X Ads (formerly Twitter Ads)
This page describes how to use Census with X Ads.
Getting started
This guide shows you how to use Census to connect your X Ads account to your data warehouse and create your first sync.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, you'll need the following:
Census account: If you don't have this already, start with a free trial.
X Ads account
Credentials for your data warehouse: For details, see the guide for your specific data source technology.
To sync audiences, X requires a manual approval step. Details can be found in X docs.
For access to the Audience endpoint, you will need to be added to an allowlist. Please fill this form and accept the new Twitter Ads Products and Services Agreement if initially accepted prior to 2018-08-01.
Step 1: Connect X Ads Account
Log into Census and navigate to Destinations.
Click New Destination.
Select X Ads from the dropdown list.
Follow the X Ads authentication flow.
Your end state should look something like this: 👇
Step 2: Connect your data warehouse
The steps for connecting your data warehouse will depend on your technology. See the following guides:
After setting up your warehouse, your Destinations page should look something like this: 👇
Step 3: Create your model
When defining models, you'll write SQL queries to select the data you want to see in X Ads. This can be as simple as selecting everything in a specific database table or as complex as creating new calculated values.
From inside your Census account, navigate to the Models page.
Enter a name for your model. You'll use this to select the model later.
Enter your SQL query. If you want to test the query, use the Preview button.
Click Save Model.
Step 4: Create your first sync
The sync will move data from your warehouse to X Ads. In this step, you'll define how that will work.
From inside your Census account, navigate to the Syncs page and click Add Sync.
Under What data do you want to sync?, choose your data warehouse as the Connection and your model as the Source.
Under Where do you want to sync data to?, choose X Ads as the Connection and an Object in X Ads. Based on the selected object, your sync options will vary. See Supported Objects
(When syncing conversion events) Under How do you want to update the destination?, choose Send. See Supported sync behaviors.
(When syncing conversion events) Under How are source records identified?, select a column from the model that serves as a unique ID for each record. If needed, turn on the Use timestamp column setting and select a property from the model. This setting allows the sync to skip records that have not changed (according to the timestamp) since the last sync.
(When syncing audiences) Under How should we identify audience members?, specify how Census should match audience members in X Ads to records in the model.
(When syncing audiences) Under Audience Sync, select an existing X Ads audience or create a new audience list in X Ads. If the audience list includes members that don't have matching records in your model, Census will remove those members from the list.
Under Which properties should be updated?, select the fields you want to update by mapping a field in X Ads to a column in your model.
(When syncing conversion events) Under Should existing data be synced?, choose whether to sync existing records (Backfill All Records) or only sync new records going forward (Skip Current Records).
Click Next. This will open the Confirm Details page where you can see a recap of your setup.
If you want to start a sync immediately, set the Run a sync now? checkbox.
Click Create Sync.
When configuring your sync, the page should look something like this: 👇
Step 5: Confirm the synced data in X Ads
Once your sync is complete, it's time to check your data. Open X Ads and check that the records updated correctly.
If everything went well, that's it! You've started syncing data from your warehouse to X Ads! 🥳️
And if anything went wrong, contact the Census support team to get some help.
Sync speed & limits
Rate limits affect how many records you can sync in a specific period of time. X Ads API has a rate limit of 1,500 calls per minute. Calls to sync audience data and conversion event data share the same rate limit.
Conversion Events: Use timestamp setting
When syncing data to conversion events, the Use timestamp column to identify new data setting can help limit the number of API calls. With this setting, Census will check if the record has changed since the last sync occurred and skip syncing for the record if there have been no changes.
To use this setting, you'll also need to include a column in your database/data source that tracks the latest sync for each record.
Supported Objects and Sync Behaviors
Object Name
Supported?
Sync Keys
Behaviors
Audience
✅
Hashed or Unhashed Email, Hashed or Unhashed Handle, Hashed or Unhashed Device ID
Mirror
Mobile Conversion Event
✅
App ID, Conversion Time, Conversion Type, Hashed Device ID, OS Type
Send
Web Conversion Event
✅
Click ID, Hashed or Unhashed Email, Hashed or Unhashed Phone Number
Send
Learn more about all of our sync behaviors in our Syncs documentation.
Contact us if you want Census to support more X Ads objects and/or behaviors.
Need help connecting to X Ads?
You can send our support team an email at support@getcensus.com or start a conversation from the in-app chat.
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