Managing Leads in a Social Source

Relevant to: Demand Acceleration Platform | Social Integrations

Social leads flow through three systems. Leads are captured in LinkedIn and/or Facebook and sent to the Demand Acceleration Platform where they are checked against acceptance criteria. From there, lead data is posted out to your integrated Marketing Automation or CRM system.

To ensure valid leads are passing through the systems as planned, it is important to routinely monitor this process in all three systems.

This article explains the how to check that the social lead flow is functioning as planned. If you have rejected leads in your Social Source, instructions below can help with resolving those that may have been unintentionally blocked.

For an overview of the entire process, see Social via the Demand Acceleration Platform.

Monitoring lead flow in your Social Source

It is recommended to perform the following steps weekly once your Source has launched.

1. Check lead flow from social platforms to the Demand Acceleration Platform

Confirm lead counts match in both systems (LinkedIn and/or Facebook > Demand Acceleration Platform).

In Facebook Business Manager, locate the specific form(s).
In LinkedIn Campaign Manager, locate the specific campaign and form(s).
In the Demand Acceleration Platform, locate the specific Social Source and check the number of leads in the Accepted and Rejected columns.
You can generate or schedule a Leads Report or a Source Report to be sent to you automatically and provide you with lead count data.
- See our Insights section for instructions and details on available reports.
- Reports can be scheduled to be sent to you regularly to prompt system checks and provide you with the necessary information.

2. Check the acceptance of leads in the Demand Acceleration Platform

Confirm that leads have been properly accepted and rejected in the Demand Acceleration Platform.

This can be done by downloading a Leads Report or a Source Report and reviewing the number of rejected leads and their rejection reasons.
- See our Insights section for instructions and details on available reports.
- Reports can be scheduled to be sent to you regularly to prompt system checks and provide you with the necessary information.
Review Reviewing and resolving rejected social leads section below to resolve any that may have been unintentionally blocked.
- If you're using picklists, see A note on Picklists in LinkedIn / Facebook in the article Building a Social Source -- LinkedIn or Building a Social Source -- Facebook to understand how this may impact lead flow.

3. Check post outs from the Demand Acceleration Platform to your integrated Marketing Automation or CRM system

There are a number of ways you can check the status of post outs and the most appropriate will depend on your system. For more information, see Post Out Lead Management in the Demand Acceleration Platform.

Reviewing and resolving rejected social leads

What are rejected leads?

A rejected lead indicates that data did not meet one or more of the criteria set on the Source. Rejected leads aren't always a negative, instead the platform is acting as it should to block leads that appear to be flawed.

The Demand Acceleration Platform sits between two systems, so there can be times when a change in another system causes a misalignment and results in leads being rejected. Leads flowing into Social Sources may be rejected by the Demand Acceleration Platform for several reasons (eg. field validations, picklist values changes).

Rejected leads do not post out to your Marketing Automation or CRM system, but are still visible within the Source lead data and can therefore be fixed and reposted as needed.

Rejected leads are not "returned" to LinkedIn and/or Facebook.
In the Demand Acceleration Platform, rejected leads are held and not sent to your Marketing Automation or CRM system. However, they are still considered billable by LinkedIn and/or Facebook.

If you have rejected leads in your Source, the below instructions can help you to resolve any leads that may have been unintentionally blocked.

Download, resolve and re-upload leads

1. In the Social Source, navigate to the Summary tab and click on Download Leads.

2. Select Rejected Leads from the Lead Status options and define the exported format as either .csv or .xlsx. Click Download.

If you're working with special characters and/or languages other then English, opt for the .xlsx file download to preserve those characters.

3. Review the Disposition Code and Custom Reason columns for each rejected lead to identify the reason and determine what action is needed.

Outcome

Action

Example

Lead has been blocked for a valid rejection reason and you want it to remain rejected.

Delete these line items from the Excel file to keep them in the Rejected status.

REJECT_LEAD_INVALID_EMAIL means the email address is not valid and that lead was correctly rejected.

Remove these from your downloaded file.

Lead has been blocked unintentionally and you want it to be accepted.

Keep all data for these line items on your Excel file (especially LeadID) and determine the resolution needed to reupload successfully.

REJECT_LEAD_INVALID_LIST_VALUE means an unexpected value was received; it was not on your assigned picklist.

Adjust or add the new value to the picklist in the Demand Acceleration Platform to allow this value going forward.
If any list mappers are applied to the picklist, update or add a corresponding list value.

4. Make any edits to the lead data in the spreadsheet. Once rejected leads have been resolved - either through deletion or by updating the data - save the spreadsheet file as a .csv.

Only include the leads that need reuploading - remove any that should stay rejected.
Leave all platform data in Columns A-K as is (especially LeadID because the platform uses that it to recognize the lead when updating the data).

Once saved as a .csv, do not reopen the file.
It will cause any special characters to lose their formatting.

5. Navigate back to the Summary tab in your Social Source and select Upload Leads.

6. Drop the new .csv file into the modal.

7. Click Upload.

8. Click Close.

9. Once processed, review the new accepted/rejected lead statuses.

Please allow up to 30 minutes for leads to process before attempting another file upload.
If leads remain in the Processing Leads status, please contact your Integrate team for additional support.

10. Repeat the above process as needed to resolve any additional unintentionally rejected leads.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does some of my lead data look different?
Picklists sometimes result in data variation, which can cause leads to be rejected; this is due to how LinkedIn and/or Facebook manages picklists. Regular monitoring of incoming leads will enable you to identify if unexpected values have been received from a picklist. You might also define a mapper to reconfigure incoming formats. For more information about how picklists can affect incoming data, see A note on Picklists in LinkedIn / Facebook in the article Building a Social Source -- LinkedIn or Building a Social Source -- Facebook.

Are rejected leads returned to LinkedIn and/or Facebook?
No. Integrate is not associated with LinkedIn and/or Facebook's billing for lead generation. Rejected leads are held within the Demand Acceleration Platform and not sent to your Marketing Automation or CRM system. However, they are still considered billable by LinkedIn and/or Facebook.

In this article:

Monitoring lead flow in your Social Source

1. Check lead flow from social platforms to the Demand Acceleration Platform

2. Check the acceptance of leads in the Demand Acceleration Platform

3. Check post outs from the Demand Acceleration Platform to your integrated Marketing Automation or CRM system