## Introduction
For marketing teams at startups and SMEs, converting high-quality leads into targeted ad campaigns is a game changer. Creating custom audiences in ad platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, or LinkedIn Ads using first-party lead data allows for precise retargeting and better ROI. However, manually exporting leads from your CRM or marketing tools and uploading them to ad platforms is inefficient and error-prone.
This article walks technical teams through how to build an automated workflow that pushes high-quality leads directly to ad platforms as custom audiences. We’ll use Make (formerly Integromat) to connect popular marketing tools, CRM systems, and ad platforms. The guide explains each step in detail, includes tips to avoid common pitfalls, and shares ideas on scaling the automation.
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## What Problem Does This Automation Solve?
– Eliminates manual CSV export/import between systems, saving countless hours.
– Minimizes data entry errors and mismatches during audience creation.
– Enables near real-time syncing of leads for agile and timely ad targeting.
– Lets marketing teams focus on strategy rather than tedious operational tasks.
**Who Benefits?**
– Marketing teams using CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive.
– Automation engineers building marketing pipelines.
– Startup growth teams looking to optimize ad spend efficiency.
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## Tools and Services Integrated
For this tutorial, we will automate lead syncing into Facebook Custom Audiences using Make. The key tools involved are:
– **CRM / Lead source:** HubSpot (but easily adaptable to others)
– **Automation platform:** Make (Integromat)
– **Ad platform:** Facebook Ads Manager Custom Audiences
You can substitute HubSpot for another CRM or lead source, and the Facebook module can be swapped for Google Ads Customer Match or LinkedIn Matched Audiences with adjustments.
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## How the Workflow Works
**Trigger:** New qualified lead contact created in HubSpot (e.g., Lead Status = “Qualified”)
**Process:**
1. Retrieve lead data from HubSpot.
2. Validate and format data (email, phone, name) to meet Facebook’s hashing requirements.
3. Create or update a Facebook Custom Audience.
4. Add hashed user data to the Custom Audience.
5. Confirm successful upload and log results.
**Output:** The lead is added as a member of the targeted Facebook Custom Audience, ready for ad retargeting.
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## Step-By-Step Technical Tutorial
### Step 1: Set Up Your HubSpot Trigger in Make
1. **Create a Make scenario:** Log into Make and create a new scenario.
2. **Select HubSpot module:** Choose the ‘Watch Contacts’ module.
3. **Configure the trigger:** Set the trigger to watch for new contacts or contacts updated with “Lead Status = Qualified” to capture only high-quality leads.
4. **Test the trigger:** Confirm that the module pulls in the correct contact with all relevant fields (email, phone, first name, last name).
**Tip:** Add filters on “Lead Status” within the module or as a Make filter to reduce noise.
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### Step 2: Validate and Format Lead Data
Facebook requires PII data to be SHA256 hashed before uploading.
1. **Add a ‘Set Variable’ module:** Extract and store email, phone number, first and last name.
2. **Normalize data:**
– Convert email to lowercase.
– Remove any non-numeric characters from phone numbers.
3. **Hash user data:** Use Make’s ‘hash’ function to SHA256 hash each PII field.
Example expression in Make for email:
“`
lowercase(email)
“`
Then:
“`
hash(“sha256”, lowercase(email))
“`
Repeat for phone, first name, and last name normalized appropriately.
**Common errors:**
– Not hashing data or incorrect hashing algorithm.
– Sending unhashed data causes API rejection.
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### Step 3: Ensure Facebook Custom Audience Exists
If this is the first time, create the custom audience manually in Facebook Ads Manager:
– Go to Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience > Customer List.
– Name the audience (e.g., “Qualified Leads”)
To automate updates:
1. Add Facebook > Get an Audience module in Make.
2. Use the existing Audience ID.
Alternatively, create the audience via API but that’s recommended only for advanced users.
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### Step 4: Add the Lead to the Facebook Custom Audience
1. Use Facebook’s ‘Add Users to Custom Audience’ module in Make.
2. Map the hashed PII fields required:
– emails
– phones
– first_names
– last_names
Facebook supports uploading any or all hashed identifiers; including more improves match rate.
3. Send the batch of one or more leads (you can batch leads or do real-time single inserts).
**Tips:**
– Batch uploads reduce API calls.
– Include as many hashed identifiers as available to increase match rates.
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### Step 5: Log Success and Handle Errors
1. Add an error route or notification in Make to handle failed API calls.
2. Log successful uploads with contact ID, timestamp, and audience name.
3. Optionally send alerts to Slack or email for failures.
**Common Errors:**
– API quota exceeded — add delays or batch limits.
– Invalid audience ID — verify audience ID parameters.
– Unhashed data errors — double-check hashing steps.
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## Scaling and Adaptations
– **Multi-Platform Support:** Extend by adding modules for Google Ads and LinkedIn in parallel, formatting data to their requirements.
– **Bulk Sync:** Use scheduled scenarios to sync large lead sets daily instead of real-time single inserts for scale.
– **Lead Qualification Logic:** Integrate more complex lead scoring or segmentation from CRM to push multiple custom audiences.
– **Data Privacy Compliance:** Ensure compliance with GDPR/CCPA by excluding users who have opted out.
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## Summary and Bonus Tips
By automating the syncing of high-quality leads into Facebook Custom Audiences, marketing teams gain:
– Accurate, up-to-date retargeting audiences.
– Reduced manual data handling and errors.
– Faster go-to-market for campaigns.
**Bonus Tip:** Implement incremental updates by keeping track of last synced contact ID or timestamp to avoid duplications and improve efficiency.
**Pro tip:** Always test with a small subset of leads first to validate hashing, audience mapping, and correct data formatting before going live.
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## Closing
This guide empowers your marketing and automation teams to build robust pipelines pushing qualified leads into ad platforms as custom audiences. While we focused on Make and Facebook, the principles apply broadly, and you can extend this workflow to other CRMs and ad platforms using similar techniques. Automation not only saves time but critically enhances your advertising precision and impact.
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