Lately I have been spending a considerable amount of time visiting with our customers located all over the U.S. The purpose in my recent “road warrior” lifestyle is twofold: First, I’ve made a commitment to personally meet with our customers in 2010, and second, I’m presenting many of them with our additional value added services.
The acceptance rate of our community management offering has been unprecedented. As I mentioned in a previous post, this service has to do with our customers’ adoption of social media. Cazbah provides them with the technology, work processes, and dedicated service and support to increase their inbound marketing opportunities. It also establishes them as the center-of-influence within their communities, hence the name.
On a recent visit with one of our clients while presenting a community management proposal, we got into a discussion about the viability of social media within their particular industry. Our client admitted he wasn’t too familiar with social media networks and expressed his concerns about how social media was going to help him sell his products (a very reasonable and accurate concern). While I did take the opportunity to highlight some of the benefits of social media for his business, it became clear to me that we need to educate all of our clients regarding new media techniques that can improve their businesses.
With a wry smile, the client asked, “I wonder what Warren Buffet is doing in social media?” He stopped me in my tracks. I thought, “what a great question.” Even though he was half joking, he struck on something profound. Clearly, if you are considering a change, you look to the leaders to gain insight into your decision making process. Who better than Warren Buffet, one of the savviest business men in the world.
Social media plays a vital role in viral marketing and enables further brand awareness. This is accomplished by establishing word-of-mouth communication between community members regarding relevant information which induces purchasing by driving traffic to a company’s Web site. Additionally, social media removes the barriers that may normally exist between a company and its customers, giving them the opportunity to communicate openly and virtually instantaneously.
Warren Buffet’s holding company, Berkshire Hathaway now owns a diverse range of businesses including railroads, candy production, retail, home furnishings, encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales, newspaper publishing, manufacture and distribution of uniforms, manufacture, import and distribution of footwear; as well as several regional electric and gas utilities.
A partial list of companies that Berkshire Hathaway either has a complete ownership, a controlling ownership or a significant ownership in include; GEICO Insurance, The Pampered Chef, Dairy Queen, Benjamin Moore & Co., BoatU.S., NetJets, CocaCola and H.H. Brown Shoes. For a complete listing of their subsidiary companies click here http://tr.im/RRM5.
Several of the Berkshire Hathaway companies are major consumer brands like Benjamin Moore paint for example. A quick trip to their company Web site provides a link to their blog and an invitation to join the dialogue on all things color – the newest trends, products, and latest stories on everything from fashion to food, from art to architecture – on the blog “Living in Color with Sonu.”
BoatsU.S., the boat owners association of the United States, provides a listing of boating groups, message boards, member services, not to mention 118 Web pages chock full of boating blogs dealing with topics ranging from trans-Atlantic crossings to how to overcome your fears of traveling to places like Columbia.
The Dairy Queen Web site sports a mug of Warren Buffet himself on their homepage alongside an invitation to download their iPhone app, DQ Craze. A trip to their Facebook page shows an active community of over 800,000 fans. Their Twitter page heralds constant notifications about new content being posted to the company’s blog which, is supported by a team of eight dedicated bloggers.
Who hasn’t heard of
(or seen) GEICO or is it Gecko? Needless to say, they’re everywhere and the Web is no exception. You can check out their YouTube channel to see all those crazy commercials featuring that zany lizard, cave man or pile of money with the ‘googly’ eyes. They too have an iPhone app called Glovebox™ with all sorts of info to engage their customers. The GEICO blog shows active participation on the part of four dedicated company bloggers and customers from around the world.
I could go on and on but you get the point. Warren Buffet knows all about social media. All of the companies that Berkshire Hathaway owns, controls or is invested in are currently and actively engaged in all aspects of social media. The bottom line about social media is that it’s all about the bottom line, and Warren Buffet clearly understands the dramatic value and business revenue that social media brings.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Speaking of Mr. Buffet and social media, I must agree with Charles that Mr. Buffet is taking full advantage of it…literally. Check out MR. Buffet’s appearance on a GEICO commercial on YouTube. It’s awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmcxIokfOiE&feature=player_embedded
Fuyuko,
That is hysterical! I really did LOL. Warren must be a pretty cool guy to dress up in a wig & leather for that video. He looks like an old rock star…
I can´t stop laughing! It is absolutely great! On top of it, everybody’s acting and singing is quite good!
Cecilia,
In deed, too funny. I had no idea that Warren had such a funny bone. The video itself certainly accomplishes its objective… It’s very engaging & funny, which is always a good thing when trying to go viral. I’m sure it’s succeeded… Look at us, we’re helping the cause of GEICO!