Administrative Assistant's Update

3 Administrative Assistant's UPDATE Premium v. free account: Which one? By Leslie Hughes LinkedIn is an incredible network for business. With over 467 million mem- bers in over 200 countries, and two new members joining every second, this channel is where you and your executive need to have a professional presence. I'm often asked whether or not people should invest in a premium account, and my answer is always the same: It depends. LinkedIn has a whole array of useful resources built into its infra- structure. Most importantly, you can showcase yourself as an expert, and build and deepen quality connections with your professional network. There are a few levels for the pre- mium LinkedIn accounts: Premium Career ($30.99), Premium Business ($60.99), Executive ($100.99) and Sales Navigator (bulk order within an organization). Each level has its own varying levels of additional resources. The most affordable premium is called Premium Career ($30.99 Cdn/ month). This level allows you to: • Apply for a job as a featured appli- cant. (This moves your profile to the top of the list of applicants.) • See more people who have viewed your profile. • Send up to five "InMails" per month, which allows you to send an email di- rectly to a LinkedIn member (bypass- ing the connection request process). • See which skills the recruiter is look- ing for so that you can align your profile with the same skills. • Filter jobs by salary range. • See how you compare to other ap- plicants based on seniority, number of connections at a company, educa- tion levels and fields of study. • Have access to learning resources and online training programs through Lynda.com. Another valuable level your execu- tive may consider investing in is Sales Navigator, which is typically a part of a bulk purchase within an organiza- tion. This premium product has a lot of great features including access to Advanced Search, lead-building tools, real-time sales updates and much more. The question you may wish to ask yourself when it comes to investing in a premium account is "will I receive a return on investment?" If you are job prospecting, or if your executive will actually use the premium functionality (and ends up converting the cost of the investment per month in new business), then yes, a premium account is definitely worth the investment. Pro tip: You can always test out the premium account for a free month to see if you like it. I strongly recommend you have an up-to-date profile with a stellar photo, headline and Summary first. (If you or your executive is inter- ested in assistance with this, please email me.) LinkedIn has been acquired by Mi- crosoft and I'm quite certain we will continue to see LinkedIn push more people to invest in premium accounts as this is a big part of their business model. 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 Some tips for using Twitter Should your organization be us- ing Twitter to build awareness of your products and services? To sort out the possibilities, you may wish to check out "The Ultimate Guide to Twitter for Small Business in 2017" on www.sproutsocial.com. One tip: Scale the unscalable. Think of Twitter as a phone rather than a bullhorn. Reaching out to people one at a time can be more effective than sending a regular Tweet to everyone (all of whom may well overlook it). Tweet more frequently, but monitor your Twitter analytics carefully to measure whether you're helping or hurting your profile. Try something new, such as teaming up with influencers in your industry or community to focus on an issue with an "ask me anything" session. For more details visit: https:// sproutsocial.com/insights/twit - ter-for-small-business/ Leslie Hughes

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