How to Connect Facebook Lead Ads with Zapier – A Guide

Lead generation is the lifeblood of every service-based business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a coach, offer business services, or run a consulting agency – you need leads to keep growing. 

When it comes to online lead generation, Facebook Lead Ads is one of the top sources of high-quality leads out there. 

And, with Zapier automation, you can build workflows that automatically process and, in some cases, even qualify the leads that you get. 

In this article, I’ll dive deep into why (and how) to use Facebook Lead Ads with Zapier. But first, let’s look at what makes Facebook Lead Ads such a great tool in the first place. 

Why Do Facebook Lead Ads Work?

• The platform size

Facebook is one of the biggest and most popular social media platforms in the world. Currently, it’s used by almost 3 billion people every day. 

If you’re living in the US, over 70% of American adults use Facebook regularly. This means you can attract leads in almost any industry. Of course, blindly targeting millions of people would drain your pockets (with nothing to show for the money spent). 

But, that’s where Facebook Lead Ads’ second benefit comes into play.  

• Excellent targeting options. 

Facebook allows you to be really specific when it comes to who you want to target, helping you find the ideal customer. 

Sure, they used to be more granular and specific in the past (but had to change them due to privacy and discrimination concerns). Still, Facebook remains the #1 advertising platform for many industries. 

• Form Customization

You don’t have to stop at just asking about the name, email, or phone number. Facebook allows you to customize your lead form and be very specific about the things that you ask about. That’s as long as you don’t break Facebook ads rules! 

• The Data Is Already There 

All Facebook Lead gen forms are pre-filled with user’s info, which means that, unless you’re collecting very specific information, all they need to do is click “submit” to send the form. No landing pages, no loading time, and no servers to worry about. 

There’s one caveat, though. Not all people use their most popular email address with Facebook. That’s why Facebook Lead Ads often work best if you also collect people’s phone numbers. 

• Ease of getting started

Lastly, Facebook attracts millions of businesses because of how easy it is to get started. As long as you have your targeting nailed down (and the right offer), setting everything up is very simple. 

And, if you combine your Facebook Lead ads setup with Zapier, you can automate a significant portion of your lead generation process. 

Why is Zapier a Perfect Match for Facebook Lead Ads?

There are many obvious benefits of automation. It saves you time, money, reduces the risk of manual error, and allows you to focus on more important things in your business. Of course, there are many automation tools you could use – so why a Facebook Lead Ads and Zapier mix? Here are three key reasons:

• Thanks to tools like Zapier Formatter or Filters, you can control the incoming data, format it, and customize it to your needs before sending it to its final destination. 
• With over 5,000 built-in integrations, you can easily connect all your key business tools. And, you can expand your existing workflow with other tools, making the entire setup even more powerful. For example, you can send the leads straight to the CRM so that your team can start processing them the moment you get their info!
• It’s the most reliable automation platform. While there are more affordable tools, Zapier invests heavily in both its infrastructure and its security. And, considering your business and its growth rely on automation – you want the system to be working no matter what!

Of course, there are other automation tools such as Make – but I recommend it only if you want to scale or build really advanced workflows. 

Now, let’s get into reviewing the Facebook Lead Ads Zapier app. 

How to Connect Facebook Lead Ads and Zapier

Setting up a Facebook Lead Ads Zap doesn’t differ from creating any other Zap – you choose a trigger, add one (or more) action events, and test everything. 

But, as you’ll notice once you search for the Facebook Lead Ads integration inside Zapier, there is not one, but two different apps to choose from. 

Here are the differences between them.

Facebook Lead Ads vs Facebook Lead Ads for Business Admins

What immediately stands out is that both apps are Premium Zapier apps. This means that to use either, you need at least Zapier’s Starter plan:

But the core difference comes down to the ad accounts that you can use with them. The first app allows you to connect to your personal Facebook ad account. This means that when you build a Zap with it, you can use all the ad accounts that are connected to your personal Facebook account. 

On the other hand, the app built for Business admins allows you to work with all accounts that are added to your Business admin account:

This makes it a perfect choice if you’re running an agency and work with ad accounts owned by others. 

Another difference comes down to the triggers and actions that you can use in your ad account.

Available Facebook Lead Ads Zapier Triggers

Depending on the app that you choose, you’ll have access to different triggers. The standard Facebook Lead Ads account gives you access to one event – New Lead: 

On the other hand, when you use Facebook Lead Ads (for Business admins), you can also trigger the Zap whenever there’s a new comment on one of your ads. 

This is super useful if you want to quickly respond to your audience’s comments: 

If you compare the number of options to that available for many other apps, the integration may look poor. But, the new lead trigger is the thing you really want, right? So it’s not about the quantity but about the quality. 

And being able to add your Facebook lead right to your automation workflow is really what you’re after.

Now, let’s take a quick look at the available actions.

Facebook Lead Ads Zapier Actions

In the Facebook Lead Ads actions department, the choice is just as narrow. The standard Lead Ads integration doesn’t offer any actions at all!

The integration for Business Admins gives you three different actions to choose from:

With the integration, you can:

• Search for an ad
• Create a lead ad
• Create an ad statistics report

If you’re interested in creating a lead ad, here’s what the available options look like:

The report generation Zap is just as interesting. For example, there are over 18 different timeframes that you can choose from! Some of them are pretty straightforward:

While others focus on the less usual periods:

Of course, considering that the majority of cases focus on collecting leads, those actions aren’t really that useful. After all, what you really want to do is automate your Facebook lead generation with Zapier. Now, let’s dive right into different Zaps that you can create with Facebook Lead Ads!

Sample Facebook Lead Ads Zapier Workflows

Once you know the available Facebook Lead Ads Zapier triggers and actions, it’s time to start building Zaps. Their complexity will depend on the way you process leads and your lead generation workflow. 

The simplest Zap you can create is a 2-step Zap – one in which you trigger the Zap on every new lead, and the second step where you add lead data into a Google worksheet: 

Another popular Facebook Lead Ads Zap is the one in which you leverage Pipedrive Zapier Integration to send the leads straight from Facebook to (probably) the most popular Sales Relationship Management tool out there.

As you can see in the below example, the Zap is a bit more complex, with Zapier Formatter (to format the phone number) added to the mix:

Another app where you can send fresh Facebook leads is Airtable. By mixing Facebook Lead Ads, Zapier, and Airtable automation, you can build a powerful workflow that’s highly customizable and gives you lots of control over your data. 

One thing to keep in mind is that, rather than the “create a record” step, it’s better to pick a “Find Record in Airtable” one. That way, you can still create a record if it doesn’t exist. And, if it does, you can then use a Zapier filter and Airtable update step to update the existing record with new data.

Other important apps that you may want to add to your Facebook Lead Ads Zapier workflow include those that let you stay in touch with the leads. A great example of such apps is ActiveCampaign or ClickSend. 

For example, whenever someone submits your Facebook form, you can then add them to your ActiveCampaign list and send them a confirmation sms in ClickSend. 

Of course, make sure that you collect the necessary permissions to do so!

Naturally, there are dozens of different apps and workflows that you could build – and the above is just an example. If you’re looking for ideas, take advantage of the Zapier Consulting service, and let’s discuss your Zapier automation needs.

Common Facebook Lead Ads Issues

Now that we’ve reviewed sample Zaps, let’s take a quick look at the common Facebook Lead Ads and Zapier issues. Thankfully, there are not that many and they’re pretty easy to fix. 

Tip: Before you start fixing anything, double-check if the correct form is selected. This is especially true if you created several forms for the same page. I know this sounds simple but picking the wrong form is not as uncommon as you might think!

I Can’t See the Page in Zapier

Make sure that the page, ad account, and lead access (more on that in the step) are all granted for your Facebook account. You can do that on the Lead Access page. Just make sure that you select the right page and account when changing permissions. 

Also, make sure that the account that you use to connect your Facebook Business Manager account to Zapier has the right permissions. 

Note: If you see the page but it’s grayed out, it means you don’t have the necessary permission. The solution is the same – make sure your account has admin access to the page, ad account, and leads

Facebook Lead Ads Zap Not Triggering

If the form receives a new lead and your Zap is not triggering, you need to check if Facebook isn’t blocking the data from being sent to Zapier. Here’s how to do that:

1. Visit Facebook Lead Ads Testing Tool

First, head over to the Facebook Developers Platform, select the Lead Ads Testing Tool, and pick the page and form that you suspect is not working properly.

2. Delete the Example Lead

Once you pick the page and form, click “Delete Lead”. Don’t worry – the tool won’t delete any actual leads that you collected. Instead, it’ll just remove Facebook’s example lead used to test your form. 

3. Fill the form

Once that’s done, click Preview Form next to the form’s name. Fill the form with sample data and submit it – do it the same way your prospect would.

4. Review Data Status

Once you submit the form, click the Track Status button. Wait a minute or two for the status message to pop up (it will say “pending”). If you get the 103 error, it means your form doesn’t send data to Zapier due to permission issues. In all other cases, you need to look elsewhere.

5. Fix the 103 Error

If you get the 103 error, head over to the Lead Access page and select the page with the form you want to fix. 

Once you do that, in the upper-right-hand corner, you’ll see the “Restore Default Access” option. 

Click it to give Zapier access to Facebook Lead Ads. Next, repeat steps 1 – 4 – you should now see the 200 success status code:

Note: Remember that Zapier will not trigger for past leads – it can only do so for new leads. But, if you missed some of the leads due to permission issues, you can try to pull the data manually while testing the Facebook Lead Ads trigger.

Zapier Sample Data Lacks Some Custom Fields

This is the case if you create a form but never use it. In general, whenever you connect the Facebook Lead Ads account to Zapier, the latter will create sample data for your form. 

But, if the form comes with custom fields and has never been used, Zapier will have no way of knowing about those fields. 

In this case, you need to create test data using the Facebook Lead Ads testing tool.

Start Using Zapier with Facebook Lead Ads Today

Combining your Facebook Lead Ads campaigns with a tool like Zapier lets you take your lead generation to a whole new level. 

By being able to send lead data straight to the tools of your choice, you can speed up the work, close deals faster, and save your (and your team’s) time. 

Which, they can then use to work on converting the leads into loyal customers!

Ready to start leveraging the power of automation in your lead generation workflow? Head over to the Zapier consulting page to learn more about Zapier. Or go straight to the calendar, schedule an automation discovery call, and let’s talk about your automation needs!