Connect your Meta (Facebook) Ads account to Avid to push audience segments as Custom Audiences, send conversion events through the Conversions API (CAPI), and deploy ad campaigns from Playbooks. The connection uses OAuth and syncs on demand when you trigger a Pathway or launch a Playbook.
Use this article when
- You need to connect a Facebook Ad Account to Avid for the first time.
- You need to reconnect an expired or broken Facebook connection.
- You need to select or change the ad account linked to your Facebook connection.
- You want to accept the Meta Terms of Service before your first Pathway sync.
Applies to
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Avid plan | Insights plan or Trial. Pathways is not available on the Benchmarks plan. If you do not see Pathways in the sidebar, contact your Account Manager or submit a support ticket. |
| Meta account | A Facebook account with access to the target Ad Account through Meta Business Manager. |
| Avid permission | Access to Settings > Connections. Using Pathways also requires the Pathways > Edit permission. |
| Time estimate | About 10 minutes for the connection. Allow extra time for Terms of Service acceptance and your first Pathway setup. |
Permission matrix
During the OAuth sign-in flow (Step 4 below), Facebook prompts you to approve these scopes. You do not grant them manually.
| Role (Meta) | Required access | What it enables in Avid | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad Account access (Advertiser or Admin) | ads_management |
Create and manage Custom Audiences. Deploy campaigns via Playbooks. | Meta Business Manager > Business Settings > Ad Accounts |
| Ad Account access | ads_read |
Read campaign data, audiences, and pixels for configuration dropdowns. | Meta Business Manager > Business Settings > Ad Accounts |
| Business Manager member | business_management |
List Facebook Pages and Pixels for Playbooks deployment. | Meta Business Manager > Business Settings > People |
Connect Facebook to Avid
-
In Avid, go to Settings > Connections.
-
Find the Facebook tile. It shows Reporting, Audiences, and Playbooks badges.
The Audiences badge means the connection can receive Pathway syncs. The Playbooks badge means it works with Avid Playbooks automation. The Reporting badge means Facebook ad data flows into Avid Insights reports.
-
Click Authenticate on the Facebook tile.
-
A Facebook login window opens. Sign in with the account that has access to your Ad Account. If you are already signed in, choose the correct account.
Approve the permission requests when prompted. Avid requests access to manage ads, read ad data, and access your Business Manager.
-
You return to Avid. The connection appears as Facebook Ad Manager (unconfigured).
-
A modal asks you to select an Ad Account. Choose the ad account you want to use with Avid.
The connection name updates to Facebook Ad Manager: {your account name} and shows Active status.
Expected result: The Facebook tile on Settings > Connections shows Active and displays your ad account name.
Reconnect an existing connection
If your connection token expires or you need to switch accounts, reconnect from Settings > Connections. After reconnecting, Avid reminds you to re-accept the Custom Audience Terms of Service if Pathway syncs exist. See Accept the Terms of Service.
What the connection enables
Your Facebook connection opens three capabilities in Avid.
1. Custom Audiences via Pathways
Push Avid audience segments to Facebook as Custom Audiences (saved groups of people you can target with ads) through Pathways.
- Go to Pathways > Add a new Pathway.
- Select your audience segment and choose Facebook as the destination.
- Map source columns to Facebook fields on the column mapping screen.
Avid creates or updates a Custom Audience named AVID - {segment name} in your ad account.
All identifiers are hashed (SHA-256) inside Avid before being sent to Meta. Avid never sends unencrypted personal data to advertising platforms. Learn more in the Data Security and Compliance FAQ, or review Facebook's own hashing requirements and Custom Audience policies.
Field mapping reference
| Avid field | Facebook column | Type |
|---|---|---|
EMAIL |
Primary identifier | |
| External ID | EXTERN_ID |
Primary identifier |
| Phone | PHONE |
Primary identifier |
| First Name | FN |
Matching |
| Last Name | LN |
Matching |
| City | CT |
Matching |
| State | ST |
Matching |
| Zip or Postal Code | ZIP |
Matching |
| Country | COUNTRY |
Matching |
| Gender | GEN |
Matching |
| Lifetime Value | LOOKALIKE_VALUE |
For value-based audiences |
Pre-hashed SHA-256 variants are available for each field if your data is already hashed.
2. Conversions API (CAPI) via Pathways
Send conversion events like purchases and donations to Facebook through Pathways. CAPI (the Conversions API) lets Facebook match offline conversions back to your ads without relying on browser pixels alone. This requires a Facebook Pixel ID.
For full setup instructions, see How to set up the Meta Conversions API in Avid.
3. Ad deployment via Playbooks
Create and deploy Facebook ad campaigns from Avid Playbooks (the Avid feature that automates multi-channel campaign planning and execution). Playbooks handles campaigns, ad sets, creatives, budgets, and targeting. It automatically syncs your audience segments before deployment.
Accept the Terms of Service
Before your first Custom Audience sync, Meta requires you to accept two agreements. Avid checks these and shows a warning if the terms are not yet accepted.
- Accept the Facebook Custom Audience Terms of Service.
- Accept the Facebook Value-Based Custom Audience Terms of Service.
Who needs to accept: The person who authenticated the Facebook connection must accept the terms. If someone else on your team made the connection, Avid names that person in the warning and offers a link to reconnect with your own credentials.
If the terms are not accepted, Avid shows this warning on the Pathways push screen:
WARNING: Before you can sync data to Facebook, [you / the person who made the Facebook connection] need(s) to accept the following terms: [Custom Audience TOS link] [Value-Based Custom Audience TOS link]. Any Pathways created before these are accepted will not be able to sync to Facebook.
Once you accept both terms, the warning disappears and syncs can proceed.
Test and verify
| Checkpoint | What to look for |
|---|---|
| After connecting | The Facebook tile on Settings > Connections shows Active and the name Facebook Ad Manager: {account name}. |
| After TOS acceptance | The TOS warning banner disappears from the Pathways push flow. |
| After first Pathway sync | Check Pathways > Manage Pathways for sync status (completed or failed) and record counts. Verify the Custom Audience appears in Meta Ads Manager under Audiences. |
Troubleshooting
Connection errors
| Error message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Something went wrong when connecting to Facebook. Please try again. |
OAuth state mismatch or missing authorization code. | Retry the connection from Settings > Connections. Clear your browser cache if the error persists. |
The ad account has not been selected. |
The connection was created but the ad account step was skipped. | Open the Facebook connection in Settings > Connections and select an ad account. |
No Facebook Pages are connected. |
Meta's API does not return pages for your Business Manager. | Reconnect the Facebook connection. Confirm your Facebook account has access to at least one Page. See Fix: Facebook Page missing in latest update. |
Pathway sync errors
| Error message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Failed to get or create Facebook custom audience for segment: {name} |
Facebook rejected the audience creation (permissions or TOS). | Verify TOS acceptance and confirm the ad account has Custom Audience permissions. |
Facebook Conversions pathway requires a Pixel ID. In Additional Columns, map Pixel ID and choose a pixel from the dropdown. |
A CAPI pathway was created without a Pixel mapping. | Edit the pathway and add a Pixel ID in the Additional Columns section. |
Cannot create lookalike audience: The base custom audience must contain at least 100 people from the same country. |
The base audience is too small. This is a Meta limit, not Avid. | Wait for more records to sync. Avid retries in 1 hour automatically. |
This pathway maps Lifetime Value, but a standard Customer List audience named "{name}" already exists in this Facebook ad account. |
You added a Lifetime Value mapping to an audience created without it. | Remove the Lifetime Value mapping, delete the existing audience in Facebook Ads Manager, or rename the segment in Avid. |
Playbook deployment errors
| Error message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
Add an image to all of your ads in the playbook before launching to Facebook. |
One or more Facebook ad assets are missing images. | Add images to all Facebook ad assets in the Playbook before launching. |
| Campaign created with Awareness objective instead of Sales/Conversions. | Ad touchpoints have no destination URL. | Add a destination URL (landing or donation page) to each Facebook ad touchpoint before launching. Meta locks the objective after creation. |
Known limitations
- Audience sync is on-demand, not scheduled. Avid pushes data to Facebook when you trigger a Pathway sync or launch a Playbook. To refresh an audience, re-trigger the sync from Pathways > Manage Pathways.
- Lookalike audiences need at least 100 people from the same country. This is a Meta limit, not Avid. Avid retries automatically in 1 hour if the base audience is too small.
-
Meta refuses to remove members from audiences below minimum size. Adds succeed, but removes are rejected with an
Audience Size too Lowerror. This is a Meta limit. - CAPI events cannot be older than 7 days. Meta rejects conversion events outside this window. This is a Meta limit.
- Audiences take time to populate on Meta's side. After a push, allow time before launching a campaign against the audience.
- Meta locks the campaign objective after creation. If a Playbook creates an Awareness campaign (due to a missing destination URL), you cannot change it to Sales or Conversions later. Add destination URLs before launching.
- Access tokens can expire. If your Facebook connection stops working, reconnect from Settings > Connections to refresh the token.
When to contact support
Contact Avid support if:
- The connection fails repeatedly after clearing your browser cache and retrying.
- A Pathway sync fails with an error not listed above.
- The TOS warning persists after you accepted both Terms of Service agreements.
- The ad account dropdown does not show the account you expect.
Include the following when you reach out:
- The exact error message (copy the full text).
- The name of the Pathway or Playbook that failed.
- The Facebook Ad Account ID (found in Meta Business Manager under Business Settings > Ad Accounts).
- The email address of the person who authenticated the Facebook connection.
- A screenshot of the error, if visible.
Related articles
- How to set up the Meta Conversions API in Avid
- What are Pathways and Audiences?
- What integrations work with Pathways?
- Set up a Pathway
- Understand Pathways sync summary numbers
- Restore Pathway sync after connection changes
- Data Security and Compliance FAQ
- Fix: Facebook Page missing in latest update
- Connect an integration