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Brain (formerly AI Training & Knowledge) lets you teach Vista Social's AI assistant everything it needs to know about your brand, so every caption it writes, every DM it sends, and every inbox reply it generates sounds like you, not a generic bot.
What is Brain?
Every brand is different. Your tone, your products, your policies, your FAQs, none of that lives inside an AI by default. Brain is where you change that.
You create one or more Knowledges inside a profile group, each fed by its own set of content sources. A profile group can have as many Knowledges as you need, for example, one for general brand information, one for your product catalog, and one for your support FAQs. Once set up, you can point Vista Social's AI assistant to a specific Knowledge whenever it's generating content or handling a customer conversation, ensuring every output is grounded in the right context.
Step 1: Create a Knowledge
Navigate to Settings → Brain and click Create Knowledge.
You'll be asked to provide:
- Name: something descriptive, like "General Brand Info," "Product Catalog," or "Support FAQs."
- Profile Group:the profile group this knowledge belongs to.
- Description (optional): a short note for your team about what this knowledge covers.
Once created, you'll land inside the knowledge where you can start adding content. Repeat this process to create additional Knowledges within the same profile group as needed.
Step 2: Add Content Sources
Content is the factual foundation your AI draws from, the library it reads before answering any question or writing any caption. You can add content from the following sources:
Prompt: Type or paste text directly for your AI to reference. Useful for quick facts, brand notes, or details that don't live on a page or document.
Document Upload (Premium): Upload PDFs, Word docs, or other files like your brand guidelines, product catalog, or an FAQ document.
Web Page URL (Premium): Paste any public URL and Vista Social will read and index that page. Great for product pages, your About page, or a blog post.
Sitemap (Premium): Paste your sitemap URL and Vista Social will crawl and index your entire site automatically.
Zendesk Knowledge Base (Premium): Connect your Zendesk account to pull in your existing support articles. Ideal for brands that already maintain a help center.
Pro Tip You can add as many sources as you need across as many Knowledge Bases as you like. The richer and more organized your content, the more accurately the AI can answer questions and generate on-brand responses. |
Step 3: Add Guidance & Instructions (Premium)
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Guidance is how you give the AI specific rules about how to use your content, not just what to know. While content gives the AI facts, guidance tells it how to behave.
Examples of what guidance can do:
- "If a customer asks about pricing, refer to the pricing page content only."
- "If someone asks about catering options, use the catering menu document."
- "Always respond in a friendly, casual tone. Never use jargon."
- "Do not make promises about delivery times. Direct customers to our shipping FAQ instead."
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Note Guidance is also your best troubleshooting tool. If you run a test and the AI pulls from the wrong source or gives a slightly off answer, adding a guidance rule is often the fastest fix, without needing to change your content. |
Step 4: Set Up Escalation Rules (Premium)
| Plan | × Professional × Advanced ✓ Scale ✓ Enterprise |
Not every question should be answered by AI. Escalation rules tell the assistant when to step back and hand off a conversation to a human.
You define the conditions , for example, topics like legal complaints, billing disputes, or distressed customers, and then choose how to escalate:
- Email: send an alert to a team member's inbox.
- Slack: post a notification to a Slack channel.
- REST API: push the escalation to any external system or workflow tool.
Step 5: Test Before You Go Live
Before your knowledge powers any live interactions, use the Test tab to run your own Q&A. Type in a question exactly as a customer might ask it, and see the response the AI would generate based on your current knowledge and guidance setup.
This is the most important step for getting great results. Use it to:
- Verify the AI is pulling from the right content sources.
- Catch gaps where key information is missing.
- Identify areas where a guidance rule would sharpen accuracy.
- Share results with your team for sign-off before launch.
Step 6: Review the Activity Log
The Activity tab gives you a running history of questions answered and content generated using your knowledge. Use it to spot patterns, review edge cases, and continuously improve your training over time.
Where Your Knowledge Is Used
Once a Knowledge is set up and assigned to a profile group, it becomes available to Vista Social's AI assistant in three key places:
Creating a Post
When you open the AI assistant modal while composing a post, you can select a Knowledge for the AI to reference. This grounds the generated caption or content in your specific brand context, going beyond brand voice to include real product details, campaign specifics, or any other information you've trained it on.
Responding in the Social Inbox
When you're in the inbox and want AI to help you draft a reply to a customer message or comment, you can select a Knowledge before generating the response. The AI will use that context to answer accurately and on-brand.
Inbox Automations (AI Response Action)
When building a DM or comment automation, if you're using the AI Response action type, where the AI replies to customers automatically without you needing to manually write the answer, you can assign a Knowledge to that action. This ensures every automated response is informed by your brand's specific information, not just general AI knowledge.
Vista Page Chatbot
When you add a chatbot block, this allows you to power automated conversations on your Vista Page using AI that understands your brand, products, and services.
By assigning a Knowledge to your chatbot, the AI can respond to visitors using information specific to your business instead of relying only on general AI knowledge. This ensures responses are accurate, relevant, and aligned with your brand.
The chatbot can assist visitors by:
Answering common questions about your business, products, or services
Providing helpful information based on your configured Knowledge
Guiding visitors to the right links, content, or actions on your page
Because the chatbot references your assigned Knowledge, every response is grounded in your brand’s context
Pro Tip Brand voice and Knowledge work together, not in place of each other. You can use both simultaneously, the AI will apply your voice style while also drawing from the content and guidance in your selected Knowledge. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How many Knowledges can I create per profile group?
A: You can create multiple Knowledges per profile group with no fixed limit. Organize them however makes sense for your brand. It could be by topic, campaign, product line, or support category.
Q: What's the difference between content and guidance?
A: Content is the raw information the AI learns from. It could be documents, web pages, Zendesk articles. Guidance is the set of instructions that tells the AI how to use that information. For instance, when to reference which source, what tone to use, and what to avoid. Both work together to get the best results.
Q: Can I use the same Knowledge across multiple profile groups?
A: Knowledges are scoped to a specific profile group. If you need similar knowledge available in a different profile group, create a separate Knowledge there. This keeps everything organized and properly scoped to the right brand or client.
Q: Does selecting a Knowledge replace brand voice?
A: No. Brand voice and Knowledge work independently of each other. You can use brand voice alongside a Knowledge (e.g., the AI will apply your voice style while also drawing from your selected Knowledge's content and guidance.
Q: What if I don't select a Knowledge when using the AI assistant?
A: The AI will still generate content, but it will only draw from its general training and any brand voice settings you have in place. Selecting a Knowledge is optional but highly recommended when accuracy and brand specificity matter.
Q: How do I know if my knowledge is working correctly?
A: Use the Test tab before going live and after making any changes. The Activity log is also useful for reviewing real responses over time and catching anything that needs refinement.
Need further help?
If you have any questions or need additional help, feel free to contact our awesome support team. We are here to assist you! 💙
Related Reading:
- Getting Started with DM & Review Automations
- AI Assistant Overview
- Inbox Automation Triggers & Actions by Network
- Managing Profile Groups
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