IMPACT Case Study #2: CICS and Social Media?!!!!
The CICS team has been leveraging social network marketing to prepare for IMPACT and beyond. It is catching steam - with active twitter followers, facebook group participants, regular followers like Steve Baugh - a popular blogger - who further broadcasts the message - and expand the reach in the marketplace in new ways.
Here's recent interview w/ with Dave Andrews.
The viral communications afforded by these new media are providing interesting ways to get the word out to new audiences that CICS has some exciting things to offer - the CICS community is delivering robust solutions in increasingly new and innovative ways. Great given the stereotype for a CICS user!!!
Some examples!:
I ♥ CICS
I Love CICS Facebook group
Youtube
Recently, Hostbridge, an IBM Business Partner joined us on facebook - posting information about one of their webcast events on our facebook group to extending THEIR usual marketing reach, driving additional attendence and awareness for this activity. Mike O'Neill and Susan Henderson of Hostbridge, felt this was a very positive extension of their usual marketing efforts and have since worked on a number of co-marketing activites with us. Hostbridge was so impressed with the value of using facebook as a way to establish community contact that they started their own facebook group.
We also had a joint webcast with Hostbridge and IBM - and leveraged all these social networking tools to broadcast registration information and we had a 10x registration rate!!!!
The facebook group is a tool to promote other co-marketing work we cemented (CICS Spotlight articles, webcasts, etc) and extending our reach to other facebook groups that are maintained by various CICS user groups, Mainframe communities, Academic communities, etc.
The viral effect is shown as other bloggers pick up the feed. For example, The Master Terminal actively promotes the I Love CICS facebook group and our recent Youtube clips - extending the usual marketing reach - as are many other bloggers and user groups on facebook.
The more we do to connect the communities....the broader our reach..and that of our partners.
Our facebook group membership accelerates and goes more global, Youtube views are getting picked up faster - as new ones are introduced- reflecting an active and interested community is engaging with our social networking efforts.
Who would have thought for the mainframe community! GO CICS!!! And thanks to Diane Johnson for her leadership here!
