Community inbox

Community Manager works incoming messages with their channel, social account and author context visible. A message can be a direct message, comment, reply or review question. The assigned person and receipt time help the team decide who should respond and what needs attention during the current shift.

The reply thread retains outbound messages, inbound messages and internal notes as distinct directions. Delivery status and a channel message identity provide context for an attempted response. Community Manager can inspect that evidence before treating a conversation as responded to or resolved.

• Assign the incoming work. Routing rules describe account, channel, sentiment and keyword context. During setup, test the first matching rule in ascending priority; an unmatched New message should remain available for a person to assign. Marketing Manager maintains the policy, while Community Manager follows the resulting assignment.
• Work the response thread. Record the reply with the correct direction and responsible person. An internal note is useful for a colleague but does not represent an outbound answer. Inspect the observed delivery outcome when deciding whether the customer has received the intended response.
• Follow response timing. Receipt, assignment and first-response times sit alongside the response allowance. Keep the message state understandable as it moves through Open, Pending, Responded or Escalated. Close the case with its recorded resolution state when the operating work is finished.

Agree which rules should take precedence and who belongs in each active assignment pool. Use recognizable keyword conditions and test a message that matches more than one rule. Decide who monitors unmatched New messages so they still receive an operating decision.

Set the response allowance by the intended service policy and agree how the first response is recognized. Define the handoff for an escalated conversation and for a failed outbound delivery. Marketing Manager and Community Manager should share the same interpretation of a resolved case at shift change.

Prepare a rehearsal inbox question about a launch post. Give it the expected account and sentiment context, then test the matching routing rules. Confirm the assigned Community Manager and inspect the receipt and assignment times before beginning the response.

Record an Internal Note asking a colleague for clarification. The team should still treat the external question as awaiting its response. Then record the outbound reply and inspect its delivery evidence. A Failed outcome needs follow-up even when a response body exists in the thread.

Finally, use a message that matches no rule. Check that it remains New, then identify who will assign the work. Ask another Community Manager to explain the conversation’s current state and next action from the message and reply records.

• Open Inbox — Conversations awaiting work, with assignment and timing context.
• My Inbox — Messages associated with the signed-in Community Manager.
• Reply Delivery Exceptions — Failed reply outcomes needing investigation.

Follow Inbox and mention response, then use Campaign performance review for the relevant reporting context.