Dive Brief:
- Consumers are looking to social media for their customer service needs this holiday season. More than one-third of consumers say they plan on using social media to ask customer service questions more often this holiday season than in 2023, according to a Glimpse and Sprout Social survey released earlier this month.
- Another 3 in 5 respondents say they will use social media as a customer service channel as frequently as last year, according to the survey of more than 2,000 U.S. and U.K. consumers.
- Two in 5 consumers said they want companies to prioritize offering personalized customer service through social media.
Dive Insight:
Social media is serving as a channel for customer service interactions as well as gift inspiration.
Companies need to meet shoppers’ customer service needs wherever they are, according to Scott Morris, CMO at Sprout Social. This can be challenging due to the demand for fast, personalized responses, but getting social media customer service right can build customer loyalty.
“Looking at care holistically, implementing centralized tools and making sure teams are able to support one another will be crucial to ensuring all customer concerns are addressed, regardless of which channel they use,” Morris said via email.
Consumers plan on using a variety of social media platforms to contact brands, with more than half of U.S. consumers saying they’ll use Facebook in particular, according to the survey. Among Gen Z, more than 3 in 5 respondents say they will contact brands through Instagram, while 2 in 5 say they will use TikTok.
“In 2025, social media will dominate the customer service game,” Morris said. “Everyone, especially younger generations, is turning to platforms like Facebook and Instagram first to get their customer service questions answered quickly.”
Direct messages are the most common form of social media outreach — 7 in 10 consumers say they plan to contact brands this way. Another 2 in 5 say they plan to reach out in post comments, while nearly 1 in 3 say they will tag companies publicly.
