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How to Advertise On X: Step By Step Set Up

Written by Martin Balous | 9/23/24

Follow our step-by-step guide to set up X ads, understand pricing, and explore ad formats for maximum engagement.

Table of Content

Introduction
Is X Good for Promoting Business?
​​How Much Does It Cost to Advertise on X?
X Ads Options
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your First X Ads
Conclusion
FAQ

Introduction

X (formerly Twitter) is a great marketing channel for driving traffic and generating leads. In fact, 63% of Twitter users follow small businesses - it's no wonder that companies can see actual growth from this platform. Whether you're a small business or a major brand, by consistently posting relevant content, you can reach a wider audience, increase exposure, drive traffic, and boost sales.

Is X Good for Promoting Business?

The platform's ability to provide real-time engagement and its vast user base make it a powerful tool for brand building and customer interaction. Let's see some examples:

Advantages of Using X for Business

1. Audience Insight

  • X allow businesses to gain immediate insights into their audience's interests, preferences, and behaviors. By monitoring trending topics, hashtags, and user interactions, businesses can tailor their content and strategies to meet the evolving needs of their audience.
2. Brand Awareness
  • Promoting your business on X can significantly enhance brand visibility. With over 300 million users, X offers an extensive reach. Consistent and engaging tweets can help your brand stay top-of-mind for both existing and potential customers. 

3. Customer Service and Feedback

  • Businesses can quickly address customer queries, resolve issues, and receive direct feedback, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This immediate interaction helps build a positive brand image.
4. Community-Building
  • By engaging with followers through replies, retweets, and Twitter chats, businesses can foster a sense of community and loyalty among their audience. This community-building is vital for long-term brand success.

How Much Does It Cost to Advertise on X?

One of the key considerations for any business looking to advertise on X is the cost. The platform offers a range of pricing options that can fit various budgets, making it accessible for everyone. Understanding the cost can help you make informed decisions about your advertising strategy and budget investment.

Factors Influencing Costs

1. Bid-Based Pricing
  • Automatic Bidding: X optimizes your campaign to achieve the best results within your budget.
  • Maximum Bidding: You set the highest price per action you're willing to pay.
  • Target Bidding: Set a daily spend target, and X will attempt to get you the best results for a consistent daily average spend.
2. Ad Auction
  • X uses an auction system where you bid against other advertisers to win ad placements. The ad quality score (based on resonance, relevance, and recency) and your bid amount determine the outcome.
3. Campaign Objectives
  • Awareness: Pay per 1,000 impressions.
  • Consideration: Pay for actions like video views, app installs, website clicks, and tweet engagements.
  • Conversion: Pay for specific conversion actions such as purchases or sign-ups.
4. Other Factors
  • We need to know also about several factors like target audience, ad placement, and ad quality. 

Average Costs

According to industry surveys, the average costs for Twitter ads are as follows: the cost per click (CPC) ranges from $0.26 to $0.50, the cost per follow ranges from $1.01 to $2.00, and the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) averages $6.46.

Comparison with Other Social Media Platforms

To understand the cost-effectiveness of advertising on X, it’s helpful to compare it with other popular social media platforms.

From this comparison, it’s evident that X offers competitive pricing, especially in terms of CPC and CPM. For businesses with limited budgets, X ads can be an effective way to reach a broad audience without significant expenditure. 

X Ads Options

Advertising on X offers a variety of formats, each designed for different marketing objectives and creative strategies. Understanding these formats will help you make your campaign goals come true.

Types of X Ads

Promoted Tweets
  • They are regular tweets that businesses pay to display to a wider audience. These tweets appear in the timelines of users who do not follow your account but might be interested in your content based on targeting criteria.
Promoted Accounts
  • Promoted Accounts grow the follower base by suggesting the business account to users who are likely to be interested in it. These suggestions appear in the "Who to follow" section, timelines, and search results.
Promoted Trends
  • Promoted Trends place your chosen trend at the top of the trending topics list on X. This high-visibility placement helps spark conversations around your trend and drives massive engagement.

Ad Formats

Image Ads: featuring a single image along with ad copy. They are best for highlighting products or services.


Video Ads: are highly engaging and can be used to tell a more detailed story about your brand, products, or services. This format is perfect for demonstrating products, sharing customer testimonials, and creating emotional connections.


Carousel Ads: allow you to include multiple images or videos in a single ad, each with its own link. This format is ideal for showcasing a series of products or multiple features of a single product.


Text Ads: are simple promotional tweets that focus on a short and powerful message without the use of images or videos. These ads are best for quick updates or announcements, direct calls to action, and driving traffic through perfect copy. 


Amplify Ads: are pre-roll ads that play before video content on X. They are perfect for brands looking to leverage video to capture audience attention.


Takeover Ads: provide premium placement, ensuring that your ad is the first thing users see when they log into X. This format includes Timeline Takeovers and Trend Takeovers, offering maximum visibility for major campaigns, driving large-scale awareness, and creating a buzz around new launches or events.

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your First X Ads

Follow these 9 simple steps to create your first X ads:

Step 1: Log in to X Ads Manager

To begin, log in to your X Ads Manager. If you don't have an account, you'll need to sign up and provide your country, time zone, and billing information.

Step 2: Create a Campaign

In the X Ads Manager, click on "Create Campaign" at the top right. This will take you to a page where you can choose your campaign objective. 

Then, choose between Simple mode and Advantage mode. The simple mode is automated ad targeting. On the other hand advanced mode is for more experienced advertisers who prefer granular targeting control.

Step 3: Choose Your Campaign Type and Objective

X offers various campaign objectives to choose from, depending on your marketing goals:
  • Reach: Maximize your ad's visibility.
  • Engagements: Increase interactions with your tweets.
  • Website Clicks or Conversions: Drive traffic and conversions on your website.
  • App Installs: Promote downloads of your mobile app.
  • Video Views: Increase views of your video content.
  • App Re-Engagements: Encourage existing app users to take specific actions.
  • In-Stream Video Views: Run pre-roll ads before video content.
  • Followers: Grow your follower base.

To identify your Camping Objective, you must understand the buyer's journey. For that we prepared for you this article: Content Marketing for Different Stages of the Buyer's Journey.

Step 4: Enter Campaign Details

Next, you'll need to enter the details for your campaign, including the campaign name, daily budget, and total budget. You can also set a schedule for when you want your ads to run.

Step 5: Define Your Target Audience

One of the strengths of advertising on X is the ability to target specific audiences. Define your target audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. You can also create custom audiences by uploading your customer list or targeting users similar to your followers.

Step 6: Create Your Ad Content

Now, it's time to create your ad. Choose the format that best suits your objective–whether it's an image ad, standout video ad, carousel ad, or another format. Ensure your ad content is engaging, relevant, and includes a clear call-to-action (CTA).

Step 7: Confirm Ad Group Settings

In the advanced setup, you can create multiple ad groups within your campaign. Each ad group can have its own budget, schedule, and targeting options. 

This allows for more granular control and optimization. Fill in the necessary details such as ad group name, start and end times, and specific budgets for each group.

Step 8: Review Campaign Settings

Before launching your campaign, review all the details to ensure everything is set up correctly. Check your targeting settings, budget, schedule, and ad content. Make sure your ads are optimized for the audience and objectives you've set.

Step 9: Launch and Measure Your Campaign

Once you're satisfied with your campaign setup, click "Launch Campaign" to go live. After launching, it's crucial to track your campaign's performance. Use X Analytics to monitor key metrics such as impressions, engagements, clicks, and conversions.

Key Metrics to Track:

  • Impressions: The number of times your ad is shown.
  • Engagements: The total number of interactions (likes, retweets, replies) with your ad.
  • Clicks: The number of clicks on your ad, links, or hashtags.
  • Conversions: The number of desired actions (purchases, sign-ups) taken after interacting with your ad.

Conclusion

Advertising on X (Twitter) offers businesses a powerful platform to increase brand visibility, engage with audiences, and drive meaningful conversions. By leveraging various ad formats and targeting options, businesses can create highly effective campaigns tailored to specific marketing goals. Understanding the cost structure, choosing the right campaign objectives, and continuously optimizing ad performance are crucial steps to ensure success. With careful planning and strategic execution, X ads can help businesses achieve significant growth and connect deeply with their target audience.

If you need expert guidance to make the most out of your Twitter advertising efforts, consider scheduling an online consultation with our marketing professionals. Our team can provide personalized strategies, insights, and tips to optimize your ad campaigns and achieve your business objectives efficiently. Contact us today to start transforming your social media marketing strategy.

FAQ

1. Is X effective for business promotion?

Yes, X offers real-time engagement and a vast user base, making it a powerful tool for brand building and customer interaction.

2. What are the costs associated with advertising on X?

Costs vary based on factors like bidding strategy and ad quality, with average CPC ranging from $0.26 to $0.50 and CPM averaging $6.46.

3. What types of ads can I run on X?

X offers Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, Promoted Trends, Image Ads, Video Ads, Carousel Ads, Text Ads, Amplify Ads, and X Takeover Ads.

4. How do I target specific audiences on X?

You can define your target audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and create custom audiences using customer lists or follower look-alikes.

5. What metrics should I track to measure my campaign's success?

Key metrics include impressions, engagements, clicks, and conversions to monitor the performance and effectiveness of your ad campaigns.