How to Work with a Virtual Assistant to Manage Your Social Media

You’ve learned that social media is a great marketing channel for your business. You’ve also discovered that if you want to optimize social media and still have time for your other profit producing responsibilities, you need a social media virtual assistant (VA).

But the benefits don’t start rolling in with just hiring a social media VA. To guarantee success at a faster rate with your VA, here are 4 tips to keep in mind:

1. Develop a plan for your social media strategy with your VA

Jumping into the world of social media without any plans or goals is like diving straight into a black hole. If you have no idea what is it exactly you wish to gain through social media marketing, then why are you even there in the first place?

For social media newbies, it’s challenging to come up with a social media plan for your business. What goal should I achieve first? This is where a social media VA comes in handy.

These experts are already well-versed with how social media works, no matter the platform. They can:

• Develop relevant content
• Build authority and relationship with your audience
• Suggest the best platforms for your business
• Create and manage your ads
• Double your ROI from social media

If you don’t know where to start with your strategy, talk it over with your assistant. Even if you already have one, discuss it with them. They can ponder how they’ll help you achieve your goals. They can also provide insights to further improve your social media gaming.

2. Ensure your VA has access to your social media accounts

With plenty of issues and news about sensitive, private data being leaked online, it’s normal to feel paranoid with sharing your social media account details to your VA. But if you want to automate your social media duties smoothly, you need to trust your assistant with sensitive details like these.

There are secure ways to share account details online. One option is to save your login details on your Lastpass account and share it with your VA.

You can also give them a page administrator or editor role on your Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

Another option is to give them access to your scheduling tools like Hootsuite. If you’re on a paid plan, you can add your VA as a member of your team. That would give him/her access to publish on your profile without asking for your account details.

3. Use handy tools and applications to make collaboration easier

Speaking of, if you want to make your social media automation sailing smooth, leverage available tools and applications for social media. Have you and your social media VA use these following tools to speed things up in your social media duties:

For Social Media Management

• Buffer
• Hootsuite
• Sprout Social
• Later (for Instagram)
• Publer

For Project Management

• Trello
• Asana
• Basecamp

For Content Inspiration and Curation

• BuzzSumo
• Feedly

For Graphic and Video Design

• Canva
• Crello
• Animoto

4. Require your assistant to gather and submit reports on a consistent basis

To ensure your VA is working on your social media needs within your expectations, consistent monitoring is a must. Ask him/her to gather a report for your campaigns and overall profile performance. You can set the reporting schedule weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.  That way, you can spot areas for improvement and those areas that work better than the others.