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Set up a Pathway

Updated

A Pathway connects an Avid audience segment to an external marketing platform and keeps it in sync automatically. Use this guide to activate an audience in Facebook, Google Ads, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, or any other supported Pathway destination.

Use this article when

  • You want to send an Avid audience to an ad platform or marketing tool.
  • You are setting up a Pathway for the first time.
  • You need a refresher on the general setup flow before following an integration-specific guide.

Need a CSV file instead of a sync? You do not need full Pathways. See Export an audience and download it as a CSV file.

Before you begin

  • Active connection: The destination you want to sync to must already be connected in Avid. Go to Settings > Connections to confirm it shows Active. If it does not, connect it first, then return here.
  • Audience: You need at least one audience ready to use. To create one, click the Manage Audiences tab inside Pathways and select Add an Audience. To pick a type, see Choose a Pathways audience option: Lookalike, Propensity, Analysis, or Persona.
  • Permission: You need Export for Pathways, and your organization needs full Pathways. If your left navigation shows Audiences instead of Pathways, you do not have full Pathways. Ask your Avid admin to check your access under Settings > Team > your name > Access Level.
  • Time estimate: 5–10 minutes.

Steps

  1. Open Pathways.

    In the left navigation, click Pathways.

    The Add a new Pathway tab opens by default, showing a two-panel layout: Step 1: Select Audience on the left and Step 2: Choose a Destination on the right.

  2. Select your audience (Step 1).

    In the left panel, click the audience you want to push. You can search by name or use the Filter button to narrow the list.

    The audience row highlights when selected. The right panel updates to say Now you can select a pathway.

    You must select an audience first. The destination list is not clickable until Step 1 is complete.

  3. Choose a destination (Step 2).

    In the right panel, click the destination you want to sync to. Only connections that are active in Settings > Connections appear here.

    The destination row highlights when selected and the Review Pathway button becomes active.

  4. Click Review Pathway.

    The Pathway Summary page opens. It shows a confirmation bar with your selected audience, sync frequency, estimated record count, and destination.

  5. Review the summary and configure Advanced Settings.

    The page shows:

    • Filters Applied: the audience definition rules that determine which contacts are included.
    • Advanced Settings: two expandable sections:
      • Information: shows the destination object type (for example, Customer Match List for Google Ads) and the method of sync.
      • Column Mapping: shows how Avid data fields map to the destination platform's fields. You can add or adjust mappings here.

    For most standard setups, the default column mapping is pre-configured and no changes are needed. Expand the sections to review or customize.

    File Export also shows a Questions About Your Export section. You can choose whether to include multiple individuals per account, multiple addresses, multiple email addresses, or multiple phone numbers per contact.

    Unchecking Export every individual associated with an account? keeps one person per account. Extra emails, phones, or addresses can still add rows. See Fix: File Export shows multiple rows for the same account.

  6. Click Confirm.

    Avid processes the request. The button shows Processing briefly while the sync is queued.

    • For platform destinations, Avid sends the audience now. After that, Avid re-runs the Pathway when the audience's data refreshes, usually daily. Sync Frequency on the Pathway Summary reads Daily.
    • For File Export, a Your File is Ready dialog appears immediately. Click Download to save the file. File exports are a one-time operation.

What you will see after confirming

You return to the Add a new Pathway view. To verify the Pathway was created, click Manage Pathways. Your destination appears in the list with an Active badge and shows the number of audiences connected to it.

To export the audience as a file again, open the Manage Audiences tab, click the three-dot Actions menu on the audience's row, and select Export the Audience. See Export an audience and download it as a CSV file. To check whether recent syncs delivered records, see Check Pathway health on Manage Pathways.

Manage Pathways and Audiences

The Pathways area has three tabs:

Tab What it shows
Add a new Pathway The two-step setup flow for pushing an audience to a destination.
Manage Pathways All active destinations, their status, and the audiences connected to each. Depending on the audience, the action menu lets you edit the audience definition or download sync results.
Manage Audiences All audiences in your account. Click Add an Audience to create one before you set up a Pathway. The three-dot Actions menu on a row includes Export the Audience where your plan and permissions allow it.

Integration-specific guides

For platform-specific requirements, follow the guide for your destination:

Notes and limits

My destination does not appear in Step 2

Only connections with an Active status in Settings > Connections appear in the destination list. Go to Settings > Connections, find the platform, and complete authorization. Confirm the connection shows the Pathways badge. If it does not, Avid does not treat it as a Pathways destination. See What integrations work with Pathways?. Then return to Add a new Pathway.

The Review Pathway button is grayed out

Both an audience (Step 1) and a destination (Step 2) must be selected before Review Pathway becomes active. Make sure both rows are highlighted before clicking.

How sync frequency works

After the first push, Avid re-runs a platform Pathway when the data behind the audience refreshes. That is usually daily, and Sync Frequency on the Pathway Summary reads Daily. File Export is the exception. It runs one time each time you confirm. To get a fresh file, export the audience again from Manage Audiences > Actions > Export the Audience.

File Export has multiple rows for the same account

Unchecking Export every individual associated with an account? does not collapse extra emails, phones, or addresses. See Fix: File Export shows multiple rows for the same account.

Removing a Pathway

Removing a Pathway in Avid stops future syncs but does not delete the audience from the destination platform. Remove the list or Custom Audience directly in the destination tool if you no longer want it active there.