Marketing and messaging guidelines
Thank you for being a valued partner in the X Official Partner Program. This Partner Resource center is your go-to for all things related to the program like exclusive assets, language and phrasing guidelines, and other important information valuable to leveraging the full value of our partnership.
Official Partners are a select group of companies that demonstrate superior product offerings leveraging X Data. As a X Official Partner, you have unparalleled access to exclusive X data and insights that propel brands forward in the social space and help them retain their own voice.
On X, conversations happen in real-time, which is why it’s important to have guidelines around messaging, sharing and use cases. You also have access to an exclusive resource library, where you can find talking points, decks, and other valuable resources.
X Data helps:
Brands transform their social and customer care strategies by giving them access to cutting-edge customer insights
Connect brands and organizations with what’s happening now so they can understand the public conversation
Solution providers to create unique experiences to understand and analyze the public conversation
Brands and organizations understand when to launch something new
Companies and B2B developers/solution providers can connect with and understand the public conversation of the most valuable audiences and build software solutions to help customers/internal stakeholders to:
- Listen to the conversation on X and manage content to manage, understand, track, and benchmark the conversations and perceptions surrounding brands
- Track events to stay on top of breaking news and events to spot crises early.
- Discover new trends and opportunities to inform business decisions, product development and new product launches
- Oversee customer care by directly engaging with customers
We have three primary domains to help accelerate our mission.
data.twitter.com
The goal of this platform is to improve awareness of X Data by educating and inspiring brand customers and organizations to take action. This site serves as a top of funnel site to help drive users to buy (partners.twitter.com) or build (developer.twitter.com).
partners.twitter.com
The goal of this platform is to improve awareness and consideration for brand customers and organizations to buy. This will enable us to drive lead generation for partners and showcase their success.
developer.twitter.com
The goal of this platform is to improve developer experience and conversion. Here, we will continue to enable and empower developers to build innovative solutions.
Now that you understand some of the benefits of X Data and what you have access to as a X Official Partner, let’s take a look at some guidelines on how to represent our brand and our unique relationship.
Chapter 1
General messaging guidelines
Overview
Your company is part of a very select group of X data partners, and one of the key benefits of this relationship is the ability to publicly share this elite status as a differentiating characteristic of your solutions. Some of the standout benefits of our relationship include product access, business collaboration, and full access to the enterprise data stream. These are powerful market advantages and ones that also require careful messaging in order to maintain their impact.
This guide will help you to communicate on the unique working relationship and deep product access you have through the X Official Partner (TOP) Program to your customers and prospects.
X wants partners to have a voice
X is a prominent brand and company. We are committed to providing the public with timely, transparent and credible information consistent with legal requirements. As a X Official Partner, what you say publicly can be misinterpreted as a viewpoint ‘representing’ X. It’s not uncommon for observers to conflate partner opinions on products, other companies, corporate decisions or activity on our platform with X “official” views.
Misinterpreted words or opinions from X Official Partners can lead to an unwanted media response.
We’ve written this guide to help you communicate about the X Official Partner Program to customers and prospects through the use of X-approved language.
As a X Official Partner, your messaging should:
Help prospective brand customers identify (Your Company) from a crowded market and select the best X-supported solution for their needs, both in the short-term and the long-term
Highlight the innovative solutions resulting from your unique relationship with X
Help (Your Company) drive increased sales
For the purpose of this messaging guide, it is important to understand what is considered a “Public” forum and what is “Private” one. This distinction matters because you are allowed to assert bolder statements about our relationship in a Private forum.
Public Forums
Public forums include but are not limited to:
Websites
Blogs
Press releases
Marketing materials
Webinars
3rd Party Events
In a public forum, you should still describe your company as a “Partner within the X Official Partner Program”. This includes using the same TOP badge you already have on your website and materials. You can, however, now use the additional TOP language detailed here:
“X Official Partners represent an elite set of companies who have been recognized by X because of their exceptional products and proven success on the platform. Inclusion in the program is the result of a long-standing partnership with X, developed over multiple years of collaboration.”
As part of this relationship, (Your Company) is also working very closely with X to identify new ways that X data can help brands and agencies. With this, (Your Company) has the most complete access to every enterprise data product and stream that X offers and is collaborating with X’s product team to bring new, unique co-developed solutions to market.
Private Forums
Private forums include:
X invitation-only events
X Official Partner invitation-only events
1:1 customer/prospect conversations and meetings
In a private forum, though, this is where things get a bit more explicit about your special relationship with X. In a private setting, you can tell customers and prospects that you are “one of a select few exclusive innovation partners within the X Official Partner Program. As part of this relationship, you have unparalleled access to every X enterprise data product including full access to the enterprise data stream and are collaborating with the X Data Products team to co-develop and co-market new products.”
Chapter 2
Messaging examples
Overview
X serves the public conversation as it’s happening
It’s what’s happening, right now. That’s why your most valuable audiences are on X when they’re most receptive and smart brands #StartWithThem. X connects brands with valuable audiences because they make recommendations and referrals to family and friends and pride themselves on finding the “new.” In fact, 53% of X’s audience recommend products/services to friends and family.
These guidelines are intended to empower you to promote, discuss and share amazing stories about X.
Use the appropriate language to refer to X and posts.
Be a good partner to X
Before publishing anything, or commenting on anything publicly, ask yourself whether this reflects the X brand (e.g., does it show a drop in overall traffic?). Would you be comfortable with another company speaking about your brand this way? If not, please refrain from publishing or commenting on it.
Our communications team is a resource for all media inquiries and opportunities and can help assist if there are any questions. Press@X.com is the best way to reach for immediate support.
Generally-approved language (not all-inclusive)
“Realtime access to the full stream of all publicly available posts.”
“...complete data from the full access to the enterprise data stream allows us to…”
“...this full access to the enterprise data stream is only available from X and enables our customers to…”
Respect our users, their trust and safety
In certain instances, you may wish to reference a specific X user or feature them in marketing collateral. Please respect our users’ voices, their trust and safety. Please be thoughtful about using their content in a manner that they would expect. You must require their explicit consent before featuring them in marketing material.
Using @mentions to reply to posts or include other users in a conversation is a core part of the X experience for individuals and brands. However, the use of @mentions can quickly turn spammy when sent on an unsolicited basis.
Guidelines and best practices ensure X Official Partners are contributing to the public conversation on X by only sending @mentions that users want and expect to receive. While this guidance is applicable for all X users, it is particularly relevant for brands and X Official Partners looking to engage in customer care and marketing activities on the platform.
Automated @mentions
X prohibits sending automated unsolicited @mentions. Automated @mentions are allowed only when a user has indicated a clear intent to be contacted. Complete rules on when and how brands can send automated @mentions (including acceptable user opt-in techniques) are in the Automation Rules.
Manual @mentions
Sending @mentions manually (for instance, through the use of a team of people operating an account) should not be used as a method to circumvent X’s policy on automated @mentions. Sending a large volume of manual unsolicited @mentions is a violation of the Our Rules, and may result in enforcement action against accounts engaged in this behavior. As with automated @mentions, a good rule to live by is that brands should only @mention users who have indicated an intent to be contacted.
Primary scenarios where brands can be sure that users want and expect to be @mentioned:
A user @mentions or posts the name of a brand requesting help, giving a compliment, issuing a complaint, etc.
A user #hashtags the name of a brand requesting help, giving a compliment, issuing a complaint, etc.
A user posts a widely known acronym/truncated version of a brand’s name (e.g.: “McD’s” instead of “McDonalds”) requesting help, giving a compliment, issuing a complaint, etc.
A brand tells users that they will reach out to them after they post a specific (i.e.: not generic) hashtag(s). The user posts and a brand queries X based on the hashtag(s).
Conversational posting
Brands are part of the conversation on X. So, it is acceptable for a brand to occasionally @mention a user or another brand to participate in an exchange taking place on X, or to give the brand a human voice on the platform. However, these interactions must be both high quality and low volume. Each @mention must be personalized content crafted as a response to an individual post. (Note that templatized manual @mentions are not considered conversational.) Similarly, conversational @mentions must only form a small minority of a brand’s overall content on X. X reserves the right to take enforcement action against accounts found to be sending any volume of @mentions that are substantially similar, duplicative, bulk, or otherwise disrupt the user experience.
Don’t talk about X publicly without consulting us first.
This includes references to X announcements, your relationship to X, products or other corporate news.
Don’t reveal, share or reference any confidential information
As a partner, you may be given access to information which is confidential. You may also be given early access to information before we announce it publicly. Please keep it confidential.
Comply with our use case restrictions
If you plan on publishing analysis of X data, please ensure you’re doing so compliantly. We strongly recommend you consult with us early in the development process so we can provide you with guidance.
Things to avoid (not all-inclusive)
Feature listings that highlight full access to the enterprise data stream as a stand-alone mention (please do not use the term “X Firehose”)
Negative public suggestions that any one (or more) specific competing ecosystem companies do not have full access to the enterprise data stream in an attempt to disparage their offerings
Use Case Restrictions
X data can uncover valuable insights and business intelligence. However, there are certain use cases that do not comply with X’s policies and therefore restrict.
Sensitive Information
You should be careful about using X data to derive or infer potentially sensitive characteristics about X users or their content. In particular, don’t derive or infer information about a X user’s:
Health (including pregnancy)
Negative financial status or condition
Political affiliation or beliefs
Racial or ethnic origin
Religious or philosophical affiliation or beliefs
Sex life or sexual orientation
Trade union membership
Alleged or actual commission of a crime
Measuring the X Service
Do not use the X APIs to measure the availability, performance, functionality, or usage of X for benchmarking or competitive purposes. For example, you should never use the X APIs to:
Calculate aggregate X user metrics, such as the total number of active users or accounts
Calculate aggregate X post metrics, such as the total number of posts posted per day, or the number of user engagements or account engagements
Measure or analyze spam or security on X, except as permitted in the Our Rules
Any marketing or comms use of insights derived from the X Follower Graph must be reviewed and approved by X before being shared publicly. X Data usage restrictions are publicly available. You can view them here
See the full brand usage guidelines.
Chapter 3
Guidelines for marketing materials reviews
Overview
As a X Official Partner, you are able to use the badge across your marketing materials. These guidelines are intended to empower you to discuss and promote your X Official Partner Program access.
Per the terms of our agreement, we require that you share ANY and ALL proposed marketing copy that makes reference of our deeper relationship your access to the enterprise data stream with your Partner Manager and Marketing Lead prior to those materials being made public. We reserve the right to edit, modify or restrict your language selection to keep it consistent with our overarching program messaging. Our goal is to turn around any materials within 3 working days of submission along with appropriate feedback and/or approvals.
What Content Will Need Review?
Beyond copy that uses the boilerplate and approved logos, the following content includes examples where X will need to review content before it’s published/distributed:
Joint customer case studies
Blog posts that reference the relationship with X
Promotional campaigns or reports that reference X
Press releases that include references to X
Presentations that reference X
New product announcement that references X
Staying Compliant with Our Guidelines
1. Familiarize yourself with X’s data use case policies, display requirements, brand resources and partner marketing guidelines.
2. Make the X partnership team aware of upcoming marketing content early (2-3 weeks) so there’s sufficient time for review and feedback.
3. If necessary, wait on X’s official comms approval before publishing content or commenting to press. X aims to review marketing assets within 5 business days.
We build our brand by reflecting who we are — in what we do, how we look, and how we sound. Our brand is how people recognize us, think about us, and interact with us. We’re working from a core set of guidelines so we use our brand assets in a consistent and meaningful way.
Our positioning helps us focus our message so people understand who we are, what we stand for and how we're different from the competition.
If you’re just getting started, begin by downloading all of our brand resources.
Design
How we look reflects who we are -- giving visual shape to the voices on X while also showing the critical role we play. Learn more about the elements that make up our design system.
Brand voice
Our brand voice unites everything we say. The guideline is full of tips on how to apply our voice and channel our personality: human, bold, and electric.
Logo
The simplicity of our logo is what makes it great — don’t modify it. Our logo is a symbol for what’s happening in the world and the people who make it happen. It’s a globally recognized symbol that represents freedom of expression, speaking truth to power, and empowering dialogue. Our logo is not a bird. It’s a symbol of who we are and what we stand for. Modifying the logo will change what it stands for. We never alter, modify, or otherwise change the logo silhouette in any way. We never animate or make it talk, and we certainly never use it metaphorically. Always make sure to use the logo correctly, to protect its meaning and recognition.
post Treatments
When showing posts, we include as much context as possible to build recognition and association back to X.
Assets and collateral
Download offical assets including the Partner badge, logos and templates. Get insights and ideas about how to leverage X data and reach your audience.
