Admin Pros: Do you have THESE skills on your résumé?

I've had a couple of conversations in the past few weeks that gave me the idea for this particular blog. One was with a local business owner who mentioned they might be looking for an office manager in the near future. Further along in the convo, we were talking about the company's new website and I asked if the admin person will be looking after the site. He admitted that he hadn't thought about it, but that it would be a good idea for that person to be updating the website. I then mentioned that it would be good for the same person to do the social media too. He agreed.

The other conversation I had was with a local non-profit who is having some website issues. When I suggested that they switch their site to WordPress, and asked if the person who looks after their site in-house knew how to run a WordPress site. The answer, unfortunately for them, was no. Their social media presence is not happening, either.

So based on these conversations, here are the skills that I identified:

Website Maintenance

Websites are living documents, they should be updated on a regular basis. They are also communication and marketing tools. They can also be a way to provide customer service. So keeping the information on a company website up to date and fresh, with all pertinent information about the business is important.

Having fresh content on the site also helps get it ranked and stay ranked by the search engines. If the bots come across a site that hasn't been touched in many years, they consider it dead and drop it down the list. Being on the first page of a search is the goal of any business website, and you better the chances by updating often.

A lot of businesses use WordPress as a website platform, so I would suggest starting there. You can create a free site at wordpress.com and practice adding text, pictures, and widgets. Maybe even create an online résumé. Or start a blog. Whatever works for you. If you have good computer skills, and you should, you'll get the hang of it in no time. If you work for a biz that has a website on another user-friendly platform, whatever you learn in WordPress would familiarize you with website updating.

Some businesses signed a service agreement with the company that created the site, and if that is the case, make sure you understand the terms and see if you can save the company some money by having them on call for things that go wrong and you take over all updating tasks.

Social Media for Business

It's no secret that social media is becoming imperative in promoting a business and connecting with its customers/audience. Learning how to use social media for business purposes is super important for not only admin pros, but for owners and other staff members, as staff engagement is a great tool to build a business brand.

If you use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or other social media personally, you're off to a great start. If you don't, begin your learning journey there. Get signed up and do some tutorials on how to use each platform. Here's a good source of beginner info for various platforms.

If you already use social personally, you have to know a few more things to run social for a business. First, you need to know who the preferred client/customer/audience is. Once you know that you need to figure out when they are on social media and what platforms they use. Then you can post information during those times and on those social channels to better your chance of reaching them. You can also effectively target paid content.

Other important issues to consider are the company's brand and how to stay on it, what voice will you use, acquiring and creating content, and how to deal with negative feedback. There are a number of places to get info on best practices, such as hootsuite.com, lynda.com and socialmediaexaminer.com, just to name a few.

If you learn better in a "real life" environment, consider taking the Social Media Marketing for Small Business course I teach through the Learning Council. I cover all the top-level stuff you need to get started. There is a course coming up starting November 7. Call the office to register: 780-875-5763.

So whether you are a seasoned pro or just getting started in your career, I hope this inspires you to pad that résumé to further your career and/or be an asset to any company you work for.

PS... Bosses, if YOU are the admin, this applies to you too.