FAQs: Social module
Social module setup and brand structure
What is the social module used for?
The Social module brings supported social accounts into Zoho Desk so teams can review customer activity and turn relevant interactions into support tickets. Accounts are organized under brands, allowing each organization or business identity to have its own social feed and support workflow.
For example, a retailer can group its Facebook page, Instagram account, and Twitter handle under one “Retail” brand, then convert customer questions received through those channels into tickets for the appropriate support team.
What is a brand in the social module?
A brand is the organizational unit used to group social accounts that represent the same business or identity. A brand can contain:
- One Facebook page
- One Instagram account
- One Twitter handle
An account can have multiple brands, but a single brand cannot contain multiple accounts of the same supported social network.
Can one social account be used in more than one brand?
The available information defines each brand as having one Facebook page, one Instagram account, and one Twitter handle. It does not specify whether the same individual social account can be linked across multiple brands. Review the available account choices while linking the account to confirm whether it is eligible.
Who can connect social accounts to Zoho Desk?
Only users with the Administrator permission profile can link social accounts in Zoho Desk. Ensure the person performing the setup has this profile before beginning.
How many brands can be created?
The number of included brands depends on the Zoho Desk edition:
- Standard and Professional: One brand
- Enterprise: Two brands
- Additional brands in Lite edition: Available for $5 per brand per month or $50 per brand per year
Before creating separate brands for regional teams, product lines, or subsidiaries, confirm that the edition includes sufficient brand capacity.
Should separate departments have separate brands?
Not necessarily. A brand can be connected to:
- A single department, or
- All departments
Use a single-department connection when one team owns all support activity for that identity. Use all departments when multiple teams need to work with the same brand.
For example, a “Consumer Products” brand could be linked to all departments if Sales, Billing, and Product Support must manage different types of social inquiries.
Creating and managing brands
How can a new brand be created?
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Select Get Started.
- Click Create.
- On the brand creation page:
- Upload a brand logo.
- Enter the brand name.
- Select the department connection:
- One department, or
- All departments.
- Add a brief description.
- Click Save.
After saving the brand, connect the relevant Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
What details should be prepared before creating a brand?
Prepare the following:
- A recognizable logo for the brand
- The exact brand name agents should see in Zoho Desk
- The department model: one department or all departments
- A short description that distinguishes the brand from other business identities
- Administrator access to the social accounts that will be linked
This preparation reduces the likelihood of attaching a social account to the wrong brand or support workflow.
Can an existing brand be edited?
Yes. To an existing brand
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Hover over the brand.
- Click the Edit Brand icon.
- Update the necessary details.
- Click Save.
What can be edited in an existing brand?
The following information can be edited in an existing brand:
- Brand logo
- Brand name
- Linked department selection
- One specific department, or
- All departments
- Brand description
What happens when a brand is deleted?
The outcome depends on how the brand was created:
- A brand created directly in the Social module is permanently deleted from Zoho Desk.
- A brand imported from Zoho Social is removed from the Zoho Desk portal, but is not permanently deleted from Zoho Social.
To permanently delete an imported brand, use the relevant deletion process in Zoho Social.
How can a brand be deleted?
To delete a brand:
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Hover over the brand.
- Click the Delete Brand icon.
- Confirm by clicking Delete.
Before deleting a brand, review whether agents still need access to its linked social feeds and ticket-conversion settings.
Connecting Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
How can a Facebook page be connected to a brand?
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Locate the appropriate brand.
- Click the + icon next to Facebook.
- Sign in to the Facebook account.
- Select a page created or administered by that Facebook account.
- Click Link Page.
- Configure the required auto-conversion settings.
- Click Save.
Select View Feed after linking to review fetched Facebook posts and private messages.
Why is a Facebook page unavailable for linking?
If a Facebook page cannot be linked, hover over the question-mark icon shown beside the page name. The displayed explanation identifies why the page is unavailable.
Make the required change in Facebook based on that explanation, then attempt the connection again in Zoho Desk.
What Facebook interactions can be viewed after setup?
The Facebook feed provides access to:
- Posts
- Private messages
Relevant interactions can be converted manually or automatically into tickets, depending on the configured settings.
How can a Twitter handle be connected to a brand?
- Go to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Locate the brand.
- Click the + icon next to Twitter.
- Sign in with the Twitter account credentials.
- Authorize the application.
- Click Done.
- Configure the required auto-conversion settings.
- Click Save.
Use View Feed to access tweets, @mentions, and direct messages associated with the linked handle.
What Twitter activity is available in the Social module?
After a Twitter handle is linked, teams can access:
- Tweets
- @mentions
- Direct messages
These interactions can be reviewed, responded to where supported, and converted into tickets when they require formal support handling.
How can an Instagram account be connected to a brand?
- Go to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Locate the brand.
- Click the + icon next to Instagram.
- Sign in through the Facebook/Instagram login window.
- Continue with the current login or choose another account.
- Click the + icon beside the Instagram account to be added.
- Click Add Account.
- Configure auto-conversion settings.
- Click Save.
Select View Feed to access Instagram posts, stories, and direct messages.
What Instagram content can be managed after linking the account?
The Instagram feed can display:
- Posts
- Stories
- Direct messages
Agents can convert relevant posts and messages into tickets. They can also review post comments and respond to user comments from the Instagram feed.
Can social accounts be disconnected without deleting the entire brand?
Yes.
- Go to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Hover over the specific social account.
- Click the Delete icon for that account.
- Select Disconnect.
This removes the social account connection while leaving the brand available for other linked accounts.
Importing brands from Social
Can existing Zoho Social brands be brought ?
Yes. Existing brands from Zoho Social can be imported into the Social module.
This is useful when social accounts are already organized in Zoho Social and the same brand structure should be used for support operations in Zoho Desk.
How can the first Zoho Social brand be imported?
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Click Get Started.
- On the brand creation preferences page, click Import.
- On Choose Brands to Import, hover over the desired brand.
- Select the checkbox in the upper-right corner of the brand panel.
- Click Import.
How can another Zoho Social brand be imported after Social module setup?
- Go to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Click Import Brand in the upper-right corner.
- Select the required brand on the Choose Brands to Import page.
- Click Import.
Does deleting an imported brand delete it from Zoho Social?
No, Deleting an imported brand in Zoho Desk only delinks it from the Desk portal and removes it from the Social module. It remains in Zoho Social until it is deleted there.
Feeds, Messages, and Ticket Conversion
Can social interactions be turned into tickets?
Yes. Posts, comments, @mentions, private messages, and direct messages can be converted into tickets manually or through auto-conversion settings.
This enables teams to handle a public complaint, product question, or private support request using their normal ticket workflow.
When should an interaction be converted manually rather than automatically?
Use manual conversion when agents need to assess context before creating a ticket, such as:
- A customer leaves general feedback on a post.
- A public comment does not require a support response.
- A message concerns a sensitive issue that should be reviewed before routing.
- A high-volume campaign produces many interactions, but only some require assistance.
For example, an agent can manually convert a Twitter direct message about data loss into a ticket while leaving a general product compliment as a social interaction.
How can a post or message be converted into a ticket manually?
- Open the required social post or message.
- Click the Convert into Ticket icon in the upper-right area.
- Use the resulting ticket details to:
- Assign the ticket to an agent or team.
- Open the ticket in Ticket Peek.
- Update ticket status.
- Set a due date.
After conversion, the icon is replaced with the ticket number.
What message history is included when a message is manually converted?
For manual message conversion, Zoho Desk captures the most recent 15 messages as a thread, provided that those messages include at least one incoming end-user message.
Subsequent conversation with the end user can continue within the converted ticket.
What happens to new activity on a social post after it has been converted?
For Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feed posts, later comments added to the same post are included as separate threads in the existing converted ticket.
This is particularly useful when multiple customers continue discussing the same public issue after the first ticket is created.
What happens to new private or direct messages after conversion?
For Facebook private messages, Twitter direct messages, and Instagram direct messages, new incoming messages are not added as a thread to the ticket created from the original manually converted message.
Teams should account for this behavior when designing workflows for ongoing private conversations.
What is automatic conversion?
Automatic conversion creates tickets from selected social interactions without requiring an agent to convert each one manually. It can be configured for posts, messages, and other supported interaction types.
It is suitable for scenarios where every qualifying interaction should enter the support queue promptly, such as direct messages requesting help or posts containing defined product issue keywords.
Which social interactions can be auto-converted?
Auto-conversion can be configured by channel:
- Page posts
- Visitor posts
- Messages
- @mentions
- Messages
- Posts
- Direct messages
Can auto-conversion be restricted to messages containing certain words?
Yes. Auto-conversion can be configured for either:
- All applicable posts or messages, or
- Posts or messages containing specific keywords
Keyword-based routing allows different ticket destinations for different types of support needs.
For example, messages containing “zPad” can be configured to create tickets for the zPad department, while another keyword set can route a different product issue to another department.
Can different keyword groups be assigned to different departments?
Yes. When auto-conversion is configured for posts or messages with specific keywords, a different department can be selected for each keyword set.
However, if All Posts/Messages is selected, only one department can be chosen from the department list.
How can auto-conversion be configured?
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Social.
- Hover over the required Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account.
- Click the Settings icon.
- Open the applicable channel tab:
- Facebook for page posts, visitor posts, and messages
- Twitter for @mentions and messages
- Instagram for posts and direct messages
- Choose whether to convert:
- All eligible interactions, or
- Only interactions matching specific keywords.
- Select the relevant department or configure the required keyword sets.
- Save the settings.
How much message content is included in an automatically converted ticket?
Automatic conversion captures one message as a thread when creating a ticket from a message. Further conversation with the end user can continue within that auto-converted ticket.
This differs from manual message conversion, which can include up to the 15 most recent messages, subject to the incoming-message requirement.
Feed management and Interaction context
Are social messages synchronized with the source platform?
Facebook private messages, Twitter direct messages, and Instagram direct messages are synchronized with their respective platforms and update immediately when new replies arrive.
For example, when a customer replies while an agent is viewing a direct-message conversation, the conversation can update immediately in the relevant message window.
Can agents see a customer’s prior interactions from a direct message?
The available interaction details differ by channel:
- In Facebook private messages, agents can access the sender’s profile, add the sender as a contact, and review past page interactions under Interactions.
- In Twitter direct messages, agents can access the sender’s profile, follow or unfollow the sender, add the sender as a contact, and review past handle interactions under Interactions.
- In Instagram direct messages, agents can view the direct-message conversation in the Social module.
Can Instagram comments be reviewed from Zoho Desk?
Yes.
- Open the Social module.
- Open the Instagram Feed.
- Select a post or click its comment option.
- Review the post window on the right.
The post window includes comments, associated tickets, and access to the user profile.
Can feeds be filtered to focus on unconverted social interactions?
Yes. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds can be filtered to show interactions that are converted or not converted into tickets. These filters also support bulk actions, including deleting tickets or marking tickets as spam.
Can public tweets be searched from the Twitter feed?
Yes. The Twitter Feed includes a search field for finding public tweets across Twitter’s database. It supports Twitter’s advanced search options.
Can a team publish a tweet from the Social module?
Yes. The Twitter Feed includes a Post Tweet option for publishing a new tweet.
Read more: Setting up the Social Module
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