Route private messages from Facebook to your Intercom inbox, so your customers can contact you in the most convenient way for them, while you keep all of your customer communications in one place and take advantage of automations in Intercom.
Automatically assign Facebook messages to the right team or teammate.
Anyone who messages you will be added to Intercom as a lead or user.
Read, manage and respond to all messages directly from your team inbox.
Facebook is a free app available on the Advanced or Expert plan (not available on the Early Stage program).
What you'll need
Admin access to your Facebook business page.
Install Facebook app
You’ll find Facebook in the Intercom App Store. Click Install now to add it to your Intercom workspace:
You'll need to give Intercom permission to connect to your Facebook page.
After you've installed the Facebook app, check your Facebook Business integrations settings and ensure that Intercom appears in your list of active business integrations.
Now, anytime someone sends you a private Facebook message, it will appear in your Intercom team inbox and can be easily identified by the Facebook icon below the message.
Teammate experience
Teammates will see a new Facebook conversation if the conversation has been closed for 5+ days and the customer messages again.
Previous Facebook conversations with the customer will be accessible in from ‘Recent conversations’ in the inbox sidebar or on the user’s profile.
Teammates will only be able to respond to the most recent conversation with the customer. For previous conversations, they’ll see a message in the composer telling them responses must be sent from the most recent conversation:
You can assign conversations based on the Facebook Page they came from. Every message that comes through Facebook has a small icon showing the URL, which can be used as a page rule in workflow trigger settings.
How Facebook messages work in Intercom
Only private Facebook messages will get sent to your team inbox. If someone posts a Facebook message on your wall it won’t appear in your team inbox.
When someone sends a message to your company Facebook page they will get designated as a lead in Intercom. You’ll only be able to see that person’s Facebook name and profile picture. We recommend asking for their email and adding it to their profile.
We support images, attachments, audio, videos, location sharing, stickers, GIFs, and bot messages sent from Facebook.
The Facebook app does not sync conversations in real-time, there can be a 10 minute delay.
If a conversation from Facebook is replied to by a customer after more than 5 days since the conversation was closed, it will be treated as a brand new conversation in Intercom.
Intercom features which work with Facebook messages
You can reply quickly to Facebook messages using macros from the Inbox.
Using the trigger After a customer sends their first message, you can trigger a Workflow to deflect, triage and route Facebook messages more efficiently.
Messenger apps currently don't work in conversations from Facebook.
Currently, only text and image replies are supported when sending from Intercom to Facebook.
Set reply expectations in new conversations started from Facebook.
In conversations from Facebook, CSAT ratings are collected by asking the customer for a text response. They can reply with a number or emoji.
Troubleshooting the Facebook app
Can't reply to some conversations
If the user's last message in a Facebook conversation is from more than 7 days ago, you'll see this warning in your inbox:
If the user has interacted with your page in the last 7 days, your reply will send as expected. If they have not, you will see a note that the message couldn't be sent. In these cases, you can still reply to the conversation directly from Facebook.
The 7 day window does not apply to automated messages (ie. Workflows). For automated messages, there is a 24 hour window to reply.
Check your notification settings to make sure you never miss a new conversation.
Conversations not syncing
If your Facebook conversations aren't syncing with Intercom, this may be due to a change in your Facebook Page's permissions. You'll see this message on your app settings page:
"Facebook is changing the permissions required for your Pages to work with Intercom. You can fix this by clicking the 'Reconnect to Facebook' button. Do this by 31 December to avoid disruption to your conversations."
You'll also see "Issue Detected" next to any affected pages:
To resolve this issue, just click Reconnect to Facebook below your list of Facebook pages in Facebook Settings
Reinstalling or uninstalling the app does not help here, you should always try and reconnect first to re-authorize access to Facebook 👍
When reconnecting, ensure that a checkbox beside all pages you want to connect are ticked and that all permissions are allowed.
All permissions must be granted in order for the Facebook integration to work correctly.
After reconnecting to Facebook, you'll need to remove any previously connected Facebook pages.
Then, reconnect each of your pages by clicking Connect page.
Error: "Could not link Intercom to Facebook"
This indicates that Facebook is having connection troubles. There is unfortunately nothing we as Intercom can do, as this is on Facebook’s side. In these cases its best to try it again in a few minutes.
Error: "Check Admin Permissions"
If you encounter a "Check Admin Permissions" error when connecting to Facebook, double check that you're an Admin on the Facebook Page that you're trying to connect.
Error: "Could not link Intercom to Facebook error"
If you're seeing this error, this means Facebook/Meta is having some connection issues. This is outside of our control and we encourage you to wait a few minutes and then try again.
A good troubleshooting step is also to try connect via browser incognito window to rule out any caching issues.
Error: "The ability to send commerce messages has been temporarily disabled for this application"
If you notice this issue please start by reconnecting to Facebook in the settings of the Facebook app in the Intercom App Store. If this doesn't resolve the issue please try re-connecting each page in the Facebook app settings in the Intercom App Store as laid out above.
If still seeing this issue we would recommend reaching out to Facebook to ensure you're not blocked from sending messages on their end.
Error: "Not sent. There was an error. We'll keep trying"
As a first step could you try a hard refresh of your browser to see if that resolves it.
To do a hard refresh on macOS for Chrome/Firefox use Command-Shift-R. For Safari use Command-Option-R.
If this doesn't resolve it please try sending an image on an incognito browser. If error persists please reach out to through the Messenger with the URL of the conversation for the team to check.
Error: "Message failed to send because another app is controlling this thread"
This typically means you have another integration that's currently replying to this conversation.
You will need to disable any other integrations/bots in your Facebook Page settings.
Many Facebook conversations in Intercom reopened without any user reply: only shows Facebook messages
Facebook broadcast messages currently reopen conversations so if admins use a 3rd party tool or Facebook to send broadcast messages to all their customers it can cause messages to reopen in Intercom.
Uninstall the Facebook app from Intercom
If you have connected more than one Facebook page, you can disconnect the integration and delete all of the Facebook pages you have connected. Just remove Intercom from your installed apps in your Facebook Settings.
FAQs
Will my Admin reply show in Intercom if I reply using Facebook?
Yes, it will show up when the user next replies or when the Intercom integration with Facebook pulls the next update.
What information do I get from Facebook on the user? Can I get their email or other data?
You will receive their Facebook name and a user id (format: FACEBOOK_ID@facebook.com).
User_ID doesn't show in lead profile, only on lead list.
It's currently not possible for Intercom to merge Facebook leads or users into actual Intercom users.
Why can't I see the message button on my Facebook Page?
Make sure you've enabled "Messaging" from your Facebook Page Privacy Settings and Tools.
View your Facebook Page as a personal profile.
How do I find Facebook leads in Intercom?
Filter users by
User IDcontainsfacebookThe number indicates the Facebook ID of the user and you can visit their profile via https://facebook.com/FACEBOOK_ID
I have a Facebook Page connected but I can't see any listed. Where has it gone?
Once you click on the Connect to Facebook button you will see your pages listed.
Can I connect a Facebook Page to more than one workspace in Intercom?
This is not supported. If a page is connected in more than one workspace, messages will only be sent and received in one of them.
Is the time that's shown on a Facebook message the time that the customer sent the message, or the time that it was received by Intercom?
The timestamp on each message in Intercom is the time that the customer sent the message.
How do I stop automatic replies to Facebook messages?
To turn off Facebook sent auto-reply messages, you would need to make the changes on Facebook. Find more information on how to turn off instant replies.
To turn off the automatic messages for reply time on Intercom, go to Automation > Basics > For leads and switch it off "Share your typical reply time".
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