A person sends a message to your Facebook Page in Messenger, or to your Instagram account. It comes into Conversations in Berchtold within a minute. Conversations is in the menu, below Approvals. It is one inbox for texts and Facebook and Instagram messages. It shows how many conversations have messages you did not read. You read it and reply there. You do not need another app.
The CRM must be on in your workspace. No AI reads these messages.
Before you start
- Connect your own Facebook & Instagram in Settings → Integrations, under Your connections. Then choose your Pages. See Connect Meta.
- Allow every permission Meta asks for when you connect. Messages need the permissions to read and answer messages for the Page and for Instagram.
- Your Instagram account must be a professional account that is linked to the Page.
- On Instagram, turn on Allow access to messages. In the Instagram app, open Settings and activity → Messages and story replies → Message controls → Connected tools. Then turn on Allow access to messages. Without it, Instagram messages do not come in.
Check that messages come in
Open Settings → Integrations and select Settings on your Facebook & Instagram row. Under Lead ads and messages, each Page and each Instagram account shows in words whether its messages come in. When a permission is missing, connect Facebook & Instagram again and allow it. Then select Check again. The settings also show when the last message came in.
Who sees a conversation
Meta decides. You see a conversation when your own Facebook has its Page or Instagram account in this workspace. You also see a conversation that is assigned to you. This is true for workspace admins and people with See all records too. It is the same on the web, in the phone app and in your AI tools.
Search by name or Instagram username. Select Filters to choose a channel (Facebook or Instagram) and what to show:
- All: the conversations on your Pages, and the ones assigned to you. This is the default.
- Mine: the conversations assigned to you.
- Unassigned: the conversations on your Pages that nobody has.
- No contact yet: the conversations without a contact.
- Unread: the conversations with messages you did not read.
Unread conversations have a bold name and a dot. Sometimes Meta does not give the person's name. Then the conversation says Facebook user or Instagram user and the last digits of their ID. Berchtold asks Meta again later. When you have no Pages here, the list offers Connect Facebook & Instagram to connect and choose your Pages.
Who gets a new conversation
The Page's setting New leads and messages go to decides who gets a new conversation:
- Me: the person who chose it gets the conversation.
- Lead routing: your lead routing rules decide, as for a new lead. See Lead routing.
The source is Facebook message or Instagram message. When lead routing is off, nobody has the conversation. It shows under Unassigned for the people who have the Page. See Who gets new leads and messages.
To assign a conversation, you need permission to edit in the CRM. Your own Facebook must have its Page too. At the top of the conversation, open the menu with the name of the person who has it. Then choose a member or Nobody.
Notifications
You get a notice when someone sends a message for you to answer, or when someone gives you a conversation. When nobody has the conversation, the people who have its Page get the notice. You get it in the app, by email and on your phone. A burst of messages gives one notice. To change it, open Profile. In Notifications, find Facebook and Instagram messages.
Make the contact
A conversation has no contact until you know the person's email. A contact in Berchtold needs an email. You get the email in one of three ways:
- They write it in a message. Select Make or link contact at the top of the conversation. Berchtold shows the email they wrote. Select Make a contact with and the email, or Link and the name of the contact who has it. If it is not their email, select Not their email.
- Ask for it. Select Ask for email at the top of the conversation. On Messenger, your question shows an email button. One tap sends their Facebook email. When a contact has that email, Berchtold links it. Otherwise Berchtold offers to make the contact. Instagram has no email button. The person answers in a message, and Berchtold offers the email they write.
- Type it. Select Make or link contact, enter the email, then select Make or link contact again.
A new contact gets the name that Meta shows. Its owner is the person who has the conversation. Its source is Facebook message or Instagram message. After you link the contact, the conversation shows on the contact's page and timeline. Later messages from the same person show there too.
Reply within 24 hours
Meta allows a reply within 24 hours of the person's last message. Under the message box, Berchtold says until when you can reply. For example: You can reply until 3:15 PM tomorrow. Enter sends the reply, and Shift+Enter starts a new line. After the 24 hours, the message box turns off. It says: "Meta allows replies within 24 hours of their last message. This conversation is past that." When the person sends a new message, you can reply again.
Meta can also let a person on your team reply up to 7 days after the last message. Meta calls this Human Agent. When Meta allows it for Berchtold, the reply box shows the later time. The reply box always shows the time that applies to your conversation.
Replies that your team sends from Meta Business Suite also show in the conversation, marked Sent from Meta Business Suite. Messenger allows replies of 2,000 characters. Instagram allows 1,000.
Connected AI tools
Claude, ChatGPT and Muse can do the same work:
- List and read conversations (
crm_conversations,crm_get_conversation). They show the same conversations you see, texts included, with the channel, the same filters and search. - Reply (
crm_reply_conversation) and ask for the email (crm_ask_conversation_email). Each shows you a preview first. It sends only after you confirm. - Make or link the contact (
crm_conversation_contact), and remove a wrong email (crm_dismiss_conversation_email). - Give a conversation to a member (
crm_assign_conversation). Your own Facebook must have its Page.