Sync Audience
Overview
The Sync Audience feature lets you export a Sourcesible Audience directly to a connected Destination for paid media activation. This guide covers syncing to Facebook Custom Audiences, enabling you to target or suppress matched customers in Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns in near real-time.
Before you begin, ensure you have at least one Audience defined under Segmentation → Audiences and a Facebook Custom Audiences Destination already connected under Connections → Destinations. If your Facebook destination shows a Disconnected status, reconnect it before proceeding.
The final audience size delivered to Facebook may differ from your Sourcesible audience count. Facebook applies its own identity resolution and matching rules after receiving the data.
2. Destination Credential / Permission Setup
This guide assumes your Facebook Custom Audiences Destination has already been connected in Sourcesible. If not, you must authorize Sourcesible to access your Facebook Ads account before completing the sync setup. See Connecting Facebook Custom Audiences as a Destination for full instructions.
Your Facebook Ads account must have the following access level:
- Advertiser role (or higher) on the Facebook Ad Account you intend to push audiences to
- The connected Facebook user must have accepted Meta's Custom Audiences Terms of Service within Ads Manager
3. Connection Configuration (Inside Sourcesible)
The Sync Audience wizard has four steps: Select Audiences → Select Destination → Set up Sync → Set Schedule.
Step 1 — Select Audiences
- In the left navigation, click Sync under the Activation section.
- Click the Sync button in the top-right corner of the Sync list page.
- From the dropdown, select Sync Audience. The dropdown also shows Sync Dataset (send a dataset to a connected destination) and Sync Data Source (send a data source to a connected destination). Those are covered in separate guides.
- On the Select Audiences screen, click the Audience dropdown and select the audience you want to export.
- The Export Audience counter at the top of the card updates immediately to show the number of matching Customers in the selected audience.
- To include additional audiences in the same sync, click + Add Audience and repeat the selection.
- Click Next.
Only audiences with at least one customer will produce a meaningful sync. If the Export Audience counter shows 0 Customers, verify your audience definition and data freshness under Segmentation → Audiences before continuing.
Step 2 — Select Destination
- On the Select Destination screen, review the list of available destinations.
- Each row displays Destination Name, Destination Type, Status, Sync count, and Last Update.
- Select the radio button next to the Facebook Custom Audiences destination you want to use.
- Only destinations showing a Connected status are selectable.
- Click Next.
If no Facebook Custom Audiences destination appears, or the status shows Disconnected, navigate to Connections → Destinations to reconnect it before continuing. You cannot proceed past this step without a connected destination.
Step 3 — Set up Sync
This screen is titled Set up Sync with Facebook Custom Audiences. It has four sections: sync identity, Facebook audience mode, data mapping, and PII hashing.
3a. Sync Identity
- In the Sync Name field, enter a unique name for this sync (maximum 50 characters). This name appears on the Sync list page and can be updated later in Settings.
- Optionally, enter a Sync Description (maximum 50 characters) to provide context for your team.
3b. Facebook Audience Mode
Choose whether Sourcesible should create a new audience in Facebook or push data into an existing one.
| Option | When to use | Additional field shown |
|---|---|---|
| Create a new Facebook audience | You want Sourcesible to provision a fresh Custom Audience in Facebook Ads Manager | Audience Name — the name the audience will have in Facebook Ads Manager |
| Use an existing Facebook audience | You want to append or replace members in an audience already created in Facebook | Dropdown to select the target existing audience |
⭐ Recommendation: Use Create a new Facebook audience when setting up a new segment for the first time so that the audience lifecycle is fully managed from Sourcesible. Use Use an existing Facebook audience when you need to test individual rows against a known audience without creating duplicates.
The Audience Name you enter must be unique within your Facebook Ads account. If a name matching an existing Custom Audience already exists in Ads Manager, Facebook may reject or silently merge the data.
- If you selected Create a new Facebook audience, type a unique name in the Audience Name field.
3c. Data Mapping
Configure which Sourcesible Audience fields map to Facebook's identity fields. This determines how Facebook matches your customers against its user graph.
- In the Data Mapping section, use the Sourcesible Audience dropdowns (left column) to select your source fields. Each row maps to a fixed Destination field (right column) as required by Facebook. Available Sourcesible source fields:
| Sourcesible Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer email address | |
| first_name | Customer first name |
| last_name | Customer last name |
| location | Customer location |
| phone | Customer phone number |
| registered_at | Registration timestamp |
| student_id | Internal student identifier |
| student_level | Student tier or level |
- Facebook destination fields (fixed, pre-populated by Sourcesible):
| Facebook Destination Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Primary match key — always map if available | |
| Phone Number | Secondary match key — map alongside email for best match rate |
| Mobile Advertiser ID (MADID) | Map if your audience contains IDFA or GAID values |
| Facebook App Scoped ID (App UID) | Map if your audience contains Facebook-issued user IDs |
- To add mapping rows beyond the four defaults, click + Add Mapping Field.
Map at least Email or Phone Number to achieve a meaningful match rate. Mapping both fields significantly increases the size of the matched Custom Audience in Facebook Ads Manager.
3d. PII Auto-Hashing
- Under "What would you like Sourcesible to automatically detect if your PII data requires hashing?", select your preference:
- Yes (default, recommended) — Sourcesible automatically SHA-256 hashes PII values before transmitting them to Facebook. Fields hashed include: Email, Phone Number, First Name, Last Name, City, State/Province, Country, ZIP/Postal Code, Date of Birth, and Gender.
- No — You are responsible for pre-hashing all PII before the data reaches Sourcesible.
- ℹ️ Info: Facebook requires all PII to be SHA-256 hashed prior to ingestion. Selecting Yes ensures compliance automatically and is strongly recommended unless your source data has already been hashed upstream.
- Click Next to proceed to Step 4.
Step 4 — Set Schedule
The Set Schedule screen controls how often Sourcesible pushes audience updates to Facebook. Choose the frequency that best fits your campaign cadence.
- Under Schedule Type, select one of the following:
| Schedule Type | Description | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | Trigger the sync on demand from the Sync list page | Ad-hoc campaigns or one-time audience pushes |
| Interval | Run the sync automatically on a recurring interval (e.g., once per hour) | Always-on campaigns where audience membership changes frequently |
- If you selected Interval, configure the frequency using the interval options that appear.
- Click Finish.
Sourcesible saves the sync configuration and begins the initial audience export. The Finish button shows a loading spinner while the sync is being created. Once complete, you are returned to the Sync list page where the new sync appears with its current Status.
For live campaigns that depend on up-to-date suppression lists or high-intent segments, use Interval scheduling to keep the Custom Audience in Facebook continuously refreshed without manual intervention.
4. Choose Configuration Options
Facebook Audience Mode
Sourcesible gives you two modes for how audience data lands in Facebook. Choose based on whether the Custom Audience already exists.
| Criteria | Create a new Facebook audience | Use an existing Facebook audience |
|---|---|---|
| Audience exists in Facebook already | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Lifecycle managed by Sourcesible | ✓ Yes | ✗ Partially |
| Risk of duplicate audiences in Ads Manager | If name is reused | None |
| Useful for testing individual rows | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Requires Audience Name input | ✓ Yes | ✗ No — select from dropdown |
Recommendation: Default to Create a new Facebook audience for production syncs. This ensures the audience is created with the correct configuration and its membership is fully controlled by Sourcesible. Use Use an existing Facebook audience only when you need to consolidate data into a pre-existing audience or test individual record matching.
5. Schedule Type Options
| Schedule Type | Behavior | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | Sync only when you click Sync from the Sync list page | One-time exports, testing, low-frequency campaigns |
| Interval | Sync automatically on a set time interval (e.g., hourly) | Always-on retargeting, suppression lists, dynamic segments |
If you choose Manual, the Custom Audience in Facebook will not update automatically when your Sourcesible Audience membership changes. Stale audiences can cause your ads to reach customers who no longer qualify for a segment.
6. Next Steps
After clicking Finish, Sourcesible begins the initial audience export to Facebook Custom Audiences. Monitor and manage the sync from the Activation → Sync list page.
From there, you can:
- Monitor sync status — the Status column shows Synced, Disconnected, or Invalid for each sync
- Trigger a manual sync — click into any sync and use the Sync button to push an update on demand
- Edit sync settings — update the Sync Name, audience selection, data mapping, or schedule at any time
- Use the audience in Facebook Ads Manager — the Custom Audience appears under your Ad Account's Audiences and can be used as a targeting or exclusion list in any active campaign
- Create additional syncs — repeat this flow from Sync → Sync Audience to activate other segments to Facebook or other connected destinations
- See Sync Dataset for pushing full datasets to BigQuery or other warehouse destinations
- See Sync Data Source for forwarding raw data source output to a destination
- See Connecting Destinations to add new activation endpoints such as TikTok Ads or Google Ads
7. Tips and Troubleshooting
Facebook destination shows "Disconnected" on the Select Destination screen
Symptom: The Facebook Custom Audiences destination appears in the list on Step 2 but cannot be selected because its status is Disconnected.
Cause: The OAuth token authorizing Sourcesible's access to your Facebook Ads account has expired or been revoked — typically because the authorizing Facebook user's session was ended, password changed, or app permissions were removed.
Fix:
- Navigate to Connections → Destinations.
- Locate the Facebook Custom Audiences destination.
- Click Reconnect and re-authorize using a Facebook account that holds Advertiser (or higher) access on the target Ad Account.
- Return to Activation → Sync and retry the sync setup.
Audience size in Facebook is smaller than the Sourcesible Export Audience count
Symptom: After the sync completes with a Synced status, the Custom Audience size in Facebook Ads Manager is significantly lower than the Export Audience count shown in Sourcesible on Step 1.
Cause: Facebook applies its own probabilistic identity matching after receiving the hashed data. Only customers whose hashed identifiers correspond to an active Facebook profile are included in the final Custom Audience. Low match rates are most commonly caused by insufficient field mappings, data quality issues, or sending only a single identity signal.
Fix:
- Return to the sync settings (Step 3, Set up Sync → Data Mapping) and ensure both email and phone are mapped.
- Verify your source data is clean: no null values, phone numbers formatted consistently with country code (e.g., +66812345678).
- Confirm PII Auto-Hashing is set to Yes unless your data is pre-hashed.
- Allow up to 24 hours after the initial sync for Facebook to complete its matching process before evaluating match rate.
Sync status shows "Invalid"
Symptom: A sync on the Sync list page displays a red Invalid badge in the Status column.
Cause: The sync configuration references a source or destination that is no longer valid — for example, a Sourcesible Audience that was deleted, a dataset that was removed, or a destination that was disconnected and not reconnected.
Fix:
- Click the sync name to open its settings.
- Review each of the four wizard steps for missing or broken references (a deleted audience, a disconnected destination, etc.).
- Correct each issue and save.
- If the original Audience was deleted, create a new sync pointing to a valid Audience.
Duplicate audience name conflict in Facebook Ads Manager
Symptom: After the sync runs, a new Custom Audience does not appear in Facebook Ads Manager, or an unexpected existing audience has been modified.
Cause: The Audience Name entered during Set up Sync matches the name of an existing Custom Audience in the Facebook Ad Account. Facebook may silently overwrite or merge the data rather than creating a distinct audience.
Fix:
- Open the sync settings and navigate to Step 3 (Set up Sync).
- Update the Audience Name to a unique value that does not exist in your Facebook Ad Account.
- Save and re-run the sync.
Alternatively, switch to Use an existing Facebook audience mode and explicitly select the intended target audience from the dropdown to avoid unintended name conflicts.
"Finish" button spinner does not resolve
Symptom: After clicking Finish on the Set Schedule step, the button shows a loading spinner but the page does not redirect to the Sync list.
Cause: The sync save request may have timed out due to a slow network connection, or a transient API error occurred during the save operation.
Fix:
- Wait up to 30 seconds before taking any action.
- If the spinner persists, do not click Back — this may result in a duplicate sync being created. Instead, navigate directly to Activation → Sync to check whether the sync was created successfully.
- If the sync does not appear in the list, click Sync → Sync Audience and repeat the wizard from Step 1.
- If the issue recurs consistently, contact Sourcesible Support with your workspace name and the approximate time of the failure.