I prepared this presentation was prepared for a Communications Leadership Summit. It conveys the role of influencer engagement in our changing marketing & communications profession and what IBM's doing about it.

1. © 2013 IBM Corporation
The Role of Influencer Engagement
in Our Changing Profession

2. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Agenda
1. The landscape is changing and
transforming our work
2. So what are we doing about it?
3. An example of influencer engagement

3. © 2013 IBM Corporation
FROM:
Media driven
One to many
Controlled by brand
The landscape is changing and transforming our work

4. © 2013 IBM Corporation
The landscape is changing and transforming our work
TO:
Empowered individuals
Many to many
Self-branding: “Brand You”

5. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Source: Jay Rosen’s Press Think, March 10, 2014
Individuals are in control now
“Sorry, that was 25 years ago, when you do
some interviews with other journalists and
that’s called publicity.
Today, publicity is what is actually
happening to your story in real time as it
gets shared, discussed and lampooned.
You don’t get to decide to whom this article
will spread. The people formerly known as
the audience will do that.”

6. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Sources go directly to people they trust
Respondents who replied
“extremely credible” or
“very credible” to the
following question:
If you heard information
about a company from
one of these people,
how credible would that
information be?
Employees Non-Employees
Source: 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer
Who has influence? Employees are trusted more than official brand sources.

7. © 2013 IBM Corporation
So what are we
doing about it?

8. © 2013 IBM CorporationIBM Employee Perception Research
We know that employees and their expertise
differentiate the IBM brand
No recent experience with IBMRecent experience with IBM
Reliable and
trustworthy
100%80%60%40%20%0%
67%
Quality of
products and
services 58%
82%
78%
78%Deep expertise
of IBM
employees 44%

9. © 2013 IBM Corporation9
Influencer Identification
Subject Matter Expert (SME) Mobilization
Influencer Information System
EngagementIntelligence
Strategy
So we are building a new system
of Influencer Engagement

10. © 2013 IBM Corporation10
Influencer Identification
– Knowing the right people with whom to engage
– Understanding who to target to work smarter, not harder
– Monitoring IBM impact on the “mavens” in the marketplace
SME Mobilization
– Utilizing IBM’s best “owned” assets for messaging
– Leveraging IBM experts to increase awareness
– Promoting earned media to drive business success
Influencer Information System
– Providing reliable and valid data around who matters in the digital marketplace
– Understanding trends in authority among market segments, client groups, employees
– Leveraging cross-over opportunities
Enabling IBM SMEs to know the right people with whom to engage
drives efficiency and impact for IBM in its overall social strategy
around owned and earned media marketing and communications.
So we are building a new system
of Influencer Engagement

11. © 2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Select
High-touch, thought leaders aligned to priorities
Strategic, tactical external placement
1:1 coaching & support
Ongoing listening & measurement to gauge progress
Forward Thinker
Intermediate touch, high value SMEs
Scalable service to surface expertise
Community-based coaching & enablement
Ongoing listening & measurement to gauge progress
Digital IBMer Hub
Low-touch, self service on demand for all IBMers
High volume
Self-directed participation & engagement
Self service metrics & gamification to gauge progress
Guidelines & Policies
100s
10s
of
1000s
100s
of
1000s
The system is built on engaging the right employees
Building trust and credibility by recruiting and enabling the
IBMers who possess deep expertise on a particular subject

12. © 2013 IBM Corporation
An example of
Influencer
Engagement

13. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Creating signature moments that engage influencers
A cadence of monthly “signature moments”
Big announcements that demonstrate progress against the strategic
imperatives, amplified by high-impact marketing and
communications support
Deploy senior leaders and SMEs with key influencers
Senior leaders and IBM SMEs will engage select influencers to
explain and build confidence in IBM’s strategic narrative and support
signature moments

14. © 2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Watson Group
2000 professionals
$1B+ in funding committed
$100M direct investment fund
New Watson HQ – NY (Silicon Alley)
- Incubator
- Design Center
- Solution Center
New Watson Offerings
- Watson Discovery Advisor
- Watson Analytics
Ecosystem Update
- New partners
- 750+ applications
What we were announcing

15. © 2013 IBM Corporation
A signature moment that nearly wasn’t

16. © 2013 IBM Corporation
The power of Influencer Engagement
From a potential derailment to a blip on the radar

17. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Signature moment: Watson launch
Event
280+ attendees / 3,000+ global live stream viewers
“C” Level client-led content
12 Watson demos
Coverage
540M+ media impressions (87.2M on Twitter)
36,500+ new LinkedIn Members
600+ earned media placements
Digital Activation
New Watson Microsite
YouTube, Tumblr takeovers (60K+)
Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, FB leverage
Image gallery (120K+ views)
Outreach and Advertising
Digital billboard at Grand Central Station
NPR digital and radio spots
Sponsored tweets

18. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Additional signature moments to support
business priorities: Cloud launch
Coverage
1,000+ publications around the world
52M+ social media impressions
3,500+ social shares of press release
1,400+ social shares of Smarter Planet Blog
Engagement
86,000+ influencers directly engaged through
Facebook, LinkedIn, email
1,000+ venture capitalists briefed in newsletter
100+ analysts briefed in webcast
8,000+ views on w3, 160 newsletters, 17
communities, 7 blogs
Outreach and Advertising
700,000+ paid media impressions, from NPR
underwriting announcements, paid search,
custom banners, paid LinkedIn posts, etc.

19. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Big Data analytics reveals the key influencers
• Arrow: Indicates that one influencer
mentions another on Twitter.
• Node Size: Nodes increase in size
with higher numbers of overall
Twitter followers.
• Node Color: Indicates influencer’s
profession.
Legend
Business Professional
LoB Professional
Journalist/Media
C-Suite
Consultant
Analyst
Academic
Overall Twitter Connectivity Network,
by Edge Betweenness
April 1 – June 30, 2013
Edge betweenness is a measure of an
author’s ability to broker communication
between individuals who are not already
connected. Influencers closer to the center
have higher measures of edge betweenness.

20. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Those influencers are not always traditional media
Data Scientist, Manager,
Predictive Analytics Leader
Chief Innovation Office & Founder,
Big Data Scientist
Data Scientist in Residence

21. © 2013 IBM Corporation
Q&A