Your Starter Guide to Working with a Social Media Virtual Assistant

If you’ve got a business, then you know being on social media brings lucrative benefits for you. Wider audience reach in a cost-efficient manner – this is what businesses have been going gaga for over these socialization platforms.

But in exchange for the benefits, it requires time and effort in exchange. Two things that most businesses prefer to dedicate to other factors. That’s why busy business owners have turned to social media virtual assistants for help.

To learn more about the wonders of social media for businesses, and how a VA can help you find success on social media, read on!

Social Media for Businesses

Before, social media was meant for personal socialization mostly, with Facebook being the pioneer social media platform. But through time, they’ve evolved into a series of platforms that allow businesses to market themselves in a cost-efficient manner.

This evolution could be traced to the growing population of social media users worldwide. According to Hootsuite’s 2019 Global Digital Report, the total number of social media users worldwide has reached 3.94 billion. That means almost all types of potential customers/clients are on social media.

37 percent of consumers also said social media inspires them to make a purchase, according to Global Consumer Insights Survey 2018 by PWC. All the more reason to put your business on social media.

There are plenty of social media platforms for businesses of different types. It all comes down to knowing your audience and their favorite platform. Which can be a struggle for most businesses without the extra time to learn the curves of social media.

This is where a social media virtual assistant comes into the picture.

What’s a Social Media Virtual Assistant (VA)?

A social media VA’s role is exactly how you picture an assistant would do. However, his/her focus is on strengthening your business’ presence on social media. Some of the responsibilities they can handle on your behalf are:

• Researching and creating content
• Building your follower base and engaging with them consistently
• Monitor campaigns
• Keep up with the latest trends and updates  on your niche and your chosen platform/s

To learn more about what a social media VA can do, check this article!

On Working with A Social Media VA

All these tasks you can free from your schedule sound amazing. But how can you ensure your social media VA achieves what you have in mind for your social media presence? 

Here’s how:

• Define your goals

Do you prefer to let them handle SOME of your social media duties? If yes, do you want him/her to handle content creation, brand or ad management, or community building? 

If you want to leave everything to your assistant, at least define what you want to achieve – achieve more followers, increase sales through ads, etc. 

• Create a manual

You want to ensure your VA follows the brand image you have in mind. That’s why it’s important to create a brand guideline/manual. This can include your guidelines for brand tone/voice (for content and engagement purposes and FAQs your VA might have about the tasks, to name a few.

• Always review their work

It never hurts to monitor your VA’s performance with your social media goals. Ask them for reports and updates on your campaigns and your profile standing. Let them use handy tools like Hootsuite or Buffer so you can check the content they create for you.

Ready to onboard a social media VA to handle your social media needs? Start here!