I.B.M. is tapping into its community of external brand ambassadors to spread the word about new products and services at its I.B.M. Connect conference, which runs through Thursday at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin. The company’s “I.B.M. Champions” are a group of about 75 bloggers, analysts, clients, and business partners who are active on social networks and voluntarily share their experiences with I.B.M. products. This year I.B.M. is using a Twitter contest to encourage the more than 5,000 attendees to interact with these people at the conference.
“These are influencers who are passionate about this part of the I.B.M. portfolio, and they want to share their joy about it, but they are also building their own personal brand," said Colleen Hayes, director of market segment management for I.B.M.’s collaboration solutions. "So this type of activity helps establish them as a thought leader, and it helps I.B.M. by strengthening the network and the community that we’ve been building for the last 20 years.”
The conference welcome packet includes a yearbook-style page of photos of the I.B.M. Champions who are at the event. Attendees who take a photo with one of these people and post it to Twitter using the #IBMChamp hashtag will be entered in a drawing for prizes. The Champion who has the most photos tweeted will also be rewarded with a prize. To facilitate this interaction, organizers provided preconference briefings to the Champions so they can help other attendees understand the content. “So when they are eating lunches or having a cocktail or going for a walk, they can reinforce and articulate what we are trying to accomplish and their perspective on it,” Hayes said. The company provides information and insights to group members, but then they are free to share it as they see fit. “We don’t want to use them as a marketing machine, because then it’s not authentic,” she said.
Organizers also shared the Champions’ photos on a large video screen during Monday’s general session and hosted a tweet-up later that evening. “We want to showcase them as thought leaders, and we want them to realize they are a vital member of our team,” Hayes said. Members either apply or are nominated to join the group, and most are involved for one to two years. The company’s influencer relations manager holds monthly conference calls with members to keep them up-to-date on company news.
This is the 20th year I.B.M. has hosted this conference, but prior to this year it was called I.B.M. Lotusphere. The name change reflects a shift in focus from purely technical content to more sessions about the application of social business technology in the workplace.
