Social Media Case Study: Cabot Cheese
This is what we received from Cabot Cheese.
It all started on Pinterest.
I was doing what I do most of the time on the social site — pinning recipes — when an employee of Cabot Cheese interacted with me on one of the posts.
That interaction led to her offering to send free samples of their cheese.
In February, she emailed me with a few facts about Cabot Cheese and asked for my address to send me some cheese to compare with Wisconsin cheese. (Cabot is a dairy cooperative in New England, with headquarters in Vermont.)
The key takeaway
Here’s the most important thing that this Cabot employee did (or, rather, didn’t do). They did not ask me to mention Cabot in any way in social spaces. That is, they gave me the cheese without asking for publicity in return.
I don’t know how you feel, but I feel more obliged to mention someone and give them free publicity when they don’t ask for it. And that’s what happened in this case.
What we did
With the cheese, my wife and I made several dishes on our food blog — Tex-Mex Taco Mac and Cheese, Taco Salad Pizza, Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Horseradish Cheddar and Southwest Turkey Sliders — and distributed our blog posts on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. And that doesn’t include other recipes that we used the cheeses in but didn’t write about on our food blog. (And, of course, I ended up writing this post.)
In addition, we took pictures of food using Cabot and distributed those photos on social networks.
While I’ll still be buying Wisconsin cheese when I can — I am a proud Eat Local proponent — I will be buying Cabot when I cannot because their products and their social business acumen are spot on.
What a wonderful way to start the day! Thank you for the lovely post and all you’ve done – AND we’re so glad you enjoyed the cheese. Thank you most of all for creating those recipes! I’m now officially starving. And here I was, wondering what to make for dinner. Case closed! Tex-Mex Taco Mac & Cheese! ~Wendy
Apparently Cabot also does a pretty good job of listening – the comment on your post is a nice touch. Brands often underestimate the value of a human interaction in building value and word of mouth.
Very interesting. As much as you felt more inclined to spread the word, I wonder what the average person does. I hate to sound negative, but I think most would not do anything. I have found that even when asking, it\’s like pulling teeth. There are also many times that I have not asked, and nothing happens.
and I agree with Joseph, that it’s nice when brands listen and respon. Kudos to Cabot.
Actually this experience and a book I just read, “The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty,” have combined to form a new blog post that I’m working on.
Just goes to show the power of *good* social business. Listening is clearly key and it’s even more impressive that this happened via Pinterest…as brands seem to be a bit slower reacting there. Good for Cabot!
Great story about “giving” without expectation. It always pays.
Yes, it is a great example of good social business! And what a payoff for Cabot Cheese. You can’t beat write ups like this one, and the great impression the company has now made! Thanks for sharing!