Chatbots are widely used across beauty websites, but few brands and retailers are applying this technology to social media channels where waves of consumers spend most of their time today. A small number of international beauty brands and retailers have leaned into the opportunity and successfully integrated chatbots—computer programs designed to simulate conversation with humans—on social channels.As of February 2025, the number of global monthly active users across major social media channels is astronomical: Facebook hit 3.07 billion, YouTube 2.5 billion, Instagram 2 billion, WhatsApp 2 billion, TikTok 1.59 billion, and WeChat 1.38 billion, according to Statistica. And for beauty, social sites ranked as the fourth most popular online channel worldwide in 2024 for where consumers get their product purchase inspiration from, according to the data firm. Users today are also accessing these platforms for beauty shopping—TikTok is leading the way here, selling around 370 million beauty and personal products last year directly on its platform, according to Statistica.So, why are only a few beauty brands and retailers operating chatbots on these channels? And what is holding this era of integrated engagement via social media chatbots back?The Nascent Opportunity“I am surprised not more brands have adopted it. The use of social media chatbots in the beauty industry is still in its early stages, with adoption rates gradually increasing,” said Estella Benz, CEO at beauty software specialist Skin Match Technology.