Sprout Social, a leading provider of cloud-based social media management software, has introduced a series of updates aimed at streamlining marketing processes, improving business insights through AI, and enhancing social customer service.
These enhancements are designed to improve Sprout’s platform functionality and strengthen its integrations with Salesforce and key social media networks. The latest features will be showcased in Sprout’s quarterly innovation event, Breaking Ground.
As customer service increasingly moves to social media, businesses face the challenge of managing vast amounts of interactions and data. According to recent research, 80% of consumers are using social media for customer care more frequently than they did a year ago, with Gen Z favouring social media as their primary channel for customer support. However, providing timely and personalised service on social platforms has become more challenging due to the sheer volume of interactions, making AI crucial for delivering effective care.
The new features in Sprout Social’s Social Customer Care solution aim to empower marketing and support teams by providing advanced capabilities to turn customer interactions into opportunities. One notable addition is the “Associated Messages” feature, which offers teams a full view of a case’s historical public and private messages, allowing them to handle inquiries more accurately and efficiently. Additionally, AI-powered Message Intent Classification helps prioritise critical messages, while automated case management and upcoming AI tools within Salesforce Service Cloud reduce manual work, allowing teams to focus on building stronger customer relationships.
AI Driving Social Customer Care
“Social is not just another marketing channel; it’s now the number one non-traditional channel for customer service,” said Erika Trautman, Chief Product Officer at Sprout Social. She highlighted the increasing importance of social media engagement in building business-to-consumer relationships and how it impacts all aspects of a business. The new updates reflect Sprout’s investment in helping teams work smarter and faster, maximising the return on social media investments.
Emerging social platforms like Threads, which now has over 130 million active users, present significant opportunities for brands that adopt the right strategies. Sprout’s updated integration with Threads allows brands to moderate and respond to comments directly from within the platform, enabling businesses to remain engaged with customers across various channels.
Sprout Social’s recent and upcoming innovations are focused on AI advancements that help marketers showcase the value of their work and make faster data-driven decisions. These updates include new features such as “Analyze by AI Assist,” which provides executive summary insights for reporting widgets, reducing the time spent on performance analysis. Other notable features include the Conversation Breakdown Widget, which offers a new view of conversations by sentiment, and Comment Sentiment in Reports, enabling marketers to measure audience reactions to content in terms of positive, negative, or neutral feedback.
AI Enhancing Data-Driven Decision Making
The introduction of tools like Analyze by AI Assist has proven to be a major time-saver for marketers. Erika Bufford, Social Listening and Reporting Assistant at Tesco, shared her positive experience: “What could previously take me hours of manual effort—such as identifying trends, measuring performance, and generating insights—can now be done in minutes. I couldn’t be happier with the difference it’s made.”
These AI-powered tools are designed to help marketing teams work more efficiently, reduce manual effort, and draw valuable insights from the large amounts of data generated on social media platforms. By providing deeper insights into how campaigns are performing and why certain trends are emerging, marketers can make more informed strategic decisions.
Upcoming LinkedIn Integrations and B2B Marketing Enhancements
Looking ahead, Sprout Social is set to launch new integrations with LinkedIn, providing brands with direct access to LinkedIn DMs within the Sprout platform and offering new social listening data insights. These updates aim to address critical engagement and reporting challenges faced by B2B marketers on the professional network.
The ability to access LinkedIn DMs through Sprout’s platform will streamline communications for brands looking to engage directly with their professional audience. Combined with enhanced listening data, these innovations are expected to help B2B marketers gain a clearer understanding of their audience’s behaviour and preferences, allowing them to refine their engagement strategies and improve campaign performance.
Sprout Social’s commitment to innovation in social media management reflects the growing importance of AI and automation in helping brands navigate the complexities of customer care and marketing across multiple social platforms. These updates not only empower marketers to deliver more personalised and effective customer service but also offer new ways to measure and optimise the performance of their social media strategies.
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