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Faster Social Responses
Businesses that respond to social comments within 1 hour see a 3x increase in bookings, according to Sprout Social data. This change affects local businesses using social media platforms, particularly those in the service industry. By responding quickly, businesses can significantly impact their revenue and customer engagement.
Background: Sprout Social is a social media management platform used by local businesses to streamline their customer care and community management. Many businesses in the US, UK, and AU use Sprout Social to manage their social media presence and engage with customers. By using this platform, businesses can efficiently respond to comments and messages across multiple social media channels.
What changed: The latest data from Sprout Social reveals that responding to social comments within 1 hour leads to a significant increase in bookings. This update highlights the importance of timely responses in social media customer care. By responding quickly, businesses can show their customers that they value their feedback and care about their concerns.
Why it matters: This change directly affects a local business's ad spend, reach, bookings, and search ranking. By responding quickly to social comments, businesses can increase customer engagement, build trust, and ultimately drive more sales. This is particularly important for service-based businesses, such as hair salons, coffee shops, pet groomers, and fitness studios, where customer experience is key.
Niche breakdown: A hair salon, for example, can use this data to prioritize responding to social comments about appointments and services within 1 hour. A coffee shop can respond quickly to comments about menu items and promotions. A pet groomer can respond to comments about pet care and services, while a fitness studio can respond to comments about classes and memberships. Each of these businesses can tailor their response strategy to their specific niche and customer needs.
What to do: To take advantage of this insight, businesses should adjust their social media response strategy to prioritize timely responses. This can involve setting up notifications for social comments, assigning a team member to monitor social media, or using automation tools to respond quickly to common inquiries. By responding within 1 hour, businesses can increase their bookings and improve customer satisfaction.
To increase bookings, businesses should enable Sprout Social's 'Comment Notification' feature, which sends alerts for new comments on social media posts. They should also assign a team member to monitor social media and respond to comments within 1 hour. By doing so, businesses can capitalize on the 3x increase in bookings and improve their customer engagement.
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Source: Sprout Social Insights · 2026-05-29
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