Getting started with social messaging


The steps in this article are specific to integrating third-party social messaging channels. If you are setting up Zendesk's own messaging capability in a Web Widget or mobile SDK, seeGetting started with messaging for web and mobile.


What's my plan?







All Suites

Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus











Location: Admin Center > Channels > Messaging and social >
Messaging




Customers with Zendesk Support
plans can add public social messaging channels only. See Setting up your public Facebook channel and Setting up your X (formerly Twitter) channel.
This
article is a high-level walkthrough of the steps administrators need to take to get
started using social messaging with their Zendesk accounts.
The steps in this article are specific to integrating third-party social messaging
channels. If you are setting up Zendesk's own messaging capability in a Web Widget or
mobile SDK, see Getting started with messaging for web and
mobile.
This
article includes the following topics:

Add your social channels
Give agents access to social messaging conversations
Set up your
workflows

Prepare your
agents




Add your social channels

You can connect your Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) public accounts and a number
of private social media accounts. Because you complete the tasks in the social
channel's settings, each one has its own set of instructions.
Public channels:



Facebook: A popular messaging app that allows you to
post public messages, such as Facebook Wall posts and comments. See Setting up your public Facebook
channel.

X: A popular messaging app formerly known as Twitter
that allows you to send public messages called tweets, as well as make
public mentions, replies, and likes to tweets. See Setting up your X (formerly Twitter)
channel.


Private channels:


WhatsApp: A popular chat and voice messaging app with more
than 1.5 billion users in over 180 countries. See Adding WhatsApp channels to the Zendesk Agent
Workspace.

WeChat: A popular, China-based mobile text and voice
messaging communication service. See Adding WeChat channels to the Zendesk Agent
Workspace.

LINE: An all-in-one communications app for text, voice and video
calls, moments, photo sharing, and games. See Adding LINE channels to the Zendesk Agent
Workspace.

Facebook Messenger: A popular American messaging app that
lets you send private messages through Facebook. See Adding Facebook Messenger channels to the
Zendesk Agent Workspace.

X Direct Message (DM): A
popular American messaging app formerly known as Twitter DM that lets you send
private messages through X (formerly Twitter). See Adding X (formerly Twitter) DM channels to
the Zendesk Agent Workspace.

Instagram Direct: Instagram's private
messaging service that allows you to communicate directly with other users. See
Enabling and using Instagram
Direct.

Apple Messages for Business:
Apple's service that allows your organization to directly message with your
customers using the Messages app. See Adding and configuring the Apple Messages for
Business channel.

Enterprise accounts can set this up in a sandbox to test it out before making
it public. See Adding social messaging to your
sandbox.


Note: Zendesk does not currently offer in-product integrations for some popular
social channels, such as TikTok and Telegram. If your preferred social channel
is not listed above, check the Zendesk Marketplace for third-party
apps that can help you create an integration.




Give agents access to social messaging conversations

After you add a social messaging channel, you need to give access to each agent who
will participate in social messaging conversations. To do so, you assign each agent
a Chat Agent role. See Giving agents access to messaging.



Set up your workflows



Once your channels are added, you can configure the settings that will help
your agents manage incoming requests, and help admins keep track of how
things are working.



Configure conversation
routing. Define whether incoming conversations go to
specific agents or are available to all, and set up your
notifications.

Enable automatic
responses. Use the auto-responder to let end users know you
received their messages, without relying on unavailable agents.
Let customers know how to contact you. Adding a Message Us button
to your website, mobile app, or help center allows customers to
discover and connect to your social channel. Additionally, you can
also add social media buttons to your
emails.

Request feedback from your end
users. Turn on satisfaction surveys to see how the
customers rate the service they received.







Prepare your agents

All agent-side messaging happens in the Agent Workspace. These resources can help your agents get started with social
messaging:


Learn how agents work with social
channels, including responding to messages, reassigning tickets, and
creating new messages.

Use the notifications list. Agents can
juggle multiple conversations with ease and grace, and without creating cranky
customers.



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