How to Set Up Your First X (Twitter) Ad for Your Business – Step-by-Step Guide

4 Simple Tips To Setup Your First X (Twitter) Ad

1. How do I set up my first X (Twitter) ad? To set up your first X ad, go to More > Ads in your X account to access the Ad Account Manager. Create a campaign, select "Reach" to maximize visibility, set a small budget (around $5/day), and target your ideal audience using follower lookalikes, interests, and conversation topics instead of the generic "Promote" button.
2. Why shouldn’t I use the Promote button on X? The Promote button wastes money by showing your post to bots and irrelevant users. Instead, running ads through the X Ad Manager lets you control your audience, target real, engaged users, and optimize for better performance at a lower cost per click.
3. How much does it cost to run an ad on X? X ads can be very affordable, starting at just $5/day. By using follower lookalikes and engagement retargeting, you can get pennies per click or view instead of spending money on untargeted audiences.
4. How do I make sure my X ad reaches the right people? Instead of creating a new ad, use your pinned tweet as an ad. Then, target followers of similar accounts, engaged users, and specific interests. Avoid “optimized targeting” to prevent showing ads to bots.

Why This X Ad Strategy Works for Any Business:

1. Precise Targeting: Reach the right audience with keyword, interest, and demographic targeting.
2. Pay-for-Performance: Only pay when you achieve your goal—reducing ad spend risk.
3. Cost-Effective: Low competition means cheaper clicks, ideal for small budgets.
4. Optimized Engagement: Targeted ads lead to more meaningful interactions and conversions.
5. Maximized Visibility: Use pinned tweets to boost engagement with content already performing well.

Do Not Hit That Promote Button on X!

It's like throwing your money away at the casino. Try this instead...

I'm going to break down my screen here and show you exactly how to take one of your posts and instead of hitting that promote button, actually turn it into an ad and show it to your ideal audience.

If you hit promote, it's like just sending it and showing it only to the bots.

Step 1: Access Your X Ad Account

1. Click on More → Ads to open your Ad Account Manager.
2. If you don’t have an Ad Account Manager yet, it will prompt you to create one.
3. It will also ask you to create a promotable tweet—you don’t want to do this.
4. Follow the steps to create the account, then pause, shut it off, and delete the promotable tweet right away.

Step 2: Create a Campaign

1. Click on Create Campaign and select Reach—this will allow you to show your post to the most people.
2. In the campaign details, name it something clear like "Reach - Pinned Tweet - Date" so you can track the results.
3. Make sure your payment card is on file before moving to the next step.
4. Follow these steps to setup proper tracking and UTMs.

Step 3: Set Up Your Targeting

1. Choose the right audience to get better engagement.
2. Set your daily budget to $5 a day—this keeps your cost per click low.
3. Select Max Reach and Pay Per Impression for the best results.
4. Target your ideal age range, gender, and language based on your audience.
5. You can only choose five locations, so pick the countries most likely to buy from you (e.g., Canada, United States, United Kingdom).

Step 4: Build Your Ideal Audience

This is where the real difference comes in between promoting a tweet and running an actual ad.

1. Use Follower Lookalikes – Search for people with your ideal audience and target their followers.
2. Leverage Interests & Conversation Topics – Find people engaging with topics related to your business.
3. Target Premium Subscribers (optional) – This is more expensive but can provide high-quality engagement.
4. Click on Recommendations to get more suggested audiences that match your selections.
5. Build an audience of a few million people—this helps lower your cost per click.

Step 5: Retarget People Who Already Engaged with You

1. Target anyone who engaged with your past posts.
2. Target your followers so your post gets shown to them again.
3. Turn off optimized targeting—this prevents X from showing your ad to bots.

Step 6: Choose Your Pinned Tweet as Your Ad

1. Instead of creating a new ad, select Use Existing Post.
2. Choose your Pinned Tweet—this builds social proof with more views, likes, and comments.
3. Your ad is now set up! Name it clearly so you can track performance.

Why This Works Better Than Promoting a Tweet

Now, instead of promoting your post and showing it to bots, you’re targeting your ideal customers for pennies per view, per click, and per follower.

Benefits of This Strategy:

✔ More visibility for your best post
✔ Engagement from real users, not bots
✔ Higher quality leads for less money