One Inbox to Rule Them All: How to Integrate WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook into WATI

WATI, a leading WhatsApp Business API solution provider, has made this a reality. By integrating your WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook inboxes into a single dashboard, WATI helps you streamline communication, improve response times, and provide a seamless customer experience.

Here is a step-by-step process of how to integrate your social media inboxes into WATI, written as a guide for businesses looking to centralize their customer communication.

Step 1: Get Your WATI Account and WhatsApp Business API Ready

Before you can centralize your inboxes, you need a working WATI account with the WhatsApp Business API set up. The process is designed to be straightforward, and WATI guides you through it.

1. Sign Up for WATI: Start by creating an account on the WATI website. You'll need to choose a plan that fits your business needs.

2. Verify Your Business: WATI will guide you through the process of verifying your business with Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp). This typically involves providing legal business documents to prove your identity and ownership.

3. Connect Your WhatsApp Number: You will link a phone number to your WhatsApp Business account. This number should not be linked to any other personal or business WhatsApp account.

Once these prerequisites are met, you will have a working WhatsApp Business API account within the WATI dashboard, complete with a shared team inbox and automation features.

Step 2: Connect Your Facebook Page

Your Facebook business page is the hub for customer messages on the platform. Integrating it with WATI allows you to manage all Messenger conversations directly from your team inbox.

1. Access WATI Integrations: Log in to your WATI dashboard and navigate to the "Integrations" or "Settings" section.

2. Link Your Facebook Account: Look for the option to connect to Facebook. You will be prompted to log in to your personal Facebook account that has admin access to the business page you want to connect.

3. Grant Permissions: A pop-up will ask for your permission to connect WATI to your Facebook pages and manage messages. It is crucial to grant these permissions for the integration to work correctly. WATI needs access to your page's inbox to fetch and send messages.

4. Select Your Business Page: Choose the specific Facebook business page you want to integrate. Once selected, WATI will begin to sync your Messenger conversations.

After a successful connection, all new messages sent to your Facebook page's inbox will appear in your WATI team inbox, alongside your WhatsApp chats.

Step 3: Integrate Your Instagram Business Account

Just like Facebook, your Instagram business account's direct messages can be managed from within WATI. This is a game-changer for businesses with a strong presence on the visual platform.

1. Connect to Instagram: In the WATI integrations section, find the option for Instagram. This process is very similar to the Facebook integration.

2. Log In to Your Instagram Account: You will be prompted to log in to your Instagram business account. Make sure your Instagram account is a professional or business account, as personal accounts cannot be integrated in this way.

3. Review and Confirm: WATI will ask for permissions to manage messages on your behalf. Grant these permissions to allow WATI to fetch your DMs and enable your team to respond.

Once completed, your Instagram DMs will also be pulled into the WATI shared team inbox. You can now see all incoming messages from WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram in a single, unified view.

What You Can Do with Your Unified Inbox

With your inboxes integrated, WATI's powerful features now work across all three channels.

• Unified View: All customer conversations, regardless of the channel they originate from, appear in a single, easy-to-manage dashboard. No more switching between apps.

• Team Collaboration: Assign chats to specific team members, leave private notes, and monitor response times for both Facebook and Instagram messages, just as you would for WhatsApp.

• Automated Responses: Set up automated welcome messages and out-of-office replies for your Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger, ensuring that no customer query goes unanswered.

• Lead Capture and Management: Capture phone numbers and other contact details shared on Instagram DMs and automatically add them to your WATI contact list, building your customer database effortlessly.

• Customer Journey in One Place: Get a complete, unified view of a customer's interaction history with your brand, whether they first reached out on Instagram, then on WhatsApp, or on Facebook.

By integrating these three key social media platforms into WATI, you transform your customer communication from a scattered, chaotic process into a streamlined, collaborative, and highly efficient operation. This not only boosts team productivity but also provides a superior, more consistent experience for every customer.