Capacities of X Ads Audiences for Promoting B2B Products and Services

X (formerly Twitter) offers extensive capabilities for manually identifying decision-maker audiences within large and medium-sized businesses. Its targeting options are enhanced by a wide array of thematic content and publishers that cater to niche business segments. Moreover, content on X is well-tagged, facilitating high-quality contextual targeting and effective reach within business audiences.

Starting with Your Marketing Priorities in X (Twitter)

If your strategy emphasizes performance marketing with the goal of minimizing cost per qualified lead, integrating X Ads may not be the most optimal choice. Direct conversion from click to lead may not be as efficient as on platforms like Google Ads, Meta Ads, or LinkedIn.
However, if you're currently facing growth challenges and require intensified media pressure, we recommend incorporating X Ads into your media mix to ensure additional touchpoints with your audience.

Methods for Identifying Business Audiences

To accurately target decision-maker audiences, it's advisable to move beyond broad interest-based targeting and develop hypotheses grounded in contextual targeting. Avoid dispersing your budget across wide segments and steer clear of objectives aimed at maximizing reach. Instead, focus on small, precise segments that will drive targeted traffic to your site and contribute to medium-term sales growth of your services or products. Here are some effective targeting approaches:

• Targeting based on followers of industry leaders (companies or individual influencers).
• Targeting based on industry-specific media and events.
• Targeting followers of industry associations, accelerators, and non-profit organizations facilitating government interactions.
• Keyword-based targeting.

X Ads Targeting Based on Followers of Industry Leaders

Concentrate on users whose behavior mirrors that of followers of major industry players. Remember, your focus is B2B audiences; therefore, select entities that primarily engage with businesses and aren't widely recognized by the general public—exclude large retail businesses from your community lists.

Case 1: Targeting B2B Audiences of Shippers or Freight Forwarders

If your product is aimed at Small & Medium Shippers or Freight Forwarders, select communities of maritime lines that are primary operators working exclusively with businesses. This will yield a compact segment suitable for testing engagement levels with your content.

Case 2: Targeting Decision-Makers in High-Tech Electronics and Semiconductor Industries

When targeting such a specific audience, avoid selecting large communities of end-product manufacturers known to the general public. Instead, focus on followers of communities related to lithography equipment manufacturers and related products.

Targeting Followers of Industry Associations, Federations, and Alliances

Case 3: Targeting Decision-Makers in the Banking Sector

Identifying audiences within the banking sector can be challenging, as large banks often have retail brands familiar to the general public, attracting consumers rather than employees or decision-makers. Focus on national and regional associations to increase the likelihood of reaching decision-makers in the banking industry.

Case 4: Targeting Logistics Professionals

For products aimed at logistics specialists, concentrate your ads on a small segment of users who follow news from carrier and freight forwarder associations.

Targeting Followers of Industry Media Twitter Accounts

Identify specialists in your field by targeting followers of media outlets within your target industry. Avoid general business media; instead, choose narrowly focused yet authoritative publications.

Case 5: Professionals in Real Estate & Asset Management

For instance, we compiled an audience of followers in the Real Estate and Asset Management category. This audience can be comprehensively reached without a large budget and has significant potential for high engagement.

Case 6: Targeting Professionals in Construction

Below is our suggested set of targeting options for testing in the Construction category.

Targeting Based on Interest in Specific Individuals on X

Review your industry to identify influential media speakers and public intellectuals. These could be individuals from top management, consulting, investment banking, or owners of large companies within the category.

Case 7: Logistics Vertical Followers Subscribed to Industry Influencers

We identified the following logistics industry speakers through quick vertical research:
Steve Banker – @steve_scm - Analyst at ARC Advisory Group, writes about logistics and supply chain management.
Martijn Graat – @LogisticsMatter - Founder of LogisticsMatter, shares news and analysis in logistics.
Rob O’Byrne – @LogisticsBureau - CEO of Logistics Bureau, consultant in logistics and supply chains.
Paul Page – @PaulPage - Editor of Wall Street Journal Logistics Report, covers logistics news.
Sabine Mueller – @sabinemueller - CEO of DHL Consulting, shares strategies in logistics.

Keyword-Based Targeting

Avoid applying approaches from your Paid Search campaigns. Keyword targeting on X is contextual, not exact match. Select broad keywords that signify involvement in your industry, and refrain from choosing overly specific queries.
In our example, we demonstrate audience capacity based on keywords related to supply chain management.

By leveraging these targeted strategies, you can effectively reach and engage decision-makers within your desired B2B segments on X.