problem on other platforms as well, so X is not an exception here.

 

But there are some things you can do to minimize the risks of click fraud:

Track your ad performance data

Consistently monitor the results you’re getting from your ad campaigns in X Ads Manager and compare them with your own data, e.g. what you’re tracking on your website. If the clicks don’t convert to measurable user behavior on the website (e.g., time spent on it, adds to cart, purchases, and so on), then something might be off.

 

But if you’re seeing good results no matter where you’re tracking them, it means that your X ads are working as intended.

 

Use targeting filters to exclude bot accounts

X allows you to target users based on different parameters: age, gender, location, language, interests, devices, and so on.

 

To filter our bots from your campaigns, you can try targeting users with premium subscriptions who use specific devices and live in certain locations. If someone pays for their X subscription, it’s safe to assume that they’re spending a considerable amount of time there and thus isn’t likely to be a bot. If you want to run your ads for people with higher income, you might target users with iOS devices from bigger cities.

 

Use follower lookalikes

Follower lookalike audiences on X allow you to show your ads to people who follow your competitors, similar businesses, or popular X users who post about related topics – they can be an ideal target for your ad campaigns.

 

If you know that your competitors have an active presence on X, you can use it to your advantage by targeting people similar to their followers, who aren’t very likely to be bots. The same goes for your own followers as well.

 

4. Measure the success of your ad campaigns

Monitoring how your ads are doing is the most important thing when it comes to ad management, and it helps you optimize your ads based on factual data instead of guesswork.

 

Here are just some things you can check in your X Ads Manager:

• Campaign delivery and performance based on specific metrics;
• Breakdown of your audience’s shared characteristics;
• Viewability of your ads;
• Effectiveness of your ads in driving foot traffic to your physical locations;
• Brand lift, e.g., awareness, favorability, consideration, purchase intent, etc.;
• Actions people took on your website after clicking on your ads;
• Actions people took in your app.

 

The main metrics you can track are impressions, results (actions based on your campaign objectives), engagement rate, and cost per result (CPR).

 

But what’s even better, you can track these metrics both for all campaigns and for specific cases:

• Different campaign objectives;
• Specific campaigns;
• Individual posts;
• Target audiences.

This allows for a more granular performance tracking, so you’ll always know which types of campaigns, combinations of creatives, targeting filters, etc., drive the best results.

 

5. Follow X (Twitter) advertising policies

Just like any other advertising platform, X has its own ad policies that you have to follow. Even if they are not as strict post-rebranding, it’s still important to abide by them if you want to avoid unpleasant consequences.

 

When you’re running ad campaigns on X, your account and content will undergo an approval process to ensure proper quality and safety. Your account has to meet certain criteria to be used for running ads, and your ads have to comply with all relevant advertising laws and regulations, so make sure to check them and keep them in mind when you’re working on your campaigns.

 

Recap

Despite everything that happened to X (Twitter) in the past few years, the platform still has something to offer businesses.

 

Hopefully, we gave you enough reasons to consider adding X ads to your advertising strategy. And by following the best practices we talked about, you can make the most of your X Ads and get more people interested in your business and the products or services you promote.