WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

Companies that hope to remain competitive know they need to maintain a presence on social media sites. But how can they integrate customer service into the operation? We'll take a look in this week's "60 Seconds of Social Media."

As companies created profiles on sites like Facebook and Twitter, customers found they could put their gripes on blast for the whole world to see, forcing an entirely new dynamic in business communication, one that many companies are still struggling to master.

In a recent study from American Express, 17% of respondents said they used social media for customer service in the last year, and 80% of them said they didn't complete a purchase because the service was unsatisfactory. Another study from Conversocial showed some brands are taking as long as 50 hours to respond to questions asked online. That's business they're just giving away.

Finally, in our Social Media Shorthand segment, we'll take a look at content curation.

Missed last week's episode about online ads? Check it out here.