Setting Up Facebook Lead Ads — Step-by-Step

This tutorial walks you through connecting a Facebook lead form to your CRM and going live with your first Lead Chain. By the end, new submissions will automatically flow into your Leads page.

What you'll accomplish:

  • Connect your Facebook business account to the CRM
  • Select the ad account, Page, and lead form(s)
  • Map form questions to CRM fields
  • Test and publish the connection
  • Import leads that arrived before the chain existed
  • Confirm new leads are syncing in real time

Before you start

You'll need:

  • Admin access to the CRM (Lead Chains are under Settings → Lead Chains)
  • Admin or Developer access to your Facebook ad account and the Page that owns the lead form
  • If your Facebook app is still in Development Mode, you must be listed as Admin, Developer, or Tester on the app in Meta for Developers; otherwise, ask your app administrator to grant Advanced Access via App Review

1. Open the Lead Chains page

  1. In the CRM, go to Settings (bottom left sidebar).
  2. Click Lead Chains.
  3. Click Create New Chain.

The three-step wizard opens.

2. Connect your Facebook account

On the Connect your Apps step:

  1. Click Connect Facebook Account.
  2. You'll be sent to Facebook's consent screen. Review the permissions and click Continue.
  3. If prompted, log in to your Facebook account.
  4. Click OK to approve and return to the CRM.

Your Facebook account is now connected to the organization — all teammates will see and use the same connection.

3. Pick your Ad Account, Page, and Form(s)

Three searchable dropdowns now appear below Connect Facebook Account:

Choose your Ad Account:

  1. Click the dropdown and start typing your ad account name or number to filter the list.
  2. Select the ad account running your lead-generation campaigns.

Choose your Facebook Page:

  1. Click the dropdown and type to search for the Page that owns your lead forms.
  2. Select it.

Facebook Form — select one or more forms:

  1. Click the dropdown to see all forms on that Page.
  2. Tick the checkbox next to each form you want to capture in this chain.
  3. Each selected form appears as a removable chip below the dropdown; the button updates to show "2 forms selected" (or however many you chose).
  4. To capture every form on the Page, including future ones, leave the dropdown empty — the chain will use all forms on the page.

On the right side, configure:

  • Module — Leads (read-only)
  • Segmentation (optional) — tags automatically applied to every captured lead
  • Assignment rule (optional) — auto-assign new leads to a teammate
  • Allow duplicates — off by default; a repeat submission from the same email or phone updates the existing lead instead of creating a new one

When you've selected your form(s), scroll down to see the Import historical leads card (if at least one form is selected).

4. Map form fields to CRM columns

Click Continue to go to the Field Mapping step.

The wizard has already matched common fields — Full name → Name, Email → Email, and so on. The table shows every CRM column paired with a form question dropdown.

Review the mappings:

  • Click any dropdown to change which form question populates that CRM field.
  • When multiple forms are selected, their questions appear in one merged list.
  • Name is required — do not leave it unmapped.
  • Unmapped questions still arrive; they're kept on the lead's timeline in a capture activity.

Map into custom fields:

  1. If you have custom fields defined for Leads under Settings → Custom Fields, they appear as additional rows (e.g., "Leads >> Company size").
  2. Use the Search fields in the CRM box to narrow the list if you have many fields.
  3. Click the dropdown next to a custom field and select which form question should populate it.
    • For example, if your form asks "How many employees?" and you have a custom field called "Company size", map that question to the Company size row.
  4. The answer lands in that custom field on every captured lead (visible in the lead drawer, the leads table, and filters).

When mappings are complete, click Test Connection.

5. Test the connection

Click Test Connection to verify the CRM can read your selected form(s) with the connected Facebook account.

  • If it passes: a green checkmark appears. You're ready to publish.
  • If it fails: an error message shows. Check that:
    • Your Facebook account still has access to the form (the connection may have expired; refresh by clicking Connect Facebook Account again)
    • The form is published on the Page in Ads Manager
    • Your ad account has permission to read the form

Once the test passes, continue to Review & Publish.

6. Publish the chain

On the Review & Publish step, review your selections:

  • Ad Account, Page, and Form(s)
  • Field mappings
  • Segmentation tags and assignment rule

Choose how to go live:

  • Save and Publish — the chain goes live immediately. New form submissions start flowing in within seconds (real-time webhook) and within 5 minutes at the latest (background sync).
  • Save as Paused — the chain saves but doesn't sync yet. Use this if you want to test the form or refine settings later. You can toggle the chain to Active on the Lead Chains list whenever you're ready.

Click your choice. The chain is created and you're returned to the Lead Chains list.

7. Import historical leads (optional but recommended)

If your form captured leads before you created this chain, import them now:

  1. Return to the Lead Chains list. Click the chain you just created (or the ⋯ menu → Edit).
  2. Scroll down and find the Import historical leads card.
  3. Choose a time window:
    • Last 7 / 10 / 30 / 90 days — quick preset
    • Custom range — enter exact from/to dates
  4. Click Import.
  5. The result shows: "Found 13 leads — 3 imported, 10 already existed."

Imports are safe to repeat — leads already in the CRM (matched by Facebook lead ID or email/phone) are skipped, never duplicated.

8. Confirm new leads are arriving

Wait a minute for the chain to sync, then check your Leads page:

  1. Click Leads in the sidebar.
  2. Look for new entries with:
    • Source set to META_LEAD_ADS
    • A meta-ads tag (plus any segmentation tags you added to the chain)
    • A Tracking & Attribution section in the lead drawer with UTM Campaign and UTM Content rows showing the campaign and ad names, when Meta provided them
    • A timeline activity recording the form, campaign/ad IDs, and raw answers
    • Any mapped custom fields populated with form answers

How the sync works:

  • Real-time webhook — Meta pushes each submission the moment it's submitted.
  • Background sync (every 5 minutes) — the server also polls the form, so leads land within 5 minutes even if the webhook is delayed.

Both paths run the same field mapping, duplicate detection, and tagging, so it doesn't matter which arrives first; the other recognizes it and skips it.

Troubleshooting

If leads aren't flowing or the chain won't connect, see Lead Chains — Troubleshooting in the Lead Chains reference guide.

Most common issues:

  • "Ad Account list is empty" — your Facebook account wasn't added as Admin, Developer, or Tester on the Meta app. Ask your app administrator to grant Advanced Access via App Review (or add your account if the app is still in Development Mode).
  • "The connection has expired" — Facebook tokens last ~60 days. Click Connect Facebook Account again to refresh.
  • Leads stopped arriving — check that the chain is still Active on the Lead Chains list (toggle the switch if needed). Expired tokens are the most common culprit; refresh the connection and check the server logs if it persists.