Did You Know These Big Companies Use Outsourcing?

Have you ever considered using outsourcing to fill the talent gap in your own company? It’s something that you may not have considered before, but if you’re looking for someone with the right skills and you can’t find them close to home, then outsourcing could be the answer.

There have been many highly successful companies that have been built on the back of outsourcing. Here are some that you may not have known about, and why you should consider it for your own business.

Why Use Outsourcing?

This is an important question to ask yourself. As the internet changed the way we do almost everything these days, it also changed the way we hire staff. That includes outsourcing work to others, rather than handling it in house. There are several advantages to this that you should be aware of:

Better candidate pool:

Rather than just hiring from people in your nearby vicinity, you’ll be hiring from all over the globe. That gives you so much more scope when it comes to picking the best person for the job.

Flexibility:

This is relevant for both you and the staff you have outsourced. They want the flexibility to work on their own time and expertise, and working with you will offer that. You get more flexibility in who you hire, making it a win on both sides.

Reducing costs:

Outsourcing work may well be cheaper in terms of raw costs, but it saves your business money in a lot of other ways too. Hiring costs, onboarding costs, and physical working space costs are all lowered when you use outsourcing.

There’s a whole range of reasons why you may want to look into outsourcing. It’s certainly helped a lot of companies become very successful at what they do, including the following:

1. Google

Google started out as just a simple search engine, but now they have a whole fleet of products that need scores of people to run. As well as this, they need staff that can take on a range of tasks, such as admin and IT support. That’s why they’ve used outsourcing to find the right talent for every job.

It’s helped them sustain such a huge business, and enabled them to grow year on year. They can find the best person for the job, no matter where they are in the world.

2. Whatsapp

Whatsapp is another huge tech name now, but they only started out with 30 full time employees. If they were to grow larger, they would need to keep costs down. That lead to outsourcing the talent they needed from other countries, in order to get what they needed at lower prices.

They understood that it doesn’t matter where you hire your outsourced staff from, as long as they have the skills that you need.

3. Opera

Opera is a lightweight browser that has a huge amount of fans, and they’re growing every year. You’d be amazed at how much value they’re offering their users, every day. They were initially funded by its parent company Telenor, but once they went independent, they had limited funds.

Using outsourcing, they were able to hire the talent they needed and still keep growing as a company. That’s how they’ve become such a respected name today.

4. Apple

Yes, even Apple have used outsourcing in their work. While their tech is all designed in the US, they don’t handle the manufacturing themselves. The work is outsourced to areas such as Asia and the Far East, giving them the flexibility they need to focus on design work.

By doing this for the last few decades, it’s allowed Apple to become a powerhouse when it comes to innovative tech design. The companies they work with profit too, as they know new work will always be coming in as new products are launched.

Conclusion

This is just a small handful of businesses out there that outsource their work, and have found great success doing so. As a business, you can use the same technique to grow and improve, while still keeping costs down. You’ll be able to access the best people for the work, no matter where they are in the world.

 

 

 

Author:Madeline Miller is a writer for Academic Writing Service, where she writes about outsourcing.

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Why Every Business Coach Needs a Virtual Assistant 

You’ve managed to work hard, gain experience, and rise to become a mentor and a valuable resource person as a business coach. However, this does not mean that the menial day-to-day tasks can finish themselves up on their own, which is why every business coach needs to have their own virtual assistant. 

You still have your own inbox, social media, accounting, and other administrative work to deal with, alongside reviewing and building those to whom you are coaching. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, office work, too, had changed in many ways. This includes distance learning and the work-from-home environment, making virtual assistants readily accessible. 

As a business coach, you are what drives companies to further their goals. Thus, it is also pertinent on your end to see that each little step taken to reach a significant milestone includes being able to manage your own set of personal and professional objectives.

Why Business Coaches Need a Virtual Assistant

That said, here are key points why you may want to consider hiring a virtual assistant:

Accessible Administration

It is easier to manage administrative work in a virtual workspace. With your preferred system, you can choose to subscribe to services of virtual assistants that enable you to oversee tasks given to your assistants. 

Access to each task’s progress update is also doable in a virtual setup. That’s because it can easily track the transparency of dates when tasks are assigned, their due date, and their actual completion. 

Since virtual assistants can do the daily work for you, you can also access all of these wherever you may be. You no longer need to physically go to the office to check updates on specific tasks and assign or create new ones. 

With a virtual assistant, you will worry less on days when you need to be out of office as they, too, are not limited by simple office space and hours. This allows you more time to meet with clients who will greatly appreciate your physical presence more as you drive their companies to the vision and mission they have set up for themselves.

Easy Delegation of Tasks

A virtual platform for administrative work also makes delegation of tasks easier and clearer. Virtual assistants can be assigned specific tasks that only they (and you) have access to, and thus, you can easily monitor them. 

Delegating specific skills-based tasks is also doable with a virtual assistant, as hiring one enables you to select people with particular skill sets that match your required tasks. This gives you better control at working with those who are also there to help you as you focus on your bigger work.

More Time for the Bigger Work

Because there is a team that’s accessible to you and is equipped to take on the daily nitty-gritty of administrative work, you get to spend more time doing your actual work: coaching. 

As a business coach, building healthy relationships between you and your clients is essential not just in guiding their company but also in empowering them to reach their full potential. 

Relationships are strongly founded on time spent in making it work一be it personal or professional一thus, freeing up more time to work on this makes you better at coaching.

Flexibility With Budget

Since virtual assistants are not full-time employees, budgeting is more flexible for you. You can hire an assistant for specific projects alone or on a short-term basis. 

Since they do not also require an office space, this saves you up on costs such as considerations for transportation, building maintenance, and staff meals, among others.

Additionally, since they are not full-time employees, this saves you up on costs from employee benefits. You can also select specific services that suit your budget best. Virtual assistants can do the work for less, after all.

24/7 Support

The flexibility of budget and office space is not just what transitioning to virtual assistants can provide. Virtual assistants also offer you support and access 24/7. 

If you’re catering to various clients, this means that you don’t have to fit checking in on your own accounts to your already cramped calendar. You can access your own accounts whenever and wherever you want to or need to. 

This means that time differences are met, and any urgent matter can be addressed immediately. Hiring a virtual assistant makes the work for you一your time, your budget, your needs.

Diversity of Skills

If you’re looking for an assistant that is skilled in specific roles such as social media managing, copywriting, accounting, and event organization, virtual assistants can be profiled and hired for such specific tasks. This means that you are given a diverse pool of skills made accessible through a single shift. 

One of the most difficult tasks of hiring an assistant is to look for a single employee who can do most of the work you’re looking for一crediting their strengths and weaknesses. By hiring a virtual assistant, you no longer need to compromise with a single person’s weakness and instead, you can make the system look for someone specifically adept for each task you need.

Self-Care

Having a work-life balance is what makes a great role model effective. In this sense, as a coach, you are the one that most companies would look up to as a person who is excellent at balancing life. 

Hiring a virtual assistant does not make you less weak. It shows that you don’t just work hard but work smart and that you respect time and budget that you also allot for your own personal growth.

You Deserve a Virtual Assistant

Having a virtual assistant empowers you not just to cater to more clients but to also have more time for yourself and your loved ones. This gives you time to work on your personal goals as much as you work with others to achieve theirs.

Hiring a virtual assistant makes you a better coach not just in business but also with your own life as you practice being able to set healthy boundaries, meet work demands, and still be able to take care of yourself.

Finding a Virtual Assistant

ClearDesk – one of our top-rated VA companies, may the right fit for you!

For a more budget friendly option, check out Remote CoWorker and Virtual Latinos.

Top Rated Virtual Assistant Companies, schedule a consultation call to discuss your needs and take a look at the Become a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Assistant Job pages for opportunities!

 

 

Author: Jim Hughes has significant experience covering financial and business topics. He’s been a financial advisor and also provided consulting and advice. At the moment he is the Director of Content at OpenCashAdvance.com 

 

 

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How to Track Your Virtual Assistant’s Performance

Due to the widespread COVID impact, the trend of outsourcing and demand of offshore virtual assistants have become significantly increased. According to Deloitte’s 2020 Global Outsourcing Survey, more than 70% of organizations have started hiring virtual assistants in order to reduce cost. More and more companies are adopting the trend of hybrid and remote work models while allowing workers the flexibility to work during their productive hours.

The trend of outsourcing is beneficial for both employees and the employer. Virtual assistants can work from the comfort of their home and complete their tasks more productively. While companies believe that outsourcing their tasks to virtual assistants can effectively cut the cost of office equipment.

Many industries, such as eCommerce, healthcare, Real Estate, banking and IT companies are hiring virtual assistants and remote workers for a variety of tasks. Though the trend of remote work is a convenient solution for businesses, it has some unique challenges that employers need to address. Monitoring the performance of virtual assistants is one of the biggest challenges for managers as they need quantifiable metrics to judge VAs performance and productivity.

Many digital agencies are harnessing the power of online tools to manage their remote employees with the advent of advanced software tools, performance platforms, hybrid services, task management tools and content management systems, now it has become easier for employers to manage remote talents and run their business smoothly.

Let’s explore some of the best tools, apps and software products that can help you track the performance of virtual assistants, monitor their work and ensure timely delivery for every project.

Workpuls

If you want to build a virtual team for your online business, try WorkPuls. It is a virtual assistant monitoring tool that is exclusively created to monitor time, activity and productivity of virtual assistants. The virtual employee monitoring software is a convenient solution for your business as it can give timely productivity insights and real-time monitoring reports to maximize the productivity of your virtual team.

WorkPuls has the ability to capture every single activity of virtual assistants to give you a clear idea of how your remote workers are utilizing their time. It makes it super easier for managers to keep an eye on the performance of their virtual team and enhance efficiency. The easy-to-use dashboard allows you to view the team’s performance on the basis of task, project and deadlines.  

DeskTime

DeskTime is an automated time tracking tool for remote employees and freelancers. From time tracking to attendance tracking and workflow management, DeskTime is packed with many useful features, helping teams to stay organized. The time tracking software helps virtual assistants to make smart decisions about their time, improve their work plan, and keep track of their tasks and goals.

It helps managers to lead a team of virtual assistants effectively while calculating their productivity automatically. There is no need to manage manual worksheets, as DeskTime increases your productivity by automatically documenting the amount of time spent on tasks, meetings and work-related activities. Furthermore, the auto screenshots feature gives you a more detailed view of your remote team’s performance and identifies any unproductive activities.   

Hubstaff

Hubstaff is a reliable time tracking tool, used by a large number of corporations to manage remote teams. The tool is packed with different amazing features, including time tracking, productivity monitoring, reporting, GPS tracking, online timesheets, to name a few. This time tracking platform is also the best choice for project managers, as it keeps every team member on the same page and keeps them aware of how they are spending their time. This way, virtual assistants can improve focus and productivity. You can give your remote teams benchmarks and celebrate their efforts once accomplished.

The detailed timesheets give you a clear idea of what VAs worked on that day. Hubstaff promotes a transparent work environment so that you are aware of what your remote team is doing with its amazing proof of work feature. It is a great choice for virtual teams to increase their productivity and focus on their most important tasks.  

Buddy Punch
For businesses seeking time tracking solutions with Quickbooks integration, Buddy Punch is worth considering. This platform offers seamless integration options that help streamline payroll and manage time more effectively. Managers can easily monitor their virtual assistant’s performance, track hours worked on specific tasks, and generate precise billing reports tied directly to Quickbooks. Integrating a system like Buddy Punch smoothens the overall administration process while ensuring productivity remains high.

Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a time tracking software that is used by many established enterprises as well as small businesses to boost virtual team’s productivity. With the Time Doctor dashboard, you can view the exact amount of minutes/hours your virtual assistants spend on a particular task and breaks. You can track the time spent on meetings with clients, and the websites Vas browsed during the working hours.

Time Doctor creates timely and accurate performance reports of virtual assistants that can help you analyze their productivity. It can easily integrate with famous tools, such as Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Zendesk – to name a few. Businesses who want to promote a hybrid work environment can give Time Doctor a try to identify strong performers and create an accountable virtual workforce.

15Five

When you are managing a team of virtual assistants, it is important to stay aware of all the achievements your VAs make and identify the problems they are facing. Thanks to 15Five, a great performance management platform for businesses that have a team of virtual assistants. The platform helps team leads and managers to unlock peak performance and measure their virtual team’s productivity.

The platform makes it easier for the entire team to focus on the main objective, get real-time feedback, and get instant recognition on the completion of a goal. 15Five allows managers and their teams to connect with each other through weekly checks-ins and set the agenda to ensure everyone is one the same page. This flexible approach inspires virtual assistants to work hard and achieve more

Wrike

Wrike is a project management tool, used by many organizations that are following hybrid and remote work culture. It is a great project management software for companies that deal with different clients and virtual assistants for each project. Wrike makes it super easier to track the progress of each project on a daily basis and the amount of time and money spent and resources allocated on individual projects.

The best part about using Wrike is that it can break down the project into easily manageable tasks. Furthermore, it allows virtual assistants to streamline the workflow and gain maximum visibility at every stage. You can create custom workflows for virtual assistants to ensure your team is on the same page. The easy-to-use and intuitive dashboard lets you view the project schedule and set dependencies in real-time.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these tools will help you better manage your remote workers and increase productivity of virtual assistants. See our Tools and Resources page here for other ways to help you!

Find a Virtual Assistant

Top Rated Virtual Assistant Companies, schedule a consultation call to discuss your needs and take a look at the Become a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Assistant Job pages for opportunities!

 

 

 

Author:

Irfan Ak is a tech savvy & experienced digital content strategist at Branex – social media agency. He is a regular contributor on various websites. He has worked with several brands and created value for them.

 

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Tasks Photographers Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant

“Oh, being a photographer must be a really exciting and interesting career!” Of course, but when you become too engrossed in tedious activities like careful post-editing or composing those marketing emails, a virtual assistant may be the solution to make your life simpler.

Write a note of the time-consuming things you have to undertake on a daily basis and assess how much time they take away from you. Remember, that’s time you might be spending with friends and family, taking new images, meeting clients, generating money, and building your business.

Aside from shooting images, being a professional photographer necessitates a variety of other tasks. Blogging, web marketing, and invoicing are all tasks that may be delegated to virtual assistants and remote editors to make room in your schedule for more creative endeavours. 

Here are a few tasks that a photographer may devolve to a virtual assistant so that they can focus on more essential tasks:

Client Management Software

A virtual assistant may simply be entrusted with developing, filling, and administering an automated customer database. This is especially beneficial when you need to send a brief letter to them for new work, schedule a meeting with them during the ongoing project, and acknowledge tiny things – like their wedding anniversary if you were a photographer at their major event – for a customized touch to surprise and pleasure them.

Scheduling

Organizing meeting details might be one of the most time-consuming tasks on your to-do list. Going back and forth in a long email chain is absolutely something you can delegate to your virtual assistant. 

They can also hook you up with a calendar booking system like Calendly or Hubspot Meetings tool, which will save them time as well. You should use automation tools whenever it is possible. It saves your virtual assistant time, which saves you money!

Emails

When a task emerges in your customer database, your virtual assistant can send these messages from your address on your behalf. 

You’d only need to build a list of templated emails written in your voice, and you’d never have to think about it again until your customer replied! 

They can trace the emails you send and follow up after a week or two if you haven’t received a response, and they can even arrange your inbox before you log in each morning, so you only deal with the items that demand your immediate attention.

Blogging

A blog is an excellent method to showcase your work, make it easier for clients to find you, and develop a strong internet presence. Hiring a virtual assistant that can be a copywriter for your blog might aid in the growth of your company. (Check out a great company, CopyWriter Today, to help you!)

Uploading many photographs into a blog post, tagging them, and adding descriptions can take a long time – a virtual assistant can handle all of that for you while maintaining things SEO-friendly and making your blog appear at the top of search results.

Social Media Marketing

A great social media presence may make a significant impact. A strong social media strategy may help you stand out from the crowd and gain new customers. Creating material and uploading it to various social media networks may be tedious and time-consuming.

A competent virtual assistant can organize your calendar and post to numerous platforms with the appropriate sized photographs and text that varies depending on the social media outlet.

PR and Marketing

Long-term tactics such as SEO are vital for your organization, but you can also get your name “out there” with some savvy PR effort. While you wait for longer-term methods to work, there are ways to get your brand known that will not only offer you more visitors but will also improve your reputation within your sector, provide you visibility on social media, and favourably affect your long-term strategy.

Contracts, Expenses, and Invoicing

Some virtual assistants have extensive general accounting knowledge; simply request that skill set while recruiting. They would then be able to not only draft your contracts for you based on a template you offer them but also issue and track invoices and reconcile your business spending. There are many great VA companies that offer admin and bookkeeping services. See here!

File Organizing

Even if you only shoot for 30 minutes during a session, you’re sure to get a large number of photographs. Sure, not all will be valuable, but they all should be dealt with in some way. 

You may save the weekend’s sessions to a Dropbox folder, and your assistant can help you arrange them by a client, location, or whatever method makes the most sense to your brain until you’re ready to filter through and edit.

Website Updates

You may need to add or delete pages from your website, update your material, or make other structural changes from time to time. Give your virtual assistant details and necessary information. Then, let them make the modifications for you.

Basic Photo Editing

This may not be something you are prepared to give up because it’s an essential aspect of your job, but there may be parts of the editing process that you can educate your virtual assistant to do. 

Maybe you have a Photoshop action that you consistently use on a certain sort of photo. Remote editors can do that and then store it for you to change later, manually.

Watermark Adding

If you’re going to share your photographs on the internet, you should put watermarks on them! But, oh my goodness, how time-consuming! Give those photos to your virtual assistant and ask them to add your watermark or logo for you.

Newsletters

A monthly email is a wonderful supplement to your marketing approach, particularly if you want to make passive revenue by creating courses, filters, or other lead magnets to offer online. You may start building your email list by sending out a monthly newsletter that includes links to your most current blog pieces, social media messages, reminders about forthcoming holiday sessions, and so on.

It may also be a nice bonus to include a discount coupon in your newsletters from time to time to encourage more people to join. You already know what we are going to say: your virtual assistant can oversee the mailing process from beginning to end!

Conclusion

Using the services of virtual assistants, you will have more to do better work. After all, you no longer have to spend time on routine things that often require a lot of time. By outsourcing such things to virtual assistants, you are making the smartest decision for yourself and for your work.

Find a Virtual Assistant

ClearDesk – one of our top-rated VA companies, may the right fit for you!

For a more budget friendly option, check out Remote CoWorker and Virtual Latinos.

Top Rated Virtual Assistant Companies, schedule a consultation call to discuss your needs and take a look at the Become a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Assistant Job pages for opportunities!

 

Author: Thomas Lore is a 25-year old writer. As a creative and diligent freelance blogger, he is always seeking new ways to improve himself.

 

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The Best Companies for Freelance Gigs

Freelancing has become a job option for those who want more control over their work schedule and workload. According to a study by Upwork and the Freelancers Union, freelancing is becoming more popular, with 59 million Americans freelancing in some capacity.

Additionally, the remote working policy has urged more people to work in a freelance term to balance their work and home life more easily. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, freelance jobs have soared more than ever because many companies are now hiring remotely.

But with so many freelance opportunities available, it can be difficult to know where to start looking for work. That’s why this article will help you find the best companies for freelance gigs.

Why Should You Freelance?

There are many reasons why people decide to freelance. Some people want more freedom and control over their work schedule, while others want to have the option to take on more or less work as they please. Additionally, freelancing can be a great way to make money in your spare time or transition into a full-time career.

The Pros of Freelancing

Flexibility: One of the best things about freelancing is that you have complete control over your work schedule. You can choose to work during the day, at night, or even on weekends if you prefer.

Variety: When you’re a freelancer, you have the opportunity to work on a variety of different projects and assignments. This can be a great way to learn new skills and keep your work interesting.

Money: Freelancing can be a great way to make money in your spare time or transition into a full-time career. You can charge whatever rates you want, which means you can make as much money as you want.

The Cons of Freelancing

Less Benefit: When you’re a freelancer, you don’t receive any benefits like health insurance or retirement savings plans. This can be difficult if you don’t have another source of income to fall back on.

Less Stability: Since a company does not employ you, you don’t have the same level of stability as if you were working a traditional job. This can be a challenge if you rely on a regular income to pay your bills.

Less Support: When you’re working for a company, you have access to a network of other employees who can offer support and advice. This is not usually the case when you’re freelancing.

While there are pros and cons about freelancing, still it’s worth trying if you want a change from your current work. With freelance jobs, you can choose to work from home or anywhere you like.

The Best Companies for Freelance Gigs

Now that you know some of the basics of freelancing let’s look at some of the best companies for freelance gigs.

1. Freeup

FreeUp is a fast-growing freelance marketplace that supposedly only lets in “the top 1%” of freelancers.

The company started with a focus on e-commerce / Amazon seller support, but has expanded to a huge variety of virtual services.

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is a platform for businesses to find freelance professionals. It’s home to millions of professionals from a variety of industries.

If you want to be a part of Fiverr’s freelance professional to help businesses with a project, it is the perfect platform. With thousands of talented professionals are available on the platform, brands can find the perfect fit for their needs. That means you’ll have a bigger chance to be chosen by these brands to work together with.

3. OnlineJobs.ph

OnlineJobs.ph is a Filipino job board that caters exclusively to remote online work opportunities.

It was created in 2009 by Utah-based entrepreneur John Jonas as a way to connect the affordable Filipino workforce with business owners in North America and around the world.

Over the last decade, OnlineJobs.ph has become the leading platform to find qualified virtual assistants in the Philippines. At press time, the site has over 250,000 resumes in its database–a huge talent pool!

4. Freelancer

Freelancer is a platform for freelancers to find work from various industries. If you’re looking for a way to earn some extra cash, you can check out Freelancer. It’s one of the best platforms for freelancers of all levels of experience. 

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, Freelancer has plenty of work opportunities waiting for you. This platform has something to suit everyone’s needs, from short-term projects to long-term contracts. 

5. Indeed

Indeed is a job search engine with millions of jobs from a variety of industries. You can search for jobs based on location, keyword, company, and job type.

With Indeed, you can apply for International gigs that provide opportunities globally. What you need to do is create a work profile on Indeed and apply for jobs that match your skills.

6. Guru

Guru is a platform designed specifically for businesses to find freelance professionals and vice versa. Whether you need freelance gigs or stable opportunities, Guru is one of the ways to go. There are many opportunities for a freelance developer, content creator, social media expert, etc. Guru can help connect you with the perfect businesses for the job. 

7. PeoplePerHour

If you are a freelancer looking for new works, PeoplePerHour is the perfect place to find high-quality projects that fit your skillset and interests. With tons of jobs posted daily, you’re sure to find something that’s perfect for you. 

The difference between PeoplePerHour and other freelance platforms is that they allow businesses to find hourly work professionals. 

8. UpWork Pro

UpWork Pro is a platform for businesses to find freelance professionals. It’s an upgraded version of UpWork that offers additional features, such as advanced search filters and the ability to contact freelancers directly. It’s not free to use, but it does offer a free trial period.

9. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media site for professionals. It has a database of millions of jobs from a variety of industries.

You can search for jobs based on location, keyword, company, and job type.

While most jobs promoted on this platform is full-time positions, you can find freelance gigs in the dashboard. Make sure to put keywords such as freelance and remote working to find what you’re looking for. 

Conclusion

If you want to start freelancing, there are a variety of platforms you can use to find work from a variety of industries. These include UpWork, FlexJobs, Indeed, Freelancer, Fiverr, Craigslist, Guru, PeoplePerHour, and LinkedIn. Each platform has its own set of features, so be sure to choose one that fits your needs. Good luck!

Find a Virtual Assistant

ClearDesk – one of our top-rated VA companies, may the right fit for you!

For a more budget friendly option, check out Remote CoWorker and Virtual Latinos.

Top Rated Virtual Assistant Companies, schedule a consultation call to discuss your needs and take a look at the Become a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Assistant Job pages for opportunities!

 

 

 

 

 

Author: Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).

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10 Tasks You Should Hire a Social Media Virtual Assistant For

“Social media is about the people, not about your business! Provide for the people, and the people will provide for you.” Matt Goulart

In today’s digital world, we live and breathe social media. With 4.55B active social media platform users, you cannot overlook its power. 

However, how do you tap into this vast user base with limited resources as a newly incorporated business?

Social Media Virtual Assistants.

These people have the skill set you need and work at relatively lower prices, making them a great thing to use today. In addition, post-COVID-19, many businesses realized the importance of off-shore or remote employment. So if you want to have such flexibility, or have a second job as a virtual assistant, then here’s how you can go about it. 

What is a Virtual Assistant for Social Media?

A virtual assistant is an off-shore employee who works remotely for you in crude terms. For example, a social media virtual assistant is responsible for conducting tasks related to social media for your business. The only difference is that a virtual assistant is not paid like a full-time employee and does not enjoy the same benefits that a full-time employee of your company does. Since they are paid only for the number of hours they dedicate to your business, they are paid on a pro-rata basis only. No vacations or off-days are payable.

Top 3 Benefits of a Virtual Assistant

Aside from having the obvious benefit of having a person taking care of the social media for your business without everyday meddling, virtual assistants also have other benefits. The biggest ones are:

1. Increases Your Business Efficiency

For a business, the product or its services matter the most. If they spend time marketing the services on social media and do not work to improve them to benefit the customer, all the efforts are in vain. Furthermore, the time spent doing mundane tasks that they don’t have expertise in will cause a downfall in all aspects of the business. 

Hence, using a virtual social media assistant helps increase the company’s overall efficiency as they take care of all the social media tasks and even draw up plans on how to improve the brand’s presence online in the right way. 

2. Minimize Hiring And Training Costs

Social media virtual assistants are usually trained people offering their services to people for an hourly rate. This means they are paid only for the number of hours they are dedicating to your business within the designated period. 

Therefore, the hourly pay rate for a trained professional is usually quite affordable compared to a full-time employee who has to be trained on the job. Furthermore, you can make it more affordable by outsourcing the work to virtual assistants from countries like the Philippines or India, where the hourly rates are much lower.

3. Free Up Your Time

According to a survey conducted by BIC Agency, 63% of business owners spend 1-5 hours on social media, while some spend more than 20 hours on it. With a social media virtual assistant, you can use those hours to make your products or services better. This can help boost productivity both for you and your employees who have to dedicate time out of their daily tasks to devote to social media.

Top 10 Tasks for a Social Media Virtual Assistant

Now that you are well aware of the benefits of a social media virtual assistant, you should know how to use their skills properly. The top 10 tasks that a social media virtual assistant can do for your business are:

1. Help develop a social media strategy

A social media strategy is a must for any brand to appeal to prospective users. Besides the product itself, they need to see the value through every channel that comes out of your business. Hence, a virtual assistant can be tasked to build a social media strategy that resonates with your business practices and your product segmentation. 

2. Set up and organize your social media presence

Once they have set up a social media strategy, it is time to register on those social media platforms to reach your prospective user base. For this, a virtual assistant comes in handy since they are well versed with what channels to use, what bio to provide to gain traction, and how to segment your social media presence. 

3. Research and Create Content

Social media is all about creating value-driven content for the users to consume. For this, deep research is required to understand a user’s intent to use your product. The content can then cater to answering those questions and probable queries. A virtual assistant is perfect for doing this since they have developed their skills in this domain. 

4. Create a content calendar and schedule and manage posts

Instead of haphazardly posting the same thing on several social media channels, a virtual assistant can draw up a content calendar and use a scheduling tool to get work done more efficiently. They can even manage which posts are going on which platform and maximize the reach and engagement.

5. Find and edit images for social media posts

Sometimes, images work much better than captions or posts ever do. For this purpose, a social media virtual assistant can find and edit photos as per your brand identity to resonate with your follower base.

6. Curate posts from other blogs and social media channels

Social media is not just about tooting your own horn but also about commenting others. In this regard, many businesses are skeptical since they are scared that their customers might leave them for the competitors that their business applauds. 

However, when you do that, you are showing your customers that you are open to appreciating the efforts of others, open to healthy competition, and are more human. This trait alone can drive more business towards you. A social media virtual assistant can look out for such posts and publish them on your channels to make you seem like the bigger man.

7. Publish blog posts

Blog posts on business niche-specific topics are another way of garnering audiences. While you or your staff may not be fully available for such tasks, a social media virtual assistant definitely would be. They can write blog posts on topics around your business practices or other parts that can help drive conversions. 

8. Write copy for social media posts

A good copy can get great sales. However, you seldom find a good copy on social media posts. Expecting that from an amateur social media professional may not be the best bet. A social media virtual assistant is meant for doing these tasks. With the experience, they should be able to convert business goals into saleable copy for social media posts. 

9. Monitor conversations, comments, and engagements

Social media is all about developing a rapport with your audience. However, you cannot do that if you have a robotic presence of only posting and never responding. Social media conversations, engagements, and comments can all be handled with a virtual assistant.

You can give them a brief about the type of answers they should provide for FAQs and what is needed for other conversions. This helps drive conversions at a staggering rate if the brand is susceptible and empathetic towards their customers’ needs. 

10. Generate reports

One of the most important tasks of a social media virtual assistant is generating reports after a fixed interval about the channel they are handling. A virtual assistant generates insightful reports about campaigns and posts on various social media platforms. 

Conclusion: Is a Social Media Virtual Assistant Worth It?

Absolutely! With the hybrid working model becoming the new normal and remote working the new way of working, outsourcing your social media tasks to a virtual assistant can be the hidden weapon in your arsenal. It is reasonably inexpensive, easy to train, and reliable to get all social media work done. 

Additionally, you also minimize your costs for hiring and training and get more bang for the buck you spend, which makes it an excellent asset for any business.

Find a Virtual Assistant

ClearDesk – one of our top-rated VA companies, may the right fit for you!

For a more budget friendly option, check out Remote CoWorker and Virtual Latinos.

Top Rated Virtual Assistant Companies, schedule a consultation call to discuss your needs and take a look at the Become a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Assistant Job pages for opportunities!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author: Bhavik Soni is a Creative Writer at Auto Monkey. We provide an original analysis of the latest happenings in the social media industry. Connect with Latest Social Media Trends and News plus tips on Twitter, Facebook and other social tools on the web.

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