What is Salesforce Chatter?

Salesforce chatter is one of the most critical enterprise-level tools that keep all the employees on the same page and removes communication barriers between the various departments of the organization. Simply put, Salesforce chatter is an internal social media network where employees can share their data and ideas with their peers.

Employees can collaborate with other departments for a common agenda with the help of Salesforce chatter. They can exchange information and files over the Salesforce chatter. 

So overall, Salesforce chatter enhances the productivity and efficiency of the organization by removing internal communication barriers in the team. It connects different departments of organizations sitting in different geographical locations. This makes Salesforce chatter one of the crucial tools in Employee resource planning (ERP).

This post will discuss some important features you should know about Salesforce chatter. Then we will briefly discuss Salesforce Chatter API for mobile applications. We will then discuss the benefits and some drawbacks of Salesforce chatter.

So, let’s start with some popular features of Salesforce Chatter.

Features of Salesforce Chatter

Here are 4 main features you should know if you are using it for the first time.

1. Chatter Groups
2. Email Digest
3. Chatter Thanks
4. Quick actions

1. Chatter Groups

In Salesforce Chatter, employees can create chatter groups for a project or common agenda. They can add all the members involved in the project. Chatter groups come with many collaborative features; group members can stay in touch with each other during the project.

The group creator is the by-default owner of the group. The group owner can assign a manager with similar permission to handle the group. They can add or remove the members as per requirement.

2. Email Digest

Email Digest is a good source of information for projects. After joining the chatter group, members can subscribe to an email digest as per the requirement to stay updated. Users are empowered to set email frequency and notifications in the email digest.

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3. Chatter Thanks

Chatter Thanks let users greet a quick thank to their peers. You can get access to Chatter Thanks from the quick action panel. You can also send a short note along with quick thanks to your colleagues to appreciate their work.

4. Quick Actions

Quick Action is one of the important features of Salesforce chatter where you can do some quick action like thanks, file transfer, post important links, set up polls, and post your questions. All these things are customizable as per your requirement.

Now we will see how you can socialize and collaborate on Salesforce Chatter. There are so many ways by which you can socialize and collaborate with your colleagues in the organization.

Salesforce Chatter is your internal social media. You can update your profile and make it visible to your peers. You can edit your contact information and profile picture. Apart from that, just like Facebook, you can check your real-time news feed within your organization to keep watch and react to the activities of your peers.

Now we will go through Salesforce Chatter REST API.

A Brief Introduction to Salesforce Chatter REST API

Salesforce Chatter REST API is used to display all the features of Chatter, like news feeds, chatter groups, profiles, and all in the mobile application. It helps to build a mobile application for chatter, just like any other API.

But here, you can integrate third-party applications with Salesforce with the help of chatter REST API. You can integrate the news feed in chatter with the intranet or on third-party websites like Facebook and Twitter. So, whenever you post anything in Chatter with Twitter hashtags, it will also get posted on Twitter.

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Benefits of Salesforce Chatter

Here are some benefits of Salesforce chatter.

1. Saves Time & Cost

Teams can form chatter groups to communicate for projects or everyday tasks. So it reduces the requirement of meetings for small tasks. Hence it saves time and money for the organization and its employees. 

Employees can have a virtual meeting on chatter, irrespective of their geographical location.

2. Organizes Your Email Box

You can communicate small tasks on chatter itself. You can even use forums to raise your queries and keep checking the comment section to get them solved. You do not have to rely on emails for such tasks with the help of chatter. This helps to clean your email box and have only important email updates in your inbox.

3. Removes Communication Barriers

Salesforce chatter is very useful for large organizations to integrate their teams. Large organizations with operations in different geographical locations face challenges in synchronizing their team. Salesforce chatter fills these gaps and increases the unity among the team members irrespective of their locations.

4. Send Large Files Easily 

It is very time taking to upload and send large files via email. Salesforce chatter makes it easy. Team members can upload large files on chatter that do not need to be downloaded as the original files get saved on the chatter, and authorized peers can access it directly on the chatter itself.

5. Get Updated

Employees can check news feeds to check the latest developments in the organization. They can keep watch on ongoing and upcoming projects. Upper management can efficiently communicate with the whole organization with the help of chatter.

Advanced Use Cases of Chatter

Salesforce Chatter goes beyond basic communication, transforming how teams collaborate on critical business functions. Here’s a glimpse into its potential:

Chatter for Lead Management

• Create Chatter Groups for specific lead segments. Sales reps can share insights, best practices, and customer interactions, fostering a collaborative approach to nurturing leads.
• Capture customer feedback and behavior data from various sources (e.g., emails, social media) and share it within Chatter Groups. This empowers sales reps to personalize outreach and close deals faster.
• Utilize Chatter feeds to update lead statuses, share progress reports, and celebrate team wins. This fosters transparency and accountability within the sales team.

Chatter for Project Management

• Create project-specific Chatter Groups where team members can discuss tasks, brainstorm ideas, and troubleshoot challenges in real-time.
• Share project documents, presentations, and other relevant files directly within Chatter Groups, eliminating the need for scattered email attachments and ensuring everyone has access to the latest versions.
• Assign tasks to team members within Chatter and leverage comments and mentions to provide updates and track progress collaboratively. 

Integration Capabilities

Salesforce Chatter isn’t an island. It seamlessly integrates with external tools, further enhancing collaboration possibilities:

Connecting Chatter with External Applications

Chatter integrates with popular cloud storage solutions like Google Drive or Dropbox. This allows teams to share files directly within Chatter, eliminating the need for uploads and downloads and ensuring everyone accesses the latest versions.

Chatter and Third-Party Apps

Salesforce Chatter APIs empower developers to integrate custom applications, extending its functionalities to perfectly match your organization’s unique needs. Imagine integrating a project management tool directly within Chatter, allowing for seamless task creation, assignment, and tracking without ever leaving the platform.

Now we will see some drawbacks of Salesforce Chatter.

Limitations of Salesforce Chatter

1. Only Salesforce users get complete access to the chatter.

Salesforce Chatter is bundled with other Salesforce services for existing Salesforce users. There is a paid version of Salesforce chatter as well for non-Salesforce users. It provides access to the Salesforce content library. But it is a bit costly.

Free Salesforce chatter is also available for smaller organizations with less than 5000 employees. It provides limited features like creating chatter groups and file sharing but does not provide access to the content library and other features.

2. Best suitable only for large organizations

Chatter does not serve any purpose for small organizations with offices nearby. It is useful for large organizations with thousands of employees spread across a large region.

Summing Up

So, that’s it about Salesforce chatter. We covered its useful features, benefits, and limitations. But despite this limitation, one can not deny the crucial role of Salesforce Chatter in integrating organizations. Chatter facilitates communication and data sharing among team members in large organizations. This is how it improves communications and reduces the time and cost of meetings. Because of its high cost and applications, it is well-suited for large organizations.

If you want to learn more about Salesforce Chatter and its features, join our saasguru Slack Community and discuss with our industry experts, who can guide you in the right direction. 

If you are passionate about Salesforce and want to further your Salesforce career, now is the right time to join saasguru. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What does Salesforce Chatter do?

Salesforce Chatter is a social networking and collaboration tool that allows users within an organization to connect, share information, and collaborate in real time. It functions as an internal social network, enabling employees to post updates, share files, comment on posts, follow colleagues, and engage in discussions.

2. What is Salesforce Chatter used for?

• Internal Communication: Enables employees to share updates, collaborate, and foster community.
• Knowledge Sharing: Allows users to post articles and relevant details to keep colleagues informed.
• Team Collaboration: Facilitates effective teamwork by sharing files and discussing projects.
• Notifications: Users can set alerts for changes, updates, or mentions within Salesforce.

3. How to enable Chatter in Salesforce?

Enabling Salesforce Chatter typically involves the following steps:

• Log in to your Salesforce account as an administrator.
• Go to Setup by clicking on your profile picture and selecting “Setup.”
• In the Quick Find box, type “Chatter Settings.”
• Click on “Chatter Settings.”
• Enable Chatter by checking the box next to “Enable.”
• Configure Chatter settings according to your organization’s needs.
• Save your changes.

4. How much does Salesforce Chatter cost?

Chatter comes free with all Salesforce editions. Additionally, it’s accessible to users without Salesforce at a rate of $15 per user per month.

5. Is Salesforce Chatter going away?

No, Salesforce Chatter is not going away. It remains an active and supported feature within the Salesforce platform. While there might be a focus on newer collaboration tools within Salesforce, Chatter continues to offer valuable functionality for internal communication and knowledge sharing.

6. What is the chatter type in Salesforce?

“Chatter” isn’t a specific data type in Salesforce. It refers to the entire social collaboration platform itself, offering features like feeds, groups, and profiles. Data shared within Chatter, such as posts or files, can be categorized using other data types depending on the context.

7. What is the difference between chatter and activity history in Salesforce?

• Chatter: A dedicated social collaboration platform within Salesforce for communication, knowledge sharing, and group discussions. 
• Activity History: A record within Salesforce that tracks all actions (e.g., edits, emails, meetings) associated with a specific object (e.g., lead, opportunity). It provides a chronological log of interactions for a clear picture of an object’s history.

8. What are the three features of Chatter in Salesforce?

• Chatter Groups: Create groups for specific projects, teams, or topics, facilitating focused discussions and file sharing among relevant members.
• Feed Updates: Share updates, ask questions, and provide feedback within the Chatter feed, fostering real-time communication and knowledge exchange.
• Profiles and Following: Build your professional network within Salesforce by connecting with colleagues, following their posts, and staying informed about their activities.

9. Who sees what in Salesforce Chatter?

Visibility in Chatter depends on access controls and sharing settings.

• Public posts are visible to all users with access to Chatter.
• Group visibility can be set to public (all users) or private (only invited members).
• Users can adjust their privacy settings to control who can see their profiles and posts.