Hootsuite Announces Enhanced Inbox to Help Brands Address Social Media Private Messaging

One of the most compelling things about social media – at least, from a consumer standpoint – is the ability to engage with companies in an oft-reciprocal, two-way manner. Customers follow brands on social media and they’re willing to look at brands' mass broadcasts, but they also expect to be able to engage back with brands using direct messaging (or DMs). This has presented a challenge for marketing departments everywhere.

The 2023 Social Trends Report by social media management company Hootsuite found that 49% of organizations make social customer service the responsibility of the marketing team, while 40% of consumers expect brands to problem-solve in the channels of their choice (e.g., Instagram Messenger). Marketing teams now have to manage yet another channel, become customer service agents, and address customers’ inquiries and potential complaints within the social channels they live on.

In the report, Hootsuite noted that social media managers (or SMMs) see customers increasingly turn to private DMs for customer service inquiries. To help address this challenge, Hootsuite has developed an Enhanced Inbox resource to enable timeless and seamless social inquiry management. Enhanced Inbox encourages efficient collaboration among internal teams and offers a suite of features to streamline responses and speed up services as a whole.

Enhanced Inbox was designed to serve as a centralized platform for social media marketers to manage all DMs, with new embedded functionalities that make responding to inquiries more efficient (without jeopardizing quality responses). SMMs and customer service agents can now easily collaborate with multiple teams to quickly resolve customer messages, automate service, offer social value and protect their brand.

"Our social team polled customers to understand their pain points on social, and what we heard was that our customers’ greatest struggle is not being able to engage with their customers and respond to inquiries 24/7,” said Natalia Williams, Chief Product Officer at Hootsuite. “Our product development strategy has been deeply anchored in making our customers’ day-to-day easier. Upgrading our Inbox tool to simplify, accelerate and empower users to provide exceptional customer service and ultimately propel their business growth takes our commitment to the next level.”