Introduction to Engagement
Table of Contents
You can engage with your customers by responding to and managing conversations happening with or about your brand through messages in the Smart Inbox.
What is a “message” in Sprout?
A message in the context of Sprout refers to the various ways people communicate with your social channels, or how you communicate with your audience. Each network features a variety of message types, which may include public mentions, private messages, new followers, and comments. Every message you receive for your connected social profiles shows up in the Smart Inbox.
Supported networks in the Smart Inbox:
X (formerly Twitter) — @mentions, DMs, replies, Brand Keywords
Facebook — comments, posts, DMs, reviews, ad comments
Instagram — comments, @mentions, DMs, Story replies, ad comments
LinkedIn — comments, @mentions, DMs
TikTok — comments, @mentions, ad comments
WhatsApp Business — private messages
YouTube — comments
Reddit — posts and comments from moderated subreddits
Threads — comments and @mentions
Bluesky — comments on owned posts
Smart Inbox
The Smart Inbox helps you visualize your inbound message volume across your social profiles, find new conversations happening about your brand, and quickly respond to those messages all from one place. It has two main components: the message stream and the Filter Menu.
Controlling visibility in the Smart Inbox
You can control what message you see in your Smart Inbox by selecting options from both the Left and Right Bars. The Left Bar controls which Inbox View you want to see, while the Right Bar dives into the actual visualization of your messages including a real-time activity chart and custom date range selections. Use these two bars to help narrow your focus on the messages you want to tackle.
Left Bar
You can control what messages you see in your Smart Inbox using the Inbox Views navigation on the left and the Filter Menu across the top. Use these together to narrow your focus to the messages you want to tackle.
Inbox Views (Left Navigation)
The left navigation in the Smart Inbox contains the following views:
All Messages — a roundup of all messages from all profiles you've connected.
Private Messages — all DMs and private messages across networks, grouped by conversation. This view updates automatically as you add new networks.
Completed Messages — messages where an action has been performed (marked complete).
Saved Messages — all messages you've saved for follow-up.
Reply Approvals — messages with a pending reply awaiting approval.
Custom Views — any custom inbox views you or your team have created.
You can also create a new custom view directly from the left bar. To start building your own custom views, or to explore the prepackaged views from Sprout, check out this helpful article.
Filter Menu
The Filter Menu across the top of the Smart Inbox lets you control exactly which messages appear. Available filter options include:
Sources — Filter by connected profiles and Brand Keywords
Message Types — Filter by specific message types per network (comments, DMs, @mentions, etc.)
Tags — Filter by tags applied to messages
Ad Accounts & Campaigns — Filter by social ad engagement
Languages — Filter messages by detected language
Cases — Filter by messages with/without a case, or by assignee
Sentiment — Filter by AI-detected sentiment (Positive, Negative, Neutral) (Advanced plan and above)
Message Intent — Filter by AI-detected intent (Customer Support, High Brand Risk, Customer Love) (Advanced plan and above)
Response Classification — Filter by messages classified as "Response Recommended" (Advanced plan and above)
Spam — Filter by messages classified as Spam (Advanced plan and above)
Toggle the Filter icon to hide or show the Filter Menu from your view.
Real-Time Activity Chart
The Real-Time Activity Chart at the top of the Smart Inbox helps you and your team visualize the number of messages you've received. As you work to address each message, it provides immediate insight into your overall progress.
Understanding the Chart
The chart consists of a set of bars:
Gray bars indicate the number of remaining messages.
Green bars fill up as you and your team mark messages complete.
Any user with the Manage Message Status permission sees both gray and green bars, so your front-line team members understand how many messages they've received in total and how close they are to reaching inbox zero.
Hover over a bar to reveal stats specific to that timeframe. Click on a bar to isolate and display only messages received during that period.
Adjust the timeframe in your inbox with the Date Selector. Choose from the following:
- Previous 24 hours: see messages for the past day, displayed by hour
- Previous 7 days: see messages from the last week, displayed by day
- Previous 90 days: see messages from the past quarter, displayed by week
- Custom Range: see messages from a custom range of time
- All time: see messages from the time you connected your profiles to Sprout
Additionally, hovering over a bar with your mouse cursor reveals stats specific to that bar’s timeframe. Click on a bar to isolate and display only messages received during that time frame.
Key Smart Inbox features
AI-powered message triage
Sprout automatically classifies incoming messages to help your team prioritize what matters most:
Sentiment — Messages are automatically scored as Positive, Negative, or Neutral so you can quickly surface unhappy customers or fan love. (Advanced plan and above)
Message Intent — Classifies messages as Customer Support requests, High Brand Risk, or Customer Love to help route messages to the right team. (Advanced plan and above)
Response Recommended — Flags messages that likely require a response so your team knows where to focus. (Advanced plan and above)
Spam Detection — AI automatically identifies spam, scams, and bot messages. You can auto-complete spam, filter it out, or use it in Automated Rules. (Advanced plan and above)
You can filter, create views, and build Automated Rules based on any of these classifications.
Cases
When a message requires follow-up from a specific person or team, you can create a Case to assign it. Cases are the foundation of Care by Sprout Social and allow you to:
Assign messages to a specific user or team
Set case type (General, Sales Lead, Support Issue), priority, and tags
Track case status and assignment
Auto-create cases via Automated Rules for hands-off routing
Cases are available on all plans. Learn more about using cases in Sprout.
Automated Rules
Automated Rules let you create if/then workflows that fire automatically when messages meet your criteria. Use them to:
Auto-tag messages based on keywords, sentiment, or message type
Auto-create and route Cases to the right team
Auto-complete spam messages
Send messages to Salesforce
Hide inappropriate content
Automated Rules are available on the Advanced plan and above. Learn how to set up Automated Rules.
Split Pane Mode & Conversation View
Split Pane Mode — View your inbox and reply panel side-by-side so you can respond to messages without leaving your current view.
Conversation View — Groups private messages from the same conversation together, showing a blue bubble icon. Click "View Thread" to see the full message history.
Toggle these on from the three-dot overflow menu at the top of the Smart Inbox. Learn more about Smart Inbox modes.
Collision Detection
Collision Detection alerts you in real time when a team member is already responding to or acting on a message, helping your team avoid duplicate efforts.
Message Actions
Every message in the Smart Inbox supports a set of actions to help your team engage efficiently:
Reply — Respond directly to the message from Sprout
Like — React to the message on the native network
Mark Complete — Remove the message from your active view
Create Case — Assign to a team member for follow-up
Tag — Apply tags for organization and reporting
Start Team Conversation — Collaborate with team members directly on a message
Macros — Apply pre-built rules to quickly tag and complete
Save — Bookmark for later
Translate — Translate message content
Export / Email — Share message data externally
Additional network-specific actions (Hide, Delete, Upvote, etc.) are available depending on the source network.
Key Sprout Engagement features
Check out these guides to learn how to make the most of Sprout's Engagement tools.
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