by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Social media is constantly evolving.  With over 400 million Facebook users alone, it has rapidly become the most common activity on the Internet.  Yet, many companies are either unaware or have decided to ignore the two-sided nature and power of social media.

People are greatly influenced by what they hear from other people.  For example, if I want to buy a new car and several people I know tell me that they have had a terrible experience with the type of car I am considering, they will influence my decision and my thought process even if I decided to go ahead and purchase that particular car.

We can readily extend this scenario into the social media realm.  Now, when I tell the world about the car I am thinking of buying, literally thousands of people can weigh-in on their experience – or purported experience and in all likelihood influence my decision.  And that’s the power of social media – for better or worse. 

People are readily influenced by what they read about in social media.  A recent survey reported that 68% of people can be influenced by what they read online.  Furthermore, if they read something negative about a product or service they are considering, 53% of the readers will look into a competitor’s offering.  A second study found that 67% of Facebook fans and 51% of Twitter followers were influenced by comments made from other users on those respective platforms.  It is therefore important for companies to quickly respond to negative – or positive - comments on social media.  It doesn’t matter if they are realistic or not, a prompt response is important.

Prior to the Internet, when a customer had a problem with a product, he or she would just complain to the company or its assigned representatives – few other people, if any, were made aware of the problem.  That is no longer the case.  If someone has a problem with a product and tweets about it, the whole world can rapidly become aware of it.

Fortunately, social media also provides the means of rapidly responding to people’s comments and complaints.  Many large companies have set up teams that constantly search blogs and social media looking for some reference to their company.  One such company, Starbucks for example, has been known to issue coupons for free drinks for people who have tweeted with a problem or complaint.  This is not to say that social media can be used to rectify a problem, only that it can provide a (hopefully) friendly interface through which companies can rapidly and more inexpensively interact with their customers.

In preparation for a recent talk, I looked up a major computer company’s fan page to see what people were discussing and how that company was handling it.  Given its positive reputation and technical savvy, I was stunned to read the comments on the page almost unanimously panning its products.  In fact, one person even wrote, “Hey, don’t you want to do something about all of these negative comments?  Do you think anyone is going to buy one of your machines after reading this?”   (The company’s surprisingly latent reaction was to merely remove the fan page.)

Customer service can greatly enhance or detract from a company’s reputation.  Fast and helpful customer service will enhance the customer experience.  Considering the extremely high cost of customer acquisition and that existing customers will spend over seven times as much as a new customer, monitoring social media and creating an effective online customer service response – even for a small company, can greatly enhance a company’s reputation and sales.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media courses, services and products including: Social Media Policy, Social Media Starter Pack, and Maintenance and Management (available through the PI website or by clicking here). In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

Social media is rapidly becoming an important component of most businesses.  Whether or not these businesses utilize social media, their employees and customers do. 

The law is significantly lagging behind social media.  Most of the legal actions are based on precedent: copyright law and trademark violations being the most common.  However, what employees write, where and when they write it is becoming increasingly important.

Recently the Supreme Court heard its first case on social media and the employee privacy rights.  The outcome of this case is expected in June and will affect the actions of many businesses in the entire country. 

There are additional cases that are slowly making their way into the court system, many of them involving the rights of a company versus the rights of its consultants and employees.  These legal actions are very expensive and often detrimental to all parties – and maybe most importantly, to company morale.  Preventative measures – starting with a social media policy, can greatly ameliorate this situation before it erupts.

The moral: If you do not have a social media policy, get one!

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC.
Social media policy – online course and policy: $117.

by Bruce Newman

    This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Social Media is rapidly gaining in importance concerning how business gets done.  This is aptly demonstrated in many ways both by the hundreds of millions of users of various social media platforms and blogs.  A recent study showed that a staggering 91% of the privately owned businesses in Inc. magazine’s fortune 500 now use social media (up from 43% only two years earlier). 

While possessing the potential to be enormously beneficial, social media also comes with a two-edged sword.  Liability issues are beginning to abound as a result of social media.  Decreased productivity, insubordination, disclosure of confidential information and reputation management are among only a few of the issues that can now plague companies. 

It is very easy for an employee to utilize some social media platform or blog late at night while at home and write negatively and in detail about the day’s events at work.  Or, suppose some employees start tweeting about weeks of poor sales?  In either case, these simple situations can quickly – and negatively - affect a company’s reputation.  Even if a company does not utilize social media, its employees do – and so do its customers.  It is therefore of key importance that every company protect itself with a social media policy.

First and foremost, the key purpose of any social media policy is to prevent a company from issues of liability and certainly any expensive and protracted legal action.  Arguably, the second most important aspect is the delineation of the limits and boundaries for a company’s employees and contractors – what they are and are not permitted to say.  These rules help form the foundation of any social media policy. 

According to Manpower (January 26, 2010), only 29% of the companies in the Americas currently have a social media policy.  This is a shockingly low number and in part explains the increase to 17% from 12% in 2008 in the number of exposure incidents for such social media sites as Facebook and LinkedIn along with an increase to 8% reporting employee termination (Proofpoint Inc., 2009).   There are likewise increases for blogs, videos and other forms of social media.

Without a social media policy, companies are much more vulnerable to human resource and legal issues.  For many companies, a social media policy can be included as a part of an employee handbook – but one that still requires periodic education and an employee signature.  Violation of a social media policy (or lack of a policy) can also hit executives of even large corporations.  The CEO of Whole Foods Supermarkets, Inc., a nationwide chain of 130 high-end supermarkets was forced to resign following the outrage (and growth of the Boycott Whole Foods campaign) after he published an article on health care policy in The Wall Street Journal without first disassociating himself from Whole Foods.

There are decisions every company must make concerning the role of social media within a company and its employees.  These decisions can greatly affect the productivity and working environment for all company employees and consultants.  Regardless of which decisions are made however, what is of crucial importance is that every company has a social media policy – for the good of the company and its employees.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media courses, services and products including: Social Media Policy, Social Media Starter Pack, and Maintenance and Management (available through the PI website or by clicking here). In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

    This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Developing a social media marketing campaign has become more demanding as social media technology and popularity continues to evolve.  This seems counterintuitive at first since there are more tools and more people.  However, it also means that there are more people trying to reach and influence each other.  It therefore takes knowledgeable and effective strategizing to create an effective social media marketing campaign.  In short, it requires the 4 S’s – Social, Sharing, Sustain, and Strategize.

Social

The first rule of social media is to be social.  Your communications must be positive, knowledgeable, incisive, thoughtful, etc. It is okay to provide some negative comments provided they are appropriate.  They just must not be nasty, racist or insulting.  Think of when you go to a party and meet new people.  The appropriate behavior you display is similar to your online behavior.

When you are building and maintaining your social networks, you must be social.

Sharing

The purpose of social media is sharing; “pay it forward”.  By providing information and good, relevant content, you provide the basis building up your contact network and branding yourself as an expert of your particular specialty.  Since each social media platform has its own “personality” and followers, it is important to distribute your content across numerous platforms.  In this era of proliferating social media platforms and subscribers, it is important that you utilize social media sharing to share your information with as many people as possible.

Sharing of information that helps brand you as an expert and increases the size of your networks should be provided across multiple social media platforms.

Sustain

The rule in advertising is that people need to hear, read or see a product seven times before it makes a lasting impression.  In social media, this number is impossible to track and largely irrelevant.  What it does denote, however, is the importance of remaining in front of your target audience.  This is accomplished by providing a sustained and consistent effort.  Blogging once a month is insufficient.  One of the key components of a sustained effort includes scrutinizing various analytics to determine which strategies are effective and which are not.  (Scrutiny can almost be considered as the “5th S”.)  Optimally, a blog post created twice a week coupled with sustained effort commenting, asking and answering questions on several social media platforms is far superior. 

Sustaining your presence on multiple platforms will help enhance your social media presence, the size of your network and your credentials as an industry leader.

Strategy

In the past few years, the social media realm has grown from a small number of participants to hundreds of million people, many of whom use it daily for extended periods of time.  Given the ease of setting up an initial account and the huge number of subscribers, the difficulty of achieving an effective – and sustainable – social media presence has rapidly increased.  It’s nice to fantasize that a campaign will somehow go viral.  Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasing unlikely as that percentage continues to diminish.  In place of this dream is a campaign that incorporates SEO, possibly some type of paid advertising, blogs and social media to achieve a client’s specific goals.  An effective social media strategy takes significant planning and time to implement.  It does not happen overnight.  However, if effective it will provide substantial and recurring results, usually at a far lower cost than traditional media campaigns.

Utilizing an effective social media strategy across multiple blogs and social media platforms will achieve specific goals.

By adhering to the rules of the 4 S’s - regardless of the product, service or goals you are promoting, you can help ensure the success of any social media marketing campaign.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media courses, services and products including: Social Media Policy, Social Media Starter Pack, and Maintenance and Management (available through the PI website or by clicking here). In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Traditional marketing programs emphasize the importance of the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion).  Utilizing various combinations of these components allow marketers to reach many different target markets.

The growth of social media transformed the 4 P’s into the 4 R’s (Review, Respond, Record, and Redirect). 
• Review – what the social media community is saying about you
• Respond – appropriately and accurately to any postings or comments
• Record – providing short videos that inform and educate
    Note: I prefer Recognize – brand recognition and its promotion/evolution
• Redirect – providing content across multiple sites to improve visibility and search engine rankings.

They are not as established as the 4 P’s but perhaps that is because of their “newness”; after all, social media has only been around for a few years.

Nevertheless, I think they can be improved.  As companies are increasingly viewing social media as both a networking and business tool, they need a foundation which espouses its key principles.

Recently, while I was working on a presentation that discussed the 4 R’s, my wife came over and asked, shouldn’t I use the 4 S’s for social media?  Upon reflection, I thought she had made a valid point and subsequently developed the 4 S’s.  As a test, I discussed both the 4 R’s and the 4 S’s during my presentation and asked the audience which they preferred.  The overwhelming response favored the 4 S’s.

The 4 S’s
• Social – being sociable and appropriate is #1
• Sharing – share your relevant content and profiles across multiple social media sites
• Sustain – your presence by consistently providing appropriate and substantive responses to any postings or comments
• Strategy – create and implement an effective social media plan

The 4 S’s exemplify the behavior and potential of social media. 

Social
Of primary importance is sociability.  If you’re not sociable, honest and conscientious, you will not be successful in this medium.  It is these interactions with people and communities that will form the basis for all subsequent communications. 

Sharing
While doing this, you should share valuable and relevant content – of any format - with peers and your community, sometimes across multiple social media platforms, when appropriate.  One aspect that is extremely important and yet frequently overlooked is the completion of your profile(s) on each social media platform since almost all of them have a personal and business component. 

Sustain
Increasingly, companies are using social media for real time interactions with prospects, customers and interested respondents.  Sustaining a presence through new entries – often across multiple platforms – and quickly servicing posts and comments on a regular basis can help brand a company as an industry leader.

Strategy
Given the number of social media users, the large number of social media platforms, and its growing ranking relevance, developing and implementing an effective strategy to achieve your goals is rapidly becoming a necessity.  Just having a Facebook page for example, is no longer sufficient.

By following the guidelines of the 4 S’s, you will have the foundation upon which to build an effective and strategic social media presence to help achieve your goals.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Who would have thought 140 characters would be so pervasive? Not I, I admit.  And yet, Twitter has in several ways simply overpowered the social media landscape.

It’s hard to believe this has occurred. When you consider that 58% of Twitter users generate less than ten tweets and that the top 5% of users are responsible for 75% of the updates, it becomes readily apparent that a relative few are driving this entire platform.  The attention that Twitter has generated, however, has greatly eviscerated these statistics.

On November 10, 2009, Twitter and LinkedIn announced an agreement in which recent tweets would now be available from within LinkedIn and recent changes to LinkedIn updates could become tweets.  Since LinkedIn is a highly successful social media platform targeted for business professionals, this agreement represents a huge – and at no risk or expense – step for Twitter in building its business appeal and credentials.

This follows recent agreements between Twitter and Google and Twitter and Microsoft to index twitter messages in their respective Google and Bing search engines.  The advantage for Microsoft and Google is that their searches will now include real time input.  How they will present Twitter search results and how it affects their indexing and search algorithms is yet to be determined.  Regardless, it provides additional credibility and relevance to Twitter and the need to even more closely follow existing search engine rankings.

It should be noted that the purpose of this article isn’t to disparage Twitter, only to recognize its ever-growing reach.  Twitter provides real time information and feedback that can be crucial to the functioning and perception of many companies. Some companies have implemented successful Twitter (and social media) strategies.  However, the majority of companies have placed more emphasis on other social media platforms or excluded Twitter entirely.

Most importantly, how will this affect an end user?  At this point, it’s hard to tell.  Just by the nature of its agreements, Twitter’s value has increased and it must be given more credence when plotting social strategy.  If you use LinkedIn, for example, you should continue to regularly update your profile since people in your network will be automatically notified.  How will it affect search engine rankings?  Again, it’s too early to tell.  However, since search engines are putting more emphasis on context, person information and social media activity, the incorporation of a strategy that includes Twitter has now assumed greater importance.

All of these developments in this rapidly changing social media world denote its fluid nature and what has becoming increasingly apparent; the need for companies to implement a comprehensive strategy that allows them to effectively utilize social media to achieve their goals.
 
Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

There are currently over 200 million blogs on the Internet.  54% of all bloggers post content or tweet daily.  34% of bloggers post opinions about products or brands.  The highest percentage of new bloggers are people in the 55-65 years old range.

These are amazing numbers and statistics.  They indicate the importance of blogging for both business and personal reasons. Blogging for business allows companies to gain attention, enhance market share, announce new products and be branded as an industry leader.  Positive buzz is extremely important, particularly since so many bloggers will readily post their opinions about a product or brand (which also denotes the need for a solid social media policy).  Conversely, blogging for personal reasons is often simply because people feel the need to write or to be heard.

With this huge number of blogs and new content, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the din.  Increasingly, a strategy must be employed for a blog to be successful.  Being a very good writer is no longer sufficient – unless you work for the New York Times or are very famous.  If you’re not in these categories, here are five important keys that will help your blog be successful.

1. Know your goals and target market

Determine the goals of your blog.  Is it to generate attention for your website or brand you as an industry leader?  Is it mainly to communicate with others?  Do you just want to provide information or use it as a political platform?  There are many different goals.  Select only one as your main goal and if applicable, several secondary goals which, when achieved will help you reach your main goal.

You must also know your target market – including your competition.  The more you know about how people are reacting to other blogs and what is triggering their reactions, the better idea you will have concerning what actions you must take to achieve your goals.

Knowing your target market also includes determining the keywords that you should scatter in all your posts and include in your titles.

2. Plan a mix of posts

Just straight text is not sufficient.  Augmenting your posts with videos or pictures will enhance their value.  It will also provide a basis for content distribution (as discussed in point 4, below). What is most important, however, is that you supply excellent content, for it is this content that will continue to drive people to your site and follow you.

Writing great headlines will also attract attention.  Since searches by keyword are extremely important, make sure to include them in both your headline and content.

3. Publish regularly

You must publish regularly.  If you stop publishing, the world will go on without you and you will be quickly forgotten.  No matter how loyal your readers or followers are, unless you write regularly, you will lose them.  The best solution is to establish a writing schedule. Twice a week is good, three times is even better.

4. Spread it around

Remember, your world does not revolve only around blog and maybe a handful of social media platforms.  Twitter and Facebook are important, but so are many other relevant blogs and sites - particularly if the target market of your article matches their specific niche.

5. Listen

Comments that reflect your article content are great. Definitely respond to them.  It will help develop a dialog that will attract more subscribers and attention.  Unfortunately, too many people respond with inane comments such as, “I learned a lot” in order so they can generate back links to their websites.  You can ignore them, set a no-follow flag so they don’t get credit for their links or review all the comments before allowing them to display.  My personal preference is that people who provide thoughtful feedback should get back links (if they want them).  They should be rewarded for their thoughts and I enjoy read and responding to their comments.  I’ve started some great dialogs and made some good friends as a result.  But, because I do allow back links, I must approve (or ignore or spam) each comment first before I allow it to be published.

Blogging is an important part of any social media campaign.  By following these five steps, you significantly enhance its success.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

The lure of social media is very strong.  Every day, we hear new statistics about its growing popularity, some YouTube video going viral or someone’s tweet (or response). Social media is now the most popular activity on the Internet and its appeal crosses all age and gender demographics. But that doesn’t mean that we should assume it’s the wherewithal for everything.

People used to believe that all they needed to create an Internet business was a website and that prospective customers would be automatically drawn to it.  That turned out to be untrue.  Today, many companies utilize advertising, search engine optimization and campaign planning to help generate Internet business.  “Build it and they will come”, is certainly not a winning mantra.

Social media falls in that same category.  Just because you may have a Twitter or Facebook account does not mean that you will become a social leader or even that people will follow you.  It’s not automatic and it won’t happen overnight.

When using social media, it is very important to create realistic social media goals.  If you’re Oprah, having a million twitter followers is realistic.  If you’re Bruce Newman, it’s not.  (In fact, I wouldn’t even want one million followers but that’s for another article when I discuss quantity vs. quality.)

Rules to live by:

1. Set realistic goals. They can be as simple as writing two articles a week or achieving 150 first level contacts in LinkedIn.  How you reach these 150 contacts, how frequently and to what extent you communicate with them and the building of the relationships is crucial.

2. Create a feasible social media strategy. Depending on your goals, this strategy may be simple or complex but it must be reasonable.  Of key importance is the realistic determination of the amount of time – usually on a daily basis depending on your goals – that it will require.

3. Do not be enticed by large numbers of followers.  It’s easy to generate large numbers of followers.  Along with the development of many social media sites has come the onslaught of automatic marketing programs designed to increase the number of followers.  Interestingly, what these programs don’t tell you is that a smaller number of active people in your network (i.e. followers, true friends, etc.) will provide a far superior response than a much larger number of random people who you count as contacts or followers. 

4. Realize that it takes months to generate a sizeable following.  Building relationships takes time; it doesn’t happen overnight.  As an analogy, think of meeting someone new at a party.  You like them and want to become friends (or more).  It may happen, but will take both time and effort to occur.  The same holds true for social media except that these relationships are instead, digital.

5. Follow the rules of proper social etiquette – be respectful, helpful and authentic.  In short, be yourself.  And be helpful.  

6. Don’t get frustrated. Social media is not a race. Ever hear baseball players say that the baseball season is not a sprint, but a marathon?  Think of social media in a similar fashion, though maybe as a half-marathon.  If your goals are realistic and you don’t reach them, fine.  Adjust them.  That’s the normal sequence of any plan – create and constantly adjust as you move forward.  The key thing here is to not get frustrated and stray from your original goals and plans (provided they were indeed realistic).  Many potentially successful social media campaigns have been prematurely cancelled or extensively re-worked because of insufficient time constraints or frustration.

Social media has opened the world to a tremendously exciting and interactive means of communication.  By properly abiding by its rules, understanding its strengths and limitations and by setting realistic goals, you too can benefit from its enormous potential.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

The importance of social media in business is rapidly increasing.  In fact, Google has already started to include several aspects of social media in its page rank calculations.  What previously worked in achieving a high page ranking may be rapidly losing its effectiveness. 

The list below depicts many of the steps you should take to effectively utilize social networking.  By following some or all of these steps, you will help improve your page ranking while greatly increasing the number and quality of the people who follow you.  Merely signing up on several social media sites is no longer adequate.

1.  Join at least three social networking sites.  The top three are: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  All have strengths and limitations but most importantly, they have large, vibrant communities and groups you can join.

2. Always ensure that your profile is complete.  Update it regularly as many media sites will automatically publish that updated information.

3. Search for key people in your target area and closely observe their actions and the groups they belong to. This will supply you with insight as you develop your own strategy.

4. Find specific groups that are relevant to your target area. Join them and become active.

5. Add value and content to the groups by blogging and commenting on both articles and forums.  Make sure your contact information and a link accompanies with your comments.

6. Ask questions.  Generally, the more specific the question, the fewer number of responses but they will be of a higher quality.

7. Make friend requests to people who make comments to you.  A direct reply is a powerful additional step you can also take.

8. Publish your articles in your blog and on multiple sites.  Ensure that it can be announced and bookmarked on other sites.

These steps will help generate a following.  They take more time and effort than just signing up for the numerous automated tools and groups that are available, but it will enable you to become a thought leader with a significant following and most likely, an improved page rank. 

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, an acknowledged leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  Bruce has started writing and giving talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Being the father of a very special needs child opens a person to a wide range of emotions.  I remember when my daughter was born, thanking God for her presence and health.  I hadn’t cared whether my child was female or male; my main concern focusing on his/her health.  My daughter is now a teenager and both physically and mentally handicapped.  Along the way, I learned that special needs people are just that – people, with wants, needs and desires, just like every person on this earth.  My daughter is a wonderful young lady, sweet, curious and quite frankly, a bright shinning light in my life. 

My daughter loves Special Olympics.  For many years she competed in several events and won quite a number of medals.  The thrill exhibited by my daughter - and all of the competitors - can easily be expressed in their radiant smiles of pure joy when winning a medal or ribbon.  (Note: everyone wins a medal or ribbon.)  I remember the first time my daughter ran the 60 meter dash.  When the starting gun went off, she turned around and ran in the opposite direction.  (No matter, race officials quickly intervened and pointed her in the correct direction.)

Last week, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics died at the age of 88.  I never spoke with her or met her, but she was a great lady.  What she has done for all of the Special Olympians is monumental.  She created a movement that focused on the individual and celebrated their achievement.  No, my daughter won’t set the world record in the sprint or even a throw a softball more than 15 feet – and that’s okay.  She competed - as did all the participants.  And they received both tangible awards – medals and ribbons and intangible awards – being honored for their achievements.  In this world of high expectations, that they finished and achieved their goals sufficed which by itself, was a cause for celebration.  (Maybe they could teach us a lesson, here.)  One proud participant wore her medal for weeks after the Special Olympics ended – it meant that much to her.

Mrs. Shriver’s legacy is worldwide.  I used to play tennis with a priest – an ex-navy seal and one of the nicest men I’ve ever met.  (I used to joke that I invited the priest over for dinner but not our rabbi.)  After spending five years in this country, he was sent abroad on several long-term missions.  As of our last correspondence (which unfortunately, was several years ago), he was running the Special Olympics in a northern province in India.

Most people work very hard at all phases of life: their job, their family and even the maintaining of their beliefs.  We all get into ruts where we struggle to survive and don’t have the time or energy to look at the bigger picture.  It takes a special person to have the vision, desire and persistence to make it become a reality. 

In this non-stop world in which every moment of our lives is seemingly occupied, it is crucial to recognize the accomplishments of those rare individuals like Eunice Kennedy Shriver who made the lives of hundreds of thousands of special needs individuals a little brighter.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at the Productivity Institute, LLC, the editor-in-chief of its newsletter and was, for several years, a Special Olympics volunteer.  He specializes on consulting and social media. Bruce can be reached via email and on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.