Getting started with social messaging

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">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.</p>
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<div class="p">
<div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span> <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Channels &gt; Messaging and social &gt;
Messaging</span>
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<div class="p" dir="ltr">
<div class="note attention" id="topic_nf3_4xr_zqb__note_snv_4l4_sbc">
<span class="attentiontitle"></span> Customers with Zendesk Support
plans can add public social messaging channels only. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408819897242" target="_blank">Setting up your public Facebook channel</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883122714" target="_blank">Setting up your X (formerly Twitter) channel</a>.</div>
This
article is a high-level walkthrough of the steps administrators need to take to get
started using social messaging with their Zendesk accounts. </div>
<p class="p">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 <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408827701530" target="_blank">Getting started with messaging for web and
mobile</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">This
article includes the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_nf3_4xr_zqb__ul_d21_yzr_zqb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_kyv_3yr_zqb">Add your social channels</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_fdy_vlf_syb">Give agents access to social messaging conversations</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dzb_jyr_zqb">Set up your
workflows </a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_pmg_jyr_zqb">Prepare your
agents</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_kyv_3yr_zqb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Add your social channels</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">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. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Public channels:</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_kyv_3yr_zqb__ul_yzd_5jn_vsb">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank"><strong class="ph b">Facebook</strong></a>: A popular messaging app that allows you to
post public messages, such as Facebook Wall posts and comments. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408819897242" target="_blank">Setting up your public Facebook
channel</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank"><strong class="ph b">X</strong></a>: 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 <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883122714" target="_blank">Setting up your X (formerly Twitter)
channel</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Private channels:</strong></p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_kyv_3yr_zqb__ul_tdd_l3s_xlb">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://www.whatsapp.com/" target="_blank">WhatsApp</a></strong>: A popular chat and voice messaging app with more
than 1.5 billion users in over 180 countries. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408842821786" target="_blank">Adding WhatsApp channels to the Zendesk Agent
Workspace</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://www.wechat.com/en/" target="_blank">WeChat</a></strong>: A popular, China-based mobile text and voice
messaging communication service. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408820034970" target="_blank">Adding WeChat channels to the Zendesk Agent
Workspace</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://line.me/en/" target="_blank">LINE</a></strong>: An all-in-one communications app for text, voice and video
calls, moments, photo sharing, and games. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844138394" target="_blank">Adding LINE channels to the Zendesk Agent
Workspace</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://www.messenger.com/" target="_blank">Facebook Messenger</a></strong>: A popular American messaging app that
lets you send private messages through Facebook. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835753370" target="_blank">Adding Facebook Messenger channels to the
Zendesk Agent Workspace</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/direct-messages" target="_blank">X Direct Message (DM)</a></strong>: A
popular American messaging app formerly known as Twitter DM that lets you send
private messages through X (formerly Twitter). See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832388250" target="_blank">Adding X (formerly Twitter) DM channels to
the Zendesk Agent Workspace</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://help.instagram.com/1750528395229662/" target="_blank">Instagram Direct</a></strong>: Instagram's private
messaging service that allows you to communicate directly with other users. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835013018" target="_blank">Enabling and using Instagram
Direct</a>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b"><a class="xref" href="https://register.apple.com/resources/messages/messaging-documentation/" target="_blank">Apple Messages for Business</a></strong>:
Apple's service that allows your organization to directly message with your
customers using the Messages app. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8030634178458" target="_blank">Adding and configuring the Apple Messages for
Business channel</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Enterprise accounts can set this up in a sandbox to test it out before making
it public. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844075930#topic_f1b_qtg_t4b" target="_blank">Adding social messaging to your
sandbox</a>.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> 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 <a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/marketplace/" target="_blank">Zendesk Marketplace</a> for third-party
apps that can help you create an integration. </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_fdy_vlf_syb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Give agents access to social messaging conversations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">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 <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6073485578010" target="_blank">Giving agents access to messaging</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dzb_jyr_zqb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Set up your workflows </h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">
<div class="div">
<p class="p">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.</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_dzb_jyr_zqb__ul_q4x_tj4_1rb">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5020833543450" target="_blank">Configure conversation
routing</a>. Define whether incoming conversations go to
specific agents or are available to all, and set up your
notifications.</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408838007578" target="_blank">Enable automatic
responses</a>. Use the auto-responder to let end users know you
received their messages, without relying on unavailable agents. </li>
<li class="li">Let customers know how to contact you. <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846651290-Using-the-Message-Us-button-to-guide-users-to-your-WhatsApp-or-Facebook-Messenger-channel" target="_blank">Adding a Message Us button</a>
to your website, mobile app, or help center allows customers to
discover and connect to your social channel. Additionally, you can
also <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408826273178-Adding-social-media-buttons-to-your-emails" target="_blank">add social media buttons to your
emails</a>. </li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886173338" target="_blank">Request feedback from your end
users</a>. Turn on satisfaction surveys to see how the
customers rate the service they received.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_pmg_jyr_zqb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Prepare your agents</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">All agent-side messaging happens in the Agent Workspace. These resources can help your agents get started with social
messaging:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_pmg_jyr_zqb__ul_ffd_rss_zqb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843683226" target="_blank">Learn how agents work with social
channels</a>, including responding to messages, reassigning tickets, and
creating new messages. </li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829025690" target="_blank">Use the notifications list</a>. Agents can
juggle multiple conversations with ease and grace, and without creating cranky
customers.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
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