TABLE OF CONTENTS


Connect your existing Instagram Business accounts with Chat and start engaging with your customers. Supported by the Freshworks Neo platform’s Messaging API, this integration will enable you to send and receive Instagram direct messages from within Chat. You can respond to story replies, direct messages, and comments and deploy bots to support your customers effectively. 


Prerequisites

  • An active Instagram Business account with a Facebook page connected to it. 
  • You must be the administrator of the Instagram account and the Facebook page. 
  • You need to enable message control to manage messages over API.


Connect your Instagram business account to your Facebook business page

  • Go to Facebook Page Settings.
     
  • Select "Linked Accounts" from the Page Settings
  • Connect the Instagram Account
  • In case you have connected your Facebook Business page from the Instagram mobile app, please disconnect and reconnect from the Facebook Business page like indicated above.
  • Enable Message Control Connected Tools Settings. 



Check out the video below to understand how to integrate your Instagram account with Chat.



Connect your Instagram Business account with Chat in a few simple steps!  

  • Go to Admin → Channels → Instagram



  • Click Start setup



  • You will get redirected to the ‘Log in to Facebook’ page. Sign in to your Instagram Business account



  • You should get directed to an authorization page once you sign in. Click on ‘Continue’ to authorize (Chat) Freshworks to access your Instagram DM.



  • On the next screen, you can select the Instagram Business accounts you want to connect to your Chat account - you can select up to 50 accounts. (Please note the Instagram Business account must have a Facebook page connected to it) 



  • You may choose which Business Pages (linked to the Instagram Business account) you’d like to connect with your Chat account. 



  • Configure permissions to enable the integration. 



  • Now, you are all set to start supporting your customers through Instagram DM from Chat!


Configure Freshworks App as Primary Receiver in Facebook page settings

In Facebook Page Settings -> Advanced Messaging - >  Handover Protocol -> Instagram Receiver -> Select Freshworks App.



You can connect up to 50 Instagram Business accounts and choose to remove the account from within your Chat instance at any point in time. 


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Please note that the integration will not work if the prerequisites are not met.


Assigning conversations from Instagram to your agents


Each Instagram page also gets its own Topic in Admin > Topics. You can use it to further enhance your customer service experience by having a specialized agent group handle these questions by assigning the Topic (all the questions from Instagram) to the group.


Creating bots on Instagram on Chat


When creating the bot, you can select Instagram in the first step right after naming the bot.

 

To know more about setting up a bot flow, read this article


Message types supported on Instagram


 

Message Type

Direction

Instagram DM

Text

User to agent

Yes

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

Yes

Bot to user

Yes

Image

User to agent 

Yes

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

Yes

Bot to user

Yes

Video

User to agent

Yes

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

Yes

Bot to user

via public URL

Audio

User to agent

Yes

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

via

App

Bot to user

No

File

User to agent

NA

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

NA

Bot to user

Coming soon

Emoji

User to agent

Yes

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

Yes

Bot to user

Yes

GIFs

User to agent

Yes

User to bot

Yes

Agent to user

No

Bot to user

No

Stickers

User to agent

As image

User to bot

As image

Agent to user

No

Bot to user

NA

Automation

Bots

Yes

Structured messages

Articles

Bot to user

Coming soon

Carousels

Bot to user

Yes

Buttons

Bot to user

Yes

Dropdown list

Bot to user

NA

Message events

Delivered

User to agent

No

Agent to user

NA

Read

User to agent

No

Agent to user

Yes

Typing

User to agent

NA

Agent to user

NA

Consumer profile

User name

Yes

User image

Coming soon


Yes - Supported, No - Not supported, NA - Not supported by Apple's Messages for Business.


Instagram-specific message types supported:

 

  • Message & comments on a post: Get notified about direct messages and comments on your post


  • Get notified about story replies and story mentions


  • Attach images, and send emojis to your responses.