Meta Ads

Bring in leads from your Facebook and Instagram lead ads as contacts, add your Meta pixel to your SoftSolz websites, and see what each ad really brings you. This guide takes you from nothing at all on Facebook to your first lead in SoftSolz.

What it does

• Leads come in by themselves. Every new lead from a Meta lead form becomes a contact, tagged with the form, ad and campaign it came from. A person who is already a contact is updated, never duplicated.
• Follow-up starts at once. Switch on the ready-made Ad lead follow-up workflow and every new lead gets a welcome email with your booking link, reminders and, if you use them, AI calls.
• Ad results in Funnels. Spend, clicks and leads per campaign sit beside the meetings and customers those leads turned into, on Funnels → Ad results.
• Pixel on your websites. Optional. Adds your Meta pixel to the websites you publish with the AI Website Builder, only after a visitor agrees.
• Results back to Meta. Optional. Tells Meta which leads became qualified, booked a meeting or became customers, so it can find more people like them.

Before you start

• Allow about 30 minutes the first time. You only do this once.
• Use a computer, not a phone. Meta's business settings are much easier on a big screen.
• Sign in to Facebook with your own personal account. Meta business tools always sit behind a personal login, and you will be the admin.
• Have your company email and your privacy policy link ready, for example https://yourcompany.com/privacy.
• In SoftSolz your role needs to manage apps and contacts. Workspace owners and admins have both.

Start here: what do you have?

Steps 5 and 6 are optional. You need them only for ad results in Funnels, the pixel on your websites and sending results back to Meta. Leads work with just a Page.

1. Create a business portfolio

A business portfolio (Meta used to call it a Business Manager account) is where your company's Page, ad account and pixel live, separate from your personal profile.

1. Go to business.facebook.com/overview and click Create an account (or Create a business portfolio).
2. Enter your business name, your name and your work email.
3. Click Submit, then confirm the email Meta sends you.

You are now the admin of the portfolio. Check you can open Business settings at business.facebook.com/settings.

2. Create a Facebook Page and add it to the portfolio

Lead forms always belong to a Facebook Page. If your business already has a Page, skip to the last part of this step to add it to the portfolio.

1. Go to facebook.com/pages/create.
2. Enter your business name as the Page name, pick a category and click Create Page. You can add a picture and details later.
3. In Business settings, open Accounts → Pages, click Add and choose Add an existing Facebook Page.
4. Pick your Page and confirm. It now shows in the Pages list.

3. Create the app in Meta for Developers

The app is a small, private connector that only your business uses. It does not need Meta's review and stays in Development mode, which is fine.

1. Go to developers.facebook.com/apps and click Create app. If this is your first time, Meta asks you to register as a developer: accept and confirm your email.
2. App details: app name SoftSolz Connector, contact email your company email. Click Next.
3. Use cases: in the filter choose Others, then tick Other at the bottom. Click Next.
4. App type: choose Business. Click Next.
5. Details: check the name is still SoftSolz Connector (Meta sometimes fills in a different one), and under Business portfolio pick your company.
6. Click Create app. Meta may ask for your Facebook password again, which is expected.

4. Add a system user

A system user is a login for software. Using one means the connection keeps working when a person changes role or leaves.

1. Go to Business settings → Users → System users.
2. Click Add. The first time, Meta shows its non-discrimination policy for advertising: scroll down, click I accept, then Done. If the next window does not open, click Add again.
3. Name: SoftSolz. Role: Admin. Click Create system user.

5. Create an ad account (optional)

Skip this if you already have an ad account, or if you only want leads. Creating one is free and does not run or pay for anything.

1. Go to Business settings → Accounts → Ad accounts.
2. Click Add, then Create a new ad account.
3. Name it, for example Your Company Ads. Choose your time zone and currency carefully: Meta does not let you change the currency later. Click Next.
4. For "This ad account will be used for", choose My business. Click Next.
5. Tick the box to agree to Meta's terms and click Create.
6. If Meta asks for payment details, click Done or Skip. A card is only needed when you run ads.

6. Find or create your pixel (optional)

Meta now calls a pixel a dataset. You need it for the pixel on your websites and for sending results back to Meta.

1. Open Business settings and go to Data sources → Datasets & pixels. If one is already listed for your website, use that one and go to step 7.
2. If none is listed, open Events Manager, click Connect data sources, choose Web and click Connect.
3. Give it a name, for example Your Company Pixel, and click Create.
4. Close any "set up code" or "partner integration" screens that follow. SoftSolz adds the pixel to your SoftSolz websites for you.

7. Give the system user access

1. Go back to System users and click SoftSolz.
2. Click Assign assets. If you do not see it, open the ··· menu next to Revoke tokens.
3. For each row below, choose the asset type on the left, tick your asset and switch on full control.
4. Click Assign assets, then Done.

If you created the ad account in step 5 after opening this window, it may not be listed yet. Close the window and assign it in a second round.

8. Link the pixel to the ad account (optional)

Do this if you have both a pixel and an ad account. It lets SoftSolz find your pixel through your ad account.

1. In Business settings open Data sources → Datasets & pixels and click your pixel.
2. Open the Connected assets tab and click Connect assets.
3. Under Ad accounts, tick your ad account and click Add.
4. Check the ad account now shows under Connected assets.

9. Generate the token

1. On the SoftSolz system user, click Generate token.
2. App: SoftSolz Connector. Click Next.
3. Token expiration: Never. Click Next.
4. Tick exactly these six permissions (search for each name):

5. Check the list says 6 options selected. Close it with its arrow rather than clicking the empty space below, which can tick a stray permission.
6. Click Generate token.
7. When Meta shows Token created, click Copy and store it straight away in a password manager. Meta shows it only once.

10. Create and publish a lead form

Skip this if your Page already has an active lead form. Publishing a form does not run an ad and costs nothing. SoftSolz can only read forms that are published.

1. Open Meta Business Suite → All tools → Instant forms and make sure your Page is selected at the top.
2. Click Create form, keep New form selected and click Next.
3. Form type: give it a name, for example Free consultation, and choose More volume.
4. Intro: fill in a headline and short description, or click Remove greeting. An empty greeting stops the form from publishing.
5. Questions: keep Full name, Email and Phone number. Add a line in the contact information description such as "We will use your details to contact you about our services."
6. Privacy policy: paste your privacy policy link.
7. Ending: add a thank-you headline and your website link.
8. Click Save draft and check every step on the left shows a green tick.
9. Click Create form (or Publish). The form now shows as Active.

11. Paste the token into SoftSolz and pick

1. In SoftSolz open Marketplace → Connect Apps → Built-in apps, find Meta Ads in the Ads group and click Set up.
2. Paste the token and click Check. SoftSolz shows who the token signs in as and how many Pages, ad accounts and pixels it can see, plus anything missing with the step to fix.
3. Pick your Facebook Page, and if you have them your Ad account and Pixel. You do not need to type any IDs: SoftSolz lists them for you.
4. Click Save.

SoftSolz brings in leads from the last 7 days at once, then checks every few minutes. Sync now checks straight away. The token is stored encrypted, and SoftSolz only ever shows its last 4 characters.

12. Send a test lead

1. Open Meta's Lead Ads Testing Tool.
2. Page: choose your Page (the tool sometimes opens on a different one). Product: Lead Retrieval. Form: your lead form.
3. If Delete lead is active, click it first. The tool allows one test lead per form at a time.
4. Click Create lead. Meta says "Your test lead has been sent".
5. In SoftSolz click Sync now on the Meta Ads card. Within a minute a new contact appears in Contacts, tagged meta lead form. Meta fills test leads with placeholder text such as "<test lead: dummy data for full_name>".

The tool may warn "Selected page has no app associated with it" or "Lead Access Manager Enabled". Neither stops SoftSolz from reading your leads, so you can ignore them.

What the IDs look like

You rarely need these, because SoftSolz lists your Page, ad account and pixel for you. If support asks, this is the shape of each one. The values below are made-up examples.

The switches

Sync now checks Meta at once instead of waiting for the next automatic check. See ad results opens Funnels → Ad results.

The pixel on your websites

The pixel only loads after a visitor agrees. If your site already shows the SoftSolz cookie banner from Website Analytics, the pixel follows that choice. If not, a small banner asks "This site uses cookies for advertising. Allow?" with Accept and Decline. Visitors who decline, or whose browser sends a do not track or Global Privacy Control signal, never load it.

Once a visitor accepts, the pixel records a page view, and these SoftSolz widgets tell it when they succeed:

The pixel is never added to previews in the builder, only to published sites.

Send results back to Meta

Pick a deal stage in Sales Pipelines for each result:

• Qualified lead. The stage that means a lead is worth a call.
• Meeting booked. Optional. Bookings made in Appointments count on their own.
• Customer. The stage that means the deal is won.

Email addresses and phone numbers are scrambled with a one-way code before they leave SoftSolz, as Meta requires.

If something is missing

Safety rules

• None of these steps needs a payment method, an ad, a boost or a spending limit. Do not add any while setting up.
• Never share the token by email, chat or screenshot.
• Only click Revoke tokens when you mean to replace the token. It stops every connection that uses it.
• Check autofilled fields before you submit: Meta may fill in a different app name or time zone.
• Meta windows can time out if left open. If one closes, start that step again. Nothing is saved until the final button.

Disconnect

Click Disconnect on the Meta Ads card and confirm. Leads already brought in stay as contacts. New leads, ad results and the pixel stop. To remove access on Meta's side as well, click Revoke tokens on the system user, or remove the system user.