The purpose of automation is to take the robot out of the human. With automation in Engage, you can let Social Media Management handle the repetitive tasks such as labeling, assigning, marking as read, marking as spam, hiding on network, and sending “away” messages, allowing you to spend your time on important conversations with your customers.

In this article, find out more about the available automation features in Engage and how to set them up.

Automation rules

When creating automation rules, such as those to automatically label and assign messages or mark them as spam, etc. you choose one or several conditions, or triggers, and one or more actions to take when those conditions are met. You have the option to apply your rules to either your incoming content, own content, or both. Once the automation rule is active, Social Media Management will review each new piece of Engage content or Publish post for a match with your rule. If a match is found, it executes the action you set.

You can choose if you want the automation rule to trigger based on one of your chosen conditions (Match Any), or all of them (Match All).

Available triggers and actions

You can choose from the following triggers:

Detected language

Triggers based on the selected language detected. For more information and a full list of languages supported, please see our Language Support article.

Text

Triggers based on one or a few keywords in the post copy. You can decide if some, all, or none of those keywords should be included. It's possible to add a comma-separated list of words or phrases.

Network

Triggers based on the network the content comes from. You can choose from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Google Business Profile. You can either include or exclude them from the trigger.

Channel

Triggers based on the channel the content comes from. You can either include or exclude them from the trigger.

Content type

Triggers based on the content type. You can choose posts, comments, replies, or direct messages, and you can either include or exclude them from the trigger.

You can choose from the following action types:

Assign to

Assigns the piece of content to a user or a team.

Add labels

Adds one or more labels of your choice to the piece of content. Not available for Instagram Stories.

Mark as read

Marks messages as read. Messages with this automation applied will be tagged that the message was read by Brandwatch automation. Messages that are automatically marked as read will not be attributed to a specific team in the Team Performance Report.

Mark as spam

Marks messages as spam in Engage. This is a internal action and will not report the message as spam to the native network.

Hide on network

Hides messages in Engage and on the native network. This works for messages on which the action is supported by the network's API (e.g. comments on own posts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter) and YouTube. This is also supported for comments on Facebook fan posts).

Creating an automation rule

You can create a rule in just a few simple steps. Please bear in mind that only Admin and Team Lead users in Social Media Management can create, edit, copy, and delete rules. (Team Leads will be required to select the channel for which they are creating the rule). Furthermore, there are a few practical limitations to the size of your automations. There is a maximum of:

• 25 keywords per condition (however, the Text condition can be applied multiple times in the same rule).
• 10 conditions per rule.
• 150 rules per organization.

Here's how you can create your rules:

1. In the left-hand sidebar in Engage, select Automation rules under Automation.

2. Click Create Rule in the top right.

3. Choose your If condition and Then action from the available options.

   Note:

   Keywords and phrases are case sensitive.

   Note:

   When adding text keywords and phrases, be sure to press Enter after typing each keyword or phrase. That will create a card for them in the text box.

   
4. Give your rule a descriptive title, and use the checkboxes to apply it to your Incoming content, Own content, or both based on your preferences. When ready, click Create Rule in the bottom right.

Your rule is now created and it will be applied to your new incoming and/or owned content based on your rule settings.

Copying, editing, or deleting an automation rule

In the Automation rules menu, you can easily copy, edit, or delete an automation rule using the respective icons to the right of a rule.

When copying a rule, all of the copied rule conditions will be prefilled and the default rule name will indicate "Copy of" the copied rule. Adjust the rule conditions and name as needed, then click Create Rule to save your copied rule.

When editing a rule, you can adjust any of the rule conditions and name as needed. Click Save Changes to save your rule.

When deleting a rule, you will see a confirmation pop-up message making sure you would like to delete the rule. Click Delete to confirm.

Automated messages

With automated messages in Engage, you can choose to share a welcome message when customers reach out, or an away message for when the team is out of the office. You can specify the applicable channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or WhatsApp) for each message and also the days and times your channels will be considered “away."

Setting up a new message group

To get started setting up automated messages, you will first need to create a group of applicable channels. Please follow the steps below:

1. In the left-hand sidebar in Engage, select Automated messages under Automation.
2. Click Create Message in the top right.
3. Provide a name for the automated message group (the group of channels for which you’d like to set up the new automated message).
4. Using the check boxes on the left, select the channel(s) you would like to include in your group.
5. Click Continue.

You will be directed back to the Automated messages menu with your new group visible.

To adjust the channels in your message group, click the '...' beside the message group name, followed by Edit channels. Here, you can also delete the message group and any messages by clicking Delete channels and messages.

Setting up an away message

1. Once you have created a new message group, beside Away message, click + Add.
2. Select the applicable times and days of the week for your automated message, adjusting the time zone if needed. You can add more times by clicking + Add time or delete a selection by clicking the trash icon. Under Message text, type your away message.
3. When finished, click Continue in the top right.

You will be directed back to the Messages tab. Click the Away message toggle option to activate your away message.

Setting up a welcome message

1. Once you have created a new message group, beside Welcome message, click + Add.
2. Under Message text, enter the message you would like to send (600 character maximum).
3. When finished, click Continue in the top right.

You will be directed back to the Messages tab. Click the Welcome message toggle option to activate your welcome message.

Once enabled, welcome messages will be sent each time a user private messages a channel in your message group. If a welcome message has been enabled and sent out to a new customer private message, the message will remain unread until handled in Social Media Management.

If a user in your organization manages to reply to an incoming private message before the welcome message is sent, the welcome message will no longer be sent.

Editing automated messages

Once you have successfully created an automated message, you can choose to temporarily switch it off or edit the times, dates, and the message.

To temporarily switch off an automated message, click the toggle option beside Welcome message or Away message.

By clicking the '...' beside Away message or Welcome message, you can choose to edit the message (including the times and dates if applicable) or delete the message.

FAQs

Can I use Engage's automations in combination with another messenger's?

Due to API limitations, Social Media Management cannot sync with any external automated messaging services, including those offered by the networks natively (such as Facebook Messenger's Instant Replies). This means that your customers may receive multiple away or welcome messages if multiple automation tools are running at once. Please choose only one automation tool to remain active at a time.

Will my automated messages mark my incoming messages as read?

Automated messages from Social Media Management will not mark incoming messages as read. External automated messages from native platforms will also not mark incoming messages as read. For Facebook, please see our article on using a handover protocol with a bot. Please note that the handover protocol is only available for Facebook.

Will automated messages be counted in Team Performance reports?

Automated messages from Social Media Management will not be counted in a Team Performance report. External automated messages from native networks will also not be counted in a Team Performance report, with the exception of Facebook bots since a handover protocol is available. Please see our Team Performance report FAQs for more information on how Facebook automated messages are counted. 

If a customer reaches out for the second time, will another welcome message be sent?

No, welcome messages will only be sent when the customer reaches out for the very first time.

I'm creating a new message group. Why can't I select some of my channels?

While creating a new message group, you cannot select channels which already exist in another message group. This is to avoid multiple welcome/away messages from being sent.