Your team already talks about clients, campaigns, and results in Slack. With Ask Vista in Slack, anyone on your team can mention @Vista Social in a channel and get an answer from Vista Social right in the thread. No switching tabs, no copying numbers into a message, no "can someone pull last week's report?"
Ask Vista in Slack is the same Ask Vista you use inside Vista Social, with the same data and tools. It answers as the person who asked, so everyone sees only what their own Vista Social account can see.
What you can do with it
- Get performance answers in the conversation. "How did our Instagram posts do last week?" or "Which LinkedIn post got the most engagement this month?"
- Check what is coming up. "What is scheduled for Acme tomorrow?" or "Are there any posts waiting for approval?"
- Draft content with the thread as context. Paste a brief or a product update, then ask "@Vista Social write three LinkedIn posts from this."
- Answer product questions for your team. Connect a knowledge base to a channel and the bot answers from your own docs, guidelines, and FAQs.
- Keep one channel per client. Point a client channel at that client's profile group and knowledge base, and every answer there starts from the right brand.
Before you start
- Your Vista Social plan needs the Premium integrations add-on. Without it, the Slack card shows in the upgrade section of the Integrations page.
- Anyone on your Vista Social account can connect Slack. Only account admins can manage users and channels, reconnect, or disconnect it.
- Depending on your Slack workspace settings, a Slack admin may need to approve the app.
- Each person who uses the bot needs a Vista Social user on your account. Answers use your account's AI credits, the same as Ask Vista in Vista Social.
Step 1: Connect your Slack workspace
- In Vista Social, go to Settings and open Integrations.
- Find the Slack card and click Connect.
- You are taken to Slack. Pick the workspace you want to connect and click Allow.
- You are sent back to Vista Social, and the Slack card shows the workspace it is connected to.
Step 2: Invite the bot to a channel
The bot only works in channels it has been invited to. In Slack, open the channel and send:
/invite @Vista Social
This works in public and private channels. In a private channel, only its members can see what the bot answers.
Step 3: Mention the bot
Mention @Vista Social with your question, for example:
@Vista Social how did our Facebook posts perform last week?
Here is what happens next:
- A 👀 reaction appears on your message, so you know the bot picked it up.
- A "Thinking…" reply appears in the thread, and it turns into the answer when it is ready.
- To follow up, reply in the same thread and mention @Vista Social again. The bot reads the earlier messages in the thread, so you do not need to repeat yourself.
- Each new thread starts a new conversation.
Conversations started in Slack also show up in your Ask Vista chat list in Vista Social, marked with a Slack icon, so you can pick them up there.
How the bot knows who you are
The bot matches the email on your Slack profile to your Vista Social user. It then answers with your own access: the profiles you can see, the actions you are allowed to take, and your role. Two teammates can ask the same question in the same channel and get different answers if they have access to different profiles.
If someone's Slack email is different from their Vista Social email, an admin can match them by hand:
- On the Slack card in Settings > Integrations, click the three-dot menu.
- Choose Manage users.
- Find the person in the list and pick their Vista Social user.
People without a Vista Social user on your account get a reply in the thread explaining why the bot cannot help them, instead of an answer.
Set up a channel for a client or a team
Each channel can have its own settings. On the Slack card, click the three-dot menu and choose Manage channels. You will see every channel the bot has been invited to. Expand a channel to change:
- Ignore mentions in this channel. The bot stays in the channel but stops answering. Your other settings are kept and apply again when you turn it back on.
- Channel instructions. Guidance added to every answer in this channel, for everyone. For example: "Keep answers short, and always mention which profile the numbers came from."
- Skill. An Ask Vista skill that runs on every message in the channel, such as your brand voice or a reporting format.
- Profile group. New conversations in the channel start focused on this group's profiles, so "how did we do last week?" means that client without anyone naming them. Teammates outside the group get answers across the profiles they can access.
- Knowledge. A knowledge base from the channel's profile group. It is searched on every mention, and the best matches go into the answer. Select a profile group first to choose its knowledge.
Click Save when you are done. Channels with unsaved changes are marked Unsaved, and collapsed channels show what is set, such as "Profile group: Acme" or "Knowledge: Acme brand guide".
Tips for good answers
- Name the profile, network, and time range when a channel is not tied to a profile group: "Instagram for Acme, last 30 days".
- Use one thread per topic. The bot reads the thread for context, so a fresh thread gives a fresh start.
- Answer choices by number. When the bot offers a list of options, reply in the thread with the number and mention the bot.
- Open charts in Vista Social. Charts are not shown in Slack. Open the conversation from your Ask Vista chat list to see them.
Troubleshooting
The bot does not react to my mention. Check that the bot was invited to the channel with /invite @Vista Social, and that the channel is not set to Ignore mentions in this channel in Manage channels.
The bot says it could not find a Vista Social user with the email on your Slack profile. Your Slack email does not match your Vista Social email. Ask an admin to match you in Manage users.
The bot says Slack is not on our plan. The Premium integrations add-on is not active on your account. An account admin can add it.
The bot asks us to reconnect. An admin should open the three-dot menu on the Slack card and click Reconnect. This picks up new Slack permissions after an update.
A channel is missing from Manage channels. The list only shows channels the bot has been invited to. Invite it first, then reopen the list.
Disconnecting Slack
To remove the bot, open the three-dot menu on the Slack card and click Disconnect. This removes Vista Social from your Slack workspace for everyone. The bot stops answering, and any user matches you set up in Manage users are deleted.