Dreamforce was packed with amazing people and when we saw our good friend Chris James, Social Media Director at GNC, we were thrilled to have a quick conversation. If you remember him from our webinar, case study or blog, he had a great story to tell about the connection social media has created between GNC and their customer community. The world’s largest vitamin and supplement retailer is devoted exclusively to helping its customers live healthy and meet their fitness goals. With the help of a strong social strategy, they built a community of customers, thought leaders and fitness professionals. The results have been truly inspirational with true stories from around the world.

The response to our webinar with Chris was great and we keep getting more follow-up questions from the community. So with a few of these questions in our back pocket, we set up the video camera from the second floor of the Cloud Expo and got to it.

Chris, what does “community” mean to GNC?

You talk about engaging on social networks. Would you elaborate on the choice GNC made to use existing social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) vs creating your own?

What makes you excited about community?

This came up a bit during the webinar. How do you balance promotion and engagement as a brand?

So would you say you plan for promotional opportunities and listen for engagement opportunities?

Any last thoughts on what you heard from the webinar? Any questions you want to address?

Chris, thank you for taking the time at Dreamforce to chat with us once again. We enjoy hearing and sharing your story.

Have you been inspired by your social media community? In what ways? What can you do to deepen and grow your community?

Melanie Thompson is a Community Analyst at Radian6. She listens, engages and measures conversations on a daily basis. Find her on Twitter at @MelanieAThomp.

Tags: Community, gnc