Today Warren Buffett made his debut on Twitter with the tweet: ‘Warren is in the house.’ Equally irreverent and inane coming from a man going on 83, this single tweet garnered over 30 000 retweets in less than 12 hours. Within the same time-span, @WarrenBuffett had gained over 200 000 followers. Not bad for one tweet … or put another way, a lifetime of brand building.

You see, these figures, as impressive as they are, do not represent the power of social media so much as the power of a strong brand. Here is a man who:

• Time Magazine named as one of the world’s most influential people in 2012
• is consistently ranked among the world’s wealthiest people
• has pledged to give away 99% of his fortune upon passing to philanthropic causes
• was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2011, and
• along with Bill Gates, has been anointed with the almost holy title ‘most influential global thinker’.

But even more powerful than all these titles and accolades is the man himself and what he represents –– for what makes the man makes the brand. Brand Buffett endures simply because of who Warren Buffett is:

• A charismatic storyteller who truly appreciates the power of communication (as much as he does the power of money); a golden combination
• A professional who is well accomplished in his particular field of expertise and who continues to ‘do’ and ‘accomplish’ and ‘outperform’ year on year
• A man with significant wealth yet strong and highly respected personal values, as evidenced by his now infamous quote: ‘I want to give my kids just enough (money] so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing’
• A public entity committed to evolving with the times (his Twitter debut being the most timely example) who may change his brand codes from time to time as the environment around him changes, but whose brand DNA is flawlessly consistent.

So as the Twitterverse (and @billclinton) recovers from Buffett entering its sphere, let’s shift the limelight away from social media for just a minute and bask in the glory of a self-made, self-kept brand that effortlessly endures for all the right reasons.

By Candice O’Sullivan, Director and Head of Strategy at Wellmark. You can find Candice on Google+ at +Candice O’Sullivan, follow her tweets on brand strategy, content marketing, social media and related topics @candicepill or subscribe to our blog here.