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Salesforce Marketing Cloud Destination

Nexla's bi-directional connectors allow data to flow both to and from any location, making it simple to create a FlexFlow data flow that sends data to a Salesforce Marketing Cloud location.
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Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Create a Salesforce Marketing Cloud Destination​

  1. Click the + icon on the Nexset that will be sent to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud destination, and select the Send to Destination option from the menu.

  2. Select the Salesforce Marketing Cloud connector from the list of available destination connectors. Then, select the credential that will be used to connect to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud account, and click Next; or, create a new Salesforce Marketing Cloud credential for use in this flow.

  3. In Nexla, Salesforce Marketing Cloud destinations can be created using pre-built endpoint templates, which expedite destination setup for common Salesforce Marketing Cloud endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Salesforce Marketing Cloud endpoint, making destination configuration easy and efficient.
    • To configure this destination using a template, follow the instructions in Configure Using a Template.

    Salesforce Marketing Cloud destinations can also be configured manually, allowing you to send data to Salesforce Marketing Cloud endpoints not included in the pre-built templates or apply further customizations to exactly suit your needs.
    • To configure this destination manually, follow the instructions in Configure Manually.

Configure Using a Template​

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure destinations to send data to common Salesforce Marketing Cloud endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Salesforce Marketing Cloud endpoint, making destination setup easy and efficient.

  • To configure this destination using a template, select the endpoint to which data will be sent from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Then, click on the template in the list below to expand it, and follow the instructions to configure additional endpoint settings.

    Create Assets

    Create new content assets in Salesforce Marketing Cloud Content Builder. Use this endpoint to programmatically provision marketing content — such as email templates, images, HTML blocks, or other digital assets — from Nexla into your Marketing Cloud account.

    • This endpoint sends a POST request to the Marketing Cloud Content Builder Assets API. Each record in the Nexset will be submitted as a separate asset creation request. The request body is derived from the Nexset data, which should conform to the Marketing Cloud asset object schema.

    • The asset object must include, at minimum, the following fields:

      • name — A unique name for the asset within its category (folder).
      • assetType — An object specifying the type of asset being created (e.g., {"id": 28, "name": "htmlblock"} for an HTML content block). Asset type IDs are defined by Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
    • Optional fields include content (the asset's text or HTML content), category (the Content Builder folder to place the asset in), customerKey (a user-defined unique identifier), and additional metadata fields.

    For the complete list of asset fields and asset type IDs, see the Salesforce Marketing Cloud Create Asset documentation. Ensure that the Nexset data is transformed to match the expected asset schema before sending to this endpoint.

    Create Categories

    Create new content categories (folders) in Salesforce Marketing Cloud Content Builder. Use this endpoint to programmatically organize your Content Builder folder structure — for example, when onboarding new brands, campaigns, or content libraries that require a specific folder hierarchy.

    • This endpoint sends a POST request to the Marketing Cloud Content Builder Categories API. Each record in the Nexset will be submitted as a separate category creation request.

    • The category object must include, at minimum, the following fields:

      • name — A unique name for the category (folder) within its parent location.
      • parentId — The numeric ID of the parent category under which the new folder will be created. To create a top-level category, use the ID of the root Content Builder folder for your account.
    • Categories created through this endpoint appear as folders in the Content Builder navigation tree and can be used to organize assets created via the Create Assets endpoint.

    For complete documentation on category object fields and available options, see the Salesforce Marketing Cloud Create Category documentation. Parent category IDs can be retrieved from the Marketing Cloud Content Builder UI or via the Categories API.

Configure Manually​

Salesforce Marketing Cloud destinations can be manually configured to send data to any valid Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API endpoint.

Using manual configuration, you can also configure Nexla to automatically send the response received from the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API after each call to a new Nexla webhook data source.

API Method​

  1. To manually configure this destination, select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen.

  2. Select the API method that will be used for calls to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API from the Method pulldown menu. Common methods for destination operations include POST (for creating new records), PUT (for replacing existing records), and PATCH (for partially updating existing records).

Data Format​

  1. Select the format in which the Nexset data will be sent to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API from the Content Format pulldown menu. Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API endpoints expect JSON format for most operations. Nexla will automatically convert the data to the selected format for each API call.

API Endpoint URL​

  1. Enter the URL of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API endpoint to which you want to send the Nexset data in the URL field. Salesforce Marketing Cloud REST API endpoints use your tenant-specific subdomain and follow the pattern https://{subdomain}.rest.marketingcloudapis.com/{path}. For update operations, include the ID of the object to be updated at the end of the URL.

The subdomain portion of the URL is the 28-character string beginning with mc that was configured when creating your Marketing Cloud credential. Ensure the API endpoint URL matches your Marketing Cloud tenant's specific endpoint before testing.

Request Headers​

Optional

  • If Nexla should include any additional request headers in API calls to this destination, enter the headers & corresponding values as comma-separated pairs in the Request Headers field (e.g., header1:value1,header2:value2).

    You do not need to include the Authorization header — Nexla automatically handles OAuth2 token generation and renewal using the credentials configured in your Salesforce Marketing Cloud credential.

Exclude Attributes from the Call​

Optional

  • If any record attributes in the Nexset should be omitted when sending data to this Salesforce Marketing Cloud destination, select the attributes from the Exclude Attributes pulldown menu.

  • Any number of attributes can be selected for exclusion, and all excluded attributes will be shown in the field. To remove an attribute from the list, click the X icon next to the attribute name.

Record Batching​

Optional

  1. If records should be sent to this destination in batched API calls, check the box next to Would you like to batch your records together? to enable record batching.

  2. Enter the maximum number of records that should be batched together in a single API call in the Batch Size field. By default, this value is set to 100.

  3. Select the algorithm that will be used to group records into batches from the Grouping Algorithm pulldown menu. The sample request shown in the panel on the right will be updated to reflect the current batching settings.

Response Webhook​

Optional

Nexla can automatically send the response received from the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API after each call to a new Nexla webhook data source. This option allows you to keep track of the status of each API call and any additional information returned after each call.

  • To enable this option, check the box next to Would you like to process the API response as a Nexla Webhook source?.

Sample Request Payload​

Sample request payloads containing a portion of the Nexset data that will be sent to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API endpoint based on the current settings are shown in the Sample Payload panel on the right. These samples can be referenced to ensure that the destination and request settings are correctly configured.

  • Click on a sample request payload to expand it and view the complete payload content.
  • Sample payloads are automatically updated with each setting change, making it easy to verify that changes achieve the desired effect.

Endpoint Testing (Manual Configuration)​

After all endpoint settings have been configured, Nexla can send a test payload to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API to ensure that the destination is configured correctly.

  1. To send a test payload, select the Test button at the top of the Sample Payload panel, and click on a listed sample payload to expand it.

  2. If any modifications to the sample payload are needed, make the necessary changes directly within the sample window.

  3. Click the Send Test Data button at the top of a sample payload to send the test payload to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud API using the current settings.

Save & Activate the Destination​

  • Once all endpoint settings have been configured, click the Done button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the destination. To begin sending data to the configured Salesforce Marketing Cloud endpoint, open the destination resource menu, and select Activate.

    The Nexset data will not be sent to Salesforce Marketing Cloud until the destination is activated. Destinations can be activated immediately or at a later time, providing full control over data movement.