The short answer is yes, you must.

Your boss may just be discovering social media – and you may be, too. You must get ahead of that curve! An old-school admin will soon find herself in a new-fangled unemployment line – online.

What happens when your manager wants you to maintain the website and tweet regularly? Are you ready? You may be in the position of advisor. If that happens, you need to figure out whether or not Twitter is an appropriate means for your business to promote itself. Tweeting about caulking every five minutes isn’t going to win your company love or dollars.

If you think Twitter is all there is to it, you need to put down the quill pen and start start surfing. You might check out JK Virtual Office Blog. She’s a VA who has specialized in social media and she has some useful insights to share. Another one is the My Twitter VA blog. She’s taken a certification in social media marketing. We might not all want to become marketers, but if you don’t know the basics and it doesn’t come easily to you, find a course, online or otherwise.

And what about that website? The theory is that “all” you have to do is post the updates. The words “all” and “website” should never be used in the same sentence. You’ll need to learn more about it, and what you need to learn depends on what kind of website your company has. Something that definitely falls in the “can’t hurt” category is learning a little HTML. I know….it sounds like “ewwwww…programming,” but it’s really more like pig Latin. Once you get the gist, you can navigate reasonably without being fluent. I found this free online tutorial at W3 Schools fun and illuminating.

Leave the “I don’t need to know that” mentality to those who can afford it – admins need to adaptive learners. That’s the long answer.

Related posts:

1. What makes an AA an EA? Admins don’t tend to have to much of a career path. In my world, there would be a reward equal to what other employees receive for similar achievement, but we’re...
2. Why Administrative Professionals Day?   Do you sometimes wonder–or get asked–why your role should be recognized with a day while other hard-working people settle for a mere paycheck? Do you get a little embarrassed...
3. Wanted: Guest Gurus This site is heavily skewed to Microsoft Office, but there are a lot of other heavily-used software suites out there–Lotus Notes, “notably”–so if you have answered a lot of questions...