IBM turns its sales staff social media savvy

IBM turned its sales reps into social media savvy individuals to reach its audience of IT professionals.

IBM is the world’s largest IT and consulting services company. It has a diverse client base and delivers innovative solutions to help solve some of the toughest business challenges.

IT professionals increasingly use social media for product research. It is estimated that social media will form an integral part of the decision-making process for 75 per cent of IT professionals in the future.

IBM wanted to tap in to the professional IT community via social media to support sales of its Public Cloud service.

From social to sales
The challenge was to find an innovative way to build enduring relationships with this exacting, technically savvy B2B audience. Activity needed to drive sales leads and embrace IBM’s culture of innovation, ideas creation, openness and trust.

Objectives were two-fold: to generate a high quantity of good quality leads via social media and efficiently progress leads from engagement to conversion to sales.