Congratulations to one of our very own, Dane Low, who has won the Best Social Media Customer Service Award at the West Coast Social Media Awards! I am sure anyone who has ever tweeted, liked, followed, poked, hash tagged, or retweeted Cactus Club can agree that Dane is highly deserving of this prestigious award.
For all of you stuck in 2009, needlessly trying to resist the social media bandwagon, here’s an example, that happened this morning, of the incredibly personable customer service Dane provides through Cactus Club’s twitter account:
Dane is so on top of his game that we’re currently pricing out thumb replacements for him – just in case his get worn out. (FYI: thumbs, though small, deceivingly aren’t cheap)
Somehow I managed to pull Dane away from his tweeting/liking/hash tagging/following for a moment and here’s what he had to say about winning the Best Social Media Customer Service Award:
Congrats, Dane. I’m sure it feels great to be recognized as a leader in your area of specialty. How did the competition work?
I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to have received this award. I really owe it all to Cactus Club’s engaged online community – like YOU reading this right now! – and want to thank all of Cactus’ fans and followers for being so awesome!
The competition worked by first being nominated, then short-listed by online voting – which our community stepped up and won – and, finally, reviewed by a panel of 5 judges. There were some exceptional nominees so the judges’ decisions could not have been easy!
The award was given out at the 2nd Annual Social Media Camp Victoria. What was the conference like?
The conference was a fantastic two day event at the Victoria Conference Center. It had great content for people that are just beginning to explore social opportunities as well as more advanced topics for those who have been at it for a while. Additionally, the event attracts many of the most influential people in the social media space on the West Coast so it makes for a valuable networking event. I had the pleasure of meeting and catching up with many people there who I consider to be leaders in the industry. I highly recommend that everyone try to make it out next year to Social Media Camp 2012!
Obviously you believe in the power of social media. How important do you think it is for companies to ‘get on the bandwagon’? What can social media do that has never been possible before?
At this point I think that it is extremely important for businesses to get involved with social media in some capacity. While some may think these social media channels are novelties today it will likely become a consumer expectation – much like the telephone – in the not too distant future.
I think it used to be extremely difficult for businesses, especially larger ones, to be able to create and strengthen relationships by interacting on a genuinely personal level. Social Media offers that ability for businesses to connect on a one-to-one basis.
Congratulations again to Dane “the twit” Low! Hmmm, do you think that nickname will stick?