Do you support a nonprofit organization? If not, then maybe it's time to get involved. But how far are you willing to go? A dear friend of mine, Wendy Sipple, went through great lengths to support her favorite charities–she went bald! On Saturday, March 13th Wendy had her head shaved at the annual St. Baldrick's event. The St. Baldrick's Foundation raises funds to provide grants for childhood cancer research. Wendy also grew her hair long for two years prior to the event so that she could donate her hair to Locks of Love. A local news station in Sacramento, CA covered the event and interviewed Wendy. Here's the link to see her going bald for charity! http://www.kcra.com/video/22839439/index.html

Do you have accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and wonder what all the fuss is about? It seems a big time waster to you, but since everyone is talking about Social Media, how can they all be wrong? 

 
They can’t all be wrong. And the statistics can’t be wrong either.  To quote statistics from Socialnomics:

1 out of 8 couple who married last year met through some form of Social Media. 96% of Generation Y are on at least one social network. Facebook added 100n million users in less than 9 months. Even more shocking, if Facebook were a country, it would be the 4^th largest in the world!  78% of consumers trust peer reviews of products more than advertisements (only 14%). 

Is it all just a fad? No, this change in marketing represents a fundamental change in the way we communicate with each other. It is about listening first, about giving first, and about selling second. It is about building trust and awareness. It is about putting info out there about who you are, what your services are, what your products are, and knowing that the interested buyers will find you.  The world has changed dramatically from a static advertising modality to a form of interactive conversation- a dialogue, a discussion, a friendship. In short, it is about relationship.

Social media is a very new term from the last few years, but it has quickly become part of our culture and part of our language. In a nutshell, social media is made up of internet and mobile media tools for sharing information among people. This new environment is generally known as web 2.0, delineated by the fact that it is interactive.

Some examples of early social media sites were MySpace, Wikipedia (which means Quick, from Hawaiian), and Craigslist; and then followed by sites used for bookmarking, such as: Technorati, Digg, Delicious, and Yelp. But it is only in the last few years that the “biggies” were born- Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. These are the sites with the huge punch.

There are interesting stories behind the development of these three big sites. You Tube, the huge video-sharing engine, started off as an elite site for those that could afford to create videos. But it has, to everyone’s surprise, become an extremely accessible site. As a matter of fact, it is now the second largest search engine in the world!

The development of Twitter is a strange story. It was started as a site to dispatch communication for taxi drivers. Now, it is a monster site- a powerful marketing tool, when used correctly. And it was Harvard students who created Facebook (which grew by a phenomenal 422% in 2009). Their intent was to use Facebook exclusively for themselves!

These three big sites are primarily where a business should focus its initial marketing energy. When brainstorming strategy for social media marketing, it is good to remember that Twitter is the way to quickly connect with your customers and to announce alerts, gifts, coupons, etc. Facebook holds a larger news stream so you can add videos, photos, and much more in the way of information about your company or products, and your brand.

YouTube is just plain fun, and exciting. The right video can sweep around the globe. The most recent powerful example being the story of Susan Boyle, from Britain’s Got Talent. Within minutes of the broadcast of this singer’s performance, emails and tweets were chasing around the world. Someone put the video up of her on YouTube and it became and amazing overnight sensation. As did she. The power of YouTube indeed!

Here are a few great links for more information: First, here is a nice easy Youtube video explaining social media. Second, here is the link to one of the hottest videos on Social media last year.

Social media is here to stay, and everyone now knows it. The rush to get onboard has been exciting, and yet, the most exciting piece is how it changes all the time. Who knows what will come next?

As a volunteer, there is nothing greater in this world than giving of your time to help children with special needs.

Special needs can cover a broad spectrum. You may be working with children whose issues might include:
• Behavioral issues
• Cerebral palsy
• Learning disabilities
• Autism and autism spectrum related disorders
• Speech related difficulties
• Blindness and many others

You will learn many important aspects about life in general when working with children who have special needs. You will develop a keen understanding and appreciation about the difficulties certain sections of your community face in their everyday lives. You will also acquire a wealth of knowledge quickly about how you can help to improve the lives of those less fortunate than yourself. Look here for some very basic advice about working with these children.

Start with the idea that the desire to help people with disabilities is a basic and very human characteristic. You might also wish to overcome stereotypical opinions that are held by some who only see the ‘issue’, and never the person behind it. When you take the steps to get beyond the stereotypes, you are not only helping the individuals directly, but also sending a strong message that will enable others to gain a better perspective of the difficulties faced by people with special needs.

When you learn that children with autism really are very emotional, and that LD children have brains that are just wired differently, you will learn exactly how to help them and you are bound to have a new and very different appreciation of life in general.