Key unity properties in fbx animations?

When you make an animation in unity you get access to all things in the prefabs such as gameobject active state, blendshapes or material properties.

However if you make an animation externally and import as an FBX you do not and are not able to add any.

Duplicating the animation from the FBX lets you edit and add new keys but now the link to the FBX is broken and any changes to the animation made externally will not come thought.

Is there a nice way to keyframe unity properties in fbx animations? I've always made extra bones in the FBX and c# script link to properties and lateupdate every frame but its a bit clunky.