Social Media and the Incentive Industry - Just Ain’t Getting It

Social Media is the new black.  Or should I say social networking?  Or is it just Social?  There are as many definitions and opinions of “social” as there are Social Media Experts.  However we slice it, social has all of us paying attention.  It must be important – there is a movie (The Social Network) and TV show (*#$% My Dad Says) directly connected to Social Media.  

I use a lot of various social networking tools – Linkedin, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, Vimeo, FourSquare, etc.  I try to experiment with all of them – you can’t learn to swim without getting into the water.  

But there’s a key component I think is critical to the experience – people.  And I still think the incentive industry – for all their lip-service to “connecting people to performance” and their discussions on how “people performance drives business” – they just ain’t getting the connection between social media and people.

 

Tweet #1:  Stop By My Booth - Thanks.

I spent last week at the Motivation Show in Chicago.  The Motivation Show has, for many years, been the preeminent event for those who sell in, buy from, sell to and in general, orbit the industry that provides travel awards, merchandise awards, debit cards, crystal trophies and pictures printed in icing on cakes (I don’t kid… it’s there.)  Some of you dinosaur riders may remember it as ITME – the Incentive Travel and Merchandise Exposition.  (Unfortunately – I do.)  Back in the day it was big – well over 10,000 attendees, parties ‘til dawn – money and influence.  Power and prestige.  The SHOW was the place to be.  It’s a bit smaller today (if you can call 7,000+ smaller.)  

And like everything else, it’s evolving – more education, less entertainment.  More discussion, less Dewars.  More business less, boondoggle.  

 

Tweet #2:  Stop By My Booth – Okay – got it… will do…

This year at the SHOW - social media (SM for those in Rio Linda) was the topic of discussion on everyone’s lips.  I did a presentation on it… and there were others presenting on it as well.  A lot of folks were talking about how to include SM in recognition and incentive programs.  Big name incentive agencies talked about it and had “keynote” sessions on it.  They explained their expertise and enlightened us with their brilliance.  Told us “how” social media would change their programs.  

 

Tweet #3:  Stop By My Booth – OKAY – got it – jeez – let up.

Yet – for all their evangelism they weren’t there.  There was no engagement from them on social media.  The Show set up a hashtag for the show – #moti.  Check the stream here – you’ll see what I mean.  Count the number of discussions – then count the number of “stop by my booth” tweets.  

A bit heavy on the “come see me” and a bit light on the “let’s talk.”  

That’s to be expected I guess as people experiment and try to use old advertising ideas in a new media.  We probably need to have more education on this.  But… but…

But what really got me was the interaction from those doing SM sessions – as experts.  

In a word...

Crickets.  

Tweet #4 – Stop By My Booth – Ah… no thanks.  You’re just cluttering things up now…

Here’s a bit of knowledge for you: Roughly 7 sessions were about SM or included it in their description (and I’m being VERY conservative – many more touched on it or had a discussion within it.)  

Only two (yeah – 2) session presenters were actually on twitter or linking to any kind of social, shareable information.

The two?

Me.  Thank you.  

And… 

@kmillersmith – a third-party social media consultant working with an incentive travel company.  Props to Katie – she joined me on the radio show we did from the show floor.  Thanks Katie.  But where were your clients?

 

Tweet #5 – Stop By My Booth – NO, NO, NO – you’re killing me here… 

The point being is that for all the discussion of social media within the incentive and reward industry the amount of real interaction and engagement is damn near zero.  I’m convinced that the presenters did a google search to see what was hot in social media/networking – spent an hour in a conference room pulling together stats from other sites and put together a presentation for the show.  

It’s painfully obvious – they don’t believe the stuff they talked about if they aren’t using it themselves.  Never take medicine a doctor won’t give his/her own kids.  Just sayin.  Really - who ya gonna trust and work with on this stuff – someone who tells you then can do it – or someone who is doing it?  

I’ll take my swimming lessons from someone in the water not someone in a boat.

 

Tweet #6 – Let’s talk about social media and how it influences behavior…

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system here’s some information you may be able to apply…

Humans are social.  Typical work technology allows us to be isolated – via teleworking, etc.  Social networks give your people a proxy for in-person – it’s less formal and more immediate than email – and it ultimately enhances real-life interactions.  Social networks and social media allow you to connect people when they can’t connect face-to-face - maintaining a human connection.

Here’s some real SM information – repurposed from the book “How We Decide” (this is a quote I used in my preso on social networks influencing behavior - I'll have a link to it once the SHOW gets their use out of it...)

"Once people become socially isolated, they stop simulating the feelings of other people. Their moral intuitions are never turned on.  As a result, the inner Machiavelli takes over, and the sense of sympathy is squashed by selfishness."

Think about that and then ask – should you include social media in your incentive and reward programs?

 

Comments

[Drew Hawkins]

I would agree that there was a lack of true "engagement" at the show. Conversation was limited and even @kmillersmith pointed out on your podcast last week that most things were marketing oriented. With HHR, we set up a Foursquare check-in as our "come to the booth" pimp out tweet but tried to make other things more interactive (video/pic uploads etc).

It is funny how those presenting social media weren't even using it. There's such a huge marketing opportunity there. If a company wants to talk about how it can incorporate social into its programs, one of the best ways to "show off expertise" is by active online engagement by that company. People are more likely to do business with those who practice what they preach.

Looking at the glass half full, there was at least activity out there in comparison to the past. Most social newbies won't "get it" right off the bat but you've gotta start somewhere right? Amber Naslund points out in a post (http://ht.ly/2VXoA) how social enthusiasts like us want people on there but slam them when they do things wrong.

We're all learning. Hopefully some will be able to take the lessons from your post and apply social more effectively in the future.

[Paul Hebert]

Everything in transition looks messy. You're on point though Drew saying that most of us using social media - as someone in my twitter stream said the other day - are officially like a psychotic girlfriend/boyfriend. We are a tough bunch.

I should probably back off the "stop by my booth" and be happy the quantity of people working social media has increased. My bad...

But I can't forgive the poseurs who present on it- but don't use it. That's just malpractice in my opinion. That is as bad as putting SM down but not being on it at all.

[Hinda Incentives]

I can totally go with you on the poseurs. It's one thing to genuinely be new. It's another to present on it as an authority on the matter and practice newbie mistakes. That's unacceptable in my book

[Kimhartranft]

Hi Paul-

There are some who get this right, and some who don't. It is truly a learn as you go kind of marketing plan - no textbook, instruction manual or one size fits all effort will ever work in the SM space.

That being said - we completely missed the radio show and really wanted to participate and learn more. More so as learning than to toot our own horns about how great we are. We are still taking baby steps - and greatness is certainly a goal once we're at the end of the ever-evolving space.

We didn't see the tweet up notices for the radio show...guess we should have done things the old fashioned way and swapped phone numbers. Our booth was hopping with lots of activity, and we didn't do a presentation to bring folks in, so we were a bit limited in how we could connect with folks other than the occasional stop by our booth message.

So, if you are planning a second run at a radio show - please connect. We've got a swanky email address that you'll appreciate social@stonerbunting.com. We'd love to be part of what you do!

All the best,
Kim

[Paul Hebert]

Thanks for engaging here Kim - appreciate it. As Drew pointed out - I should apologize to those that tried - I was as bad (and as bad currently) as any one else working through this stuff. I'm glad you had a lot of activity at your booth - so maybe your strategy worked for you and that should be good enough.

Now I'll have to do another post apologizing for this post! My work is never done!

Stay tuned - we do the show (try to do the show) the first Wednesday of each month. Check the archives in the side bar to the right. Near the bottom.

Thanks again for commenting.

[Tom Miller]

Hi Paul -

It's always interesting hearing your perspective...

I laughed when I read the numbers re who was presenting on SM and who actually used it during the preso! Here's my take - lots of companies are REALLY nervous about SM because they don't know how to monetize it without dramatically changing their biz model. So everyone wants to be "in on it", but very few will actually be bold enough to use it until they're forced. Change is great! (but you go first...). Interesting times...

Let's talk - curious your take on a few things.

[twitter.com/AlissaHurley]

I would have to agree as well. Here in Toronto, we have the IncentiveWorks show every August. This year, one of the keynote speakers was Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV, Crush It!), there was a session on social media, a roundtable on hybrid events and in a session I led on engagement, we had to contradict the introduction and ask people to turn their phones back on and encourage tweeting. There wasn't even a formal hashtag communicated by show organizers to enable discussion, we just started using #incentiveworks.

The incentive industry is definitely lagging in this area, but to move it a lot more people need to start walking the talk.

[Paul Hebert]

Funny you mention the "turn off cell phones" - that was on the required slide in both my presentations and I too told folks to turn it on and turn it up. I figure - especially if I'm presenting that either A.) I'll be so good they won't have the ability to tweet 'cuz they'll be so enraptured. B.) I'll be good enough and have enough good stuff to say they'll want to share it. or C.) I'll totally suck and then I'd rather know it - and they should get something done if I'm wasting their time.

Walking the walk it the key here... Thanks for engaging - and let me know if you need someone from lower Canada to come and speak at your event next year!

[Paul Hebert]

"But you go first." Love that line Tom. Thanks for weighing in. But here's the irony in the whole thing... unless you try it - you won't know where to put the value in order to monetize it. Biz models change - that's life. You need to experiment but as someone smarter than me said... all experiments look like failure at first. We need to take the leap and hope (with reasonable preparation) that we'll land find.

[George A Guajardo]

Drawing form my own experience, I think it is tempting for organizations to present themselves as experts on the latest new thing. And while social media isn't actually new, it is new to the people that tell other people what to do. So decision-makers drive their sales and marketing teams to do something about social media, whether they are prepared to or not.

And here's the thing. Social media isn't easy. Frankly, it is difficult and time consuming since the whole idea is building community and relationships. Unless an organization is willing to devote some resources into social media projects, they are going to get it wrong and simply end up using social media as another vector for spam.

[Paul Hebert]

You make a great point George - it "seems" easy because so many folks without traditional marketing departments are doing it and there are so many "free" tools. But as you smartly point out - it really isn't easy, nor is it free when you take into account the time it takes to "build" the community.

Time is the key. And time is money. Thanks for your continuing engagement here on the site. I really appreciate your point of view and comments.