Message Two- Routine For the second message, assume your audience has read your first blog post launching the LinkedIn initiative. You have heard that some employees are having a difficult time getting started so you have decided to follow up with more details. In this message, further inform employees on LinkedIn best use practices and tips for setting up an All Star profile. You can provide links to official LinkedIn resources. Incorporate relevant information from the scenario above and your previous blog post, if necessary. Employ the best tactics for writing routine and positive messages. Keep the message brief, yet thorough (about 450-550 words).

LinkedIn Case Study

Objective

• To practice the three types of messages in the textbook, routine (Chapter 7), negative (Chapter 8) and persuasive (Chapter 9)
• To prepare you to deal with the real word problems, a brush up for some of you in this class.
• To prepare you for a job search, also a brush up for some of you in this class.

Instructions

1. Use the following case study.

You are the director of operations at a large online sales company called, Officegadgetsexpress.com. The company markets products mainly to businesses (business to business accounts) but also to individual customers who maintain home offices. Your products range from large copiers to coffee makers and everything in between. The company is specifically known for its customized storage systems and highend office chairs.

You employ 200+ sales and customer support representatives. These representatives are the only personal contact customers have with your company, and they are responsible for taking special orders, resolving product issues, and selling additional specialty items not listed on the website. They are the front line of your business and are largely responsible for maintaining the reputation of your brand. In a recent meeting with the CFO, Megan Duffy, she gave you some disturbing news, because of an influx of customer-returned inventory, we did not make our expected numbers in the fourth quarter - despite robust sales - and the first quarter doesnt look good. We might have to tighten our belts if we dont find a way to increase revenue. She added, we need an increase in sales, which means expanding our customer base ASAP. You know that means developing some creative strategies to reach new customers.

At a recent sales meeting, before Megan Duffy shared the bad news with you, you talked to the employees about adopting social media in their day-to-day job responsibilities and they resisted. In fact, they just said a flat out no stating that they believed social media was just a passing fad and that it would take too much time to learn and take them away from their customers. One long-timer, Jeff, said, I dont even have a smart phone if I could go back to not having a cell phone at all, I would. Many of the employees started with the company when it was just a catalog company that filled phone orders. Leaping to the .com side was a struggle for many of the service representatives who needed extensive training on the internet-based ordering/inventory system. You know that your competitors are already actively using social media like Twitter and Instagram to introduce new products to the market. You decide that to get your employees started in the social media world, you would require that each of them develop a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn will be a new way for them to network with existing contacts as well as branch out to new customers. It seems like the perfect way to get everyone comfortable with social media.

Case note: Customer Representative Demographic Profile

Of the 200+ sales and customer support representatives, 62 percent are over the age of 45 with a median age of 53. Fifty four percent of the customer service reps are male, with an age range of 24 to 62. The 46% female employees have an average age of 38. Fifteen percent of the customer representatives are under the age of 35 with a median age of 26 and of these employees, 34 percent are enrolled in college and work in the office only in the evenings and on weekends. Over 65 percent of the 200+ employees have been employed at Offiegadgetsexpress.com since the company went public in 2006. The average wage is $22.75 per hour, and the benefit package includes health and dental insurance and a small match contribution to a retirement account. In its history, the company only had a single layoff of 15 employees in 2009 as a result of the financial crash when the company saw a loss of 21 percent of revenue at the year end of 2008.