Before you start
- Sign in with the X login you run your ads from. X Ads has its own row under Ads, apart from your X profile under Social, and connecting it leaves your profile's posting as it is.
- To change campaigns, budgets and bids, your login needs the Admin or Ad manager role on the ad account. With Analyst or Campaign analyst, the row says read only and Bidhelm can read the account but not change it.
- X can hide a new ad account until it has its first campaign. If yours has none, create one in X Ads first. It can be scheduled for later.
- Each X Ads account Bidhelm runs takes an ad-account slot, the same as a Google Ads account: 1 on Starter, 3 on Growth. See pricing.
Connect during setup
- On the Connect your accounts screen, find X Ads under Ads and select Connect.
- X's sign-in opens. Sign in and allow access.
- Back in Bidhelm, the row shows Connected. With one ad account, Bidhelm runs it straight away.
- If the login opens two or more ad accounts, pick the one Bidhelm runs from the list under the row.
- Select Continue.
Connect after setup
- Open Settings › Connections.
- In the Ads group, select Connect X Ads.
- Sign in with X and allow access.
Back on the page, each ad account shows its name, its ID, the X handle it came from and when it was connected. The one Bidhelm runs is marked Primary and shows Working. Any other account shows Not running, with Run this account to run it as well. If every slot on your plan is in use, Connections says so and offers Add a slot. An extra ad account is $60 a month.
Set its budget
X Ads has its own monthly budget, apart from Google Ads. Until it has one, the row shows Connected · Off until it has a budget: Bidhelm reads the account and changes nothing, and your ads on X keep running as they are. Select Set budget on the row, or set it on the Ads plan card. The budget starts as soon as you save it. See Campaigns and budgets.
What Bidhelm does once connected
Bidhelm reads your campaigns, ad groups, promoted posts and results straight away, including the last 90 days, and keeps syncing about every 30 minutes. X campaigns sit in the same Ads list as your Google campaigns, each marked with its platform.
Once the budget is set, Bidhelm runs the account inside it. It pauses ad groups that spend without results, moves budget toward what converts, changes bids and targeting, stops spend on placements and audiences that waste it, boosts posts that are doing well and stops a boost that stops paying. New campaigns are created paused until they're ready. Every change is in History with the reason, and changes made directly in X Ads show there too.
You decide which of these act on their own and which wait for your yes in Settings › Permissions. See Permissions.
Stop or remove an account
- Stop running X Ads: open the account's menu and select Stop running X Ads, then confirm with Stop X Ads. Bidhelm stops working in your X Ads accounts and the slot returns to your plan.
- Remove account: open the account's menu, select Remove account and confirm. Bidhelm stops working in that ad account and forgets it here.
Either way, nothing changes in X: your campaigns keep running and your X profile keeps posting.
Troubleshooting
"X didn't list any ad account for this X login." X can hide an ad account until it has its first campaign. Create one in X Ads, check that this login can open the account, then connect again.
"Reconnect needed." X stopped accepting the login, or it was given without access to your ads, so no changes are being made to your ads on X. The ads keep running as they are. Select Reconnect and allow ads access.
"No access." X is refusing the ad account itself. Signing in again won't fix it: select Open X Ads and check that the account is still active and has a payment method.
"read only" on the row. Your login's role on the ad account can't change ads. Ask the account's admin in X Ads for the Ad manager role.