Do you at all make use of the various social media outlets?

If you are like the millions or perhaps billions of people across the globe who are utilizing it for a number of purposes, then there is a strong probability that you do make use of it.

And would you believe it? Because of this, you already have the skills necessary to start a profitable company as a social media virtual assistant and earn money by doing tasks that you are now performing for free.

But things aren’t nearly as straightforward as that! Spending some time learning the best approach to get started in a job that has the potential to bring in a lot of money is something you should do before diving headfirst into the industry. It is possible that you have a lot of ground to cover if you are completely new to this.

In point of fact, as part of our Virtual Assistant (VA) training program, we’ve included an entire skills course dedicated to this very topic. The course is called Social Media for Virtual Assistants, and it’s designed to assist both brand new and more experienced freelancers in getting started with one of the best VA services available.

This article will provide you with a great starting point when it comes to learning how to become a Social Media Virtual Assistant, regardless of whether you are already a VA or are planning to become one in the near future.

How to Become a Social Media Virtual Assistant

If you follow the six stages that we’ve detailed here, you’ll be ready to begin your adventure as a Social Media Virtual Assistant, including the process of discovering and securing your first VA customers.

Decide What Social Media Platforms You’ll Specialize In

Choosing which social media platforms you want to focus on as a specialty should be the first thing you do on your path to being a social media virtual assistant. Why? Because every platform is different, with its own demographics, purposes, and features, and because no two platforms are alike.

When working as a virtual assistant for social media, it is important to have at least a passing acquaintance with the most popular marketing platforms that companies use nowadays. However, if you try to be a master of all of them, at least in the early stages of your career, you will end up being a master of none of them, and the experience will be quite overwhelming for you.

The following is a rundown of the top six social media networks that companies are now utilizing:

• Facebook, which has 2.5 billion active users, is often regarded as the biggest of all social media platforms. As a result, companies have turned Facebook into a social media marketing engine. On this platform, the major means through which companies interact with and connect with their audience are the creation of company pages and communities (groups).
• LinkedIn, It’s common knowledge that LinkedIn is the social networking platform of choice for working professionals. The culture places a strong emphasis on business, networking, and providing valuable material in the form of video, blog posts, thought leadership pieces, and podcasts. This platform is most popular among users who are 45 years of age and older, and a significant number of its users are company owners and persons who hold executive level positions. Because of this, one of the most common pieces of advice that we provide to newly established virtual assistants is to look for customers on LinkedIn.
• Instagram is a social networking platform that focuses mostly on images and short videos. It’s estimated that around half of all Instagram users are already following at least one company, making the platform an invaluable resource for gathering information about companies and the items they sell. In recent months, Instagram has also taken steps to streamline the process for users who want to engage in direct sales over the site.
• Pinterest is another image-focused website that also functions as a social network and a search engine. Pinterest is known as “Pinterest.” People come here to educate themselves about their interests, hobbies, and items as well as to make purchases. Women in higher income brackets make up the majority of Pinterest’s user base, and the platform is responsible for roughly four times as many purchases as any other platform combined. If you are thinking about being a virtual assistant for Pinterest, you should be aware that there is a significant need for your services on this platform.
• Twitter: This social network may not have as many members as Facebook or Instagram, but it is a strong competitor when it comes to business and marketing. Its greatest customer group is comprised of well-off young adults, who also make up its largest demography. 
• YouTube Although YouTube is sometimes overlooked when it comes to being considered a social media network, it is actually one of the more powerful ones that are currently available. This is another platform that people are going to in order to learn about brands and businesses, with the average user following at least five different businesses. It is the second biggest search engine in the world (behind Google), and millions of people use it on a daily basis to get knowledge on a variety of topics, including how to do certain tasks, their hobbies and interests, and so on. And would you be able to predict who is producing a significant portion of that content? Companies and salespeople also.

Choose two to three social media channels to start with, and educate yourself on the ins and outs of those from a business and marketing perspective. Different platforms will be appropriate for different clients, depending on their industry and goals.

Launch Your Social Media Virtual Assistant Website 

Launching a website on which your social media management services can be purchased is an important step in developing a successful company as a social media virtual assistant (VA), so don’t put it off if you’re serious about becoming one!

When you work as a Social Media Virtual Assistant, you do business in the virtual community, which means that your website is effectively your business card. When you have a website that is dedicated to your company, it lends credibility to what you do and shows prospective customers that you provide a service that can be trusted.

You don’t know where to begin, do you? Check out our guide to building a website that will attract the ideal virtual assistant customers, which includes nine recommendations.

Create a Social Media Presence for Your Business 

After you have decided which platforms you will specialize in, it is time to establish your online presence – or to tailor the one you already have to your new line of work if you already have one. If you want to gain customers as a Social Media Virtual Assistant, the easiest way to do so is to establish a robust online presence, where you can use your own social media accounts to demonstrate your expertise and familiarity with social media platforms.

When it comes to your presence on social media, it is essential to establish accounts that are unique to your Social Media Virtual Assistant company. It is probable that social media will be your principal location for networking and finding prospective customers or clients, and the first impressions they get of you based on the profile(s) you create there might determine the course of your future relationship.

Because this is such a popular service, there are also a number of virtual assistant job forums on the internet where you may discover customers. Having said that, you will still want to have a robust social media presence so that prospective clients can research you.

Because of this, it is critical to give careful consideration to anything that you share online. It is also a good idea to do an audit of your personal profiles and get rid of anything that might give the impression that you are not trustworthy or professional.

The reality is that in the realm of social media management, almost all parts of your online presence are open to scrutiny by the general public. This is true despite the fact that it is preferable to keep your professional and personal lives distinct from one another. Be ready for prospective customers to research you; they will do so.

This is an excellent tutorial that will teach you 10 techniques that you can immediately begin using to boost your social media presence. We suggest beginning your search for social media clients on Facebook and LinkedIn since both of these platforms are excellent locations to network and locate potential customers.

Create Your Service Offerings and Set Your Social Media Virtual Assistant Rates

Following the completion of the first phase in your trip, which was deciding on a market segment for your virtual assistant (VA) company, the next step in your journey is to choose what services you will give and how much you will charge for those services.

Being able to specialize in a certain field is one of the many enticing advantages of working as a Social Media Virtual Assistant. The field provides a wealth of options in this regard. And the “big deal” about specialization is that it allows you to charge very high prices for your services!

As you progress in your career as a social media virtual assistant (VA), you will discover that there are some services that you have a natural talent for, that you take pleasure in providing, and that are in great demand. However, since this procedure might take some time, your best chance for getting started is to concentrate on a few services that you believe you can master relatively fast and give with self-assurance.

Choosing only a few services to begin with can help you concentrate your efforts and make it simpler to acquire new customers. This is analogous to the strategy of concentrating on two to three social media networks. When compared to someone who claims to be able to “do it all,” you will seem more believable when discussing the things that you are capable of doing, and you will have a clearer idea of the kind of customers to whom you should market your services.

 8 common social media services:

1. Profile set up/optimization
2. Curating content
3. Graphic design
4. Hashtag research
5. Paid campaigns/ads
6. Group/community management
7. Repurposing content
8. Customer service

Choose three of these services to concentrate on first so that you may become well-versed in them. It’s not a terrible idea to educate yourself on the fundamentals of each one, but ultimately, you should focus on only a few of the options that excite you the most.

Now that you have an idea of the products and services that you want to provide, it is time to figure out how much money you will charge for them. Although this is a situation in which inexperienced social media virtual assistants may get mired, it does not necessarily have to be the case.

You’ll want to move away from charging customers on an hourly basis and toward using package prices as soon as you have some expertise and clients under your belt. This will make things simpler for the two of you, since neither of you will need to keep track of the amount of time you spend on a certain activity, and you will be able to generate more revenue while continuing to do the duties at which you have grown increasingly proficient. Your customers will also like the fact that they are aware of the regular amount they are required to pay each month.

We advocate developing three different tiers of pricing for your products or services: low, medium, and high. Clients will have the impression that they have a choice in the manner in which they want to collaborate with you and in the social media strategy that is most suited to meet their requirements if you provide them with this option.

Begin Pitching Clients for Your Social Media VA Services

You have your web presence, services, and fees established for your Social Media Virtual Assistant firm, which are the fundamentals that make it successful. It is time to go out into the world and locate those first customers.

After you have spent some time building your profile on social media, you should spend the bulk of the time you have available for your new company pitching. It is the actual lifeblood of your company, and if you don’t do it, well, you won’t have any customers. If you don’t do it, you won’t have any customers.

There is a wide variety of environments in which one might seek for prospective social media customers. Even though the vast majority of companies are now marketing on social media (and those that aren’t should be), almost no company owner wants to take responsibility for managing his or her own presence on these platforms.

When you start seeing the world through this lens, you’ll notice that possibilities may be found just about everywhere!

To get you started, here are a few places to look:

• Build your network using social media, make regular posts about your services on your online accounts, participate in online forums and organizations, and devote time and energy to proactively nurturing connections.
• Your immediate network – Get in touch with other company owners you already know and ask them if they have a need for your services or if they know of anybody else who does! You may also let your friends and family know what you’re doing and ask them to think of you if they hear of someone who would benefit from the services that you provide. Another option is to let them know what you’re doing.
• Carry do some investigation – Invest some time in searching the internet and even your immediate neighborhood for companies that either have a social media presence that is feeble and unreliable or that does not exist at all.

Build a Portfolio of Case Studies & Metrics

After you have secured your first customer or clients, you should begin to compile a portfolio that may be shown to potential prospects. The administration of social media is mostly a “show me what you can do” kind of service. Even while it is essential to establish your own presence right from the off, one of the most effective ways to grow your customer base is to highlight the work you have done for other people.

If you want to get a head start on constructing your portfolio before gaining clients, you may want to explore assisting a friend who is practicing or even a local organization that is working toward a charitable goal, such as a charity. Although we do not encourage working for free on a long-term basis, doing so temporarily may be an excellent way to get some experience.

A helpful piece of advice is to compose a case study blog article regarding the benefits that a company gained from using your Social Media Virtual Assistant services (including your own). You may share it with potential customers as well as all of your accounts on social networking websites. Check out this case study, for instance, to see how a site increased its visitors by using Pinterest.

How to Maximize Your Chances of Success

Take some time to check in with yourself about a few things as you get ready to enter the very in-demand and possibly profitable field of becoming a social media virtual assistant. Here are some things you should consider doing while you do so:

• Why are you working toward this goal, and what is your “why” for being successful?
• In order to achieve your goals, what kinds of changes are you ready to make to your typical schedule and how you handle your time? To what extent will you have to adapt your lifestyle or give up certain activities in order to offer more time to your business? Are you up for the challenge?
• What does accomplishment and fulfillment mean to you? Where do you see yourself in one, three, and five years’ time?

To summarize, if you have the correct knowledge and approach, you have every opportunity to be successful as a virtual assistant on social media. And, if you handle your company like a business, which means that you give it the attention it deserves and genuinely feel like you own what you are doing, it will pay you as if it were a full-time business! On the other hand, if you approach it as a pastime, you should anticipate receiving payment commensurate with that status.

As a Social Media Virtual Assistant, there are a few things you can do to show that you take your company seriously and make the most of the efforts you put in.

Network, Network, Network

Have you ever come across the expression “your network is your net worth”? It’s accurate! Invest significant time and effort into forming new connections and maintaining those you’ve already made using social media and any other channels open to you, such as attending in-person or online networking events.

You will be astounded by the amount of value that is added to both your personal life and your professional endeavors if you approach these interactions with the intention of really connecting with others and gaining knowledge rather than looking for work in each interaction. It is possible that an initial connection may not result in a business relationship; but, you never know what may come of it, such as a recommendation or some ability or information that will enhance you personally.

Spend time in social media groups that are centered on your target market, i.e. the industry that you have chosen to work in, and answer to people’s comments with encouraging words, useful information, or any other type of genuine involvement. Begin discussions with individuals and continue them in direct messaging to learn more about them on a personal level; at the same time, maintain an attitude of willingness to assist others.

Amazing things may happen when you go about your life with the mindset that you really want to assist other people.

Always be learning

Putting time and money into bettering yourself and your trade by acquiring as much knowledge as you can is another another approach to show that you take your company seriously. To “know some things” about social media is one thing; but, if you want to be a real competitor as a Social Media Virtual Assistant, you need to seek training in the platforms and service areas that you want to specialize in.

Last but not least, social media platforms are always evolving. You need to be dedicated to remaining on top of trends, learning new tools, and keeping up with any changes that roll out with the platforms that you specialize in if you want to remain one step ahead of the competition and distinguish yourself as an exceptional Social Media Virtual Assistant.

Understand the tools

One of the most important aspects of working with social media is being familiar with the tools that will assist you in efficiently carrying out a content plan. There are a plethora of tools available, both those that are built into social media platforms and those that are provided by third-party programs.

Tools for content planning, graphic design, analytics, and scheduling and managing social media and organizing events on those platforms are just a few examples of these kinds of resources. To begin, you should get extremely acquainted with the native tools for the platforms in which you specialize, and then, as you acquire expertise, you should examine some of the numerous third-party tools that are now available.

You should maintain these tools in your “virtual toolbox” so that they may assist you in becoming the most skilled person in your field. Your reputation as a professional Social Media Virtual Assistant will be increased if you have a solid grasp of some of the most popular and successful ones.

When to Promote Yourself to Social Media Manager

The question “Should I call myself a [fill in the blank] VA or a [fill in the blank] expert or manager?” is one that comes up often in our community of VAs.

Even though, as a new Virtual Assistant, you will most likely enter the market with a particular set of services to provide, it is not unheard of for you to take on the position of operating in the capacity of carrying out activities that have been given to you by customers. The provision of services as a Social Media Virtual Assistant is not dissimilar in this regard; specifically, in order to gain experience and hone your skills, you will probably (but not always) be stepping into clients’ existing accounts and carrying out the social media-related tasks that they have assigned to you. This is done in order to gain experience.

As you gain experience and continue to refine your skills and expertise, however, you move into more of a role of consultant versus simply a “task completor.” And in the context of offering services related to social media, this implies transitioning from the role of social media virtual assistant to that of social media manager!

You have complete control over when you make that transition, and it doesn’t have to take very long. Perhaps you should do it after you’ve been successful in managing the social media presences of at least two to three customers over the course of a few months.

The path you intend to take your company is a factor that should be considered when deciding whether to label yourself as a Social Media Virtual Assistant or a Social Media manager. If you are 100 percent certain that this is the area of specialization in which you should operate, then it makes perfect sense for you to work toward the goal of branding yourself as a social media manager, which suggests a greater degree of knowledge.

If, on the other hand, you haven’t made up your mind about which area of expertise you want to focus on for the long haul of your virtual assistant business, it might make more sense for you to offer your services as a Social Media Virtual Assistant until you’ve made up your mind for sure that this is the niche that you want to work in. If you’re not sure which area of expertise you want to focus on, you can always keep your options open.

In the end, the decision is all up to you!

Next Steps to Become a Successful Social Media Virtual Assistant

There has never been a more favorable moment to start a career as a virtual assistant for social media. When I was in high school and college, my friends and I were the only ones who utilized social media. These days, though, it’s become one of the key channels through which companies sell themselves.

In most cases, the owners of businesses do not have somebody on staff who is capable of implementing an efficient social media strategy because they do not have the time, the motivation, or the necessary expertise to do so. Due to the fact that we are now living in an era in which outsourcing of services is rapidly becoming the standard, there is a plethora of opportunity available to you in the field of social media virtual assistance!

Because there are so many dimensions to social media, you can also construct a company doing things that you like and are excellent at. This opens up a lot of opportunities. You may truly narrow down as a Social Media Virtual Assistant and develop a profitable, sustainable company, in addition to a fantastic income, regardless of whether your concentration is graphic design, customer service, or one of the many other possible areas of expertise.

If you want to be successful in business, you need to give it the attention it deserves by honing your talents, creating a strong presence online, and cultivating relationships with other experts in your industry. The seeds of success that you plant in your Social Media VA company will germinate and grow if you are steadfast and persistent in your attempts to grow it.