Virtual Assistants: Using Social Media to Promote Your Business
Posted on 1st February 2023 at 17:00
One of the best ways to market yourself as a VA is by using social media. It’s such a good idea, in fact, that there are now thousands who had the exact same brainwave!
How do you stand out from the crowd of VAs all competing for the same clients? How do you market yourself as a professional while still creating a VA business that represents you and your ideals?
We’ve put together some ideas and advice on how you can tailor your social media profiles to your business as a VA.
Make sure all your details are up to date –
This seems like an easy one, but there are still plenty of business accounts on social media that don’t have their basic information listed clearly.
The details that you’ll need to have clearly on your social media profiles include:
• Name
• Website (or where people can go for further information)
• Contact details
• Prices
The last point is up to you. Most clients would like to know (even just approximately) how much your services will cost them. If you’re just starting out as a VA, having your prices listed on your website is important in hooking in your first few clients. Once you’ve built up a client base, you can then potentially remove your standard pricing and instead review your pricing on a case-by-case basis (depending on how much work you’ll need to be doing and the tasks involved).
The main thing is to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to find out more and get in touch with you. If they struggle to find your details, even for a few moments, it might be enough to turn them off and decide to go with someone else.
It’s also a good idea to have multiple methods for people to get in touch with you – some people would prefer to talk on the phone and others might prefer to message or email you instead.
Network with other businesses -
You might be tempted to network with other virtual assistants using social media groups (and there are a lot of them out there!) but this might not be the best way of marketing yourself as a virtual assistant.
Think about it: social media is like a building with lots of rooms filled with people chatting and connecting. If you’re in a room filled only with other virtual assistants, you’re only visible to the last people who would need your services!
Be wary of groups that promote engagement loops (where everyone in the group makes an agreement to like/comment on everyone else’s posts) as this kind of fabricated engagement is usually not well received by algorithms. These days, social media algorithms may be able to tell when engagement isn’t genuine. What’s more, these kinds of groups will take up a lot of your time but only increase your visibility amongst other VAs – not what you need at all!
Instead, you want to be in a ‘room’ with people who do need virtual assistants – businesses and business owners. So feel free to connect with other virtual assistants to chat and ask for advice, but don’t focus solely on other VAs. Make sure that you are connecting with/engaging with other businesses.
Paid promotions –
This might not be the most cost-effective solution, but you often have to spend money to make money!
Paid promotions include displaying your ads to your target audience on social media. If you’re seeking a particular client or a particular job, you might be able to use target ads to get your information in front of the right people.
Depending on the platform you’re using, you can choose who you’d like your advert to be shown to. Think about your target audience – what kind of clients are you looking for? What type of businesses do you want to work with?
Limit the sales posts –
This may sound counter-intuitive because, after all, you’re on social media to market yourself as a VA! Many people, however, will get turned off by constant advertising and sales messages.
In between your sales posts try and post something that will be genuinely entertaining and/or informative to the viewer.
Try to think about what you yourself tend to like on social media – do you like posts that are relatable and funny? Or posts that are informative?
It’s also a good idea to tie your non-sales posts to what you do – for example, if you’re a graphic design VA you could create posts about graphic design in a wider sense. That way, your posts still link back to your business.
We’ve already got a blog on increasing your social media presence, and many of the tips will also be applicable for your VA business. Click HERE to read if you haven’t already!
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