Lead Harvester quickstart

Install the Chrome extension, connect it to Apexium, configure scanning, and review captured leads.

The Apexium Lead Harvester is a Chrome extension that scrapes leads from social media, group posts, and other public sources. Connect it to your Apexium workspace and harvested leads flow directly into your CRM contacts — no manual CSV step.

This is your strategic differentiator surface. Most CRMs require you to bring leads from somewhere else. Apexium ships with the lead source built in.

Install the extension

  1. Visit the Lead Harvester Chrome Web Store page.
  2. Click Add to Chrome → confirm permissions.
  3. The Harvester icon appears in your Chrome toolbar (pin it for easy access).

The extension works on Chrome, Edge, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers.

Connect to your Apexium workspace

The extension needs an API key to push leads into your Apexium contacts.

  1. In Apexium, head to Settings → Harvester → Generate API key.
  2. Copy the key (shown once; you'll need to regenerate if lost).
  3. In the extension, open settings → paste the key → click Verify.

The extension shows green "Connected to acme.apexium.team" when the key is valid. From this point on, scanned leads go directly into your Apexium contacts table.

If you ever need to revoke a key (lost device, team member leaving), head back to Settings → Harvester → Revoke + generate a new one.

Configure scanning

Open the extension's settings panel:

Keyword sets

Keywords are the trigger for matching leads. The extension watches the pages you visit (e.g. Facebook group feeds, LinkedIn posts, Reddit threads) and flags posts/profiles matching your keywords.

Common keyword strategies:

  • Pain points — "looking for a CRM", "need help with workflows", "tired of HubSpot"
  • Buying signals — "where should we start", "anyone use [competitor]", "switching from"
  • Geographic — "Austin small business", "DFW agency owner"
  • Industry — "real estate broker", "fitness studio owner"

Each plan has a keyword set cap:

  • Basic: 1 niche keyword set
  • Starter: 3 sets
  • Professional + Enterprise: unlimited

A "set" is a group of related keywords with shared matching rules + scoring weight.

Modes

  • Alert mode — flag matching posts so you can manually decide whether to add as a lead. All plans support this.
  • Auto-DM mode (Starter+) — when a match scores above threshold, automatically send a templated DM to the poster (e.g., "Saw your post about needing a CRM — happy to chat"). Use carefully; spam complaints can get your social accounts limited.

Scanning sources

The extension scans these surfaces by default:

  • Facebook groups (you must be a member)
  • LinkedIn feed + group posts
  • Reddit subreddit feeds
  • Twitter/X timeline + search

Disable any source you don't want scanned in the extension's settings.

Reviewing captured leads

Leads captured by the extension appear in your Apexium contacts table tagged with source = "harvester". Filter for them in Contacts → Filter → Source = harvester to see only harvester-sourced leads.

Each harvester lead carries:

  • email + name (if extracted from the source post/profile)
  • company (if mentioned)
  • linkedin_url + source_url (custom fields capturing where they came from)
  • harvester_keyword_match (which keyword set fired)
  • harvester_score (Claude-evaluated 1-10 lead quality, on plans with AI scoring)

Sort by harvester_score desc to surface the highest-quality leads first.

Building workflows on harvester leads

The source = "harvester" tag makes targeted workflows easy.

Common workflow patterns:

"Notice + nurture" sequence

Form submitted: HARVESTER_LEAD_CAPTURED (internal event from extension)
  → Branch: harvester_score >= 7?
      → YES: Send email "Noticed your post about {{harvester_keyword_match}} —
              happy to chat" (warm tone)
              Apply tag: harvester-high-priority
      → NO:  Apply tag: harvester-cold; add to weekly digest

"Daily harvester review" queue

Scheduled trigger (daily at 9am)
  → Loop over contacts with tag harvester-pending AND created < 24h ago
      → Send Slack message to sales channel:
        "{{count}} new harvester leads for review →
        link to /contacts?filter=harvester-pending"

Plan limits + credit usage

Harvester operations use API credits from your monthly plan allowance:

  • Page scan: 1 credit per page scanned (when keywords match)
  • AI lead score: 5 credits per scored lead (Starter+ plans)
  • Auto-DM send: 10 credits per send (Starter+ plans)

Credit counts reset on your billing cycle. The extension shows remaining credits in its status bar; when you hit your cap, the extension pauses scanning until the next cycle (or you upgrade).

Auto-refill (Starter+) lets you set a credit-balance threshold + auto-purchase additional credit packs to avoid pausing. Configure under Settings → Harvester → Auto-refill.

Troubleshooting

"Extension not connecting" — verify the API key is current; revoked keys show "Invalid API key" in the extension. Generate a new one if needed.

"Leads not appearing in Apexium" — check the extension's debug log (Settings → Debug); look for ingest errors. Common cause: workspace at contacts cap; upgrade plan or delete old contacts.

"Auto-DM sending fails" — social platforms rate-limit automated actions; if you exceed their thresholds your DM will be rejected. The extension backs off automatically; spread auto-DMs over multiple days for safety.

"Lead quality is low" — refine your keywords. Specific phrases ("need a CRM that handles agency clients") beat generic terms ("CRM"). Add negative keywords to exclude noise.

What to do next

  • Set up your first workflow to auto-process harvester leads.
  • Add tags to keyword sets to enable segment-based broadcasts (sending broadcasts).
  • Review captured leads daily for the first week to tune your keywords + scoring.