Twitter Ads Manager: The Ultimate Guide
In this article, we’ll walk through Twitter’s native Ads Manager and the various benefits of running an ad campaign on Twitter. We’ll show you how to customize your ads dashboard and how to share or restrict access to the dashboard’s data. Next, we’ll define all the ad formats available on Twitter and how to create ads on-the-go from your top-performing tweets using Quick Promote.
After that, we’ll dive into the different campaign objectives on Twitter and their benefits, best practices, and formats, followed by an illustration of how to map your objectives with the right KPIs. Next, we’ll discuss Twitter’s targeting options and their ad auction’s bidding model, then how to optimize your campaign through creative, targeting, and bidding.
Finally, we’ll chat through how to analyze your campaigns using the various Twitter Analytics dashboards for Tweet activity, audience insights, and campaign level metrics and data.
Twitter Ads is the paid media platform offered and developed on Twitter. Twitter Ads objective-based campaigns are designed to help you achieve results that drive action and add value to your business. Twitter Ads can help businesses:
- Grow a social following
- Increase site traffic and sales
- Grow content engagement
- Increase video views
- Increase app installs
- Generate app re-engagement
- Develop brand awareness
Twitter Ads Manager is a central workspace to plan, manage and report on campaigns so marketers can easily view and optimize performance at multiple levels – campaigns, ad groups, or promoted Tweets and other ads.
Note that the Twitter Ads Manager dashboard can be customized to improve metrics visibility and focus using filters. At the campaign, ad group & ads levels, click on the ‘Metrics: Summary’ drop-down at the top of the chart to select the metric you want to visualize. You can customize the list of metrics too by selecting the ‘Customize Metrics’ option within the same drop-down menu.
If you’re working with an agency or different marketing teams for the same Twitter account, you might want to control who has access to it and what their permission level should be – i.e. Account administrator, Ad manager or Analyst.
This can be done by clicking your account name in the top right-hand corner of your dashboard and selecting ‘Edit access to account’ from the drop-down menu.
Let’s walk through each of Twitter’s ad formats:
Promoted Tweet
An existing or newly created Tweet promoted to a large, targeted group of people.
Promoted Trends
A time, context, and event-sensitive trend promoted by an advertiser placed at the top of the Trending Topics list on Twitter clearly marked as “Promoted.”
First View
An exclusive ownership of Twitter’s most valuable advertising real estate for a 24-hour period. When users first visit the Twitter app, or log in to Twitter.com, the top ad slot in the timelines will be a Promoted Video from a brand who bought the First View on that day.
Promoted Accounts
Suggested accounts that people don’t currently follow that will appear in the user Home Timeline as a Tweet, or as a recommendation in the ‘Who to Follow’ section and search results.
Website Card
A Promoted Tweet format used to drive website visits or conversions, showcase an image and give a website preview with a short description.
Image & Video App Card
A Promoted Tweet format used to drive app installs or re-engagement. It showcases an image or video, your app description, and a CTA button linking to your app on the App Store/Play Store, or a specific deep link within your app.
Lead Gen Card
A Promoted Tweet that allows Twitter users to quickly and securely share their email address with you.
Conversational Card
A Promoted Tweet format used to create engagement, which showcases compelling images or videos, and up to four CTA buttons with customizable hashtags prompting users to spread your message to their followers by choosing one hashtag.
Instant Unlock Card
A Promoted Tweet format building on a Conversational Card which prompts users to Tweet by offering access to exclusive content (e.g. a film trailer or an exclusive Q&A) after the Tweet is sent.
Promoted Moments
A Promoted Tweet format including a Moment Card leading to a brand moment.
Promoted Videos
A Promoted Tweet format used to increase video views and engagement which showcases a video that will autoplay in the user’s Timeline and can be expanded when clicked.
Amplify
A Promoted Tweet using sponsorship deals between a publisher and an advertiser, showcasing the publisher’s original content (Tweet with video) preceded by the advertiser’s ad.
Twitter’s Quick Promote is a method of easily promoting your best-performing Tweets to a larger audience in a few simple clicks from your Twitter profile. It provides three key benefits to marketers:
1.A fast way to promote a Tweet without using the regular Twitter ad workflow.
2.An on-the-go option to create and promote Tweets outside your work environment.
3.A reactive initiative when one of your Tweets is performing and there is an opportunity for you to reach a broader audience.
Campaigns can be created based on their specific marketing objectives using Twitter Ads Manager. You will then be prompted to select your audience, set your budget and choose your creatives before setting your campaign live. The different campaign objectives available on Twitter Ads Manager include:
- Tweet Engagement
- Video Views
- Website Clicks & Conversions
- App Installs or Re-engagements
- Followers
- Leads on Twitter
- Awareness
Awareness campaigns on Twitter help you reach new customers, reinforce your positioning, and drive new users to your Twitter account, website, blog, etc.
When it comes to best practices for awareness campaigns, take note of the following:
- Select ‘Optimize your campaign for maximum reach’ in the budget set up.
- Focus on your brand message and not a specific offer.
- Leverage influencers, brand events and existing brand campaigns.
The most suited and engaging formats for Awareness campaigns on Twitter include:
- Images, GIFs, Scratchreels
- Poll cards
- Conversational Cards
- Instant unlock
- Videos
- Promoted Moments
A Followers campaign on Twitter helps grow your followers base, build your community, and increase brand recognition, brand awareness and word of mouth.
When it comes to best practices for Followers campaigns, take note of the following:
- Include “Follow us” in your Tweet.
- Inform the user of why they should follow you.
- Craft a clear bio and use a professional background image on your profile.
- Avoid extra links that distract from the Follow button.
- Avoid excessive hashtags that may distract users from following.
A Promoted Account is the most suited and engaging format for a Followers campaign.
A Tweet Engagement campaign on Twitter is particularly useful for the following reasons:
- Promotes your Tweets to a large, targeted group of people.
- Places your best content in front of the audience that matters to you, at the time it will have most effect.
- People can Retweet, reply, like your Promoted Tweets, etc.
- Promoted Tweets appear in Timelines, on profile pages, and on Tweet detail pages.
When it comes to best practices for Tweet Engagement campaigns, take note of the following:
- Produce compelling Tweets to promote
- Start conversations with customers
- Encourage discussion around your new products or services
- Develop your content strategy and plan your editorial calendar
Poll cards, conversational cards, instant unlocks, scratchreels, GIFs and images are all formats most suited to a Tweet Engagement campaign.
With Video Views campaigns, marketers find them useful as they:
- Increase video views.
- Create engagement with your video content.
- Provide insights on your video performance.
- Use the top growing media in digital advertising, in terms of user consumption.
When it comes to best practices for Video Views campaigns, take note of the following:
- Make a human first impression to draw consumers in.
- Highlight how your product delivers value to increase recall.
- Structure storytelling to drive purchase intent.
- Serve up high-energy entertainment for engagement.
- Use influencers to drive earned media value from their large, engaged following.
- Capture attention quickly – human attention spans are now less than that of a goldfish, tapping out at 8 seconds!
- Design for sound off – content is consumed mostly on mobile without sound, so you must design your video to communicate clearly in this environment. The person watching a video in a busy coffee shop isn’t likely to have their sound turned on, and even if they did, it would be hard to hear. Use text overlays and captions to illustrate the key points of your video’s story.
- Frame your visual story – again, people are watching videos on mobile just inches from their face and often in vertical orientation rather than turning their phone to landscape. The way you visually frame your story matters.
- Include a resolution – Good video storytelling consists of a beginning, a middle and an end. Give your audience a chance to get to know your characters, introduce the main conflict in the story and always show a resolution. A complete story arc is necessary to engage your viewers and keep them coming back for more, instead of turning their focus elsewhere.
- Think about brand presence – give your brand a visually subtle role that is still impactful to the resolution of the story.
For engaging Video Views campaigns, try using TV commercials, Periscopes, niche created videos and amplify formats.
Marketers who wish to grow their app audience, re-engage existing users and reach a mobile first engaged audience should choose app installs & re-engagement campaigns.
When it comes to best practices for app installs & re-engagement campaigns, take note of the following:
- Explain what your app does
- Describe what the user will get from your app to set the user’s expectations
- Convey a sense of urgency
- Call out the place when using geo-targeting
- Use city-specific terms like “bean town”, “windy city”, etc. when targeting specific cities/areas
- Experiment with capitalization and punctuation
- Display screenshots from your app
- Include text in the image to reinforce your message
- Include text such as “Free”, “Optimized for iPhone __”, etc. to emphasize the key selling point
- Align specific imagery with specific targeting
- Use colour contrast to catch the user’s eye
Use image and video app formats for this type of campaign.
And finally, for those who wish to get leads, grow their email lists and newsletter audiences, try a Leads campaign.
When it comes to best practices for leads campaigns, take note of the following:
- Create new campaigns that are exclusive to the offer you are generating leads for.
- Include words like “get,” “sign,” “enter,” “receive,” “find” and “win”, etc. to inspire action from your target audience and exclude words like “exclusive” or “compelling’’.
- Use a short description and include a clear CTA.
- Try between 5-7 different cards across 20-30 variations of a Tweet copy.
- Make sure you include your brand name and/or logo in the banner creative of your Lead Generation Card.
- Make sure your Tweet copy matches the offer or content in your Lead Generation Card.
- Follow up with leads after they submit their contact information.
The most suited and engaging format for a leads campaign is, of course, a Lead Generation Card.
As previously mentioned, after you define your objectives, it’s important to map your objectives to the right KPIs – especially those metrics related to spend. This makes the value and ROI of your social campaign more tangible to business leadership. Take note of the meanings of each of these metric acronyms:
- CPM = Cost per Thousand (impressions)
- CPF = Cost per Follow
- CPE = Cost per Engagement
- CPV = Cost per View
- CPC = Cost per Click
- CPI = Cost per Install
- CPL = Cost per Lead
Twitter Ads prices are based on an auction model ensuring marketers achieve optimal results while creating the best possible experience for users. There are three bidding models available:
1.Automatic bidding: Enables Twitter to auto-optimize bids for a given campaign objective and budget on the advertiser’s behalf.
2.Maximum bidding: Allows users to manually select how much a lead, click or engagement is worth to their business.
3.Target bidding: Provides users the ability to average out a specific price per engagement.
Twitter campaign optimization is something that must be done in order to yield successful outcomes. You should test different Tweets, formats, targeting, etc. to find out what works best for your business and audience. Experiment with several campaigns for each marketing initiative and endeavour to learn more about which targeting and creative types perform best.
When we talk about Twitter campaign optimization, there are three key areas you should focus on; Creative, Targeting and Bid/Budget. Let’s start with the key actions you need to take in order to optimize your creative:
- Be transparent and clear about what you’re offering, what your product is, and what users can gain by engaging with your ad.
- Have a strong CTA that clearly explains what the user can expect by engaging with your ad.
- Convey a sense of urgency. Why should users visit your site now? Is there a limited time offer?
- Include some sort of rich media. Use relevant and engaging images for more compelling creatives.
- Ask a question in your Tweet copy. It helps users feel like they’re part of a conversation and can compel them to engage with your ad.
- Test different creatives, select the most successful creative, and increase your bid on this creative to maximize success.
In order to fully optimize your Twitter targeting, take note of the following:
Increase reach
Target users who are similar to your followers, users who are Tweeting with specific keywords, and users who have visited your website.
Align Tweet copy with targeting
For example, if you have one Tweet copy targeting males, and one targeting females, make sure the copy you use aligns with the different targeting parameters.
Run separate mobile campaigns
Mobile is a fundamentally different medium than desktop, characterized by frequent quick sessions and spur-of-the-moment spikes in purchase intent. As such, conversion rates may differ on mobile vs. desktop. Because of these differences, it’s best to run separate campaigns on mobile and desktop. This will allow you to test and learn the user’s behaviours and make specific, informed campaign changes (e.g. creative or bid changes). Mobile vs. desktop should be your first split in all of your split tests. You may also want to further break out mobile to phone vs. tablet.
Don’t target the same users in multiple campaigns
Performance can suffer because you are essentially competing against yourself.
Pause under-performing campaigns
Twitter’s Ad Manager gives you the ability to pause campaigns that are missing the mark on targeting, bidding, and creative strategy.
Remove under-performing keywords, interests and handles
Replace them with those that are similar to high performing keywords, interests and handles.
Test Campaigns
One of the most important things you can do to drive continued campaign performance is to optimize and test your campaigns. While it makes sense to run always-on campaigns, you may want to continually refresh and optimize your campaigns, given Twitter’s ever-changing, real-time nature.
Finally, to optimize your bidding on Twitter be aware of each of the following:
- You may have to increase your bid for more competitive targeting.
- Lower bids make it difficult to serve your ads and the engagements you receive may not be from the audience you were hoping to reach.
- The best way to maximize a limited budget would be to use the suggested bid or auto-bid options.
- Modify your bids for campaigns that are not quite meeting your goals.
Twitter Analytics is a selection of tools to analyze your Tweets and understand your followers. Within it, there are three main areas to focus your attention; Account Home, the Tweet Activity dashboard and the Audience Insight dashboard.
Account Home provides a summary of account activity that provides a 28-day summary for Tweets, Tweet impressions, profile visits, mentions, followers and Tweets linking to your website (if you are using Twitter Cards). A monthly summary also provides the same information for any given month.
It also provides detailed information on how your account is performing, how far you’ve progressed and helpful tips on how to improve your account strategy.
The Tweet activity dashboard is the interface displaying Tweet data such as impressions, hashtag clicks, app open, link clicks, retweet, replies, likes, share, for both paid and organic Tweets and content.
The dashboard is separated into 4 sections, Tweets, Top Tweets, Tweets and Replies, Promoted, and can help you see how people engage with your Tweets in real-time, compare your Tweet activity and followers, and see how they trend over time.
You can click on any Tweet to get a detailed view of the number of Retweets, replies, likes, follows, or clicks it has received. You can also get detailed insights into who your audience is, especially those who engage with your Tweets and can download your Tweet metrics for reporting purposes.
The Audience insights dashboard provides you with a real-time look at the people who are most relevant to you, such as your followers or people who have engaged with your Tweets. You can learn about your audience’s demographics, interests, lifestyle, and purchase behaviours — and leverage these insights to create the most relevant messages and help you identify new audiences to reach out to.
The Campaign Dashboard is found within Twitter Ads Manager and is the place you should go to gather your campaign data. When you open the advertiser interface on ads.twitter.com, you will first be directed to the Campaign Dashboard. The main dashboard defaults to the Summary Tab, showing total impressions across all campaigns for the specified date range. You can also view by Engagements, Spend and Conversions.
Data can be filtered by delivery, spend, campaign settings or campaign objectives. You can export and share your campaign data here too.
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