Social media customer service software

Gone are the days when social media was only for following high school friends' whereabouts. Now it's a pivotal platform for businesses to engage with customers (and maybe even their customers' friends). As consumers increasingly turn to social channels to voice concerns, seek assistance, or share feedback, businesses use robust social media customer service software to improve their performance.

Robust, in this case, means streamlining and centralizing interactions and enhancing responsiveness, so you can effectively meet and exceed customer expectations in real time. However, with so many software providers vying for your business, you must meticulously vet potential options.

That’s where our guide comes in to help you make the choice that will propel your business to new heights in customer satisfaction and loyalty. We’ll help you avoid a hasty decision that can lead to missed opportunities, inefficiencies, and even reputational damage. Let’s get started.

More in this guide:

• What is social media customer service software?
• Social media customer service software comparison chart
• The 11 best social media customer service software
• Features of social media customer service tools
• Benefits of social media customer service tools
• How to choose the right social media customer service tools
• Social media customer service FAQ
• Try social media customer service software for free

This software streamlines the process of addressing customer communication by centralizing messages and brand mentions from platforms like Messenger, X (previously known as Twitter), and WhatsApp Business.

Beyond mere management, social media customer service tools often come equipped with features like automation, analytics, and integration capabilities. These enable businesses to offer timely, consistent, and data-driven support, thereby enhancing the overall customer experience in the digital realm.

Software	Starting price	Free trial	Key features
Zendesk	$19 per agent/month (billed annually)	14 days	Omnichannel support AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting 1,500+ apps and integrations Industry-leading Agent Workspace
Freshdesk	$0 per month (up to 10 agents)	14 days	AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Hootsuite	$99 per month (1 user; billed annually)	30 days	AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
eDesk	$0 per month (30 tickets)	14 days	AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Zoho Desk	$7 per user/month (billed annually)	15 days	Omnichannel support AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Front	$19 per seat/month (billed annually)	7 days	Omnichannel support Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Sprout Social	$299 per month	30 days	Omnichannel support Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Sprinklr Social	$299 per seat/month (billed annually)	90 days	Omnichannel support AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Hiver	$15 per user/month (billed annually)	7 days	AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
LiveAgent	$9 per agent/month (billed annually)	7 or 30 days	Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace
Gladly	$180 per hero/month (billed annually)	Unavailable	AI-powered bots Analytics and reporting Apps and integrations Centralized workspace

Dive into our comprehensive roundup of leading social media customer service software providers to discover the perfect fit for your brand's needs and goals.

1. Zendesk

Zendesk is a globally recognized customer service software that can connect your business with customers on social media. Zendesk AI improves customer and employee experiences, providing instant responses and streamlining workflows. Our bots can proactively guide customers through troubleshooting, offer product recommendations, and, when necessary, escalate issues to human agents.

Our omnichannel Agent Workspace integrates with social media platforms, collecting all customer interactions across channels in one place, so agents have a complete view of each customer's conversational history with your business. Additionally, our software integrates with other customer service and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to form an interconnected system. This enhances agent efficiency, removes data silos, and creates a personalized customer experience (CX) across all touchpoints.

Recognizing that customers interact with brands on various channels, Zendesk ensures that whether it's a public post, an email, or a chat message, everything funnels into the same ticketing system, facilitating a consistent response strategy. This omnichannel approach makes it so businesses can meet customers where they are and on the channel of their choice, providing them with the best experience across channels.

Complementing this is our analytics suite, which gives businesses deep insights into metrics like response times, customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, and agent performance. These data-driven insights empower you to continuously refine your strategies, ensuring your agents are agile and responsive in this evolving landscape.

Features:

• Omnichannel support
• AI-powered bots
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• 1,500+ apps and integrations
• Industry-leading Agent Workspace
• Customer help desk

Pricing:

• Support Team: $19 per agent/month
• Support Professional: $55 per agent/month
• Support Enterprise: $115 per agent/month
• Suite Team: $55 per agent/month
• Suite Growth: $89 per agent/month
• Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month
• Suite Enterprise: Contact sales
• Suite Enterprise Plus: Contact sales
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

2. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is customer support software that can help businesses deliver service over social media. Its centralized workspace aggregates customer interactions from various social media platforms into a unified dashboard where agents can customize ticketing workflows. Automated ticket assignments route customer conversations to the most suitable agent.

Freshdesk also offers analytics to give businesses insights into their social media performance. However, it’s been noted that reports are limited and require a large amount of manual manipulation to get actionable data.

Features:

• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Ticket auto-assignment

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (up to 10 agents)
• Growth: $15 per agent/month
• Pro: $49 per agent/month
• Enterprise: $79 per agent/month
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media management platform providing customer service tools to businesses. Its centralized workspace lets businesses manage different social channels in one dashboard. Hootsuite also has integrations with various tools so that businesses can connect their CRM systems, marketing tools, and other essential software.

The platform has automation features, allowing businesses to schedule posts, set up automated responses for common queries, and auto-assign messages to specific team members. Businesses can gather performance metrics gauging the effectiveness of their customer service strategies.

Features:

• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Bulk post scheduling

Pricing:

• Professional: $99 per month (includes 1 user)
• Team: $249 per month (includes 3 users)
• Enterprise: Contact Hootsuite
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

30 days

4. eDesk

Businesses that want a social media customer service platform can use eDesk’s customer support software. Its reports deliver an overview of a company’s social media interactions, encompassing metrics like response times, resolution rates, and customer feedback.

The software centralizes interactions from various customer service channels, marketplaces, and email into a single interface. This consolidation helps businesses manage and respond to customer inquiries, regardless of origin. Furthermore, eDesk’s automation features let businesses route queries to the right agent and prioritize them based on urgency.

Features:

• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Customer satisfaction surveys

Pricing:

• Performance+: Starts at $0 per month (30 tickets)
• Team: $69 per agent/month
• Professional: $109 per agent/month
• Enterprise: Contact eDesk
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

5. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk offers businesses a suite of tools for social media customer service. Its reports provide businesses with insights into their social media interactions, highlighting metrics like CSAT scores and average response times. Automatic ticket assignments, predefined response templates, and workflow automations help businesses improve their support processes.

In addition to its reporting capabilities, Zoho Desk can integrate with social media platforms. It can centralize communication from Facebook, X, and Instagram so all queries get addressed regardless of the customer's chosen channel.

Features:

• Omnichannel support
• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace

Pricing:

• Express: $7 per user/month
• Standard: $14 per user/month
• Professional: $23 per user/month
• Enterprise: $40 per user month
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

15 days

6. Front

Front, a customer operations platform, assists businesses that want to provide customer service on social media. It gives businesses detailed analytics that shed light on various facets of their customer interactions, from response times and resolution rates to team performance metrics.

Beyond reporting, Front offers an omnichannel inbox that integrates with multiple communication channels. It also has automation tools to help take care of routine tasks, suggest responses, and prioritize messages based on urgency or context.

Features:

• Omnichannel support
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Knowledge base chat integration

Pricing:

• Starter: $19 per seat/month (2-10 seats)
• Growth: $59 per seat/month (minimum 5 seats)
• Scale: $99 per seat/month (minimum 20 seats)
• Premier: $229 per seat/month (minimum 50 seats)
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7 days

7. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management platform that helps businesses navigate the intricate landscape of social media. Its analytics provide businesses with an overview of social media interactions, encompassing metrics such as engagement rates, response times, and customer sentiment (how customers think and feel about a brand). The software’s automation features allow teams to set up workflows and route queries to specific agents.

Aside from the reporting capabilities, Sprout Social also has a centralized workspace that groups customer interactions into a unified dashboard. Agents can monitor, engage, and respond to customer inquiries, feedback, or mentions across different platforms without switching between multiple interfaces.

Features:

• Omnichannel support
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Social post scheduling

Pricing:

• Standard: $249 per month ($199/month for each additional user)
• Professional: $399 per month ($299/month for each additional user)
• Advanced: $499 per month ($349/month for each additional user)
• Enterprise: Contact Sprout Social

Free trial:

30 days

8. Sprinklr Social

Sprinklr Social is a social media management software that gives businesses a toolkit to provide customer service across channels. Its analytics delve deep into a brand’s social media interactions, providing insights into engagement levels, response efficiency, and overall customer sentiment.

Sprinklr Social’s omnichannel support capabilities allow integration with social media platforms so customers can reach out via X, Facebook, or Instagram. These interactions are channeled into a centralized system, facilitating a consistent response strategy. Features like automated ticket assignments and predefined templates assist with reply times.

Features:

• Omnichannel support
• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace

Pricing:

• Advanced: $299 per seat/month (self-service only)
• Enterprise: Contact Sprinklr Social
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

90 days

9. Hiver

Hiver is primarily known as an email collaboration tool, but it extended its capabilities to aid businesses in delivering social media customer service. The platform allows businesses to set up automated workflows, such as routing specific queries to designated team members based on predefined criteria or triggering auto-responses for common queries.

Hiver offers a centralized workspace within Gmail that streamlines the management of customer interactions. By integrating with various social media platforms, Hiver collects customer inquiries and feedback into a unified dashboard so agents can monitor, prioritize, and address customer concerns without switching between multiple platforms.

Features:

• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Live chat auto-assignment

Pricing:

• Lite: $15 per user/month
• Pro: $39 per user/month
• Elite: $59 per user/month
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7 days

10. LiveAgent

LiveAgent offers a social media customer service platform as one piece of its customer support software. LiveAgent gives agents a centralized workspace that integrates with social media platforms. It consolidates customer inquiries, feedback, and brand mentions so agents can respond to customers.

The platform also facilitates the creation of automated workflows, such as routing specific queries to the appropriate team members or triggering auto-responses for frequently asked questions. Among the core strengths of the LiveAgent software is its reporting capabilities. LiveAgent's analytics offer a good view into a company’s social media interactions.

Features:

• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Automated ticket distribution
• Competitor benchmark report

Pricing:

• Small: $9 per agent/month
• Medium: $29 per agent/month
• Large: $49 per agent/month
• Enterprise: $69 per agent/month
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7 or 30 days

11. Gladly

Gladly is a customer service platform that provides social media customer service software. It has AI-driven bots that can handle routine inquiries, guiding customers through common issues and providing instant responses. Moreover, these bots can escalate complex queries to human agents.

Gladly also offers a centralized workspace for businesses to provide cohesive customer support. By integrating with social media platforms, Gladly combines customer interactions into a single interface. The platform facilitates the creation of automated workflows, such as intelligently routing specific queries based on their nature or urgency or triggering follow-up actions post-conversation.

Features:

• AI-powered bots
• Analytics and reporting
• Apps and integrations
• Centralized workspace
• Unified customer view

Pricing:

• Hero Package: Starts at $180 per hero/month (10 hero minimum)
• Superhero Package: Starts at $210 per hero/month (45 hero minimum)
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Unavailable

Whether it's robust reporting, automation, or omnichannel support, the right features can significantly elevate your brand's responsiveness, efficiency, and reputation. Ensure you remain competitive and resonate effectively with your audience by partnering with a social media customer service platform that provides the following performance tools.

Omnichannel support

Social media customer service software helps businesses provide omnichannel customer support online by allowing them to:

• Respond to customer queries and complaints on social media, email, phone, and other channels from a single interface.
• Track customer interactions across channels to provide a consistent and seamless experience.
• Collect customer feedback on all channels to improve customer service processes.

Omnichannel customer support allows businesses to provide the best possible customer experience, regardless of how or where customers contact them. For example, if a customer posts a question about a product, the social media tool can alert an agent so they can respond within minutes.

AI and automation

Social media customer service software uses AI and automation to improve business operations in several ways, including:

• Automating repetitive tasks: AI can intelligently route customer requests to the appropriate department. For example, Zendesk AI can detect what a ticket is about (its intent), what language it's written in, whether the customer's message is positive or negative (its sentiment), and route requests accordingly.
• Providing personalized service: Use AI to analyze customer data and preferences to deliver more personalized service. For example, Zendesk chatbots can greet customers by name and recommend products or services they might be interested in.
• Identifying trends and patterns: AI can identify trends and patterns in customer behavior. Businesses can leverage this information to improve customer service processes and make better business decisions.
• Improving customer satisfaction: AI-powered chatbots can provide 24/7 customer support, which can increase customer satisfaction. Additionally, AI bots can resolve simple customer issues quickly and efficiently, further improving customer satisfaction.

Zendesk uses AI and automation to transform the customer service landscape, driving efficiency, accuracy, and a more personalized customer experience.

Analytics and reporting

Businesses can use the analytics and reporting features of social media customer service software to gain insights into customer behavior, performance, and satisfaction. This information can be used to:

• Identify customer pain points and areas for improvement.
• Track the effectiveness of customer service initiatives.
• Make better decisions about product development, marketing, and pricing.
• Improve the overall customer experience.

Businesses can discover areas where they can improve their customer service by tracking metrics like average response time, CSAT scores, and the number of customer inquiries. Zendesk reports, for example, can identify your average response time, and if it’s too long, you can invest in more resources to improve it.

Apps and integrations

Social media customer service software should offer pre-built apps and integrations that seamlessly connect with your existing systems, as this ensures a fast deployment time. Customer service teams can access comprehensive customer profiles, purchase histories, and previous interactions by integrating with tools like CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, or marketing automation software. This holistic view enables agents to provide more personalized and informed support.

Additionally, integrations make it easy to transfer data between systems, reducing manual entry errors and saving time. In essence, by aiding interoperability with other essential business tools, social media customer service software enhances operational efficiency, consistency, and the overall quality of customer interactions.

Centralized workspace

Social media customer service software provides a centralized workspace, which can boost operations by allowing businesses to manage all customer service interactions in one location. This can help businesses improve:

• Efficiency: When all customer service interactions are in a single place, you avoid switching between different systems and applications. This can save time and enhance efficiency.
• Collaboration: If your social media tickets are in the same place as your other customer support tickets, it’s easier for customer service agents to collaborate with each other and other departments.
• Visibility: A centralized workspace provides a better overview of customer activity, helping your team identify trends and patterns.
• Reporting: You can generate reports that account for all data across your organization, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of your performance.

Bottom line: Social media customer service software with a centralized workspace can help businesses improve their CX.

Social media customer support software centralizes and streamlines customer interactions across your various platforms and offers enhanced responsiveness. The right software drives operational excellence and elevates CX through the following benefits.

Better customer relationships

By providing timely, consistent, and personalized responses across social platforms, you demonstrate your commitment to the customer. Social media customer service software's ability to centralize interactions ensures that teams address every query or piece of feedback. As a result, customers feel heard and valued.

Additionally, integrated analytics tools offer insights into customer preferences and behaviors, enabling businesses to tailor their interactions and services to meet individual needs. Over time, this proactive and attentive approach cultivates trust and loyalty, transforming casual social media followers into long-term brand advocates.

Faster agent response times

Social media customer service tools are engineered to optimize agent workflows, leading to significantly faster response times. By centralizing interactions from social platforms into a single interface, agents can quickly identify, prioritize, and address incoming queries without switching between multiple platforms.

Automated features—such as ticket categorization, tagging, and routing—ensure inquiries go to the most appropriate agent or department immediately. Additionally, AI-driven tools can provide agents with instant access to relevant information or suggest potential responses, reducing time spent on research or crafting replies.

More balanced workloads

By centralizing social media requests and issues into a unified system, you can ensure balanced ticket distribution among agents. So instead of having agents individually scour various platforms for customer inquiries, the software aggregates all interactions into a single dashboard.

Advanced algorithms, like those you receive from Zendesk, then assess the nature and urgency of each request and route tickets based on agent skill, current workload, and historical performance. This automated ticket assignment ensures that no single agent is overwhelmed while others remain idle.

Improved visibility of customer interactions

Social media customer service software acts as a watchman for your business, making sure that customer interactions across social channels are tracked and addressed. By centralizing these interactions into a single dashboard, businesses can see all ongoing, pending, and resolved inquiries. This heightened visibility means no request, comment, or feedback is overlooked or forgotten.

Increased sales on social channels

Social media customer service software can be a potent catalyst for driving sales on social channels. By ensuring prompt and personalized responses to customer inquiries, businesses can foster trust and credibility, so users are more inclined to purchase. Plus, the centralized dashboard allows agents to quickly identify potential leads, upsell opportunities, or cross-sell scenarios.

Moreover, the software's analytics tools can provide insights into customer preferences and behaviors, enabling businesses to tailor their marketing and promotional efforts more effectively. By addressing queries, resolving issues, and offering product recommendations in real time, businesses can provide good customer service and convert casual interactions into tangible sales opportunities.

Navigating the vast landscape of social media customer service tools can be daunting for businesses. With so many options, and each boasting unique features and capabilities, it can be difficult to pinpoint which tool is the perfect fit. You can make this task more manageable by asking these questions.

Which social media platforms do you need to monitor?

Different platforms cater to varied demographics, behaviors, and engagement patterns. By aligning the software's capabilities with the social platforms a customer base frequents the most, businesses can ensure they're effectively capturing and addressing the bulk of their customer interactions.

Each platform has different features and nuances. A software that handles X's rapid-fire interactions might differ from one optimized for Facebook's longer engagement threads. In essence, businesses can maximize their customer service software's effectiveness by strategically choosing which platforms to monitor.

Is the software easy to set up and make changes to?

It's crucial to consider the ease of setup and the flexibility of your software, as these factors significantly influence the total cost of ownership (TCO). Intuitive, out-of-the-box software reduces the initial deployment time, minimizing disruptions to operations and the need for extensive training.

Additionally, a system that allows for easy modifications ensures the business can adapt swiftly to evolving needs without incurring additional costs. TCO isn't just about the upfront purchase—it encompasses all costs over the software's life cycle, including maintenance, updates, and training. A user-friendly solution can lower these ongoing costs, so you achieve a greater return on your investment and maintain operational agility.

Can the software scale with growing operations?

Scalability ensures that as your business evolves—whether you’re expanding your customer base, entering new markets, or diversifying your offerings—the software can adapt and grow alongside you without compromising performance or efficiency. Investing in a scalable solution, like Zendesk, means you won't face the costly and disruptive need to overhaul your systems or migrate to a larger platform.

Instead, you can seamlessly accommodate increased workloads, more extensive data sets, or additional functionalities. By prioritizing scalability, you’ll future-proof your operations and ensure you can capitalize on opportunities without technological limitations