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.

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

Let us now see what 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.

Feature Availability and Limits

Using Facebook 

Logging in

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

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

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Select Facebook.
6. Enter your Facebook credentials in the login window and click Log In.
7. Click Continue at the bottom-right corner.

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 - Lists 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 process. 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 you enter the information on the left, the preview is available on the right side.

Follow these steps to compose a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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:
   • Post to - Select the Facebook page where you want to post.
   • Message - Enter the content to post.
   • Upload media - Click Browse to select media files from your local computer to post them.
   • Call to action - Insert a Call-To-Action or CTA button into your post by specifying a URL. Users will land on the URL when they click the button. You have the following options for CTA:
     • Learn More
     • Like Page
     • Send Message
     • Shop Now
     • Sign Up
8. Click Post.

Scheduling a post

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

Follow these steps to schedule a post:

1. Perform Steps 1-7 under Composing a post.
2. Click Schedule Post.
   1. Click the Calendar icon.
   2. Pick a date.
   3. Click the Clock icon.
   4. Enter the appropriate time.
   5. 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Select a post under the Scheduled section.
7. Click the Actions icon (three dots).
8. Select Reschedule.
9. Click the Calendar icon.
10. Select a date.
11. Click the Clock icon.
12. Enter the time.
13. 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Select a post under the Scheduled section.
7. Click the Actions icon (three dots).
8. Select Delete.
9. Click OK.

Editing a post

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

Follow these steps to edit a post:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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 Actions icon (three dots).
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 a comment on your page:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Select a post and hit the Like button under it.
   1. Click the Comment button to view the comments on a post.
   2. 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Choose a post.
7. Click the Comment icon to see the comments.
8. Click Reply to type a reply.
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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Select a post from the All Posts or Mentions section.
6. Click the Actions icon.
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. By doing this, you can 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.

Let us see how.

Follow these steps to add or link records:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Posts on the left-hand side.
6. Click the Actions icon (three dots) 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/lead record by clicking on it.
8. Adding a contact or lead:
   1. Click Add Contact or Add Lead.
   2. Enter the desired contact/lead information. Make sure to fill in all the mandatory fields.
   3. Click Save.
      • You will find the contact or lead that you create in the Contacts or Leads module.
9. Adding a case:
   1. Click Add Case.
   2. Enter the desired case information. The fields below are auto-filled:
      • Case Title is picked from the Facebook user profile name.
      • Summary is picked from the comment or post text.
   3. Click Save.

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 heart-break 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select Social. You will land on the Social module.
5. Click Facebook under Reviews on the left-hand side.
   • Click Comment under a review to reply to it.
   • Click Reply under a review’s comment to respond to the conversation.
   • Click the Actions icon to add or link contact, lead, or a 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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 Actions icon (three dots).
7. Click the Delete icon.
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, 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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. Click the Channel drop-down.
8. Select a channel.
9. Click Apply.

Social Settings

The comprehensive settings options let you manage your Social accounts and create automation rules to perform 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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 Actions 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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 Actions 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. Go to Essentials > Conversations.
4. Select 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 Facebook under automation on the left-hand side.
7. Click on +Add Rule.
8. Enter the following information:
   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.