This page is the map. Each step links to the guide that covers it in full, so follow them in order and come back here for the next one.
Before You Start
You need to be able to log in to the Facebook profile that has admin access to your Facebook Page and the Instagram account linked to it. If someone else holds that access, do step 1 with them.
1. Connect Instagram and Facebook
Go to Settings → Connections and click Login With Facebook. How to Connect Instagram & Facebook to Ellipsend walks through every screen.
If you've ever used another DM tool on this account, also follow How to Give Ellipsend Control of Your Conversations. It's the most common reason messages don't show up or automations stall.
Then test it. Send your account a DM from a different Instagram account, and reply to it from the Ellipsend inbox.
2. Invite Your Team
Go to Settings → Team and add each person. Inviting someone lets them log in. To reply in the inbox they also have to be an Inbox Agent, so turn on Add as Inbox Agent when you invite anyone who'll be messaging. The steps are in How to Invite Your Team.
3. Configure Your Settings
A handful of settings decide who gets which conversations and what your team can see. Settings Quick Start covers the ones to get right before anyone starts replying, including assignment and whether your team can see every contact.
4. Set Up Your Pipeline and Activities
Your account comes with a campaign already in place, so there's nothing to build. Make it yours by setting up two things under Settings → Campaigns.
Pipeline stages. Where a contact is on the way to a sale, like New Lead, Call Booked, and Deal Won.
Activities. The results you want to count, like a booked call or a purchase.
Then map each activity to its stage, so moving a contact into the stage logs the activity. Set Up Your Pipeline and Activities walks through all three, with the pipeline we recommend.
How many stages and activities you can add depends on your plan. Plans and Limits has the numbers.
5. Set Up Tracking
Tracking is what ties a booking or a sale back to the post it came from. Two things make it work. Your links go out as buttons, and your bookings and purchases get logged as activities, by your team or by a connected tool like Calendly or GoHighLevel. How Tracking Works explains both.
6. Build Your First Automation
An automation brings contacts into your campaign when they comment, reply to a story, or message you. Start with Automation Best Practices for the recipe we recommend, and use Automations for the builder itself.
Test it before you post. An automation only runs while it's active, so keep it active and temporarily change its keyword to something nobody would actually comment or DM, like "testellipsend". Trigger it from another account and watch it arrive in the inbox. Then put your real keyword back. Testing Your Automation has the full steps.
7. Work the Inbox
Once your automations are bringing contacts in, your team replies to them from the inbox. Inbox Quick Start covers the daily routine, from the two Spotlights to work from to moving contacts through your stages.
8. Get the App
Your team can work the inbox from their phones too. Get the Ellipsend App on iPhone and Android has the download links and what the app can do.
Before You Go Live
Run through this list once everything is set up.
The Meta card under Settings → Connections shows your Facebook Page and your Instagram account as Connected.
A DM sent from another account shows up in the inbox, and your reply from Ellipsend arrives.
Everyone who'll be messaging has logged in and is an Inbox Agent.
Auto-Assign on Agent Message is on.
Your pipeline has the stages you need, and each activity is mapped to a stage.
Your links are going out as buttons.
Your automation has been tested from another account with a test keyword, and its real keyword is back in place.
Your team has the Spotlights they'll work from each day. Inbox Quick Start has the two to start with.
If You Need Help
If messages aren't coming in, work through Messages Aren't Arriving: The Connection Checklist.
For anything else, click the Need Help? tab on the right edge of the screen and message us. Get Help, See What's New, and Request a Feature covers what to send us, where to see new features, and how to request your own.