Google Analytics 4 properties can now be connected to Salesforce Marketing Cloud using the Sales Marketing Cloud interface.

Integration is available to both GA4 standard and 360 properties for the first time to anyone who was previously using the same setup with Universal Analytics 360.

Why we care. GA4 integrated with Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows you to sync audiences from Analytics to Marketing Cloud. You can then use these audiences in your Salesforce email and SMS direct-marketing campaigns, offering a smooth and targeted method to reach your audience more effectively.

Synchronize audiences with Marketing Cloud. Once you’ve linked Analytics to Marketing Cloud, you can sync audiences within Marketing Cloud itself. These audiences will be visible in the Audiences list in Analytics under Admin > Audiences. It may take up to 24 hours for the audiences to be visible in Salesforce Marketing Cloud and ready for targeting.

How it works. When a user clicks through to your site from a Marketing Cloud campaign, and the link sends the Marketing Cloud Subscriber ID (SFMC ID), Analytics automatically detects and stores the SFMC ID with your other Analytics first-party data.

Once you complete setup within Salesforce Marketing Cloud, any audiences that you create in Analytics and synchronize with Marketing Cloud are populated in Marketing Cloud as a list of SFMC IDs.

Requirements. Google has stated that there are some criteria in place to enable integration between Salesforce Marketing Cloud and GA4 properties:

• Create audiences in your Google Analytics property that you want to use in Salesforce.
• Ensure your URLs are tagged with the Marketing Cloud Subscriber ID.
• Configure the Google Analytics Integration for Marketing Cloud in Marketing Cloud
• Marketing Cloud’s Journey Builder

Deep dive. Read our guide on how to set up an offline conversion import from Salesforce into Google Ads for more information.