Social Re-Emerges as a Customer Service Channel

Nearly a generation ago, when social media was in its infancy, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter (now X) were expected to completely take over the way that businesses communicated with their customers. Businesses began to establish social media profiles, and customers started using these platforms to share feedback, ask questions, and even lodge complaints, but the massive dominance of social media as a customer service channel didn’t happen as expected at the time.

Today, with the recent advances in artificial intelligence, expectations for social media customer service are higher than ever. The integration of AI and automation is now transforming social media customer service, enabling businesses to provide faster, more efficient, and potentially personalized customer support that wasn’t possible the first time around. Customers today are increasingly using digital communications, particularly a much wider variety of social media platforms, to communicate with companies for customer service and other needs.

Part of the reason for that is the much wider variety of social media channels available today, with each one catering to different types of audiences. The style of communication can be very different among the different social media platforms. LinkedIn, for example, tends to have a more professional tone than X or Facebook, though there is certainly plenty of crossover.

Experts agree that the tone or style (professional, conversational, friendly, etc.,) should be dictated by the company. Several AI-based platforms today make it relatively easy to change the style of the communication for different audiences.

AI can help with that, adjusting messaging as needed.

That has been the experience at Alorica, a customer experience outsourcing provider that uses social media as a leading customer service channel.

“Our teams use real-time AI to monitor sentiment, suggest context-aware replies, surface relevant policies, and adapt messaging across platforms,” says Harry Folloder, Alorica’s chief digital and technology officer. “But it doesn’t stop there. Our AI also draws from the brand’s full library of knowledge assets, product information, and tone guidelines, also making it brand-authentic in every interaction.”

It’s like having a product expert and brand steward built into every conversation, Folloder explains.

“Speed is essential, but speed without substance can backfire. One of the biggest missteps is over-automating or delaying responses. A generic reply or clunky handoff can spark a viral backlash,” Alorica’s Folloder says.

So Alorica combines automation with human-in-the-loop support to preserve context and ensure every escalation feels seamless and smart.

Learn more, visit  www.alorica.com/alorica-iq