List Custom Audiences

Lists are one of three types of Custom Audiences, created by uploading a file containing your own user and customer data. Your lists are matched with @handles on X so that you can directly target them in your campaigns, making your marketing highly relevant.

Create your List Custom Audiences with the following information: 

 

Create your List Custom Audiences

You might gather these records from your mailing list, past purchasers, or potential customers who have shown interest. You can upload lists of email addresses, Mobile Advertising IDs (iOS Advertising Identifiers and Google Advertising IDs, or when not available, Android IDs), X @handles, or X user IDs.

  1. Create your file in the accepted format. Supported file formats are .csv and .txt. The maximum file size is 10 GB. Your list can be separated by new lines or commas.
  2. If you want to pre-hash your file (which is optional), please follow these formatting instructions. If not, skip this step. 
  3. Upload your file. Navigate to your Audiences tab from the Tools tab and click "Create new audience". From there, drag and drop your files or select them through the “Upload files” option. You can upload multiple files for a single Custom Audience.
  4. Wait for upload. Don’t close or minimize the browser window while the file is uploading, and only upload one file at a time. For larger files, make sure that you have a reliable and fast internet connection. You can also break your upload into smaller files (and then target them together in campaigns).

After you've uploaded your list, you'll see it in your Audiences tab as "Processing". Processing can take up to 48 hours. If an upload is paused or times out, you can resume the upload.

Once your Custom Audience list has been fully processed, the status will change to "Audience too small" or "Ready". Once a Custom Audience is "Ready", you'll be able to select it in your campaign setup for targeting. 

Audience showing as too small? Find out why in our FAQ below.

 

 

Use your List Custom Audiences

To target the users on your Custom Audiences within your campaign, navigate to the "Custom audiences" section of campaign setup. 

Use the carrot next to each audience type to find and select the Custom Audience you want to target. 

Keep in mind that even though all Custom Audiences show up, only those in "Ready" serving status will properly target users in your campaign.

For List Custom Audiences, we recommend expanding the reach during campaign setup. This feature finds people on X who are similar to the people on your List Custom Audience, and targets them in your campaign as well.

This is a great way to maximize your campaign's ability to serve if your List Custom Audience matches a relatively small number of users, and to drive more volume in your campaign. Reach expansion is optional, and can be toggled on and off in your campaign.

You can also choose to "Add" or "Exclude" the users in your Custom Audiences:

  • Add: The users in your Custom Audience will be served the posts in your campaign, if they meet the geo, gender, age, and device targeting criteria specified in your campaign.
  • Exclude: The users in your Custom Audience will NOT be served the posts in your campaign, even if they meet the other criteria in your campaign.

To respect user privacy, the minimum size for a Custom Audience to be usable is 100 X users. If your List Custom Audience is under 100 X users, it will display as "Audience too small" and will not be available for targeting.

 

 

Frequently asked questions

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