| Plan | × Professional ✓ Advanced ✓ Scale ✓ Enterprise |
Ask Vista in Slack lets anyone on your team mention @Vista in a Slack channel and get an answer from Vista Social right in the thread.
It 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 write three LinkedIn posts from this."
- Work from a file. Attach a spreadsheet, brief, or document to your message and ask about it. "@Vista which classes have the most open spots in this schedule?" or "@Vista create content ideas from this PDF."
- 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
- Ask Vista in Slack is available on the Advanced plan and up.
- 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 → Account Settings → 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
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 with your question, for example:
@Vista 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. If you started the thread, you do not need to mention @Vista again. Teammates who reply in your thread need to mention @Vista for the bot to answer them. 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 to share a file with Vista
- In a channel the bot has been invited to, attach the file to your message the way you'd attach any file in Slack.
- In the same message, mention @Vista and say what you want done with the file.
- Vista reads the file and replies in the thread. If you ask it to save something, like post ideas, it does that in Vista Social too.
To see which file types Ask Vista can read, see How to attach files to Ask Vista.
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 → Account 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. If you did not start the thread, mention the bot too.
- Open charts in Vista Social. Charts are not shown in Slack. Open the conversation from your Ask Vista chat list to see them.
- In a direct message with the bot, you only need to mention @Vista the first time. Follow-up messages in that conversation don't need the mention.
- The bot can use the tools you've connected in Ask Vista connectors, for example creating a task in ClickUp or a contact in HubSpot.
- Documents arrive as a PDF. Ask for a report or summary and Ask Vista replies with a PDF download link. Preview and sharing as a web page are only in Vista Social. See Ask Vista document generation.
- Find earlier chats. With Memory on, ask something like "find the Ask Vista chat where we came up with post ideas for November" and the bot finds it and tells you which chat it used. Your Preferences apply here too. See Ask Vista preferences and memory.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why does the bot not react to my mention?
A: Check that the bot was invited to the channel with /invite @Vista, and that the channel is not set to Ignore mentions in this channel in Manage channels.
Q: The bot says it could not find a Vista Social user with the email on my Slack profile. What do I do?
A: Your Slack email does not match your Vista Social email. Ask an admin to match you in Manage users.
Q: The bot says Slack is not on our plan. What does that mean?
A: Ask Vista in Slack is available on the Advanced plan and up. If you're on the Professional plan, an account admin can upgrade your plan to use it.
Q: The bot asks us to reconnect. How do we fix it?
A: An admin should open the three-dot menu on the Slack card and click Reconnect. This picks up new Slack permissions after an update.
Q: Why is a channel missing from Manage channels?
A: The list only shows channels the bot has been invited to. Invite it first, then reopen the list.
Q: Do I need to mention the bot in every reply in a thread?
A: Not if you started the thread. Teammates who reply in your thread need to mention @Vista so the bot knows the message is for it.
Q: Can I send Vista a file in Slack?
A: Yes. Attach the file to the message where you mention @Vista, and it reads the file before it answers.
Need help?
Reach out to our support team, and we are happy to help.
Related Reading:
Getting started with Ask Vista
How to add connectors to Ask Vista
How to track your AI usage and credits
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