Social Media Marketing Awards: IBM

Integrated (Tech): Winner

Program: Information on Demand 2011

Why we liked it: IBM has pinned its reputation on advancing the cause of “social business,” so it was appropriate for the company to make one of its largest annual conferences a showcase for its new technologies. The October Information on Demand event had the usual branded presences on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, but organizers went far beyond that. Key IBM bloggers were contacted and asked to promote highlights of the conference. Six iPad-toting “social concierges” roamed the floor inviting attendees to take polls and capturing their observations in short videos. Tweets about the event were displayed on a 90-by-20-ft. screen. Some customers carried flip cams to record man-on-the-street interviews, which were posted to YouTube. The LiveStream service was used to broadcast eight key sessions and 42 informal interviews with attendees, speakers and IBM executives. The broadcasts were viewed more than 24,000 times during the event. The #iod11 hashtag achieved a Twitter reach of 14.3 million unique users, and more than 63,000 new “likes” were recorded on relevant Facebook pages.