Joy Remetta – Super Fan
When we first conceived of Quest, social media for businesses was just beginning to find its footing. We figured that platforms like Facebook and Twitter would allow us to connect with famous influencers who would have otherwise been out of reach. It turns out we didn’t understand the full power of social media. What we would ultimately come to realize is that social media is at its most profound when it gives voice to, and meaningful involvement with, what we have come to refer to as Super Fans.
Super Fans aren’t famous. They are simply people who believe in your company and your products and are engaged in a direct relationship with you and your other customers. They don’t get any compensation for this involvement. They just do it because they believe in what you’re doing. Because of that, they are more meaningful to a company like Quest than all the paid advertising in the world.
Sadly, the Quest family recently sustained a loss when Joy Remetta, our first Super Fan, passed away. We will forever be indebted to Joy for her contributions to our community, and for holding us to the standard we set for ourselves, even when it was incredibly difficult. She gave us an amazing amount of useful feedback and helped set the standard for community interaction online.
Joy may not have known many of our names, but we all knew hers. Literally. From guys on the production line to the owners of the company. I often wondered if she knew how seriously we took her. I wondered if she knew that we really were listening.
Joy first got our attention when she started answering people’s questions on Facebook faster than we could. It was incredible! And we all thought the same thing; We’ve got to bribe this girl to keep her saying nice things! But she refused. We were shocked. The irony was, she was so active on our Facebook page that people routinely accused her of being on payroll. Little did they know, we tried to put her on payroll, but she wouldn’t go for it.
When Joy refused to be compensated we learned a powerful lesson. Some people believe in what you’re doing because they’re paid to. Others just believe in what you’re doing. Joy, and all Super Fans who follow in her footsteps, fall into the latter camp.
To honor Joy for all that she did for us, and to give back in some way for all that she gave to our community over the years, we’ve created the Joy Remetta Super Fan award. The award will be given every February to the person who most exemplifies the qualities of a true Super Fan.
The winner will be announced at the beginning of February every year. The recipient will be flown out to Los Angeles to meet everyone at Quest, tour our facilities and be given a year’s supply of Quest products. Our goal is that the Joy Remetta Super Fan Award will further open Quest up to our customers and fans who have helped make it something we are all proud of.
To each and everyone of you that engages with our community, we can not thank you enough. We take your belief in Quest very seriously, and our goal is to continue to serve you well.
To Joy, we say thank you. And sadly, goodbye. Our thoughts and well wishes are with the Remetta family at this very difficult time.