Automation in Engage

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, 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.

Note:

Once automations are set up, they will only trigger for future events or content and will not trigger for existing content already within the platform. This applies to automated messages as well as labeling and assignment automations.


Automated labeling and assigning

When creating a labels or assignment rule, you choose one or a few conditions, or triggers, and one action 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.
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.

Note:

Replies to your Instagram Stories will trigger any automations you've set up for direct messages. However, your automations will not be triggered by Story mention notifications when another account mentions yours in their Story even though these notifications are delivered as direct messages.

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.
  • 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.Automation > Automation rules.png

  2. Click Create Rule in the top right.Create rule.png
  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.

    Create automation rule options.png
  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.

Note:

If a piece of content would fit the trigger criteria of multiple Assign to rules, only the first created rule will be processed. In contrast, multiple Add labels rules can be applied to one piece of content.

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.Copied automation rule.png

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

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.Delete automation rule.png


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.Automation > Automated messages.png
  2. Click Create Message in the top right.Screenshot 2023-07-28 at 4.52.46 PM.png
  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.blobid1__3_.png

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.Add message.png
  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.Create away message.png
  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.Toggle on away message.png

Setting up a welcome message

  1. Once you have created a new message group, beside Welcome message, click + Add.Add message.png
  2. Under Message text, enter the message you would like to send (600 character maximum).Create welcome message.png
  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.Toggle on welcome message.png

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.

Note:

You can set up both welcome messages and away messages. When both are created and enabled, only one will be sent. During away message hours, the away message will be sent. Outside of away message hours, the welcome message will 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.

mceclip2__4_.png

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.

Note:

If you choose to delete the messages, the automated message group will still be visible, but with no messages.


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.


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