Starting my career in customer service nearly 30 years ago was a true baptism of fire. There is nothing like being shouted at by a customer on your first day to make you feel welcome….
There have been many changes in how we connect and communicate. At the time, it was face-to-face, over the phone or by email (and even that was new!). Whilst some elements of customer service remain the same, the shift to different types of communication began and brought with it enormous changes.
As more customer conversations shift online, social media has for many businesses become a primary customer service channel. Customers are sharing positive feedback or expressing frustration, and they expect brands to listen and respond directly on social platforms.
For businesses, this means that social media management can no longer sit solely within the marketing team. Customer service and digital communication need to work together. This requires new skills, internal processes, and staff training.
Contents
Why Customers Complain Publicly on Social Media
- They Want Faster Responses
Customers know that posting publicly often gets a quicker reply than emailing a generic inbox or waiting in a phone queue. Complaining on social media equals high visibility, which encourages faster resolution.
- It’s Convenient
Posting a comment is quicker than filling out a form or searching for a support email.
Social media is always at hand (especially on mobile).
- It Carries Emotional Impact
When customers are frustrated, turning to social media allows them to vent and feel heard and to connect with others who feel the same way or have had the same experience. This emotional aspect is one of the biggest reasons complaints are public rather than private.
Customer complaints on social media are now standard behaviour, not the exception. Consumers increasingly expect brands to monitor and respond to issues on the platforms where they already spend their time.
Complaints Across Industries
Does it differ between industries? Here’s what current research and industry behaviour show:
Retail & Ecommerce – Customers frequently complain about delivery delays, product issues and return difficulties. Retail brands like ASOS and Argos receive high daily complaint volumes on social media.
Telecoms & Utilities – Telecoms companies have some of the highest complaint visibility online. Customers turn to social channels because phone support wait times are often long.
Transport & Rail – Train operators like ScotRail, LNER and Transport for London actively focus on social media because customers use those channels to report real-time delays and disruptions. Complaints spike during peak travel times or when there is an unexpected incident.
Hospitality & Travel – Airlines, hotels and travel agents receive large volumes of social complaints, particularly when travel plans change at the last minute. Social complaints can require rapid escalation and follow-up.
Local Government & Public Services – Residents increasingly use social media to report issues in real time — e.g., bin collections, traffic issues, service closures — because it feels quicker than navigating council contact forms and is easier to find people with the same problem.
Across industries, the pattern is consistent. Social media is becoming the default first step for raising an issue.
Why a Well-Trained Social Media Customer Service Team is Essential
Your customer service and social media teams represent your brand publicly.
Every reply shapes how your organisation is perceived. Whilst the way we communicate has changed since my first days as a Customer Service Manager, the principles of good customer service remain the same.
To respond effectively, your team needs:
Tone of Voice Training
Replies must match your brand personality and values — not just “copy-and-paste” statements. A problem feels personal to the customer, and a robotic response won’t cut it.
Complaint Handling Skills
Staff must know how to acknowledge frustration, reassure professionally, and avoid defensive language, which can inflame a situation.
Clear Escalation Processes
Frontline teams need to know when to pass an issue to senior staff or specialist teams.
Confidence in the Platforms Themselves
Knowing how to respond is just as important as knowing what to say.
This is where professional social media training adds real value: it turns reactive staff into confident communicators who protect and strengthen brand reputation online.
How to Prepare Your Business to Respond to Complaints on Social Media
Good customer service doesn’t just deal with the problem. It starts much earlier than that and should be considered right from a customer’s first contact with an organisation.
An important aspect is ensuring that you have the right guardrails in place to help the team understand their role and how and when they should be responding.
Create a social media response policy. This should be developed with the team and will ensure consistency and clarity across the team.
Define the roles between marketing and customer service. A clear definition will reduce internal team confusion and response delays and can help to close the gap so that responses don’t get missed.
Train teams in digital tone of voice and empathy skills. Being too corporate will make your teams seem uncaring and disconnected. Being overly friendly and informal can make you look unprofessional. Responses need to be professional and human.
Set clear response time expectations and stick to them. Building trust is essential in customer service, and nothing breaks trust faster than over-promising and under-delivering. Ensuring that your team stick to agreed-upon times will also reduce escalation.
Use templates but personalise messages. Templates can help with efficiency, but should be used cautiously. Full visibility on social media platforms can make the same wording on responses stand out. Personalising messaging can make communication feel more authentic and help the team connect with the customer.
Track and review complaint themes. Good customer service isn’t just resolving the issue. Looking for patterns and trends helps you to identify the possible root cause of problems so you can prevent repeat issues.
Turn Complaints Into Positive Brand Moments
Customer service doesn’t have to always be negative. The majority of customers accept that sometimes things go wrong. How it is handled, however, can be the difference between a loyal customer and a loudly complaining one.
Handled well, complaints on social media can:
- Demonstrate accountability
- Improve customer loyalty
- Show professionalism and transparency
- Create moments of genuine customer care
Handled poorly, they can quickly damage public trust.
Upskill Your Team with Professional Social Media Training
We help organisations:
- Build confidence responding to complaints online
- Train teams on tone of voice and empathetic communication
- Establish clear workflows between social media and customer service
- Turn negative interactions into brand-building conversations
Find out more about our Customer Service on Social Media course.
