According to a recent study conducted by West Interactive, social media customer service is in a sorry state of affairs. Nearly one in five (17%) people expect to be able to use social media for customer service inquiries, yet 59% of all customer service inquiries go unanswered.

And it doesn’t stop there. The infographic below paints a pretty embarrassing picture of the efficacy with which brands utilize social media for customer service.

As businesspeople, we need to acknowledge that social media may not be primarily best suited as a marketing tool. That’s not to say that it can’t be used effectively for marketing, but customers aren’t interested in having a conversation with a brand that can’t answer the most basic of questions or solve simple problems.

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