Brief:

• KitchenAid boosted social media engagement with customers by 85% on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, according to a press release from Clarabridge CX Social. The social media management platform helped the appliance brand respond more quickly to customer inquiries about deliveries and repairs.
• The strategy led to a 90% jump in KitchenAid's social media fan base and a 143% surge in social interactions in one year. David Moreno, digital marketing specialist at KitchenAid, said Clarabridge CX Social helped to monitor customer feedback trends to improve responses to customers through social media.
• KitchenAid sought to have a more unified response among various social media channels, which presents a challenge given the variety of platforms and the different ways people use them to interact with companies.

Insight:

KitchenAid is among the brands dedicating more company resources to providing customer care through social media to build more solid relationships with customers and to avoid falling behind the competition. The social media industry started as a way for people to keep in touch with friends and family, but continues to evolve as a way for consumers to follow their favorite brands, ask questions about products and services and to seek helpdesk support. Chatbots, in particular, are expected to play a big role in customer service going forward. 

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are actively reaching out to businesses with communications platforms that are geared to handle communications with customers and potential clientele. Facebook two years ago added chatbot features to its Messenger chat platform to help automate interactions between businesses and customers. This year, the company updated Messenger with new features such as additional customization for customer chat and a plugin that lets people more easily interact with businesses across their websites and in Messenger on any device without losing conversation history.

As Instagram role continues to grow, more companies will need to have a customer care strategy for the platform. There were 8 million Instagram Business profiles as of last year, enabling users to access contact information and more than 120 million Instagram users had visited a website, got directions, called a business, emailed or direct messaged a business, according to Instagram. 

Twitter, an early leader in social media for customer service, remains an important platform even as its growth has slowed. This year, the company has been focused on streamlining the process for creating bots to handle customer questions. 

Social media platforms aren't the only way online customers are seeking to engage with a business. Apple has gradually rolled out Business Chat since quietly introducing the service last year to let iPhone users reach customer service, schedule an appointment or make purchases in the Messages app. Google is still trying to develop a more robust chat platform, while search results still mostly depend on providing a way for customers to call a local business.