• 2.1 Billion Internet Users1

• 664 Million Facebook Users2

• 106 Million Twitter Users 3

• 5.3 Billion Use Mobile Devices4

• 8 Trillion Messages 5

Opportunity In the recognition sphere, social media offers quick, easy ways to recognize teammates on a day-to-day basis. It taps into behaviors we already practice in personal communications: sharing, being part of a group, even game-playing, deepening engagement, loyalty and a sense of belonging. This engagement, when achieved through traditional recognition and rewards programs, goes directly to the bottom line. Social media has the potential to contribute to these connections and generate long-term benefits. At the same time, it conjures up privacy issues, the risk of losing message control and becoming impersonal.

It is important to consider the appropriateness of social media programs versus traditional programs. The industry leaders of the Recognition Council, a strategic industry group of the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA), have come together to consider if social media can effectively become a recognition delivery method or is better used as a communications tool for employees.

Recognition Council Survey In the IMA Recognition Council 2011 Trends Survey, 85.7 percent of the respondents said that their companies use social media to market products and services. In the same survey, the issue of “understanding social media and its effectiveness” was listed as a top ten employee challenge over the next five years.

Social Media Is Here To StayIn “The Social Revolution: Using Social Media to Help Recognize & Reward,” author Rick Dandes points out:

Some studies project that by 2014, social networking will replace e-mail as the primary form of communication for up to 20 percent of business users…Not surprisingly, C-suite, sales, marketing and human resource executives are turning to social platforms to enable people across departments and even countries to recognize, share best practices and highlight company values.6

1www.internetworldstats.com 2www.internetworldstats.com 3Business Insider. 14 April 2010 4Mobithinking.com 5Mobithinking.com 6Dandes, Rick. “The Social Revolution: Using Social Media to Help Recognize & Reward.” Premium Incentive Products 3 Feb. 2011. 15 July 2011 <http://www.pipmag.com/feature_print.php?fid=201103fe03>

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Social Media AmplifiesSteven Green, Founder and President of Pollstream, tells us, “Social recognition brings to light the contributions and milestones of employees and transmits the story instantaneously across the corporate intranet.”7

Social media directly connects with individuals and can become the platform for the full range of recognition activities, incorporating everything from communication to full-blown delivery of awards. Unfortunately, social recognition is still in its infancy with most companies having only limited experience.

For instance, Newton Manufacturing’s Executive VP of Sales and Marketing Jay Donlin views social media “primarily as a way to broadcast a recognition message to the public domain. The employee being recognized receives a public kudos from the organization. Potential employees see that the organization will recognize their achievements. Customers see the company as one that tries to create a positive work environment.”

MotivAction’s Director of Marketing Beau Ballin pragmatically reflects, “Conversations about recognition happen every day within organizations. The reality is that most of these conversations happen outside the recognition program ... Social media provides a way to capture, guide and track those conversations providing built-in monitoring and feedback.”

I Love Rewards CEO Razor Suleman says that “Social recognition is about putting a mechanism in place within your organization to facilitate easy social interaction and the public sharing of recognition between managers and peers.”8

Current Approaches The speed of social media makes it a natural for instant recognition, helping managers recognize accomplishments in a timely manner despite challenges like geography, schedules, etc. It builds on the peer-to-peer connection already established by tools like instant messaging and makes it easier for others to “pile on” the recognition.

While some clients are ready to use public tools like Facebook and LinkedIn, most currently prefer to keep their programs as part of their corporate intranets, using mechanisms that may resemble social media venues. Most contributors9 to this analysis see social media as an optional delivery channel that augments an established traditional recognition and reward program.

Several companies, like Dittman Incentive Marketing, have full blown platforms that incorporate the principles of social media to span everything from peer-to-peer internal recognition and totally private feeds all the way to integrating systems with public properties like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as a way to recognize community facing components.

Beau Ballin shares that “MotivAction has been an early adopter of social media in the context of incentive travel programs utilizing Flickr for event photo sharing, Facebook for event marketing, Twitter for audience response, YouTube for video promotion and a variety of mobile applications for onsite interactivity.”

Technology enables the process by streamlining administration and participation of points-based programs. It also allows for the use of gamification as a way to increase engagement.

Potential RisksJay Donlin tells us “The use of social media seems to be more relevant to Gen Y and external employees who have grown up with the technology and are more in need of receiving frequent and immediate accolades.”

7Dandes, Rick. “The Social Revolution: Using Social Media to Help Recognize & Reward.” Premium Incentive Products 3 Feb. 2011. 15 July 2011 <http://www.pipmag.com/feature_print.php?fid=201103fe03>

8Suleman, Razor.”Using Social Media to Extend the Power of Employee Recognition Beyond Organizational Walls.” Incentive Magazine 1 Dec. 2010. 15 July 2011 <http://www.incentivemag.com/print.aspx?id=6841>

9The Recognition Council collected voluntary responses from its members to a set of questions as background for this report. See the list of contributors published with this paper.

According to Dittman Incentive Marketing Digital Marketing Consultant Wendy Flanagan, “Although the capability has been available for some time, we see social media being adopted slowly by clients. It requires 24/7 monitoring and a plan for crisis control and crisis communications that many companies feel they do not have.”

One of the big issues with social media is that not everyone has the same access so providing universal coverage can be a challenge. A company that relies on social media as its only form of recognition can undermine the connection created by the personal relationship between leaders and employees.

The rapid move toward mobile devices and anytime, anywhere virtual connections, raises security risks for companies at every level, including recognition and reward programs.

Critical Factors The consensus of contributors is that social media recognition programs, like all others, need to be clearly tied to business objectives, values and the culture of the organization.

“The most crucial elements to a successful incentive program are that all the program rules, guidelines, etc. are well defined and communicated to the program participants and that the awards are achievable by the program participants,” according to Mary Anne Comotto of Partners for Incentives.

Because social media provides a robust feedback channel, companies must be prepared by dedicating the resources to monitor content and assure that needed adjustments occur quickly.

Dittman’s Flanagan sums it up by saying, “The most critical thing to get right is to establish a personal link between the organization and the individual…Social media as a means of delivery should not replace more personal one-on-one recognition in the workplace, which is so important for establishing deep connections.”

Effectiveness?All contributors acknowledged that it is too soon to really measure the effectiveness of social media programs. To date, most have used social media tools mainly as extensions of marketing and communication efforts.

This new virtual approach is not for everyone. Corporate Rewards COO Edward Brookshire explained that, despite the company’s widespread use of web tools, the company has issues with any kind of delivery of items like its universal digital gift cards “which would not be wise to send over any kind of open forum.” Similarly, Bruce Fox’s Dave Morrison views social media more as a marketing method for companies like his that manufacture recognition awards.

Bottom Line The bottom line is that, although recognition an reward programs clearly motivate behavior, much of the power lies within the act of recognition itself. It’s more about being noticed than the actual reward. Social media parallels the incentive industry in being very “people focused.” Just as successful social media users promote what people are doing, recognition and rewards programs benefit from spreading the stories of exemplary workers. Clearly there is a synergy between social media and reward and recognition programs that deserves additional focus and experimentation.

This report was created by the Recognition Council, a strategic industry group within the Incentive Marketing Association that educates and promotes the benefits of recognition and rewards to the worldwide business community. More information is available at www.recognitioncouncil.org.

ContributorsBeau Ballin, MotivAction • Edward Brookshire, Corporate Rewards

Mary Anne Comotto, Partners for Incentives

Jay Donlin, Newton Manufacturing Company

Wendy Flanagan, Dittman Incentive Marketing Consultant

ITAGroup • Tom Miller, The Miller Company • David Morrison, Bruce Fox

Recognition Council 2011 Trends Survey Respondents