Automation · Customer service and scheduling

Route from WhatsApp the social media messages that reach your Hootsuite inbox

Ask an AI agent on WhatsApp what reached your Hootsuite inbox and leave each conversation assigned, with a note for whoever handles it.

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How do I split the social media messages that reach Hootsuite across my team without opening the inbox all the time?

The person who coordinates social media writes to their Met on WhatsApp: «what came into the inbox today?». The Met enters the Hootsuite workspace, opens the inbox and brings the new conversations first and then the pending ones, with the contact and a preview of the last message. It reads the one you ask for, checks who it can be assigned to and assigns it to the person or team the skill names, with an internal note summarizing what the customer wants. The Met does not reply to the customer: Hootsuite does not allow sending replies through this connector, so the reply comes from your team in Hootsuite.

What starts it

When someone asks for it

It starts when the person who coordinates social media writes to the Met on WhatsApp to find out what reached the inbox or to ask it to route the new items. Each round happens on request, inside that conversation.

A manual task: someone on the team runs it with a button, or asks the Met for it in chat.

Who runs it

Internal Met for whoever coordinates social media

Social team

This is not a named, seeded Met. It is an internal Met with Hootsuite Inbox connected, for the person who splits the inbox work. Its work ends when each conversation is assigned and has a note explaining it.

Run by the customer support Met

Channels: WhatsApp

What you need connected

Hootsuite Inbox Sell and serve

5 steps · 7 tools

The procedure, step by step

Each step shows the tool that runs. They belong to the real connector: if one of them stopped existing, this page would not build.

1
Enter the workspace and the inbox

The Met lists the Hootsuite workspaces your user can access and uses your organization's. Then it lists its inboxes and picks the one you asked for, for example the main one or one you saved.
- hootsuite_inbox_get_entitled_workspaces Hootsuite Inbox
- hootsuite_inbox_list_inboxes Hootsuite Inbox
2
Bring what is still unattended

The Met lists that inbox's conversations, new ones first and then pending ones, and sums them up for you on WhatsApp with the contact and a preview of the last message. By default it brings 10; if you ask for more, it can bring up to 100.
- hootsuite_inbox_list_inbox_conversations Hootsuite Inbox
3
Read the conversation before assigning it

For the conversation you are about to route, the Met fetches its latest activity: the customer's messages, what the team already answered and the internal notes, in order.
- hootsuite_inbox_get_conversation Hootsuite Inbox
4
Assign it to the right person

Right before assigning, the Met checks the people and teams that conversation can be assigned to, and assigns it as its skill says: for example, complaints to the service team and quotes to sales.
- hootsuite_inbox_list_conversation_assignees Hootsuite Inbox
- hootsuite_inbox_assign_conversation Hootsuite Inbox
5
Leave the note for whoever handles it

The Met leaves an internal note on the conversation with what the customer wants and what was already answered. Only your team sees the note; the customer receives nothing.
- hootsuite_inbox_add_note_to_conversation Hootsuite Inbox

Before you start

What you need ready

The Met solves none of these for you. If one is missing, the automation stops there.

Hootsuite Inbox connected in Met

In Met, open Connections → Hootsuite Inbox → Connect and sign in to Hootsuite. Assigning and leaving notes arrive switched on; the admin can turn them off in Connections.
Your social networks and your team in Hootsuite

Your social networks reach the Hootsuite inbox and the people or teams who handle them are already in your organization. The Met's skill says which kind of message goes to whom.
A WhatsApp line with the internal Met

The business connects its WhatsApp Business API line and assigns the internal Met to the person who coordinates social media. That person writes to the Met there.

The limits

What this automation does NOT solve

Better said here than discovered halfway through the rollout.

It does not reply to the customer on the social network. The Hootsuite server does not send replies: the assigned person answers from Hootsuite.
It does not ask for confirmation in the chat before assigning or adding a note: if the action is on, it runs it. The admin decides in Connections what stays on.
It does not see the networks your workspace excluded in its data sharing settings; it only routes what comes from the others.
It does not reopen resolved conversations as new: this connector only moves them to pending or to resolved.

FAQ

Questions about this automation

Not in this procedure: it starts when you write on WhatsApp. Each time you ask it to route, it reads the inbox at that moment.

It can fetch a saved reply's text, but not send it. The connector page includes it; this procedure does not use it because your team does the sending in Hootsuite.

The connector allows it and the connector page includes it, but this procedure does not do it: whoever handled it resolves it, after replying.

The Met checks who can be assigned right before doing it, so it only assigns to people Hootsuite shows as available for that conversation.

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