Messenger and Instagram

Connect a Facebook Page to receive its Messenger conversations, or the Instagram professional account linked to it to receive Instagram direct messages. Messages land in Conversations next to WhatsApp and your other channels, and replies go back the same way.

Before you start

• Who can do it: owners and administrators of the company.
• Plan: available when your plan includes Conversations inbox and Messenger channel or Instagram channel. The number of connected channels is a plan limit.
• A pipeline: new contacts get a deal in the stage you choose. See Deals and pipelines.
• In Facebook: you must manage the Page. For Instagram, the Instagram account must be a professional account linked to that Page.

There are two ways to connect. Use Connect with Facebook when your channels page shows it; otherwise connect with your own Meta app.

Connect with Facebook

The button appears on the channels page only when the platform has set up its own Meta app.

1. In the sidebar open Conversations, then click Channels.
2. Under Add channel, click Connect with Facebook.
3. Sign in to Facebook if asked, and allow access to the Pages you want to connect. Rutba CRM asks to list your Pages, manage their settings and messages, and read and send Instagram messages.
4. On Connect a Facebook page, each of your Pages has a card. Choose the Type: Messenger, or Instagram when the Page has a linked Instagram account.
5. Choose the stage in New deals start in, then click Add channel.

The channel takes the Page's name. There is nothing to set in Meta: the Page is subscribed for you, and its messages reach the channel through the platform's app. A channel connected this way starts with nobody assigned; new conversations stay unassigned until someone takes them.

Connect with your own Meta app

In Meta

1. In Meta for Developers, create an app of the Business type and add the Messenger product. For Instagram, also add Instagram messaging.
2. Generate a Page access token for your Page, with permission to manage and send its messages (for Instagram, also to read and send Instagram messages).
3. Copy the Page ID from the Page's About section, or for Instagram the Instagram account ID of the professional account.
4. In App settings → Basic, copy the App secret.

In Rutba CRM

1. In the sidebar open Conversations, then click Channels.
2. Open Connect Messenger or Connect Instagram and fill in:

3. Click Add channel. The values are stored encrypted and never shown again. The card shows Webhook address and Verify token.

Back in Meta

1. In your app's webhook settings, for the Page object (Messenger) or the Instagram object, paste the Webhook address as the callback URL and the Verify token as the verify token, then verify and save.
2. Subscribe to messages. For Messenger, also subscribe to message_deliveries and message_reads to see when your replies are delivered and read.
3. Make sure your Page is subscribed to the app, so its events are sent.

While a Meta app is in development mode, it receives messages only from people who have a role in the app. To receive messages from the public, the app's permissions must pass Meta's App Review.

Test it

1. From a personal Facebook or Instagram account, send a message to the Page or the Instagram account.
2. In Conversations, the conversation appears with a new contact and a deal in the chosen stage.
3. Reply from the conversation and check that the reply arrives.

Chats from Messenger and Instagram ads

When someone writes to your Page or Instagram account from an ad that opens a chat, Meta adds the ad to their message, and Rutba CRM records it automatically: nothing needs to be turned on. The ad appears as Ad in the contact's Customer journey, marked Messenger ad or Instagram ad, when your plan includes Tracking and customer journey, and the Ads that open a chat card on the Advertising page shows how many people each ad brought and what they bought afterwards. See Advertising.

Sales from these chats are recorded but not told back to Meta: that is done only for WhatsApp ads.

Good to know

• The 24-hour window: Messenger and Instagram allow replies only within 24 hours of the customer's last message. There are no templates for these channels.
• Names: the customer's name is not fetched from Facebook or Instagram. The contact is named after the channel type and the last digits of the sender's ID, such as "Messenger 1234", until your team edits it.
• Your Page's own messages are ignored, so replies sent from Facebook itself do not appear as the customer talking.
• Files: you can attach one file to a reply. A caption is sent as a separate message after the file, because these channels do not carry captions.
• Several Pages can share one app: add a channel for each, and messages are routed by Page, never to another company.
• Not available: comments on Facebook or Instagram posts do not reach the inbox; only direct messages do.

Troubleshooting