Twitter said on Wednesday it is opening up its platform to third-party advertising management software, as the company tries to establish an ad-based business model. The ads application programming interface (API), will allow advertisers to manage campaigns and integrate their existing ad management software to their Twitter accounts and offer their ads on Twitter.

Twitter currently makes money every time a user clicks or retweets a "promoted" message paid for by an advertiser. The company said that its users would continue to see the most relevant Promoted Tweets from advertisers.

"With the Ads API, marketers now have more tools in their arsenal to help them deliver the right message, to the right audience, on the desktop and on mobile devices -- all at scale," Twitter product manager April Underwood wrote in a blog post.

Twitter said it had been testing the Twitter Ads API since January with its partners. Its first five partners who are beginning to offer Twitter advertising features to a limited number of their clients are Adobe, HootSuite, Salesforce, SHIFT and TBG Digital.

The Twitter Certified Products Program is also evolving to include ads products. In the coming months, Twitter begin to certify ads products that integrate with the Twitter Ads API and improve marketing efficiency and ROI.

Last year, Twitter said it would allow marketers to target Twitter users based on a profile of their perceived interests and by location.