How to Automate Social Media Messages

Welcome to Week 1 of “Tech It Out”!

Automating tedious tasks can free up your time so you can focus on that which will move the needle on your business. One aspect of your business to consider is beginning the process to automate social media!

Expectations for customer service on social are a little different than in-person communications. It’s generally ok – and even expected – to have a chatbot or auto-response in place to handle straightforward inquiries, and appropriately direct customer service requests.

When it comes to customer support, 64% of people would rather message a brand on social than make a phone call. And 76% of messages that businesses receive on social are customer-service related.

Here are some simple steps on how to use automations for you Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Facebook:

To turn on instant reply for your Page:

1. Click Inbox at the top of your Page.
2. Click Automated Responses in the left column.
3. Click next to Instant Reply below Greet Customers to turn instant reply on.
4. To change your instant reply message, click Edit Message in the middle.
5. Update the message, then click Save in the top right.

How to create responses for frequently asked questions on Facebook Messenger:

1. Select Inbox at the top of your page.
2. In the left menu sidebar, select Automated responses.
3. Click Frequently asked questions.
4. Select Edit.
5. Add a question and then fill out your response.
6. Optional: Select Add Image to include your logo or image of your choice. You can also add a call-to-action button such as “Learn More” or “Shop Now.”
7. Select Add Personalization to add details such as your customer’s name, the admin’s name, a link to your Facebook page or website, or your phone number.
8. Save your reply.

Instagram: 

Instagram Quick Replies are draft messages that you can create for commonly asked questions or responses.

You can “save” messages, so instead of typing out the same message multiple times, you can just insert the “quick reply.”

To set up Quick replies:

1. Go to your Instagram profile page.
2. Tap on the menu icon in the top right corner (3 horizontal lines), and tap on the gear icon to go to ‘Settings’.
3. Scroll down and tap on ‘Quick Replies’.
4. Tap on the plus (+) sign in the top right corner to create a quick reply message.
5. Once you’ve written your message, type a shortcut in the box above. When sending a message, whenever you type the shortcut word, a quick reply icon will appear in the message box. Tap on the quick reply icon, and the message will appear for you to send!

Happy Automating!!!

Tune in next week for more on scheduling automations.