This post was created in partnership with Respondology
AI is changing how brands interact on social media. Increasingly, the real action is happening in the comments—where conversations unfold, and brand perception takes shape in real time. And AI tools can help manage those interactions
During a Social Media Week panel co-hosted with Respondology, industry leaders explored how AI is helping teams manage scale and engage more meaningfully—without losing the human touch.
Where AI is improving social teams
Danica Calderhead, SVP of revenue at Respondology, opened by framing the challenge. “Teams are incredibly stretched, very, very thin. There’s only so much you all can do,” she said. To manage that pressure, teams are rethinking how the work gets done—and where AI fits in.
Cameron Curtis, VP of multi-platform strategy and digital media at Warner Bros. Discovery, said her company uses AI as a comment moderation tool.
“If we’re able to suppress a lot of the content that is not super conducive to those conversations, our fans feel like they can interact with each other and engage with the content in a more efficient way,” Curtis shared.
Kate Kenner Archibald, founder and fractional CMO working across beauty and CPG, described a different application. For her, AI is most valuable in identifying where brands should show up in the first place.
“We have used AI for a discoverability standpoint,” Archibald said. “There’s a really great, authentic way in which brands can get engaged while leveraging AI to discover where they should be and what conversations they should be a part of.”
Maintaining connection as communities grow
The conversation shifted to how brands maintain a sense of belonging as their communities grow.
Archibald pointed to direct engagement as an effective way to build that connection. She shared the example of a founder spending a month responding to community questions, as well as an example of an influencer who hosted a small karaoke night with followers, creating an offline connection.
Archibald also noted that many brands now aim to respond to comments and DMs within 24 hours, which can create a new challenge. As volume grows, maintaining that level of responsiveness becomes difficult to sustain manually.
This is where AI can help. Tools can help draft responses and manage volume, allowing teams to stay active without losing their voice.
