Which Social Media Tasks Should You Delegate To A Virtual Assistant

CJ Virtual PA
06-02-2014

Part One

In a recent online survey 460 small business owners, 63% admitted they spend between one and hours on social media each week. The remaining people spend even more time, with some spending as many as 21 hours a week just on their social media management!
It doesn’t take much to work out that’s around half a working week – we wonder how on earth they are getting anything else done to create revenue! 

If you're not careful, the majority of time spent on social media can be totally unproductive and should be delegated to a Virtual Assistant for them to manage the promotion and scheduling, leaving you free to focus on what you’re good at, i.e., the client-facing role in your business.

If you've been on Facebook for a while, you'll know that due to all it’s various options it can be difficult not to get sidetracked.  However, social media, if used in a  productive way, can do amazing things for your online business marketing.

Letting Go

If  you have already made the decision to delegate your social media to a Virtual PA, you are to be congratulated! 

As an owner of a business built on hard work, blood, sweat and and sometimes tears, we understand only too well that it is not easy letting go, but by delegating you will save yourself a lot of valuable time which can be so much better spent on increasing revenue.



Once you have made your decision to "let go", you’ll need to give your VA access to your social media accounts and share your login details with them. You will also need to make them administrators of your social profiles. 

Social Media Marketing Model

Firstly, you need to evaluate which networks you will focus on, based of course on your business. For example a clothes manufacturer might use Pinterest to portray their colourful images, whereas service-based businesses like corporate coaches might be better off utilising Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to network in their areas of expertise. 

Some businesses fail in their social media efforts because it just is not possible to build an online presence overnight. You need to create a social media marketing strategy which summarises your goals, recurring tasks and the different achievements you're aiming for.

Social Media Tasks for Your Virtual Assistant to Manage

It’s really important to give your VA an overview of how you have managed your social media to date. This will allow him or her to understand your thought processes as you will want to ensure consistency when your Virtual PA is posting / blogging etc., on your behalf.

Drafting Content  

Your followers expect you to provide them with valuable information, which is why they chose to follow you in the first place.  This is where links and quotes come in as they are extremely popular on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Sourcing quotes, images and links to share across your social media platforms can be time consuming. This is where your Virtual Assistant can really add value by devising a document on a weekly basis, containing draft posts for your approval. As soon as you've authorised them, your Virtual PA can schedule them via HootSuite to be posted when you want them to go to get the best readership for your business.

Increasing your Network

Ask your VA to follow / friend / connect with new people based on your specific criteria. 
Liaison is crucial when it comes to social media, and sharing and commenting on content which is not your own is really important if you want to increase your network. Be careful not to link back to your own website too frequently or your followers may "unfollow" you if they think you’re just trying to directly promote your business / products / services. 



There are lots of ways to encourage social interaction online - here are just a few tasks which can be undertaken by your Virtual PA:

1. Share a content-relevant article or link relating to your industry
2. Add a video from Youtube and comment on it
3. You could even post an online survey to encourage a reaction from your followers
4. “Like” others' pages and interact with the larger names within your particular line of business
5. Post inspirational and amusing images and quotes

Finally, don’t forget to thank your new followers and liaise with those who have re-tweeted your posts and replies.

Check back soon to read the second part of "Which Social Media Tasks Should You Delegate To A Virtual Assistant"

Five Solid Reasons To Make Social Media A Priority In 2014

By CJ Virtual PA

1. Social Media Doesn't Cost You Anything!

Marketing your website with social media is free. There are several ways to market a website or blog but most of them involve spending money. 

2. Results Are Imminent

Building a successful website takes a considerable amount of time and it can take a while to climb up the search engine rankings. By using social media you can develop content and be seen by thousands of visitors within the same day. For this reason alone, social media is a great option for getting your website or blog noticed.  

3. Blogging Gets Easier As Time Goes On

If you haven’t yet put your social media strategy in place, try to remember that it does take time and effort, but it will get easier!  Once you have established a reader base and you’ve attracted some social media followers to your blog, it will be much easier for you to attract comments and ultimately more exposure for your business.

4. Social Media Leads To Other Valuable Traffic Sources 

Visitors who come from social media sites may not be necessarily as responsive as other types of visitors, but a successful social media strategy will increase the number of inbound links you receive to your site, which are usually good quality as far as the search engines are concerned, and these are important to your search engine rankings. 

5.  Start With Twitter!

As a business owner you are bound to be knowledgeable about your products or services so share your expertise with others to prove your credibility online and engage people! You will soon attract followers if you do your research on how to tweet successfully (or ask your Virtual PA to help - he or she can also devise, manage and schedule your tweets for you).

How Do I Get My Website Found?

1. Register your domain name for more than 3 years 

Not only is it more cost effective to sign up for longer with your domain host but it is also looked upon more favourably by the search engines.  The reason for this is so that Google et al can see you are confident that your business is going to be around for the foreseeable future.

2.   Create a Sign-Up form for your website 

If you have a professional business and a landing page that supports your call to action, you are more likely to be able to secure your visitor contact details.  You can then add them to your direct or email marketing campaign and keep them up to date with new products and services. There are several ways of making contact with people once you have their email address and / or phone number.

3.  Start a blog
Blogging is crucial to the successful business leader. The search engines seek out just a few crucial pieces of information and one of those is indexed pages.  Each time you create a blog post, another page is created.  Blogging  is not only a quick way to increase your volume of indexed pages but also lets your prospects know that you know your subject and can become a valuable resource to them.

Blogging is also an opportunity to create content around your keywords.  If you dedicate each post around a specific keyword or phrase, you will go a long way to ensuring that specific product or service offering is found by prospective clients.

4. Ensure your Content is changed on a regular basis and add images

By refreshing your content, the search engines can see you are providing up to date information which is going to be more valuable to people than out of date pages. Add relevant images to enhance your pages and ensure you complete the “Alt” descriptions for each one so that everyone will know what they are about.

5. Create unique and meaningful page titles that are keyword rich.  

Use your most powerful keywords first. Separate your keywords by pipes {|}.  The pipe is the character which signals to the search engines that it is the end of the thought.

Like most successful campaigns, inbound marketing (i.e., links from other websites to yours) and search engine optimisation are really important if you want your website to be found.  You need to regularly take a fresh look at these tasks to ensure you stay ahead of the game . Please feel free to add any your suggestions which may help others to optimise their websites.