Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration Roadmap

Today, customers are hyper aware of their actions, and enjoy complete control over how, when, where, and what they interact with a brand. Hence, standard ways of managing the relationship between a brand and the customer are no longer valid. Thus, businesses are always searching for new and better methods of increasing brand awareness and improving customer satisfaction. Amid this dire need for new paths, Salesforce Marketing Cloud has emerged as a strong, trustworthy name. Earning the Salesforce Marketing Cloud certification can change your life and expose you to unlimited opportunities.

What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a well-known email marketing software that aids in creating and managing marketing campaigns that nurture customer relationships. It is a Software-as-a-Service platform that facilitates marketers to employ email personalization for planning, optimizing, and segmenting different facts of marketing. This ranges from social media promotions to customer journeys, and data management to campaign execution.

Today, Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) is being used by hundreds and thousands of businesses throughout the globe. These businesses vary in size and nature, solidifying the fact that SFMC is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration Connectors Roadmap

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration connectors facilitate delete, read, insert, and update operations on a Salesforce Marketing Cloud data set.

What to Know Before Beginning

Before you begin to use the Salesforce Marketing Cloud connector, make sure to complete these tasks.

In the Google Cloud project -

• Grant the 'roles/connectors/admin IAM' role to the user who is configuring the connector.
• Grant these IAM roles to the service account you intend to employ for the connector:
  
  roles/secretmanager.viewer
  roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor

A 'service account' refers to a certain type of Google account made with the purpose of representing a non-human user. This user wants authentication and authorization to get access to data in Google APIs. Having a service account is a must. In case you do not already have one, you can create a service account now.

Enable these services:

• secretmanager.googleapis.com (Secret Manager API)
• connectors.googleapis.com (Connectors API)

In case these permissions/ services are not already enabled in your project, then you will be prompted to enable them once you set out to configure the connector.

Configure the Connector

To configure the connector, it is a requisite to create a connection to the data source/ backend system. Since there is a specific connection for each data source, you will have to create separate connections for as many data sources as you have.

Follow these steps to create a connection- 

1. In the Cloud console, Integration Connectors > Connections Page > select/ create a Google Cloud Project.
2. Click + CREATE NEW > Create Connection page.
3. Click on the Location section > choose the Region from the drop-down list > NEXT.
4. In the Connection Details section, fulfill these sections:

• Connector-  From the drop down list, select Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
• Connector version- From the drop down list, select the Connector version.
• Enter a name for the Connection instance in the Connection Name field. Here are the key criteria to keep in mind:
  
  Lower case
  Maximum 63 characters
  The beginning must be with a letter, but the ending can be with a number or letter
  Letters, hyphens, and numbers are allows

• Enter a Description (optional).
• Service Account - Pick a service account.
• Configure Connection node settings (optional):

• Minimum number of nodes
• Maximum number of nodes

A node refers to a unit of a connection responsible for processing transactions. If there are more transactions, more nodes will be required, and vice versa. By default, the maximum nodes are set to 50, while the minimum are set to 2.

• API Integration Type - Accepted entries are Web-App and Server-to-Server.
• Account ID - The account identifier of the target business unit.
• Display Child Data Extensions - If set, this section showcases the Data Extensions of Child Accounts. 
• Instance - Showcases the use instance of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API.
• List Data Extensions - It is a boolean that determines whether data extensions should or should not be listed as tables.
• Query All Accounts - This queries all accounts regarding an event.
• Schema - Points the Salesforce Marketing Cloud server version that can be connected to. 
• Subdomain - Mentions the subdomain of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API.
• Use Legacy Authentication - It is a boolean that determines whether or not legacy authentication the connection should be made with Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API.
• Use Proxy - Check this box for configuring a proxy server for the connection. Configure these:

• Proxy Auth Scheme - Supported types are Basic and Digest
• Proxy User 
• Proxy Password
• Proxy SSL Type - Supported types are Auto, Never, Always, and Tunnel
• Enter details in the Proxy Server section > Click + Add Destination > Select Destination Type
• Host Address - Specify the IP address/ hostname of the destination. To establish a private connection, create a PSC service attachment > create an endpoint attachment > enter details in Host Address

• Click + ADD LABEL (optional).
• Click NEXT. 

5. Enter the authentication details in the Authentication section.

• Pick an Authentication type. Then enter all relevant details. 

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud connection supports username and password.

• Click NEXT.

6. Review - It is time to review all authentication and connection details.
7. Click Create.

Configure Authentication

Input details as per the authentication you intend to use.

• Username - For connector 
• Password - Secret Manager comprising the password related to the connector. 

Conclusion

Once you gain knowledge of Salesforce Marketing Cloud integration, there is nothing stopping you from being the best in the field. While this tutorial should be enough to help you learn it, you can get more knowledge by enrolling in a Salesforce Marketing Cloud training. Advance your career in Salesforce with the best resources by your side.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Que 1. What data integration options are available in Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

There are four available options to import/ export data from Salesforce Marketing Cloud. These are API, Manual Import, FTP, and CloudPages.

Que 2. What are the benefits of integrating Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

Benefits of integrating Salesforce Marketing Cloud include-

• Email & marketing automation
• Marketing performance analytics
• Real-time customer engagement & personalization
• Digital advertising across various social media platforms
• Mobile messaging & push notifications

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