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Interest and username targeting
With Interest targeting you can reach users on Twitter who are broadly interested in certain topics, including 25 interest categories that expand into 350 sub-topics. Username targeting (also known as follower look-alikes targeting) allows you to target users based on who they follow, helping you connect with people who are likely interested in your business.
Interest targeting
You can target users based on their broad or narrow interests, choosing between 25 Interest categories and over 300 sub-topics.
- Navigate to the "Targeting" section of your campaign setup
- Under "Audience Features" click "All" to expand the selections
- Choose "Interests"
- Find the sub-topic you'd like to target in your campaign and select "Add". The campaign setup form will show an estimated volume of users who are interested in the sub-topic you've selected. Keep in mind that these numbers do not take into account geo location, gender, age, and device targeting.
- Confirm your interest targeting has been added to your campaign by seeing it as a green box in your campaign setup form
We determine users' interests based on a variety of signals, including who they follow, what they retweet, click on, tweet, and more. Learn more on privacy.
#ProTips:
- Interest targeting is most effective when you choose interests that align directly with your campaigns' creatives (Tweets).
- We recommend each campaign have no more than 10 sub-topic Interests.
- As your campaign runs, check back frequently to see which sub-topic interests perform best and worst so you can refine as needed.
Username (follower look-alikes) targeting
Follower look-alikes targeting allows you to target users based on who they follow, and users who behave similarly to those who follow certain accounts.
For example, if you target @TwitterAds, you'll be targeting the followers of @TwitterAds as well as users with similar interests to the followers of @TwitterAds.
- Navigate to the "Targeting" section of your campaign setup form
- Click "All" to expand the targeting options
- Select "Follower look-alikes"
- Type in the username (@handle) of a Twitter account. You'll be shown an estimate of the users who are similar to followers of that account. Keep in mind that these numbers do not take into account geo location, gender, age, or device targeting.
- Find the username you'd like to target and click "Add"
- Confirm you've added follower look-alikes targeting by seeing the @handle show in green
We determine users similar to those who follow accounts based on a variety of signals, including what they retweet, click on, tweet, and more. Learn more on privacy.
#ProTips:
- Aim to target around 30 usernames per campaign to ensure that you’re reaching a large enough audience.
- Target the usernames that are most closely tied to your business. While very famous individuals or companies may have millions of followers, those millions are not necessarily aligned around a topic that’s relevant to your business.
- Focus on segmentation. Segmenting campaigns helps you to identify what’s working best. Get better results by monitoring your campaign dashboard closely. For instance:
- When targeting usernames we recommend that you do not add interest targeting into the same campaigns. Instead, you can run a separate campaign with broad interest targeting.
-Segment your username campaigns by category (for example try running one campaign targeted to the usernames of your competitors, and another targeted to the usernames of industry media).
Viewing your results
You're able to view your campaigns' audience breakdown by locations, keywords, handles, behaviors, gender, language, platform, and interests.
First, click into a campaign. Then click on the ‘Audience’ tab to view audience details. To export data at the audience level, click on the “Export” button from this page.
Note: when viewing your campaign by interest and Follower look-alikes targeting you will usually see a lower number of total impressions, engagements, or spend on the top line campaign level than when you add up all of the individual ones listed below. This is because if a single user who views your campaign and fits into multiple categories, their engagement and impression will be counted under both.
For example, if you target users who have the interest of "Comedy", they may also have interests in "Cooking" and "Fashion". The interests "Cooking" and "Fashion" will show up in your ads dashboard, but only because the users also have the interest that you targeted, which is "Comedy". Your ads will not be served to users who don't have the interests you have implemented in your campaign. The dashboard shows a breakdown of other interests and languages that users have, in addition to the ones you've targeted. You're only charged once (if the user takes the billable action of your campaign and the user is within your targeting parameters).
Interest and username targeting FAQs
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How do these targeting types layer on with my other targeting?
Arrow down iconInterest and username (follower look-alikes) targeting are both examples of Additive targeting, also know as "OR" targeting.
If you select 5 interests and 35 follower @handles in your campaign, your campaign is eligible to serve to any user who fits any part of that 40 piece targeting. For example, a user who fits Interest 1 OR Interest 2 OR @handle 1 OR @handle 2 could be eligible to be served your ad. We call this Additive targeting because the more pieces of targeting you add to your campaign, the larger the potential audience.
Interest and username targeting will also take into account any subtractive, or "AND" targeting, you've chosen in your campaign. Gender, geo location, age, and language targeting are all "AND" targeting types, meaning that they will ALL be respected. For example, let's say you set the following targeting parameters in your campaign: Females in the United Kingdom who are 18+, with 5 interests and 35 follower @handles. Only 18+ Females in the UK who like Interest 1 OR Interest 2 OR Interest 5 OR @handle 20, etc, will be eligible to be served your ad.
Additive targeting types - "OR" targeting:
These targeting types will layer onto each other making your potential campaign audience larger. For example, a user who fits Targeting piece 1 OR piece 2 OR piece 3, etc will be eligible to be served the ad.
- Interest
- Username (follower look-alikes)
- Movies and TV shows
- Behaviors
- Events
- Keywords
- Conversation topics
Subtractive targeting types - "AND" targeting:
These targeting types will make your potential campaign audience smaller, as they'll all be respected. For example, a user who fits in targeting piece 1 AND piece 2 AND piece 3 will be eligible to be served the ad.
- Geo location
- Age
- Gender
- Device model
- Platform
- Language