Twitter/X Ads Creative

Create promoted tweet variants and media cards optimized for B2B engagement on X. X ads perform best when they look like organic content — no stock photos, no corporate jargon.

Promoted Tweet Types

Text-only promoted tweets

Best for engagement and thought-leadership positioning:

POST /12/accounts/{account_id}/tweet

{
  "text": "We analyzed 500 deploys across 47 teams.\n\nThe #1 predictor of deploy failure? Not code quality.\n\nIt's whether the team has a rollback plan before they start.\n\nFull breakdown: {LANDING_PAGE_URL}?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign={CAMPAIGN_SLUG}",
  "as_user_id": "{USER_ID}"
}

Then promote:

POST /12/accounts/{account_id}/promoted_tweets

{
  "line_item_id": "{LINE_ITEM_ID}",
  "tweet_ids": ["{TWEET_ID}"]
}

Character limit: 280. Links use up to 23 characters (X shortens all URLs).

Image cards (Website Cards)

Drive clicks with a preview image and CTA:

POST /12/accounts/{account_id}/cards/website

{
  "name": "Deploy Checklist Card",
  "website_title": "Free Deploy Checklist - Used by 200+ Teams",
  "website_url": "{LANDING_PAGE_URL}?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign={CAMPAIGN_SLUG}",
  "media_key": "{MEDIA_KEY}"
}

First upload the image:

POST https://upload.x.com/1.1/media/upload.json
Content-Type: multipart/form-data

media_data: {BASE64_IMAGE}
media_category: tweet_image

Image specs: 800x418px (1.91:1) or 800x800px (1:1). Max 5MB. PNG or JPG.

Use the returned media_key in the card creation.

Video cards

For short-form video ads (15-30 seconds):

POST /12/accounts/{account_id}/cards/video_website

{
  "name": "Product Demo 15s",
  "title": "See how teams deploy 10x faster",
  "video_url": "{VIDEO_URL}",
  "website_url": "{LANDING_PAGE_URL}?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign={CAMPAIGN_SLUG}",
  "media_key": "{VIDEO_MEDIA_KEY}"
}

Video specs: MP4, H.264, AAC audio. 15s ideal, 2:20 max. Minimum 720x720px. Add captions — 85% of X video is watched muted.

Creative Best Practices for B2B

Hook patterns that work on X

1. Data hook: "We analyzed [N] [things]. Here's what we found:" — works because X users love data and contrarian takes
2. Question hook: "Why do [ICP role] still [painful manual process] when [better alternative exists]?" — works when the question triggers recognition
3. Contrarian hook: "Hot take: [common industry belief] is wrong. Here's the data:" — works for engagement and shares
4. Thread-style hook: Open with a bold claim, deliver in subsequent lines. Even single tweets can use line breaks to create a thread feel.

Copy structure for promoted tweets

Line 1: Hook (data point, question, or bold claim) — grabs attention in the timeline
Line 2-3: Context (why this matters to the reader)
Line 4: CTA + link (what to do next)

What to avoid

• Corporate jargon: "synergize", "leverage", "best-in-class"
• Stock photo image cards — use screenshots, data charts, or plain text on colored background
• Hashtags in promoted tweets (they leak clicks away from your CTA)
• Asking for a demo in an awareness-stage ad (offer value first: guide, checklist, benchmark)

A/B Testing Creative

Create 3-5 variants per ad group to test:

| Variant | Hook Type | CTA | Goal | |---------|----------|-----|------| | A | Data hook | "Get the guide" | Test if data resonates | | B | Question hook | "See the breakdown" | Test if question triggers curiosity | | C | Contrarian take | "Read the full analysis" | Test if controversy drives clicks | | D | Social proof | "Join 200+ teams" | Test if proof builds trust |

X Ads auto-optimizes toward the best performer within an ad group. After 500+ impressions per variant, pause variants with CTR below 0.5%. After 2,000 impressions, declare a winner and create 3 new variants inspired by the winning angle.

Reporting on Creative Performance

GET /12/stats/accounts/{account_id}/promoted_tweets?granularity=DAY&metric_groups=ENGAGEMENT,BILLING

&start_time=2026-04-01T00:00:00Z&end_time=2026-04-08T00:00:00Z
&promoted_tweet_ids={PT_ID_1},{PT_ID_2}

Key metrics:

• impressions: Total views
• engagements: Likes + retweets + replies + clicks
• url_clicks: Clicks to your landing page
• engagement_rate: engagements / impressions (target >1% for B2B)
• cost_per_engagement: Total spend / engagements
• cost_per_url_click: Total spend / url_clicks

Error Handling

• MEDIA_NOT_FOUND: Media upload failed or expired. Re-upload.
• TWEET_TEXT_TOO_LONG: Over 280 characters. Shorten.
• CARD_ALREADY_ATTACHED: Tweet already has a card. Create a new tweet.
• INVALID_MEDIA_CATEGORY: Wrong media type for the card. Use tweet_image for images, tweet_video for videos.