Crew.co

Posted by Mica Harvey / Freelance Virtual Assistants, Graphic and Web Design Services

UPDATE: It appears Crew.co has changed to Dribbble.com. Please consider one of these alternatives.

Crew.co is a marketplace that provides a platform for freelancers, or “members” as they refer to them, to connect with business owners and entrepreneurs. They specialize in providing professional services of web designers and developers.

The company was founded in 2012 and their headquarters are based in Montreal, Canada. Through their platform they connect freelancer designers and developers to business owners from all over the globe.

About Crew.co

Crew.co reviewThe company is headed up by Mikael Cho, and they have been in operation for over three years. Crew is not a service company and does not carry out or oversee any of the work for their members or manage projects, rather they provide the platform for business owners to find designers and developers, and handle the contracts and financial transactions.

The company screens and vets the freelancers, and matches them to the best-suited projects for their skills. They also hire additional freelancers from around the globe to meet demand when required.

How it Works

When you post a project, the team at Crew matches you with 3 fully-vetted freelancers for you to choose between to complete your project within 48 hours. This is different than platforms like Upwork or Freelancer.com, where unlimited freelancers can bid for your project and you narrow down the applicants.

Anyone who have had a bad experience on an open marketplace may feel more comfortable with the way Crew are operating. With Crew manually selecting freelancers, you do not need to invest as much time vetting the applicants yourself.  

Services

Unlike some other freelancing marketplaces, Crew focuses specifically on programming and graphic design projects.

They specialize in providing website development, app development, eCommerce support, logo design, branding, and custom graphic design work.

There is a three-step process when submitting a project to the Crew platform:

  1. You post your exact job, or “project” requirements
  2. You will receive an automatic budget recommendation to look over
  3. Three handpicked freelancers will contact you within 48 hours, you then decide who you want to work with

Because Crew use their own vetting process when taking on freelancers to join their platform there should be a higher level of consistency than open marketplaces.

Their target customers are busy business owners or entrepreneurs who do not have in-house web or graphic designers and need individual projects completed. If you’ve been thinking about a logo redesign or having an app developed, Crew is worth checking out.

Plans and Pricing

Because it’s a project-based platforms, pricing varies depending on the specific work you need done. Once you and your chosen contractor agree on the scope of the project, you pre-pay into Crew’s escrow account.

Crew holds the funds for the project until the work is completed and both parties are satisfied. The company takes a 15% fee from the total payment to cover processing, overhead, customer support, and of course, their profit.

The company uses a third-party payment system through their platform for safe and secure transactions.

Crew Alternatives

The biggest competitor to Crew is the giant freelance platform Upwork.com. The main difference is that they try to be a one-stop shop for all your outsourcing needs, instead of just focusing on only designers and developers.

If you’re looking for development help, you might consider Codeable (for WordPress projects) or TopTal (for a wider range).

For one-off graphics work, 99designs and DesignCrowd are popular choices.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Crew.co? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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iWriter

Posted by Mica Harvey / Content Writing Services

If you need written content for your website, iWriter is an easy and reliable way for you to post projects that will be professionally and quickly done.

Located in Carmel, IN, iWriter includes a network of thousands of freelance writers from around the globe ready to work on writing assignments.

About iWriter

iwriter reviewiWriter is designed to help the business owner who no longer wants to or has time to write their own content for their websites. The company was launched in 2011 and was the first service created to exclusively facilitate the process of hiring a professional to write your articles.

As a client, requesting an article to be written is easy and costs as little as $1.25.

Pro tip: If you’re only paying $1.25 per article, odds are it will be illegible.

Once registered, click on a link titled “Submit a New Project Page” and input all the necessary information so the writer can produce a quality article.

iWriter Services

Clients that sign up for the service have a variety of options to customize their service experience.

iWriter Services Include:

  • An unlimited amount of articles
  • Articles on any topic
  • Turnaround time as fast as 1 hour
  • Article lengths of 150, 300, 500, 700, and 1000 words
  • Select the article language of English, French, Spanish, German, or Other
  • Easy download format
  • Select article quality
  • Select the article tone
  • SEO keyword selection

Because thousands of writers from around the world are available to write articles on iWriter, clients have the option to choose which writers they submit their project to. Clients select writers based how many stars they have earned and their reputation.

You can even request longer-form projects such as ebooks if you find an excellent writer who can get the job done.

iWriter Video Overview

Plans and Pricing

Pricing at iWriter depends on the requirements you need. The article length and the star-quality of your desired writer all increase the cost of the article. If you want SEO keywords in your article the price will also increases.

My take on it is this: Don’t stress on the keywords and just try and write naturally. The search engines are getting smarter and if your articles are stuffed full of keywords in an unnatural way, you may get penalized.

The baseline advertised cost may be just $1.25, but expect to pay more than that if you want anything readable. Think in the ballpark of $5-20 for a 500 word article. Naturally, writers with better feedback history command higher rates.

iWriter Alternatives

Alternative outsourced writing services do exist where business owners can have articles written, including on-demand services like HireWriters and subscription-based models like Copywriter Today.

Freelance sites like Elance.com and oDesk.com will also connect you with writers, but these sites are more complex than iWriter because freelancers will bid on your project while iWriter will assign your project directly to a writer. In my mind, those are definitely more trouble than it’s worth for a single article.

Your Turn

Have you worked with iWriter? If so, please share a quick review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Time Dog

Posted by Mica Harvey / Task-Based Virtual Assistants, US Virtual Assistants

UPDATE: Time Dog has merged with iBlog Media Group, and has stopped taking new virtual assistant clients and requests. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below.

Time Dog is a task-based virtual assistant company based in Tampa, Florida. time dog reviewThe business began in 2011 and has grown to a small team of virtual assistants, all working from the company’s Florida headquarters.

Founder Matt Cherry created Time Dog to help busy people (primarily busy women and moms) better manage their hectic schedules. He’s enlisted a team of service-oriented “superheroes” to make lives easier for clients around the country.

time dog reviewTime Dog offers remote personal assistance for quick tasks, and specifically targets busy individuals. The service is appropriate for personal use but is currently not open to business-related tasks.

Like other US-based VA companies such as Fancy Hands and Red Butler, Time Dog specializes in one-off online research type jobs and concierge tasks. Unlike those however, they offer an “unlimited” plan with no specific time limits on tasks.

One thing that really surprised me was the pricing. Time Dog is really inexpensive relative to their competition. At this time, the service is just $35 a month for unlimited requests, serviced by office-based US VAs. The service comes with a very generous 30-day free trial.

And they offer a free account that comes with a 15 day free trial with no credit card required.

I say “at this time,” because I’m not sure how long they can survive at that low rate! There’s nothing comparable in the US, and even overseas you have to go to almost double that price before you find a similar “unlimited” virtual assistant plan (TimeSvr, Pakistan).

Time Dog Intro Video

I took advantage of their free trial and submitted a handful of tasks. In general, the response times were quick and the results were good. Here are a few of the tasks I sent in:

  • Find a replacement motor for my treadmill.
  • Send me some butternut squash recipes.
  • Are dogs allowed on this hiking trail?

Obviously none of these were super-urgent, but Time Dog operates on standard East Coast business hours so if you need support at odd hours that could be a consideration.

You can submit tasks via text, email through the online interface, live chat, phone, or through their free iPhone app. The only drawback I experienced was not being able to send a request directly from my email, as I can with Fancy Hands.

If you’re looking for a creative gift idea, Time Dog offers personalizable gift memberships.

Have you tried Time Dog? If so, please share a quick review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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WELLReceived

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Receptionist Services

WELLReceived is a US-based virtual receptionist service that specializes in helping medical practices and other healthcare businesses ensure every phone call is answered by a live person 24/7.

The company is headquartered in Oregon and employs live agents across the United States. WELLReceived’s virtual receptionists are available 24/7 and have over 20 years of experience in call handling.

About WELLReceived

As your practice grows, it’s important to provide every caller with the utmost professional and compassionate care. When patients call, the last thing they want is to be placed on a long hold. At WELLReceived, we answer every call within the first three rings.

If your practice isn’t large enough to justify paying a full-time in-house receptionist, or if you need help answering overflow and after-hour calls, you can forward your phone to WELLReceived’s receptionists. These HIPAA-compliant agents will handle calls according to your customized scripts. They can forward urgent calls, schedule appointments in your calendar, update records in your system, and more. It’s no different from having your own in-house receptionist.

WELLReceived’s 24/7 availability and professional virtual medical receptionists can increase your practice’s reputation, enhance patient/provider relationships, and streamline your front office productivity.

How WELLReceived Works

If you want to partner with WELLReceived, contact them via the contact form on their site or by calling them at 1.800.800.4449.

To find the best plan for your practice, one of WELLReceived’s Sales Executives will work with you to figure out your call volume, times you’re needing coverage, and the best custom script to serve your patients. 

Each account is given unique login credentials for their online web portal. Patient safety and security is their highest priority and WELLReceived ensures that every piece of information is stored in their encrypted Google API system.  

Patient care is at your fingertips with the WELLReceived mobile app. You can view messages, number of minutes used, and view your booking calendar straight from your smartphone.

WELLReceived Services

WELLReceived provides a range of virtual receptionist services. Some of their key features include:

  • 24/7/365 Live Virtual Medical Receptionists 
  • Appointment calendar integration
  • Bilingual Services 
  • HIPAA-Compliant 
  • Live Chat Support
  • Teleport Video Appointments

WELLReceived Plans and Pricing

Plans are based on your practices’ monthly call volume. Whether you’re looking for 300 minutes or 1,000 minutes of call handling, they’ve got you covered. No long-term contracts are required, and scaling your plan up or down is easy.

A complete list of their plans at the time of publishing was:

  1. 200 minutes – $319/month
  2. 300 minutes – $379/month
  3. 500 minutes – $629/month
  4. 1,000 minutes – $1,259/month

All of their plans include access to a client portal, where you can keep an eye on the number of minutes used.  Another bonus is that appointment scheduling is free and included in every plan.

WELLReceived Alternatives

For alternatives to WELLReceived, I recommend checking out Ruby and Gabbyville as they both offer similar services and pricing.

Something that separates WELLReceived from their competitors is that they specialize in medical practices. If you are working in any of the industries WELLReceived specializes in, it’s worth giving them a try to take advantage of their industry experience.

Your Turn

Have you worked with WELLReceived? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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GoButler

Posted by Mica Harvey / SMS Virtual Assistants

Update: I’m sad to say, but GoButler has pivoted (as startups do) to only offer text messaged-based flight search and booking. The free general VA service described below is no longer available. I knew it was too good to be true! Please consider one of these alternatives or see below.

GoButler is an SMS-based virtual assistant service. They have assistants known as “Heroes” available to receive and respond to SMS messages 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

They currently have around 50 employees. With their headquarters being in New York and home to most of the development team, and another office in Germany where most “Heroes” are situated. The company only came out of their BETA testing phase at the end of July, so they are still growing their team.

Go Butler secured $8 million in Series A funding this year, so it’s going to be interesting couple of years seeing this company grow.

About Go Butler

gobutler reviewThere are three founders behind GoButler; Maximilian Deilmann from the UK, Navid Hadzaad from the US, and Jens Urbaniak from Germany. With this is mind It’s easy to understand their decision to have offices in the US and Germany.

With the service coming out of BETA at the end of July, they have opened up the availability to use the service in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Singapore, Spain, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the time of writing this. With further expansion into new countries expected in the near future.

Their target customers are busy consumers. So if you need a suggestion where to eat out, want to place a food order for delivery, or book flights – you can send an SMS to Go Butler and expect a speedy reply with an answer to meet your needs.

gobutler use caseServices

GoButler’s motto is “Anything you want. As long as it’s legal. Try it!” So if there is a service of product you want without the effort of finding it yourself, send them a text.

Customers are using GoButler to make travel plans, complete restaurant reservations, find and order products online, and get food delivered. You won’t be assigned a dedicated assistant, so it would be tough to delegate ongoing business-related projects or tasks, but for one-off requests, quite an interesting concept.

They process secure payments through their partner Braintree. There really are no hidden costs or charges, you pay exactly what you would pay if you had sourced the product or service yourself.

It’s really as simple as it sounds. All you need is a device to send and receive SMS messages, and you can use the service. They aim to respond to all queries within a few minutes, so this seems like a pretty cool “intro to delegation” service for people to test out and see how well they can text specific requests and instructions.

GoButler Review

Plans and Pricing

This is what sets Go Butler apart from similar services: it’s completely free.

Founder Navid Hadzaad has stated they plan to keep it free too. There are plans to monetize the service from the B2B side. So you, the customer, should never be passed on any of the costs.

Plus, there is currently no limit to the number of requests you can make in any given month.

My guess is on the backend GoButler is earning an affiliate commission on any products they purchase on your behalf. But it seems like a heavy labor burden to respond to all the other non-monetizable tasks that inevitably will come through.

To sign up, just text GO to 25400. When I did, I got a response right away asking for my email, and explaining there is currently a waitlist to join. (I got in a few days later.)

Go Butler Alternatives

Go Butler was not the first company to think of the SMS-assistant model. There are several competitors vying for attention in this space:

  • Magic – Magic has a very similar process to Go Butler. Customers can receive information on products and services via SMS.
  • Operator – Operator has an app for smartphones enabling customers to search and shop for products through their interface.
  • Scratch – Scratch is like a personal shopping assistant in a smartphone app, great for finding gifts.
  • Fetch – Another text-message based shopping service, though when I tried it I didn’t get a response for days.

The main hook that sets Go Butler apart from all of these similar services is that it’s the only service to be completely free to the customer. I’m sure this will be a big factor when it comes down to a choice between which service to try for the first time.

(One friend of mine was using Magic and was absolutely THRILLED he was able to buy shorts through a text message, and was more than happy to pay the service fee the company tacked on.)

My main alternative for task-based assistance is Fancy Hands, and I’m confident GoButler has actually saved be a few tasks this month. Now I find myself using Fancy Hands for slightly higher level tasks with more in-depth instructions that are better suited to email instead of text.

Your Turn

Have you tried Go Butler? If so please leave some feedback below to help others with their decision.

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Perssist

Posted by Mica Harvey / Task-Based Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Perssist is a virtual assistant service that’s part human and part technology.

Over time, Perssist learns user preferences and becomes more integrated into users’ daily routines via personalization technology. Various existing and upcoming third-party app integrations help Perssist work directly with the tools you are already in the habit of using.

About Perssist

perssist-reviewThe New York-based company was founded in 2014 by Evan Britten-Bozzone and Albert Wang. Their virtual assistants are located all over the world to ensure coverage in every time zone.

Per Evan, “Location of workers is not as important to us as ability. We hire less than 3% of the people that apply for an assistant position, after filtering them through an intensive multi-round interview process. For the few that do get hired, we put them through a rigorous training process. We have accomplished overseas workers that have earned Bachelor’s degrees, and in some cases Master’s degrees.”

He explains that the company aims to provide busy people with a channel to outsource all the time-consuming and undesirable tasks that could be taken care of by an intelligent and tech-savvy virtual assistant.

How it Works

Perssist brings on-demand access to a virtual personal assistant to do the bidding of busy people and entrepreneurs everywhere.

Users submit requests via web, email, or phone, and Perssist gets started on them in short order. Perssist offers a new level of convenience, with a service that’s flexible enough for a 10 minute phone call or 10 hours of event planning.

When you submit a request to Perssist, an assistant will check-in with you after  20 minutes, which prevents assistants from spending too much unnecessary time on a request and makes sure everyone is on the same page.

perssist user dashboard

Services

Perssist virtual assistants can make calls, do research, make appointments, or do a variety of other remote tasks.

Each request is routed to the right assistant for that task. Whether it’s web research, calling customer service or local stores, scheduling, finding local services, helping with travel planning, editing WordPress, or anything else that can be handled remotely by a smart and tech-savvy assistant.

To be more specific about what Perssist does and does not do: “Anything an intelligent, Internet-savvy liberal arts major with a long-distance calling plan can do, we can do.” So nothing too technical or requiring professional training like coding or accounting.

Evan says the requests they’ve received so far have been about 40% business-related and 60% personal.

“In the near future,” he adds, “We’ll be able purchase items on a users’ behalf without sharing sensitive payment information.”

Plans and Pricing

Perssist offers 3-tiers of pricing plans, ranging from 2 hours a month at $28 ($14/hr), to 15 hours per month at $150 ($10/hr).

New users can take advantage of a 1-hour free trial.

Perssist charges time in 5-minute increments, and your unused hours and minutes roll over to the next month.

Perssist Alternatives

Although Perssist doesn’t wave the “All-American” flag like Fancy Hands, the services are similar — an on-demand virtual assistant service. However, with the hourly plans instead of the by-the-task plans, Perssist allows for greater flexibility in what you can delegate, even accounting for Fancy Hands’ new multiple-task requests.

The other company that comes to mind is OkayRelax, which connects you with a dedicated VA for an affordable monthly membership fee.

Have your worked with Perssist? If so, please share a quick review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Codeable

Posted by Mica Harvey / Freelance Virtual Assistants, Project-Based Virtual Assistants, Technical Assistants

Codeable (codeable.io) is the only WordPress exclusive freelancer marketplace. The Denmark-based company was founded in 2013 and employs more than 530 WordPress experts from around the world to solve WordPress problems for customers.

VAA Tested_smallerTheir community only deals with WordPress-related projects — they’re not going to be running your social media campaigns or making dinner reservations for you.

Their community of highly vetted developers completes over 2,000+ projects each month, with nearly 99% rated 5 stars out of 5. They have a laser-sharp focus on quality and have the reputation to prove it. They are partnered with hundreds of leading WordPress companies (hosts, themes, plugins, agencies, etc.) who utilize the talent at Codeable to help their own customers.

Codeable Services

So what can Codeable’s virtual army of WordPress experts get done for you?

Pretty much anything related to your WordPress site; full site builds, fixing bugs, making design customizations, developing a custom plugin, modifying your theme, migrating your site to a new host, speed optimization, security cleanup tasks, or even providing one-on-one training.

Each of the developers they let onto their platform goes through a thorough screening process including an interview and review of their portfolio and work history.

You can post your project for a free estimate with no obligation to hire. The Codeable platform operates 24/7 and several users report getting initial estimates back within minutes of posting their jobs.

Codeable Review

How Codeable Works

With Codeable, you create your own task brief — the more detailed and well-thought-out the better. The more specific you can be in terms of what you want to be done, the better results you get, and the better understanding the coders will have of your project.

You’ll begin collecting estimates almost immediately, but the bids are averaged out — removing price from the equation. You can pick the developer you feel is the best fit based on their feedback, recent work history, or their areas of specialization.

In either case, Codeable explains you can pick confidently because they only allow top-notch technical talent to join their ranks.

Codeable Plans and Pricing

Codeable developer rates range from $70-120/hr, and estimates are based on the scope/complexity/urgency of the project. Consultations start at just $69 to speak with an expert about your project.

The way their pricing works is the different WordPress pros submit bids, but unlike Elance, Codeable takes the average of those bids to create your estimated price. (Codeable adds a fixed service fee of 17.5% on top of that price. You can learn more on their pricing page here.)

The theory is this prevents their marketplace from turning into a “race to the bottom” on price, but still allows you access to top WordPress talent at reasonable rates. It also saves you the trouble of sorting through a dozen different quotes and trying to discern the difference!

You might end up paying more on a per-job basis because they focus on offering the highest quality development services (not the lowest bid). When you think about the extra hours and money that is often spent to fix a cheaper developer’s hack job, Codeable could end up being a money saver.

VAA Exclusive: Get $10 off your first project when you sign-up through this link.

Each job has a 28-day satisfaction guarantee.

I haven’t had a chance to test the service personally yet but will be sure to report back here and update this post once I do.

Codeable Alternatives

When I first saw Codeable, a couple of competitors came to mind. The first is Elto (formerly Tweaky), which offers website “tweaks” and other services starting from just $39. (Read about how I’ve been using Fiverr instead.)

The second service I thought of was WP Curve, which offers “unlimited” WordPress support for just $69 per month. They’ve seen some crazy growth over the past year and are doing very well.

Have you worked with Codeable? If so, please be sure to share a quick review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Craigslist

Posted by Mica Harvey / Freelance Virtual Assistants

Craigslist is not on of the most reliable sources for outsourcing. Please consider one of these alternatives to ensure the success of your project.

Several entrepreneurs have discovered an opportunity using Craiglist to find virtual assistants. They simply go to the Craiglist site for where they hope to find a reliable but affordable assistant, and post a help wanted ad detailing their job requirements. Manila in the Philippines is a particularly popular location.

craigslist logoThe benefit of using craigslist to find a virtual assistant is that you can find talented workers for a very low cost, but it is not for the faint of heart. In contrast with the other freelance virtual assistant resources, using Craiglist leaves you no feedback mechanism or avenue for resolution if things don’t go the way you planned. At that point, someone half way around the world has your money and there’s little you can do.

To prevent this worst-case scenario, there are a few steps you can take. First and foremost, you’ll need to interview for the position as if you were hiring an in-house employee. That means reviewing resumes, evaluating both written and oral English language skills, verifying work history, and checking references. It is very possible to find a rock-star virtual assistant on Craigslist, but just be prepared to deal with the unqualified candidates, the spammers, and the scammers.

There are also the issues of data security and tax implications. With someone working from their home in Manila, how secure will your personal and business information be? Also, not being a tax professional, I would be nervous directly hiring someone overseas because I don’t know what kind of paperwork burden that would create for me down the line.

Still, you can’t argue with the allure of Craigslist, and the potential to find great help for as little as $3 an hour. If you’re up for the challenge, you can definitely save some money over other established virtual assistant companies and freelance virtual assistant platforms.

If you’ve had any experience, positive or negative, with a Craigslist virtual assistant, please share it here.

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Give the gift of time this Christmas 2020

Posted by Mica Harvey / News

No matter what curveball life has thrown in you, the gift of time is something that will help anybody – no matter the position they are in!

Below are some of our partners that are offering Gift Services for the year of 2020.

Time Etc

This company is based in the UK but would provide you with a US based dedicated assistant in your time zone. The benefit of a dedicated assistant is that you can assign unlimited tasks and share them with other team members.

VAA Exclusive: Click here to claim your free $50 trial credit!

Give the gift of time with Time Etc | Check out our review with Time Etc here!

VA Staffer

Gift someone 20 hours of Virtual Assistant Support from VA Staffer

This Package Includes:

  • 20 Hours that never expire
  • Built-In Project Management Tools
  • Project Coordinators to help you out with delegating your tasks

Hours can be used for the following:

  • Data Entry & Administrative Tasks
  • Lead Generation & Data Scraping
  • Graphic Design (Photoshop, Canva, Illustrator)
  • Video & Audio Editing
  • Website Development (ClickFunnels, WordPress, SquareSpace)
  • Executive Assistant Services (Calendar Management, Emails, Personal Errands)
  • *Inbound/outbound calling, copywriting services, Paid Ads set-up or management, and SEO services NOT INCLUDED*


Price – $298 + $497 set up fee
VAA Exclusive – “VAAGIFT” for $150 off on the set-up fee

Give the give of time with VA Staffer | Check out our review with VA Staffer here!

 

NS Virtual Services

NS Virtual Services has added the option to purchase a gift card this year! It’s as simple as choosing your amount between $50-$1000 and purchasing as a gift.

Purchase a gift card for a colleague or even for yourself to be used at a later date!  Covers all online packages as well as retainer virtual services.

Give the Gift of time with NS Virtual Services | Check our our review with NS Virtual Services here!

Woodbows

WoodBows has a simple 4-step onboarding process, and it takes less than an hour to start working with their team of assistants.

They have a very easy way to purchase a gift – it’s simply through their pricing page. All you need to do is add the name of the person you are gifting the service to on their Thank-you page.

Give the gift of time with Woodbows | Check our our review with Woodbows here!

OkayRelax

OkayRelax operates on kind of a hybrid model between a dedicated virtual assistant service and a task-based approach where any available team member can tackle your assignments.

The service is set-up around tasks, mini-projects up to 30 minutes and you get a dedicated assistant! 

Give the gift of time with OkayRelax | Check our our review with OkayRelax here!

Ask Data Entry

AskDataEntry has long lists of the types of data entry they take on. Basically, any tasks that involve the inputting, manipulating, cleaning, or processing of data, they’re willing to do. You can gift a service for as little as $80 for 10 hours a month. The hours not used roll over!

To gift their services, simply let them know in the checkout window.

VAAExclusive: Mention code VAA25 for 25% off your first month!

Give the gift of time with Ask Data Entry |Check our our review with Ask Data Entry here!

Delesign

Know someone that needs help with graphic design – then this is the gift to give! Their business model is subscription-based. This means the more design work you need, the more value you will get from the same flat monthly fee.

They don’t specifically have a gift service, but you are able to purchase a service package and then add the person you would like to gift it to as a “Team Member” – they then have full access to the service!

Give the gift of time with Delesign | Check our our review with Delesign here!

Want to know what your Virtual Assistant can help you with this holiday season?

Check out our article “5 Things Your Virtual Assistant can do for you During the Holidays”

 

 

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99Social

Posted by Mica Harvey / UK/Europe Virtual Assistants

99Social is a social media management company based in the UK. The company has been operating for just over two years and they work with businesses of all sizes all over the world.

They specialize in creating and posting high-quality content across all the major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About 99Social

99social reviewThe company is based in the North East of England and all of their staff are in the UK. If you’re not in the UK don’t let this put you off, 99Social work with businesses all over the globe.

They offer a range of social media management services. Mainly posting content across all the major social media platforms, so you don’t have invest the time yourself.

You get a dedicated account manager, so there is a familiar voice and someone that will get to know you and your business better the longer they work with you. Something I think is important when it comes to social media, as you want a to keep your voice and brand image consistent through your social media profiles.

Social media management is a competitive and fast-growing industry. When I asked 99Social what sets them apart from their competitors, they said, “We think we’ve created something really special, bringing together the best things about using virtual workers with the best things about marketing agencies and hit the sweet spot, delivering on price, service, and the quality of content.”

How 99Social Works

To get started, choose a pricing plan that works for your budget or includes the services you’re looking for.

Then, hand over your login details for your social media accounts you want 99Social to post to, or you can have them set up new accounts if you don’t have any.

They will then handle the content creation and post to your social media accounts at the frequency detailed in the plan you signed up for.

You can also post to your social media accounts at the same time if you have extra content you want to add.

Services

99Social offer social media management services, which means they take your social media accounts off your hands and post content and updates for you.

The main social media platforms they handle are:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

They say they are flexible when it comes to building a plan that ticks all the boxes for you, so I wouldn’t hesitate to reach out and tell them what service you’re looking for if you don’t see what you want.

Plans and Pricing

99Social currently have three pricing plans to choose from starting at £99 per month. All of their plans come with a dedicated account manager, so you have a consistent point of contact, and they point out that they are flexible if you want to focus more on one social network than another.

A complete list of their plans at the time of publishing is as follows:

  • Startup – £99 per month for a dedicated account manager, daily posts on Twitter and Facebook, weekly Instagram posts, and handpicked curated content.
  • Business – £199 per month for a dedicated account manager, 2 daily posts on Twitter and Facebook, Daily posts on LinkedIn and Instagram, handpicked content and custom graphics.
  • Custom – £299+ per month for a dedicated account manager, daily content posted on all the major social networks, custom content, images, and videos, and regular catch-up calls.

99social Pricing

There are no long-term commitments, all their plans roll on monthly and you can cancel at any time.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Exclusive: Mention referral code VAA to get 20% off your first month’s order!

99Social Alternatives

If you’re based in the US and would prefer to work with a US-based company, there are a couple of social media management companies in the US worth checking out.

$99 Social and $98 Buck Social both offer comparable services to 99Social, and due to the favorable exchange rate, their services are less expensive.

If you’re looking for remote support for more than just social media management you should look into hiring a virtual assistant to handle social media and your other tasks.

Your Turn

Have you worked with 99Social? If so, please leave a brief review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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