2011 Social Media Marketing Awards: Closed Community

Winner: LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Program: LexisNexis Investigators Network
Why we chose it: Law-enforcement officials aren't generally considered to be the most active netizens, which is why we chose the LexisNexis Investigators Network from a very strong field of entrants in this category. The network was conceived as a way to raise awareness of Accurint for Law Enforcement, a LexisNexis suite of investigative tools. Given the target audience's concerns about security, the community was firewalled to limit membership to law-enforcement customers and recognized knowledge experts. The membership goal of 4,000 was exceeded in the first year. LexisNexis clearly understands that communities don't grow organically; they need unique content assets and incentives to drive repeat activity. The LexisNexis Investigators Network has already signed up members from 1,700 agencies in all 50 states.

Runner-up: Psion

Program: Launch of Ingenuity Working
Why we chose it: Psion illustrates that the principles of open innovation work just fine in b2b scenarios. The developer of rugged handheld computers last year invited hundreds of developers and specialty manufacturers to engage in a community dedicated to improving communications and supporting open, collaborative development. The Ingenuity Working community is already logging 60,000 unique visitors a month and has generated almost 4,000 discussions and well over 700 distinct technology articles. Psion has used Ingenuity Working as a way to change the way it approaches product innovation. The company requires all its employees to have Twitter accounts and to participate in the community. Member discussions are complemented by a cluster of Psion blogs and branded Twitter streams, making Ingenuity Working a core communications channel between partners and the company.