Administrative Assistant's Update

3 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE Social Selling 101: What is it and why should admins care? By Leslie Hughes "Social selling" is a new buzz term that has been circulating in sales and marketing. In essence it's "how to leverage social media to build and deepen relationships." In some ways, social selling is used exactly the same as selling face-to-face. Even though we are connecting computer-to-computer, we are fundamentally connecting human-to-human. In some ways, social media allows us to actually do MORE from behind our desks. In fact, directors that use LinkedIn for social selling get promoted 1.6 times faster to v-p, according to a LinkedIn guide to social selling. Specifically, you and your executive can research prospective clients and partners before you even meet with them. By default, most information on so - cial media sites has been set to public. Start by looking at their LinkedIn profile: • Do you have anything in common with them? Past positions? Connections? Hob- bies? Alma mater? • What kinds of keywords are they using in their profile? In sales and marketing, you want to mirror back their exact words to build rapport. For example: do they use the word "customer" or "client"? You may wish to follow them on Twitter: • What are they tweeting about? Can you engage with them on topics? Do you like the same sports? And just as you are researching potential partners and contacts, people are also researching you: • Ensure your profile is up-to-date • Tell your professional story in your LinkedIn Summary • Post relevant status updates so that your network sees your thought leadership Remember, we are all media agencies who can use tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, blogging and more to publish information and deepen relationships. Leslie Hughes was called a "Social Media Guru" by CBC Radio and has been working in digital marketing since 1997. She is a LinkedIn optimization specialist, professor of social media, corporate trainer and principal of PUNCH!media. PUNCH!media clients include The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and TVO. www.punchmedia.ca (sign up for weekly newsletter) leslie@punchmedia.ca Leslie Hughes Social media: Deep in the heart of business By Staff Whether or not your organization has specialists handling the organization's presence and strategy for social me- dia, there is an ever-increasing need for a more expansive approach involv- ing employees across the board. "Employees are being asked to apply social media in new and un- expected ways," says Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite, in a recent LinkedIn post. "The familiar marketing func- tions, in fact, are just the tip of the iceberg. Social tools are being used to streamline customer service, for sales and HR and as part of employee brand advocacy programs. "Meanwhile, social platforms like Facebook at Work and Slack (which boasts millions of users, from NASA to your corner coffee shop) are quickly changing how we collaborate inside companies. By bringing social mes- saging inside the office, these tech- nologies are breaking down silos and boosting productivity. In short, social media has become less a discrete thing that people do on the job and more an integral component of every- thing they do." That raises a problem, says Holmes. Today's workforce is "woe- fully underprepared" for the challeng- es raised by the constantly changing social media landscape. Social media knowledge is no longer a "nice-to-have" job skill, says Holmes, "but a must-have for every- one from marketers to salespeople to customer support." Continued on page 4

• Cover