July 30, 2014
By Maria Minsker, contributing writer

Conversocial Unveils Instagram Integration

Social customer service provider Conversocial has added Instagram to the list of social channels its platform supports. Now integrated into Conversocial's social customer service solution, Instagram can be used to not only share content with consumers, but also deliver customer service.

According to a recent Forrester study, more than 67 percent of companies view social customer service as the most pressing short-term priority for contact centers in the United States and United Kingdom, yet only 33 percent of the social customer service solutions that are in use are actually chosen by the customer service team. Most of the time, it's the marketing team that gets to choose the social solution, Conversocial founder and CEO Joshua March says.

"Consumers are increasingly turning to social media to get answers to questions that they would normally ask customer service representatives on the phone. They're expecting the same level of conversation and feedback," March says. The problem is, however, that most businesses aren't implementing the right technology to support high-level interactions. "Businesses are looking at social media as a marketing tool that just pushes content out, but social networks should facilitate two-way communication as well," he adds.

With Conversocial, companies can use social networks including Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube, and now Instagram, as support channels that allow them to comment on consumers' posts, answer questions, and otherwise connect with them, all from one platform. The Instagram integration will also enable brands to prioritize content using a prioritization engine, March explains, and enable managers to track all of the interactions between employees and consumers using the an approval workflow. Additionally, Conversocial's service analytics and dashboard will help managers get a grasp on engagement volume, trends, and key customer service metrics.

"We're seeing a lot of growth from social networks like Instagram, because consumers love sharing their experiences—both good and bad—through photos," March says. Though Instagram's potential as a customer service channel may not be immediately obvious, March says it's worth paying attention to. "This integration is a result of popular demand," he explains. "Our clients' customers are on Instagram, posting pictures of their brands and tagging them, and to our clients that means they need to have a way to engage with them through that channel as well," he adds.

JackThreads, an online shopping club for men's fashion, uses Instagram to share images of new products and has implemented Conversocial's social platform to streamline the company's approach to managing customer relationships on different social networks. "The ability to monitor and engage over Instagram, through Conversocial, allows us to seamlessly provide great customer service from one platform, making our customers feel valued wherever they chose to engage from," David Tull, customer engagement manager at JackThreads, said in a statement.

Moving forward, March says Conversocial will begin looking at other types of social channels, and potentially developing ways to integrate them into its platform. Though apps such as the popular messaging network WhatsApp are not quite ripe for social customer service, March says he'll be watching it, and others like it, "very closely."