# Social templates

> The template library holds ready-made Instagram and Facebook messages, from text with images to swipeable card carousels with buttons, and sends them on a keyword, a comment or when the AI picks the right one.

Source: https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/docs/social-templates

## Open the template library

Open **Template library** on the **Instagram** or **Facebook** page. Both pages open the same library, and one template can serve both channels.

_Template library is opened from the Instagram (or Facebook) page_

The library has two tabs:

- **Your templates** lists every template you have saved, active or draft. Each one shows its type, its status and the channels it is on.
- **Samples** has six ready-made templates to start from: **Product catalogue**, **Current offer**, **Store location**, **Contact us**, **Price list** and **Order online**.

_Template library: Your templates_

**On this screen:** the **Your templates** tab. The line at the top counts your templates and how many are active. Each row shows the template's name and status (**Active** or **Draft**), its type, the channels it is on (**FB**, **IG**), its keywords and how many comment rules it has, with **Edit**, **Activate** or **Deactivate**, and the bin icon to delete it. **New template** is at the top right.

_Template library: Samples_

**On this screen:** the **Samples** tab. Each sample shows how it looks in the customer's chat, its type, and **Duplicate** to copy it into **Your templates** as a draft.

## Start from a sample

The quickest start is a sample:

1. Open the **Samples** tab, find one you like and click **Duplicate**. The copy lands in **Your templates** as a draft.
2. Change it to your own text, images, links and numbers, and check the **Live preview**.
3. Click **Save & activate**, or **Save as draft** to finish later.

> **Note:** Only active templates are ever sent. You can **Activate** or **Deactivate** a template from **Your templates** at any time.

## Create a template

Click **New template** to build one from scratch. The editor is on the left and the **Live preview** on the right shows exactly what the customer gets on their phone.

1. Give it a **Name**. Customers never see it; it is how your team finds the template in the library.
2. Pick the **Type**: **Text + images**, or **Card + buttons** (see [Template types](https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/docs/social-templates#template-types)).
3. Fill in the message:
   - **Text + images**: write the **Message text** and add up to 3 image links with **Add image**.
   - **Card + buttons**: give each card a **Title** (up to 80 characters), an optional **Subtitle** (up to 80) and an optional **Image link**, then **Add button** for up to 3 buttons. **Add card** adds another card, up to 10.
4. Under **When it is sent**, add **Keywords (DM)** (up to 10; press Enter or comma after each) and write **When to send (for the AI)**.
5. Under **Channels**, tick **Facebook**, **Instagram** or both.
6. Click **Save & activate**, or **Save as draft**.

_Template editor with the live preview_

**On this screen:** the editor for a **Card + buttons** template. On the left, **Basics** holds the **Name** (up to 120 characters) and the **Type**; **Message** holds the optional **Text before the card** and the **Cards**, each with its image link, title, subtitle and buttons. On the right, **Live preview** updates as you type and shows the chat as the customer sees it. **Save as draft** and **Save & activate** are at the bottom.

_Template settings: when it is sent, channels and comment rules_

**On this screen:** further down the same editor. **When it is sent** holds **When to send (for the AI)** (up to 300 characters) and the **Keywords (DM)**, with a reminder that a template goes to each customer at most once an hour. **Channels** ticks **Facebook** and **Instagram**. **Comment rules** lists the rules for this template, with **Add rule** and **Save comment rules**.

To change a template later, click **Edit** on it in **Your templates**, then **Save changes**. If you close the editor with unsaved changes, it asks before throwing them away.

## Manage your templates

From **Your templates** you can:

- **Edit** a template.
- **Activate** a draft, or **Deactivate** an active template so it stops being sent without losing it.
- **Delete** a template. You are asked to confirm, and a deleted template cannot be brought back.

Changing templates needs Facebook or Instagram management access. Without it the library is read-only: **Edit** becomes **Preview**, and you can look at every template but not save one. See [Team & roles](https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/docs/team-roles).

## Template types

| Type | What it contains |
| --- | --- |
| **Text + images** | A text message with up to 3 images. |
| **Card + buttons** | A card with an image, a title and up to 3 buttons. Add up to 10 cards and the customer swipes through them as a carousel. |

Images and link buttons use https links. They are not uploads.

## Buttons

A button's text can be up to 20 characters. Each button on a card can be one of three kinds:

- **Link** opens a web page.
- **Call** rings your number. Type it with the country code, for example +91 98765 43210. On Messenger it rings you straight away. Instagram has no call button, so it opens a small page with your number and a Call now button.
- **WhatsApp** opens a WhatsApp chat with that number.

> **Warning:** The "Contact us" sample has both a Call and a WhatsApp button with the placeholder +91 00000 00000. Replace it with your own number before you activate it.

## When a template is sent

A template can go out in three ways.

1. **Keywords (DM)** — if a customer's message contains one of the template's keywords, the template is always sent.
2. **When to send (for the AI)** — describe when it fits. During a chat, the AI sends it right after its reply when the customer asks for exactly that.
3. **Comment rules** — a keyword commented on one post, or on all posts, sends the template to the commenter as a private message.

Meta allows one private message per comment. For a comment rule, a card template goes as the card, and a text-and-images template sends its text.

### Set up a comment rule

Comment rules live inside the template, under **Comment rules** in the editor. Save the template first (as a draft is enough); a new, unsaved template cannot have comment rules yet.

1. Click **Add rule**.
2. Pick the **Platform** and the **Account**. The account must be connected first; see [Instagram & Facebook](https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/docs/instagram-facebook).
3. Pick a post from your recent posts, or **All posts**.
4. Type the **Keyword** to look for in the comment, for example *price*.
5. Click **Save comment rules**.

If someone on your team changed the same rules while you were editing, you are told before anything is overwritten, and **Save anyway** replaces their version with yours.

## Built-in limits

- The same template is not sent to the same customer twice within an hour. If they ask again sooner, the AI points them to the one already sent.
- Messages can only go out inside Meta's 24-hour window after the customer last wrote to you.

> **Tip:** Give each template a clear **When to send** description. It is what the AI reads to decide whether a template fits the conversation.

## Related

- [Instagram & Facebook](https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/docs/instagram-facebook) for connecting accounts and comment-reply modes.
- [Business Details](https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/docs/business-details) for what the AI says around your templates.
- [Instagram comment to DM automation](https://business.mysmartassistant.ai/instagram-comment-to-dm) for how a keyword comment rule fits with AI comment replies.