Connect Facebook Messenger

Connecting Messenger is two handshakes, not one. First, in a popup run by Meta, you give Exabloom permission to work with your Page. Then, back in Exabloom, you choose which Page this workspace should actually answer. Only after that second step does Exabloom start listening for the Page’s messages.

That split matters for two reasons. Meta’s popup can end with “connected”, but your channel card isn’t connected yet: you still have to pick the Page in Exabloom. And while Meta lets you share several Pages at once, a workspace connects exactly one Page. You make that choice in the second step.

• A Facebook Page for your business. Messenger conversations belong to a Page, not to a personal profile.
• A Facebook account with full control of that Page. You’ll log in with it in Meta’s popup. If your account only has partial access, the Page may not appear in the list, so ask whoever manages the Page to give you full control first.
• A business portfolio, with full access to it. Meta’s popup asks you to choose the business portfolio the Page belongs to, so the Facebook account you log in with needs full access to that portfolio too, not just to the Page. The popup also offers to create a portfolio if you don’t have one yet. See Create your Meta Business Portfolio if you want to set it up properly first.
• Access to Social Channels in Exabloom. Your role needs the Social Channels settings page. If you can’t see it under Settings, ask a workspace admin (Roles and permissions).
• Pop-ups allowed for Exabloom. Meta’s login opens in a separate browser window. A pop-up blocker is the most common reason nothing seems to happen.

Part 1 · Start in Exabloom

Log in to the workspace that should receive the Page’s messages. Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then Social Channels, and click Connect on the Facebook Messenger card.

A small dialog opens. Click Connect with Facebook. If you aren’t already logged in to Facebook in this browser, Meta asks you to log in first. Use the account that has full access to your business portfolio and the Page.

Part 2 · Walk Meta’s popup

The next four screens are Meta’s, not Exabloom’s. They appear in a small separate browser window that opens on top of Exabloom, with its own facebook.com address. Meta shows the app as Exabloom AI. Meta controls this flow, so the exact wording and layout on your screen may differ a little from what’s drawn here.

The review screen (screen 2) lists the permissions Exabloom asks for. Here’s what each one is actually used for:

Part 3 · Pick the Page in Exabloom

The popup closes and you’re back in Exabloom. Wait a moment while Exabloom fetches the Pages you just shared. The dialog then changes to Select a Page to Connect, listing each Page’s name and ID. A Page that’s already connected somewhere else is greyed out and can’t be picked. The amber line under it says where: Connected in Holiday Camps HQ when it’s another workspace under your own brand, or Connected to another Exabloom account when it isn’t yours to see.

The button reads Connecting... while Exabloom subscribes to the Page’s messages. When the dialog closes, the card shows the green Connected pill and a Settings button. That’s it, you’re connected.

New messages go straight to the Inbox. From the moment the card says Connected, every message someone sends your Page on Messenger appears in Inbox. Conversation rows and message timestamps are labelled Facebook, so you can tell them apart from WhatsApp at a glance. Photos and videos arrive as media, and other attachments arrive as files.

A contact is created on the first message. When someone messages the Page for the first time, Exabloom creates a contact for them, named from their Facebook profile. If Meta won’t share the name, the contact starts as Messenger contact 2047 (the last four digits of their Facebook ID) and Exabloom fills in the real name on a later message. Their Created by row reads Inbound · Facebook, and when it was their message that started the conversation they get the facebook-lead-capture tag automatically, so you can filter or segment everyone who found you through Messenger.

Replies from Meta’s own apps show up too. If someone on your team answers from the Page inbox in Meta Business Suite or the Facebook app, that reply appears in the Exabloom thread as an outbound message. The conversation never splits between the two tools.

Old conversations don’t come across. Exabloom only receives messages sent after you connect. Anything from before stays in Meta Business Suite.

Open the conversation and type as usual. The channel pill next to the message box shows which channel your reply goes out on. It starts on the channel of the most recent message in the thread, so for a Messenger conversation it already says Facebook Messenger.

You can send text, images, videos, and files. Attachments go out on their own, without a caption, so send any text as a separate message.

The 24-hour rule

Meta only lets a business reply freely within 24 hours of the person’s last message. Each new message from them restarts that window. Your own replies don’t.

Unlike WhatsApp, the message box doesn’t show a countdown for Messenger, so keep an eye on the time of their last message. A reply sent after the window has closed is rejected by Meta. The message shows Failed, with Meta’s reason, in the thread, where you can retry it, and it’s listed in Failed messages. If a lead has gone quiet for more than a day, you’ll need to wait for them to message the Page again.

Check the status. The small line under the card’s description tells you when the channel was last connected or disconnected, and by whom. Click it to open the full connection history.

Disconnect. Click Settings on the connected card, then Disconnect. To confirm, type DISCONNECT and click Disconnect again. From then on, new messages to the Page stop arriving and you can’t reply from Exabloom. Conversations and contacts you already have stay where they are.

Switch to a different Page. Because a workspace connects one Page, switching is a disconnect followed by a fresh connect. Disconnect as above, click Connect again, share the new Page in Meta’s popup, and select it in Select a Page to Connect.

Nothing happens when I click “Connect with Facebook”

Meta’s login opens as a pop-up window. Check your browser’s address bar for a blocked pop-up notice, allow pop-ups for Exabloom, and try again. If the button is greyed out, it’s either still loading Meta’s login or a popup is already open somewhere behind your window. Find that window, or close the dialog and start again.

My Page isn’t in Meta’s Page dropdown

The Facebook account you logged in with doesn’t have full control of the Page, or you picked a business portfolio that doesn’t own it. Try the other portfolios in the first dropdown. If it still isn’t there, check the account you’re logged in as (the avatar at the top right of the popup) and get full control of the Page from whoever manages it.

The dialog went back to “Connect with Facebook” with no Page list

Meta finished, but no Page was shared with Exabloom, so there was nothing to list. Click Connect with Facebook again and make sure a Page is selected in the Page dropdown before clicking Next.

The Page I want is greyed out

That Page is already connected to a Messenger channel somewhere else, and a Page can only feed one workspace at a time. If the amber line names a workspace you look after, disconnect Facebook Messenger there first, then come back and pick the Page. If it says Connected to another Exabloom account, the Page belongs to a different business on Exabloom, and whoever runs that account has to disconnect it.

I clicked Connect and got an error

A red message appears above the button and the dialog stays open, so you can read it and try again. This Facebook Page is already connected… means someone connected the Page elsewhere while you had the dialog open (see the greyed-out Page above). Connection has expired, please start the connection again means the dialog sat too long: close it and click Connect with Facebook again. Otherwise Meta refused to let Exabloom subscribe to the Page, which usually means the account that went through the popup lacks full control of it. Close the dialog, then run the flow again with an account that does.

The card says Connected, but messages stopped arriving

Access was probably removed or changed on Meta’s side. Maybe someone removed Exabloom AI from the business portfolio’s integrations, took away your Page access, or changed the Facebook password. Exabloom doesn’t find out about changes made in Meta, so the card keeps showing Connected. Disconnect in Exabloom, then connect again.

• One Page per workspace, and one workspace per Page. If your business runs several Pages, connect each one in the workspace that looks after it. A Page that’s connected in one workspace can’t be connected in another until you disconnect it.
• Instagram is a separate connection. Connecting the Facebook Page doesn’t bring in Instagram DMs, even if the accounts are linked in Meta. Use the Instagram Messenger card for that.
• Only new messages come in. There’s no import of past Messenger conversations, so connect before a campaign goes live, not after.
• The 24-hour window is strict. Meta, not Exabloom, rejects replies once it closes, and nothing warns you before you send.
• Manage the Meta side in your business portfolio. Meta’s success screen links to it. That’s where you see or remove Exabloom AI’s access. If you remove it there, disconnect in Exabloom too.