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Research Outline

Prepared for Jerome D. | Delivered June 2, 2020

Activating IT Professionals

Goals

To identify or compile case studies of brands in the IT industry that did a great job activating their targets on social media in an exciting way (e.g. without boring them). This information will be used to help the client develop a high level strategy for a social media campaign on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Social media activation be defined as the following: "act of transforming your social media followers from voyeurs, into participants. Social activation occurs when fans and followers directly participate in the activities your brand lays out, such as contests, coupon redemption, and photo and experience sharing."


Early Findings

Case Study: The 'Extreme I.T.' Campaign by Lenovo

  • Lenovo wanted to gain notoriety in the IT industry by establishing themselves as experts in complex technology solutions, including things like 5G, virtual reality, voice command and blockchain.
  • Although the company had already been publishing expert content to the tech industry via things like white papers, blogs, listed specs, and product pages, Lenovo wanted to do something fun that would "cut through the clutter of explainer videos and deliver the content in a fresh way that's both entertaining and enlightening."
  • As a result, the company created the Extreme I.T. video series with the intention if publishing the videos on social media. The videos featured expert Lenovo employees engaging in extreme challenges while explaining/demonstrating their technological expertise. This included having employees do things like explain how blockchain works while walking blindfolded 200 feet in the air. The employees were not told beforehand what kind of challenge they would be facing so their reactions were natural.
  • An example of one of the videos used in the campaign series can be found here.
  • The results of this campaign were highly successful. First, the campaign was a finalist at the 11th Annual Shorty Awards for the Best In Technology category. Next, the video series garnered more than 18.6 million views just on YouTube alone, although the campaign was published on other social media platforms as well. Perhaps most importantly of all, Lenovo said that they were pleasantly surprised to see that the campaign received "incredibly positive sentiment" from I.T. decision makers on LinkedIn. This campaign was so successful, in fact, that Lenovo said they began "adapting these assets for retail, talent acquisition, experiential event activations and more."