Use Chat GPT to Help Write Social Media Responses to Customers​

“Too long, uncaring, and off-brand.” Three criticisms you never want to hear about your social media responses to customers! But it can be difficult to write posts that are short enough, empathetic enough, and on-brand when you have hundreds of cranky customers blowing up your feed. If it feels like you could use a writing assistant, you’re right! You could. Generative AI tools like Chat GPT might be just the thing you need. You may not be ready to let a bot fully write your responses to customers, but here are three ways Chat GPT can serve as a competent editor that fixes your draft responses quickly.

Let’s say you work in social media customer care for TSA. Customer Ashley posts this question on Facebook: I’m flying with my baby from New York to LA next month. Can I bring three 12-ounce bottles of baby formula through screening? If so, how do I pack them? 👶 🍼🎒To prepare to answer Ashley’s question, you’ll refer to TSA’s baby formula policy, which is a whopping 394 words long! 

Let Chat GPT help. Use a prompt that includes:

Here’s what your Chat GPT prompt could be:

Customer Ashley wrote this Facebook post: “I’m flying with my baby from New York to LA next month. Can I bring three 12-ounce bottles of baby formula through screening? If so, how do I pack them?” 👶 🍼🎒" Write a Facebook response post to Ashley of no more than 50 words. Use info from the TSA policy on baby formula at https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/baby-formula for the reply. Include the URL in the reply to Ashley.

And here’s what Chat GPT drafted:

"Absolutely, Ashley! You can bring three 12-ounce baby formula bottles through screening. Pack them separately in a clear, quart-sized bag, and let security know during screening. Check TSA's policy for more details: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/baby-formula. Safe travels with your little one! 👶🍼✈️"

Chat GPT didn’t write a perfect response, but it’s pretty good! For accuracy, we should change “Pack them separately in a clear, quart-sized bag…” to “Pack them separately from your other carry-on items…” But in seconds, the gen AI helped boil down a long policy. If you’re new to social media or new to a company, this is a big help!

Sometimes, we’re just not feeling it with these customers! We understand that we should show empathy to customers who are genuinely struggling as well as to those who are overreacting, entitled, or just plain wrong. But it’s hard to show empathy when our very job drains our empathy away each day. Gen AI can help. I know! It seems kind of twisted that an unfeeling non-human bot can help us humans find the words to express empathy, but it can.  

Here’s an example. On Instagram, customer Jane posted to XYZ Sports Products about a missing order:

I am so disappointed with this time of service of XYZ Sports Products. Placed an order on 27th November n it’s been 1 month… order is not delivered yet…

Lysa, the empathy-depleted social media customer service agent at XYZ Sports Products, responded like this:

Hi there. If you could DM us with your name, order number and billing address, we will investigate this further once we hear back. Speak soon. That’s not a good reply. Jane has been waiting a month for an order. Lysa’s response is uncaring. Chat GPT can do better. It can express more empathy than Lysa did. 

Use a Chat GPT prompt like this:

Customer Jane posted this on Insta: "I am so disappointed with this time of service of XYZ Sports Products. Placed an order on 27th November n it’s been 1 month… order is not delivered yet…". Write an empathetic, friendly post from XYZ Sports Products in response, asking her to DM her name, order number, and billing address so XYZ Sports Products can follow up.

And here’s what Chat GPT provides:

Hi Jane, we're truly sorry to hear about the delay in your order. Your satisfaction means a lot to us. Could you please DM us your full name, order number, and billing address? We want to look into this for you and make things right. Thank you for your understanding. 🙏

I agree. It’s a little cheesy. The folded hands emoji may go a bit too far, and seeking Jane’s satisfaction while asking for her understanding is a lot. But this gen AI draft could be a big help to customer service agent Lysa whose empathy muscle seemed to be sprained. Maybe Lysa recognized that his original post wasn’t empathetic enough. In that case, he could simply prompt Chat GPT to fix his coldhearted writing, like this:

Use a Chat GPT prompt like this to fix unempathetic writing:

Customer Jane wrote this Instagram post to my company: "I am so disappointed with this time of service of XYZ Sports Products. Placed an order on 27th November n it’s been 1 month… order is not delivered yet…" I responded this way:" Hi there. If you could DM us with your name, order number and billing address. We will investigate this further once we hear back. Speak soon." Revise my response so it's empathetic and friendly but contains the same information. 

And here’s what Chat GPT came up with:

Hey Jane, I'm sorry for the delay in your order. 😔 Could you DM us your name, order number, and billing address? We'll look into this right away. Thanks for your patience. Chat soon!

Better, right? Now, you could argue that Lysa should be able to write a response that shows as much empathy as the gen AI did, and I would agree. But she didn’t do it, and Chat GPT did. Gen AI is just a tool and using it on Lysa’s response to Jane made the response better. 

Because social channels often include both marketing and customer service posts, your customer care posts should use the brand’s voice and tone. We don’t want social customer service responses to sound like they were written by some stodgy Complaints Management Team in the east wing of the ninth floor of the headquarters building! Also, you may be writing responses on behalf of more than one brand. Your workday could include writing social posts for a hiking boots company with a brand voice that’s “brave, rugged, and brutally honest,” as well as a children’s shoe company that uses a “trustworthy, nurturing, and affordable” brand voice. Let’s run an experiment to see how Chat GPT adjusts the writing style when it responds to the same customer query for each brand. 

Here’s the customer’s X/Twitter post:

I’m a member of your Loyal Shoppers Program. Today, I tried 3 times to log in to my account, but I kept getting an error message. I even reset my password! What’s going on?? And here are prompts for Chat GPT that specify what brand voice to use. Notice how I included the customer’s original post, and then added in the appropriate brand description for each company, as well as the answer I want to give the customer.

Here’s the Chat GPT prompt for the XYZ Hiking Boots response:

Customer Nate wrote this tweet: “I’m a member of your Loyal Shoppers Program. Today, I tried 3 times to log in to my account, but I kept getting an error message. I even reset my password! What’s going on??” Reply to him in XYZ Hiking Boots’ brave, rugged, and brutally honest brand voice and tell him that the website had a glitch this morning but is working properly now.

Here’s the Chat GPT prompt for the XYZ Children’s Shoes response:

Customer Jake wrote this tweet: “I’m a member of your Loyal Shoppers Program. Today, I tried 3 times to log in to my account, but I kept getting an error message. I even reset my password! What’s going on??” Reply to him in XYZ Children’s Shoes’ trustworthy, nurturing, and affordable brand voice and tell him that the website had a glitch this morning but is working properly now. And here’s what gen AI came up with. Is each response perfect? No. But they are distinct. The two brands don’t sound just like each other. On a busy day, when you’re writing responses for more than one brand, Chat GPT might be just the extra support you need.

Here’s Chat GPT’s on-brand response to the XYZ Hiking Boots customer:

Hey Nate, we feel your struggle, and we're not sugarcoating it - our website had a morning meltdown. 😅 But it's back in action now. Apologies for the tech turbulence, mate. Let us know if you hit any more bumps. Keep rocking those XYZ Boots vibes!"

And here’s Chat GPT’s on-brand response to the XYZ Children’s Shoes customer

Hi Jake! 🌼 We appreciate your loyalty and we're sorry for the hassle. 🙏 Our website had a hiccup this morning, but it's all smoothed out now. 🌟 Feel free to log in again, and if you have any issues, we're here to help. Thanks for your understanding!

Gen AI is not a better writer than you are. Chat GPT cannot do your job. You know customers better; you know your company’s products and processes better. You are more valuable than Chat GPT. But even professional bakers use a cake mix now and then. Gen AI is a useful tool. Use it well!