To use the Streamchat for Line Hootsuite app, you must first create a Bot/Channel on Line to use with the app. Once you have finished that, you can install the app in Hootsuite, and monitor communications with Line users. 

1. Bot/Channel setup

Before you can get started with the Line for Hootsuite app, you must first create a Bot/Channel on Line. To do so, first open the Line developers page at: https://developers.line.me/en/

Click the Log in button in the upper right corner, and enter your Line login info. Once you've logged in, if you've used the Messaging API previously, you will already have a provider. Select it, and proceed to the next step. If you're just starting out, and don't have any providers, you will have to create one. Click the Create provider button to get started:

Next, enter the name of your provider, and click Confirm, then Create.

Now that you have created a provider, you can create a Bot/Channel to interact with Line users. Click Create Channel under Messaging API button to create a Bot.

Next, you can configure your bot:

Below are the settings you can configure for your bot:

App Icon

Select the Icon that will be displayed to users.

App Name

Enter the name that will be displayed to users

App Description

A short description of what your bot is for.

Plan

Select the Plan you would like to use. Note: if you select a plan that does not include Push messages, you will only be able to interact with users via auto-reply messages. If you are just testing, use the Developer Trial.

Category & SubCategory

Choose the category and sub-category that best reflects the kind of business you are engaged in.

Email Address

The email address you would like to receive important news and notification at. 

Once you have entered all of the bot's info, click the Confirm button at the bottom of the page to create it. 

Now, if you click the name of the provider you just created in the left menu, the bot/channel you created will be displayed. If you do not see the provider, click the Home link, and then the Start using Messaging API button. 

2. Installing the Hootsuite app

Once you have your bot/channel configured, install the Streamchat Hootsuite app from the Hootsuite app directory, and add it to a stream:

Streamchat allows you to create Line or Facebook Messenger chatbots. Select Line@ from the dropdown menu to continue creating your Line chatbot. 

 

You'll need to get the Channel Name, Channel Secret and Channel Access Token from the channel settings in Line. To do so, go back to the Line developers console, and click on the bot/channel you just created:

The settings for your bot/channel will then be displayed:

Copy the App name, Channel secret and Channel access tokens, and paste them into the corresponding boxes in the Hootsuite app. NOTE: You may have to click the Issue button to the right of the Channel access token to get a token. 

After you have pasted all of the required data, click the Add New Line Channel button in the Hootsuite stream to add it to the app. After you have clicked it, your Webhook URL will be displayed. Copy it by clicking the clipboard icon to the right of the text box:

With the Webhook URL copied, go back to your bot's settings, and click the Edit button to the right of the Webhook URL setting:

Paste the Webhook URL you copied into the text box, and then click the Update button:

Next, click the Verify button to make sure the Webhook is working properly:

Finally, just above the Webhook URL setting, enable the Webhook. To do so, click the Edit button

Select Enabled, and then click the Update button:

If you're going to use Autoresponders in the Hootsuite app, disable the Auto-reply messages and Greeting messages in your channel's settings by clicking the Edit button to the left of each setting, and then selecting Disabled:

Now, go back to the Hootsuite app, and click the OK button. Since your bot hasn't received any message yet, your stream will be empty:

As new messages are sent to your bot, they will appear in-stream:

With your bot all setup and ready to go in Hootsuite, you can now monitor and respond to messages send by Line users. 

3. Using the Hootsuite app

App Menu

At the top of the app, is the app's menubar. In it are 4 options:

  Mark all messages read

Click this option to mark all of the messages in the current stream read. 

  Filter results

Choose to only view results from specific users, as well as filter to view only unread messages or all messages, i.e. both read and unread.

When you type in the Filter by User text box, the app will automatically search for usernames that match, and display a menu from which you can select a specific user's name.

You can also choose to filter for handover requests only, making it easy to know when a user is asking for a human operator to chat with. 

 Autoresponders/Content

Create Autoresponders that allow you to automatically send replies to messages received by users. You can also create content to use with your Autoresponders.

  Settings

Under the settings menu, you can choose to switch to another bot/channel, if you have one. And, if you are the owner of the channel (i.e. the first to add the channel to Hootsuite) you will see a timezone setting. The timezone setting is used to determine when to send autoresponders.

  Menu

Under the Menu option, you can find links to this document, as well as support.

In-stream options

In-stream, there are many options you can choose from to interact with the message:

Click the check-mark  icon to mark the current message as read.

Click the reply  icon to open a new window where you can view all messages from this user, as well as send a message to them. 

Clicking the user's name or profile image will also open a new window where you can view the user's messages in addition to sending them a new message.

Also, if the user has requested a handover to a human agent, the item will be highlighted in-stream:

User message stream

After clicking the reply icon, or the user's name or profile image, the user's message stream will be displayed:

You can scroll through all of the messages sent by the user, as well as enter a new message to send to this user. Clicking the drop down menu will display a list of your saved content. Choose one of the selections and the content will be inserted into the message entry area.

Once you have your reply message entered, and are ready to send, simply click the  icon to send the message.

5. Autoresponders and Content.

Clicking the  icon in the app's menubar will open up the Autoresponder/Content window. When you open it for the first time, you will be asked to create your first content. 

Click the Content tab to create your first content. 

There are three types of content currently available: Text, Image and Location. Once you have entered everything to your liking, click the Save button, and the content will be saved. After that, you will be returned to the content list:

Click the trashcan  icon to delete the content. Click the pencil  icon to edit it.

Now that you have created content, you can move on to creating your first Autoresponder. Click the Autoresponder tab to display the Create New Autoresponder page:

Autoresponder Types

There are three Autoresponder types: Message, Follow and Handover. Follow Autoresponders are sent to a user when then start following you. Message Autoresponders are sent in response to a message sent to your Channel. Handover Autoresponders are sent when a user requests to talk with a human operator. For handovers, use a phrase/keyword to initiate a handover. Handover requests will be highlighted in-stream, as mentioned above. For Message and Handover Autoresponders, you can determine when the auto-response is sent using filters for: Date, Time of Day and Keywords.

Date Filtering

Under the Always send? menu, you will find two options: Yes, always send, and No, only between select dates. If you select always send, the Autoresponder will not check the current date to determine whether or not to send the response. If you select only between select dates, a date range option will appear. Click in it to display a calendar on which you can select a date range:

Time of Day Filtering

Under the Send at any time of day? menu, you will find two options: Yes, any time of the day and No, only between select times. If you select Yes, the Autoresponder will not check the time of day to determine whether or not to send the response. If you select No, a time range option will appear from which you can select the time of day during which you would like this response sent:

Phrase/Keyword Filtering

Using Phrase/Keyword filtering, you can enter text that will be searched for in messages sent to your channel from Line users. If the text is found, the response will be sent to the user. The app will search for the entire text. For example, if you enter Lunch menu in the Phrase/Keyword setting, it will match on:

Please send me your lunch menu

Do you have a lunch menu you could send me?

However, it will not match on:

Do you have a menu?

Finally, under the Select Content option, select the content you would like to use for the response sent to the user.

Mixed Filtering

You can use a mix of any combination of Date, Time and Keyword filtering, or no filtering at all, in an Autoresponder. All of the filtering conditions must be met before the response is sent. 

Frequency

The Frequency setting allows you to determine how often an Autoresponder can be sent to a recipient. You can choose from 

1. Always send - user will receive this autoresponse every time they send a message to your channel
2. Send only once to a user - user will only ever receive this autoresponse once
3. Send maximum once every 24 hours - user will receive this autoresponse only once in a 24 hour period
4. Send maximum once every 7 days - user will receive this autoresponse only once in a 7 day period
5. Send maximum once every 30 days - user will receive this autoresponse only once in a 30 day period

Saving your Autoresponder

After you have configured your Autoresponder, click the Save button to save the Autoresponder and then be taken back to the Autoresponder list:

After creating a new Autoresponder, it will not be Active. Clicking the box in the Active column will make the Autoresponder active and start sending it in response to new user messages received.

NOTE: If you have more than one Autoresponder that matches for a message sent by a user, multiple Autoresponders will be sent. Also, you can only have one active Follower Autoresponder at a time. 

6. Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the Line for Hootsuite app, please feel free to contact us via our support system at:

https://www.synaptive.com/contact-us

 

 

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