Ads editor

Twitter ads editor is a tool tailored for larger advertisers who want to manage and optimize many campaigns at scale. Watch a video on how to get started with ads editor here.

If you don’t need to create lots of campaigns, we recommend that you use the standard campaign creation form.

Where can I find ads editor?

Log into ads.twitter.com and navigate to the “Tools” drop down. Click on “ads editor”.

Date Range Selection

Select your campaign date range by using the date picker. The list of campaigns available to download within that date range will display below.

Download your campaigns

Once you’ve selected your date range, click on “export spreadsheet’. From here, your campaigns will download. Note: it may take up to three minutes to download campaigns depending on how large the file size is.

Use the spreadsheet to make campaign changes and optimizations

Open your spreadsheet and refer to the column header comments for descriptions of:

• What each column controls
• Column formatting requirements
• If the column is required or optional

Some targeting options require targeting IDs so that the ads editor knows exactly what criteria you want to target in a campaign. We house all these IDs in the targeting criteria directory.

You can download the targeting criteria directory directly from the ads editor tool. The directory will automatically update when new targeting options are available.

Columns that require targeting IDs:

• User interests
• Locations
• Platforms
• Devices
• OS Versions
• Mobile Carriers
• Installed App Categories
• Event Targeting
• TV Genres
• TV Channels
• Behaviors
• IAB Categories

Copy the targeting criteria IDs you would like to target, and paste them into the corresponding column. Make sure to copy the entire ID and separate multiple IDs by semicolon.

For instance, if you want to target “Movies and television/Comedy” from the User Interests tab, insert “i2005:Comedy” into the “User Interests” column for a particular campaign. If you want to add “Movies and television/Drama” to the same campaign, simply add it to the cell, so the “User Interests” cell formatting reads: “i2005:Comedy;i2007:Drama”

To access your unique tailored audiences, refer to the “Tailored Audience IDs” tab in your export spreadsheet. The tailored audience IDs are non-editable. Use your tailored audience IDs to:

• Target tailored audience lists
• Exclude tailored audience lists
• Target similar users to those in your tailored audience

To access your unique website conversion tags, refer to the “Conversion Tag IDs” tab in your export spreadsheet. The website conversion tag IDs are non-editable. Use your website conversion tag ID to:

• Track campaign conversions
• Use for campaign optimization
• Use for reporting conversion metrics

To easily access your funding source IDs, refer to the “Funding Source IDs” tab in your export spreadsheet. The funding source IDs are non-editable. 

The Ads editor has the same rules and permissions as the Twitter UI. You cannot change the funding source ID for campaigns that are already running. If you try to change the funding source for a campaign that is already running, you will receive an error. For new campaigns, refer to the Funding Source ID tab of your export spreadsheet to select the ID for the funding source you would like to run.

If you decide you need to change the funding source of a campaign that’s already running, you will need to copy (& pause) the campaign, and set live a copied version of your campaign with the new funding source.

To access your App IDs for promoting mobile applications, refer to the “App IDs” tab in your export spreadsheet. The app IDs are non-editable. 

To easily access your Twitter Partner Network creative Ids, refer to the “Creative IDs for Twitter Partner Network” tab in your export spreadsheet. This will allow you to view all creatives and associated IDs directly within your export sheet.

Save your spreadsheet when you’re ready to import. Go back to the import page, choose your saved file and click “upload & preview”.

Import validation & errors

Upon successful upload, you will receive a “Validation successful” message, noting the number of changes you’ll be making. From there, click on “Apply Changes” to make them live on Twitter.

This screen confirms your changes have been made:

If there are formatting errors in your spreadsheet, you will see a description of the error with the cell location. Go back to your spreadsheet, fix the error in the noted cell location, and reupload.

How do I create new campaigns in ads editor?

The best method for creating new campaigns in ads editor is to copy & paste the row of another campaign to use as a campaign shell. 

From there, change the campaign name and remove the campaign ID. Campaign ID must be left blank for new campaigns. The tool will automatically create a new campaign ID when the spreadsheet is uploaded.

Make changes to the row of your newly created campaign to your preference, making sure you edit all required fields. Required fields for a new campaign:

• Campaign ID: left blank
• Funding Source ID: input the correct funding source to use
• Campaign Name; Must be new
• Campaign Start Date
• Delivery: Choose standard delivery to shows ads as evenly as possible throughout the day or accelerate delivery to show ads as often as possible at midnight PST
• Total Budget
• Daily Budget
• Agency Credit Line Purchase Order: Required for credit line accounts, otherwise can be left blank
• Campaign Objective
• Optimization Preference
• Promoted Product Type
• Bid Type
• Bid Amount
• Bid Pricing Unit
• Disclosure Text: Select “None” for all campaigns except political campaigns

How do I duplicate campaigns in ads editor?

Simply copy & paste the entire row of the campaign you would like to duplicate. In the copied cell, change the campaign name to something new and delete the campaign ID. This row will be created as a new duplicate campaign when uploaded. Follow this process to make multiple duplicates, at scale.

What advertising objectives can I choose from?

All the campaign objectives available in the dashboard are available in the ads editor. Your campaign objective tells us what objective you wish to achieve with your advertising:

• Followers: The best way to grow your audience on Twitter.
• Website clicks or conversions: Drive traffic and generate conversions on your website from tweets targeted to specific audiences of users. Feature your content prominently within a Tweet in a way that is designed to maximize click-throughs to your website.
• Tweet engagements: Reach more people and drive conversions for your brand and products. Any tweet you publish organically on your Twitter account can be promoted to reach targeted audiences of users who do not follow your account.
• App installs or app engagements: Twitter mobile app promotion is a full suite of products that enables advertisers to drive installs of their mobile app and re-engage existing users. With mobile app promotion, advertisers can drive users to download or open mobile apps directly from within a Tweet.
• Leads on Twitter: A lead generation card makes it easy for people to express interest in what your business offers - they can seamlessly share their email address without leaving Twitter or having to fill out cumbersome a form.
• Pre Roll Views & Video Views objectives: Raise brand awareness by showcasing engaging videos on Twitter.

Where do I manage budget and bid?

Budget and bid can be managed using the Campaign Total Budget, Campaign Daily Budget, and Bid Type fields. When working with budget and bid amounts, use standard decimal format. Only two decimals allowed and currency symbols are not needed.

• Total Budget: The total budget for the campaign
• Daily Budget: The maximum daily amount you want to spend

Bid Types:

• Auto bid - Your bid will be optimized to get the best results at the lowest price (within your budget).
• Max bid - Enter a bid that reflects how much a Tweet engagement is worth to your business. You’ll never pay more than what you’ve bid, and you’ll usually pay less.
• Auto bid with target- tell us your target cost for each link click. We’ll optimize your bids to achieve this average cost, typically within 20% of your target. This bidding choice gives you flexibility to win competitive auctions for high-value users.

To schedule Tweets in the ads editor, you’ll first need to create the Tweets and pull the Tweet ID number. To do this, compose a promoted Tweet in the Tweet manager, then click on the Tweet timestamp to see a preview. The Tweet ID will be the string of numbers in the URL.

Insert the Tweet IDs into the “Tweet IDs” column, separating each ID by semicolon. Set the campaign start date to the future date and time you would like the campaign to run. Once uploaded, your campaign will be scheduled. 

To set campaigns live, make sure you’ve set correct start dates and that the “Campaign Status” column is listed as “Active”. Once you’ve finalized changes to your campaign, save your spreadsheet and import back into the tool. This screen confirms your changes have been made and your campaigns are live:

You can use the ads editor spreadsheet to modify virtually any campaign element. Refer to “How to use ads editor” for instructions on how to make changes to campaigns 

Ads editor supports the below systems:

• Microsoft Excel
• Google Docs
• Libre office
• Open office

Large-enabled ad accounts can have 4000 active campaigns. Regular ad accounts can have 200 active campaigns. ads editor spreadsheet exports times out after 3 minutes, so if you are unable to download your spreadsheet, try exporting a smaller date range with less campaigns or use the keyword filter to only download the campaigns you need.