IBM’s Facebook presence is a destination in its own right

Most organizations don’t even try to make their presence on Facebook a deliberate, intentional destination for people, focusing instead on getting people to “like” their pages in hopes that they’ll click on content in their news feeds and on through to the organization’s website. Not IBM. Its active Facebook page has earned first place in the “Use of Facebook” category of the 2016 PR Daily Awards. 

The organization’s goal was engagement; IBM measures audience engagement through comments, brand engagement through the organization’s replies, and amplification through shares, likes and followers. 

Among the content keeping people coming back to the page are 360-degree videos, which Facebook supports. The videos offer a peek inside IBM Research Labs, incorporating some compelling effects. IBM’s videos were viewed on Facebook over 800,000 times each; one featuring the Ultra High Vacuum-Transmission Electron Microscope Lab generated over 1 million views. 

Other engagement metrics were also through the roof. IBM makes tremendous use of Facebook Live: Its most successful video features a 13-year-old developer demonstrating IBM Watson co-piloting a drone. The views of these videos are high, and the engagement rates among those who watch are outstanding. 

Congratulations to Edwin Betts, Brittany Detamore, Katie Farrer, George Faulkner and Katie Keating.