Last night, Social Media Club Seattle hosted a lively event focused on customer service. With perfect weather and a backdrop of Qwest Field and a Seattle summer sunset, four customer service aficionados convened to answer audience questions about how social media participation is affecting and directing companies' relationships with customers.
The panel: Frank Eliason of Comcast, Brad Nelson of Starbucks, Elliot of Alaska Air and Mary of Nature's Path.
First, Chris Pirillo took the stage to promo this weekend's upcoming sold-out Gnomedex conference:
Next, Frank Eliason gave opening remarks on social media and customer service:
Elliot of Alaska Air's opening comments:
And Brad Nelson, who Tweets for Starbucks:
Afterwards, one of Social Media Club's most energetic officers, Shauna Causey, stopped by with the live-streamed question: what was most useful for you?
My answer was about what struck me the most: when asked if they would recommend hiring someone for social media from inside or outside the company, every panelist had the same response: hire the most passionate person for the job. Frank loves customer service. Elliot loves air travel. Brad loves coffee. Mary loves health food. Find the person from inside or outside your company who just can't shut up about your product and who is dying to talk to everyone about it--that's your social media person.
[Cross-posted to Spoken Communications]
