If you are a startup entrepreneur, you may be wondering if a social media virtual assistant is worth the investment. Well, here are four reasons that should convince you to hire one to manage your business’s social media presence.
Save Time
Social media has become a powerful platform for marketing in the past decade and a half. It’s just a great way to get in front of your target audience. The problem is that many business owners are spending too much time on social media when they should be focusing on running their business.
According to a Vertical Response survey, 43 percent of small business owners spend at least six hours per week on social media marketing. However, many struggle with the added workload as about a third of the owners surveyed had admitted that they want to spend less time on social media. This is where a social media virtual assistant comes in. A virtual assistant will make sure that your social media accounts are always updated. This includes changing your profile if needed. Because while you may want to keep your logo as your profile photo, you may have to update your layout or wallpaper to stay relevant.
A social media virtual assistant can run your social media accounts for you so you can spend more time on your business. When you are starting your own business, you’re likely going to have your hands full trying to keep your company afloat. So let somebody else handle your social media accounts.
Save Money
Contrary to what some might believe, getting a social media virtual assistant to work for you can actually help you save money. So how can you save money when you hire a VA? Well, it can keep you from developing mental health issues while dealing with social media toxicity.
Joking aside, outsourcing social media tasks to a virtual assistant is a cost-effective solution. Did you know that you can get someone to manage your social media accounts for as low as $350 a month? That’s for a full-time employee working 40 hours per week.
Of course, that is the rate for a beginner, so you will have to train your VA for the tasks you want him to do for you. VAs who don’t have much experience in the field earn around $350 to $480 a month, while someone with intermediate-level experience is likely to ask for a salary of $450 – $1300 a month. An expert is expected to earn $1270 – $1570 a month. These are the rates of social media virtual assistants based in the Philippines, by the way.
As you can see, it doesn’t really cost much to acquire the services of a social media virtual assistant, especially someone from the Philippines. Aside from the affordable rates, you don’t have to pay for office space or office equipment and supplies since the VA is working remotely. You also don’t need to pay the usual employee benefits because they are considered independent contractors. However, you can always give them bonuses to make them feel appreciated.
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Better Social Media Content And Plan
Most business owners who handle their own social media accounts don’t have a social media plan. Simply put, they don’t have time to do that. So more often than not, they just promote products and services online and answer questions if there are any and if they have the extra time to do so.
If you want an effective social media presence — one that can capture an audience and improve conversion rates — then you need a full-time employee to do the job for you. A social media VA can create a content plan, with your approval, of course. He/she will keep your social media activities organized and come up with social media post ideas for all the major platforms. Don’t forget, not all content is suitable for every social media platform.
A social media VA can also do market research for you so your company can stay up-to-date with the latest trends in the social media landscape and get a leg up on your competition.
Better Customer Engagement
According to a study conducted by author Jay Baer in partnership with Edison Research, the average response time to respond to customer complaints on social media is five hours. However, 39 percent of complainers who expect a reply want it to come within sixty minutes. If you have a virtual assistant handling your social media accounts, you should be able to answer queries and comments in a timely manner.
Constant engagement with your audience is also a must. Keep them updated on new product launches, giveaways, or any upcoming events. Let your social media virtual assistant do all of this.
Remember the social media virtual assistants from the Philippines we were talking about a while ago? So why the Philippines? Well, we prefer to hire from there because aside from the affordable rates, Filipino virtual workers are usually college-educated, and they speak fluent English.
OnlineJobs.ph is a great place to start your search because it is the largest online job board in the Philippines, with over a million resumes. We also got most of our staff from OnlineJobs.ph, and we have been using it for over ten years now. So far, our experience hiring from there has been mostly positive, although we do have our fair share of misses. Still, they are few and far between.
So head to the site and create your account. Signing up is free, but you have to upgrade to a paid plan if you want to communicate with the job candidates. There are two pricing plans available: the Pro plan for $69 per month and the Premium plan for $99 per month. Just pick the Pro plan if you’re only going to be hiring a single social media virtual assistant. Once you’ve found the right person, just cancel your subscription so you don’t have to pay the monthly fee.
So that’s it. If you have any questions just send us a message.
* Disclosure: The link above is an affiliate link, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To find out more about our view on affiliate products, please see this page.
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