UPGRADING IBM’S INFLUENCER ENGAGEMENT AT TRADE EVENTS

Audience engagement

Influencer marketing is a hot topic in marketing across marketing channels. And event marketing strategy is no exception.

IBM had a schedule of events to showcase the new technology they had developed. Some registrants failed to attend events and there was little contact with attendees after events. A communication strategy was needed to keep engagement levels high in order to build stronger relationships with attendees and to turn them into customers.

A tool was developed to help CRM and social media communicators find existing content that matched users’ tech interest, their location in the sales funnel, and the phase of the event.

Social proof

I interviewed registrants in order to understand their communication needs. I then audited IBM content to classify it according to event and marketing themes and registrant needs.

I developed an Excel tool that would allow communicators to find content speedily so that it was possible for them to react to social and CRM conversations as they happened.

There was an increase in the number of people who participated in the event. Engagement levels were higher during the event, and conversations were maintained following the event. Converting attendees to customers led to a direct increase in sales.

Event marketing

Client: IBM

Agency: Ogilvy

Industry: Technology