How do you keep track of leads that come in through Facebook, Instagram and other messages?
Treat every message that asks about your work as a lead, and copy it into the same lead list as your calls and forms, with social as its source and the platform named. Check each inbox at set times every working day, or use one shared inbox for several platforms. Keep business messaging on accounts the business owns, not on a staff member's personal profile, so the history stays when people leave.
One lead list, not five inboxes
Messages arrive in several places, such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The inboxes can stay where they are, but the record of each lead should not. Add a row to your lead list for every message that is a real inquiry, the same day, with the channel social and the platform in the notes, so a lead from an Instagram message can be compared with one from search or a referral. The related answer on setting up a simple lead tracker covers the columns.
Fewer inboxes to check
Meta's help center says the Inbox in Meta Business Suite shows messages from Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in one place, together or filtered by platform. It lets you mark messages to follow up later, move finished ones to a Done folder, add labels and private notes to a customer's details, and sort conversations by the person they are assigned to. It can also show which messages came in response to an ad; record those as paid, not social.
Meta's Inbox also has a leads tab, but a list inside one company's apps will not show your calls and forms. Your own lead list is still the one place that shows every channel side by side.
Reply-time habits per platform
- Set fixed times to check every inbox, such as first thing, midday and before you finish, and keep to them.
- Turn on alerts for the inboxes that bring real inquiries, so they are not lost among likes and comments.
- Use an away message that says when you will reply, then keep that promise.
- When a public comment asks about your work, invite the person to a private message and treat that message as the lead.
- Move a conversation to a call or text only with the person's consent, and note the move in your lead list.
When staff leave
Message history is part of your customer record, so it should not live on someone's personal account. Run business messaging from accounts the business owns, give each person their own access instead of a shared password, and remove access the day someone leaves. Copy the key points of each conversation, such as what was asked and what was promised, into the lead list, so the history survives even if a platform account is lost. The related answer on how fast to reply covers why speed matters.
Sources
Related answers
- How do you set up a simple lead tracker?
- How fast should a business reply to a new lead?
- Do you need a website if you already get customers from social media?
Lead systems and lead tracking
A lead that waits a day goes cold, and a lead with no source teaches you nothing. Ascent Vision fixes both.