Twitter Ads glossary
All the terms you’ll need to know as an advertiser
Attribution window
Refers to the maximum length of time between click and conversion that you use to calculate return on ad spend.
Attribution models
- First-click: assigns 100% of the conversion value to the click that initiates a conversion path.
- Last-click: assigns 100% of the conversion value to the final click immediately preceding a sale or conversion event.
- Multi-channel attribution: Weighted model that gives the most credit to clicks closest to conversion or to the first and last touch points and less to the touch points in the middle of the funnel.
Clicks
When a user either clicks directly on a promoted campaign or component of a promoted campaign. We track this metric for all three types of campaigns because it plays a significant role in the campaign’s resonance score.
Promoted Accounts: The number of clicks on a Promoted Account username or avatar. A click on the follow link or the hide link on the WTF panel does not record a click.
Promoted Tweets: The number of clicks on the Promoted Tweet. Includes clicks on the URL (shortened or regular links), profile pic, screen name, username, detail, hashtags and faves.
Promoted Trends: When a user clicks on the Promoted Tweet (or a link or hashtag within the Tweet copy) connected to the Promoted Trend. This includes if a user searches for the Promoted Trend and subsequently clicks on the trend’s Promoted Tweet (or link or hashtag within the Tweet copy).
Conversion Tracking for Websites
Conversion tracking for websites enables you to tracking the actions a user takes after viewing or engaging with your ads on Twitter. Find out more about how to set up conversion tracking.
Cost per:
Acquisition (CPA)
Total campaign spend divided by the number of new customer acquisitions.
Click (CPC)
Total campaign spend divided by total number of clicks.
Install (CPI)
Total campaign spend divided by the number of app installs.
Lead (CPL)
Total campaign spend divided by the number of leads.
CPF
Cost per Follow. This is determined by your campaign spend divided by number of new followers.
Click thru Rate (CTR)
Total engagements on an ad divided by impressions.
Daily Maximum
The maximum amount of money you will spend in a day on a promoted campaign. Find out more about how to set your budget.
Direct Response (DR)
Type of marketing designed to generate immediate actions from consumers. For example, this could include leads, site traffic or purchases. Each of these actions can be measured and attributed to an individual ad or advertising campaign.
eCPE
Effective Cost Per Engagement accounts for additional engagements tied to your Promoted Tweet campaign that you aren’t billed for. Find out more about eCPE.
Engagements
Engagement quantifies how much user interaction there is with your campaign.
Promoted Accounts: Instead of engagement, we measure follow rate, or the number of follows on a Promoted Account compared to number of impressions. Clicks will still factor into the resonance score but you’re only charged when a user actually follows you. See Follow Rate or CPF.
Promoted Tweets: The number of clicks, Retweets, favorites, follows and replies on a Promoted Tweet.
Promoted Trends: The number of clicks, Retweets, favorites, follows and replies on the Promoted Tweets connected to the Promoted Trend.
Follow
To follow someone on Twitter means to subscribe to their Tweets or updates on the site. Find out more about following.
Follow Rate
The number of users who start following your Promoted Account compared to the number of impressions.
Frequency Capping
Limits the number of times a user will see the same component of a promoted campaign. We use frequency capping in Promoted Tweets in timeline. See User Fatigue for more information.
#hashtags
The # symbol was created organically by Twitter users and is used to mark keywords or topics in Tweets. Find out more about hashtags.
Home Timeline
A real-time list of Tweets from the accounts you follow that appears on your Twitter home page. Find out more about your timeline.
Impression
The number of users who see a Promoted Campaign. We only count impressions on promoted content, so any impressions generated organically are not counted.
Promoted Accounts: The number of users who see a Promoted Account.
Promoted Tweets: The number of users who see a Promoted Tweet either in their home timeline or search results.
Promoted Trends: The number of users who view the Promoted Trend.
Integrated Search
A box on your Twitter homepage that allows you to search all public Tweets for keywords, usernames, hashtags or subject. Searches can also be performed at search.twitter.com.
IO (Insertion Order)
If you have an Account Team you’ll need to fill out this document before you can set up your campaigns.The budget listed on your IO will likely be different than the amount you select for each or all of your individual campaigns. To adjust or add value to your IO, you will need to talk to your Account Team.
Lead Generation Card
A Lead Generation Card allows you to capture a user’s name, email and @username within a Tweet. Find out more about how to setup a Lead Generation Card.
Maximum Bid
The highest amount of money you will pay per engagement. Engagements are new followers from Promoted Accounts and/or clicks, retweets or favorites on Promoted Tweets. You will never be charged more than your maximum bid and you usually pay less.
Your maximum bid, resonance and relevance all play a role in determining which campaigns will serve. However, a higher maximum bid increases the likelihood that you’ll drive followers and/or engagements. Find out more about how to set your budget.
Mention
Including the @ sign followed directly by their username is called a “mention”. Mentions also refers to Tweets in which your username was included. Find out more about replies and mentions.
Relevance
Twitter recommends your Promoted Tweets and Promoted Account to the most relevant users by combining the following two sets of information:
Implicit information about your account and followers - Twitter looks at your followers and then looks for similar accounts that you share a number of followers with, including competitors and accounts more generally associated with topics relevant to your brand
Explicit information about your target’s interests - Twitter finds experts on the interest groups you select within your campaign setup tool
Reply
A Tweet in response to another user’s message, usually posted by clicking the reply button next to their Tweet in your timeline. A reply always begins with @username. Find out more about replies and mentions.
Resonance
Measures user interaction with Tweets to help determine which ones are shown and which ones are not. Conceptually, it’s a metric that reflects the combination of all parts of a company’s interaction with its customers on Twitter.
Retweet
(noun) A Tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread news or share valuable findings on Twitter.
(verb) To retweet, retweeting, retweeted. The act of forwarding another user’s Tweet to all of your followers. Find out more about Retweets.
Integrated Search
A box on your Twitter homepage that allows you to search all public Tweets for keywords, usernames, hashtags or subject. Searches can also be performed at search.twitter.com.
Search Results
A real-time list of Tweets containing the search term entered in the search box. Promoted Tweets with the highest bid and resonance score for that particular search term will appear at the top of the search results.
Total Budget
This is an optional setting. If set, your campaign will stop running once this budget has been exhausted. We will not exceed this amount during your campaign. Learn more about budgets.
Unfollow
General: to stop following another Twitter user. Their Tweets will no longer show up in your home timeline.
Promoted Accounts: when a user sees a Promoted Account, follows the account and then directly unfollows it within four hours. We do not consider it a Promoted Account unfollow if an an existing follower stops following the account, or if a user navigates to another page, searches for, or accesses the Twitter account via the address bar in between the time they followed and unfollowed the account.
User Fatigue
Limits the number of times a user will see the same component of a promoted campaign. We consider user fatigue in order to prevent a disruptive experience.
As all our Twitter Ads evolve, we will continue to iterate and experiment with user fatigue and frequency capping.
Who To Follow
Featured in the details pane that recommends new accounts to follow based on who you are already following. Find out more about Who to Follow.
Related articles
Create your first Promoted Tweet campaign
Create your first Promoted Account campaign
Have questions or feedback about something on this page?
Please log in to ads.twitter.com and file a support ticket using the Help? button in the top right corner of your ads dashboard.