Grass Roots' Predictions on Social Media
Grass Roots America Predicts Social Media Networks Will Have Major Impact on Performance Improvement Programs
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Plaxo Expected to Enhance Interactive Communications Among Participants in Reward and Recognition Programs
MIAMI, FL -- 10/13/09 -- Grass Roots America, the leading provider of global performance improvement solutions for employee, channel and consumers, predicts that social media networks such as Facebook, Linkedln, Twitter, MySpace and Plaxo will be key pipelines in helping organizations enhance communications and generate positive results from their rewards and incentive programs. Grass Roots America notes that an increasing percentage of its customers and prospects have recognized that distribution networks, partners, sales/marketing channels and employees expect interaction with their respective organizations via social networking sites.
Grass Roots America research shows that a majority of organizations plan to integrate some form of social networking into their performance improvement programs -- from basic collaboration and two-way communications to full-scale use of multiple social networking sites. Grass Roots anticipated an explosion in the use of these sites and has developed several strategies, tools and creative approaches to leverage social media networking in its global incentive, reward and recognition programs.
"We believe in creating a forum where all participants can bring their unique talents, skills and passions to the table which is imperative in a successful performance improvement initiative," said Stephen Humphreys, president of Grass Roots America. "With the diverse and geographically dispersed teams that exist today, organizations are challenged to find ways to keep fully engaged and connected. Grass Roots America sees this as a huge opportunity to leverage the many existing social networking tools and technologies to create a more fully collaborative experience for an organization's employees, partners and channels."
Using Web 2.0 Technologies and collaborative processes, Grass Roots America foresees that social media networks -- in the office as well as on mobile devices -- will have an overwhelming influence in encouraging teamwork and supporting existing internal communication practices during performance improvement programs. Grass Roots America suggests developing a long-term strategy using a "best practice" approach, keeping in mind the following:
- Build senior management support for using social media sites in rewards and incentive programs by developing a comprehensive strategy with measurable outcomes
- Understand the legal, IT support, and policy ramifications of a social networking program
- Integrate social media network tools with traditional communication methods to multiply reward and incentive program results
- Establish a stronger sense of community and brand through interactive, collaborative reward programs
- Develop online communications to meet the needs of a diversepopulation - culturally and geographically
- Continually market programs internally and externally to encourage their use
- Constantly measure success through quantitative and qualitative metrics with employee and partner information sharing
"There's no question that social media networks are playing an increasingly important role in personal activities, which has set the high expectations organizations need to meet in order to keep up with the trends," Humphreys added. "Social media is a portfolio of techniques that best practice companies will use to increase awareness, generate leads, nurture relationships and develop common communities."
