Introduction 

Vtiger Social is a social media management module built within Vtiger CRM. Currently, you can add and manage two channels - Facebook and Google My Business - using Social.
 

Social Posts From Process Designer

You can automate social posts in the Process Designer, thus saving time. Using the Social Message action in the Process Designer, you can now post messages automatically to your Facebook accounts.

When you click on Social Message, the process action window pops up. You can enter the message and select the social media accounts to which the messages should be sent in Vtiger's Social module. 

Feature Availability

This feature is available in all the editions of Vtiger CRM.

Following are the actions you can do on Facebook from Vtiger Social:

• Create and publish engaging content on Facebook.
• Monitor social activities on your Facebook page.
• Schedule posts according to your preferences.
• Like posts and comments on your Facebook page. 
• View and reply to the comments on your posts.

This article discusses using Vtiger Social for Google My Business. To learn more about Google My Business, click here.

Using Facebook 

Logging In

Let us find out how you connect your Facebook page and start using it!

Follow these steps to log in to your Facebook account on Social:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Select Facebook.
6. Select your Page from the drop-down.
7. Click Connect or Reconnect.
8. Enter your Facebook credentials in the login window and click Log In.
9. Click Continue as Username.

You’re now ready to use Facebook with Social!

Social Dashboard 

After you set up your Facebook account, you will see the following sections on the Social dashboard:

• All Posts - Lists all the posts you have done on your Facebook page. It also shows the posts done by other people. 
• Mentions - List all the posts (by other people or pages) that mention your Facebook page.
• Scheduled - Lists all the scheduled posts.
• Comments - Shows a post with its comments. You must manually create a comment stream for individual posts to view their comments.

Now, let’s check out all the functionalities in detail. 

Composing a Post

Writing a post is a simple princess. But the best part is you can see the preview while you’re creating a post. This helps you present your content just the way you like! While entering the information on the left, the preview is available on the right.

Follow these steps to compose a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the Compose Post icon.
7. Enter the following information:
   1. Post to - Select the Facebook page where you want to post.
   2. Message - Enter the content to post.
   3. Upload media - Click Browse to select media files from your local computer to post them.
   4. Click Post.

Scheduling a Post

Scheduling a post is a little bit from composing which is discussed in the previous section.

Follow these steps to schedule a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the Compose Post icon.
7. Enter the following information:
   1. Post to - Select the Facebook page where you want to post.
   2. Message - Enter the content to post.
   3. Upload media - Click Browse to select media files from your local computer to post them.
   4. Click Schedule Post.
   5. Set the Date and Time.
   6. Click Schedule Post.

Rescheduling a Post

Follow these steps to reschedule a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the More icon on the required icon.
7. Select Reschedule.
8. Select a Date and Time.
9. Click Save.

Deleting a Scheduled Post

Follow these steps to delete a scheduled post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the More icon on the required icon.
7. Select Delete.
8. Click Yes.

Editing a Post

Did you know you can edit the content already posted? This lets you correct typos and other mistakes in your posts.

Follow these steps to edit a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Choose a post from the All Posts or Comments section and click the More icon.
7. Click the Edit icon.
8. Make changes to the content in the text box.
9. Click Post.

Liking posts or comments

Follow these steps to like a post or comment on your page:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Select a post and hit the Like button under it.
7. Click the Comment button to view the comments on a post.
   1. Click Like to like a comment.

Replying to comments

You can reply to comments from the All Posts, Comments, or Mentions section on your Social dashboard.

Follow these steps to reply to a comment:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the Comment icon to see the comments on the required post.
7. Click Reply to type a reply.
8. Enter the reply message.
9. Click Post.

Creating a comment stream

A comment stream is a section on your Social dashboard that you create manually for individual posts.

Why do you need it?

If one of your posts received many comments or some comments highlighted important information, you could create a comment stream for it. This makes the post stand out by showing it in a separate Comments section.

Follow these steps to create a comment stream:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the More icon on the required post.
7. Click +Create comment stream.

Adding or linking records

You can create contact, lead, and case records from the Social module’s All Posts, Mentions, and Comments sections.

In what situations will you create records?

• When a Facebook user posts on your wall or comments on your posts, you can create contact records out of the user details. 
• You can also link the users to existing contacts in the CRM. Doing this lets you identify whether the Facebook users are your contacts or leads stored in the CRM.
• You can tell apart existing leads or contacts from new ones in case they have the same names by using the CRM lead or contact records.
• If the users leave complaints in the posts or comments, you can even create case records from them.

Follow these steps to add or link contacts:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the More icon under a post in the All Posts, Mentions, or Comments section.
7. Linking an existing contact or lead:
   1. Click Select Contact or Select Lead.
   2. Select a contact or lead record by clicking on it.
8. Adding a contact or lead:
   1. Click Add Contact, Add Lead, or Add Deal.
   2. Enter the desired contact, lead, or deal information. Make sure to fill in all the mandatory fields.
   3. Click Save. You will find the contact, lead, or deal you create in the Contacts, Leads, or Deals module.
9. Adding a case:
   1. Click Add Case.
10. Enter the desired case information. The fields below are auto-filled:
    1. Case Title is picked from the Facebook user profile name.
    2. Summary is picked from the comment or post text.
11. Click Save.

To know more about adding a Contact, Lead, Deal, or Case, check out the respective help article. 

Managing reviews

User reviews on your Facebook page are shown in Vtiger Social. A heart symbol indicates that a user recommends your page. On the other hand, a heartbreak symbol indicates that a user does not recommend your page.

Follow these steps to manage your reviews:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Reviews on the left-hand side.
   1. Click Comment under a review to reply to it.
   2. Click Reply under a review’s comment to respond to the conversation.
   3. Click the More icon to add or link a contact, lead, or case.

Deleting a post

You can delete a post from the All Posts or Comments section on your Social dashboard.

Follow these steps to delete a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Choose a post from the All Posts or Comments section and click the More icon.
7. Click Delete.
8. Click OK.

Social Inbox

The Social Inbox has an Activity Timeline that displays all the activities on every channel (Facebook and Google My Business) that you have configured. Activities include posts, comments, questions, and reviews.

Additionally, 

• You can hover over the right corner of an activity update to see the Actions icon. Click it to find the options to edit, delete, or reply to posts, and add or link leads, contacts, and records.
• You can filter to view the activities by channel. 

Follow these steps to filter activities:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Social Inbox on the top-left-hand side. 
6. Click Filters on the top-right of the Activity Timeline.
7. Select a channel from the Channel drop-down.
8. Click Apply.

Social Settings

The comprehensive settings options let you manage your Social accounts and create automation rules for different activities. 

Let’s look at each of them.

Adding an account

Follow these steps to add an account to the Social module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Manage Accounts on the left-hand side. You will land on the Social Settings window.
6. Click +Add Account.
7. Select Facebook.
8. Enter your login credentials.
9. Click Log In.

Disconnecting an account

Follow these steps to disconnect an account from the Social module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Manage Accounts on the left-hand side. You will land on the Social Settings window.
6. Click the More icon on the account you want to disconnect.
7. Click Disconnect.
8. Click OK. 

Removing an account

Follow these steps to remove an account from the Social module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Manage Accounts on the left-hand side. You will land on the Social Settings window.
6. Click the More icon on the account you want to remove.
7. Click Remove.
8. Click OK. 

Automation 

With automation rules, you can automatically create contact, lead, and case records in the CRM. You can trigger the creation of records when a user leaves a comment, like, or review on your Facebook page. 

How?

For instance, if you receive a comment that says, “How do I buy this product?”, you can assume this to be a lead for your business and create a lead record for the user.

Additionally, you can specify tags or keywords that must be present in the comment or review. For instance, the tag is “want to subscribe”, and a user posts a comment that matches the tag. You can assume them to be a lead and trigger the creation of a lead record. 

Follow these steps to add a rule: 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Select Marketing.
4. Click Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Manage Accounts on the left-hand side. The Social Settings window opens
6. Click Facebook under Automation on the left-hand side.
7. Click on +Add Rule.
8. Enter or select information for the following:
   1. Name - Provide a title for the rule.
   2. Select trigger - Choose when the record must be created (on receiving a comment, like, or review).
   3. Select tags - Enter the keywords that must be present in the comment or review. This field does not show when the trigger is Like.
   4. Choose action - Choose which record to create. 
9. Click Save.