Starting a business is no walk in the park, and in today’s hyper-connected world, social media is a vital part of business success. Social media channels need time, effort, and specialized knowledge to be managed efficiently. A social media marketing virtual assistant (VA) comes in here to help you with your life. So, let’s look at what a social media marketing VA does, its role in your business, salary expectations, and the best places to find one.
What is a Social Media Marketing Virtual Assistant?
A social media marketing virtual assistant is a person who does various social media tasks remotely. Tasks of these kinds usually include creating and scheduling posts, as well as analyzing engagement metrics, and dealing with audience interactions. The intention is to have a consistent and professional social media presence that will help drive business growth and engagement while not eating up your time or energy.
You can hire a VA from the Philippines or a social media marketing VA from any other region. The beauty of hiring virtually is that you have a huge talent pool in the world. You can access experts at low cost and get high-quality service without the high cost of full-time, in-house staff.
The Role of a Social Media Marketing Virtual Assistant
Hiring a social media marketing VA, can take a big load off your shoulders and let you streamline tasks and focus on the bigger picture. Here’s what a social media marketing VA typically does:
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Content Creation and Curation
Creating original content or curating relevant content from other sources is one of the most essential things a social media marketing VA can do. They make sure your social media channels are filled with captivating captions, graphics, and shareable articles within your industry. The latter includes sourcing trending topics and viral content to keep your followers hooked.
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Post Scheduling and Automation
To build an engaged audience, consistency is the key, but posting at the right times on different platforms can be exhausting. Tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite, or SocialBee are used by a social media VA to schedule posts that are posted at the best times to get the most engagement. This means that your channels stay active even when you’re offline.
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Engagement Management
When you’re running a business and you have to manage direct messages, comments, and mentions across multiple platforms, it can be overwhelming. A social media marketing VA will work with your audience by answering inquiries, thanking followers, and responding to any negative comments. They can also use interactive polls or Q&A sessions to increase engagement.
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Social Media Strategy Development
A Filipino VA with experience in social media marketing can develop an ideal strategy for your business. Your VA will create a social media marketing plan that will help increase brand awareness, drive sales, or grow your community.
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Hashtag Research and Optimization
To help increase the visibility of your posts, you should use the right hashtags. A social media marketing VA can conduct hashtag research for you and will then suggest hashtags you should use in your posts to boost your organic reach. Secondly, they can also analyze which hashtags are getting you the most engagement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
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Analytics and Performance Tracking
It is critical to understand what works and what doesn’t in social media. A social media marketing VA will monitor the key metrics that include likes, shares, comments, and clicks to determine which types of posts are working and what are not. What’s more, they will give you detailed reports and insights on how you can fine-tune your social media strategy for better results.
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Paid Advertising Campaign Management
Organic posts are not the only way social media marketing happens. One way to reach a larger audience is to run ads on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Your Filipino VA hire paid ads experts can also manage and optimize your social media advertising campaigns to deliver your best ROI and track the performance of each campaign to make sure you’re getting the most out of your budget.
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Competitor Analysis
In the fast-moving social media world, it is essential to keep an eye on your competition. Social media marketing VA will find out how your competitors are doing on social media, what strategies they use, and what you can do to stay ahead. In this case, it means finding out what is not working in your content or what you can do to improve engagement based on what works for your competitors.
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Audience Growth and Follower Engagement
Just posting regularly isn’t enough to grow your audience. Organically increasing followers is something that can be executed by a social media marketing VA. It could be interacting with other users, following industry leaders, or taking part in online discussions around your niche. And they’ll help you build a following that’s truly loyal and interested in your content.
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Content Repurposing
It is a brilliant idea to repurpose content. Your social media marketing VA can repurpose your existing blog posts, videos, and articles for other platforms. For instance, a blog post can be turned into several tweets an infographic, or a video. It helps you keep your content pipeline full while eating into your workload.
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Social Media Trend Monitoring
Social media trends are fleeting, and it’s hard to keep up. Your social media VA is monitoring industry trends like the emergence of new social platforms or algorithm changes, so your strategy always stays on point and optimized for the new changes.
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Influencer Outreach
When done right, influencer marketing can be a powerful way to boost your brand. With a social media marketing VA, you can have them handle influencer outreach, choose the perfect influencer(s) for your brand, and oversee collaboration campaigns. With influencer marketing, you can bring them on board to coordinate everything from initial outreach to final deliverables and make influencer marketing a seamless part of your strategy.
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Handling Customer Support Queries
Some businesses receive customer inquiries directly via their social media channels. A Filipino virtual assistant can be the first point of contact, answering customer questions, providing support, and escalating issues when necessary. This will greatly boost customer satisfaction and your brand’s online reputation.
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Reputation Management
The online presence is important, and a bad comment or review can ruin your brand’s reputation. If you have a social media marketing VA, they can monitor mentions of your brand across the web, respond to negative feedback, and help you with damage control when needed.
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Event Promotion
If you’re hosting webinars, product launches, business events, or anything else, your social media marketing VA can help promote them across platforms. They can make event pages, handle RSVPs, and even interact with attendees during live events. Along with post-event follow-ups, such as sharing event highlights or thanking participants, they can also help.
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Social Media Audit
A social media audit is when you take a look at your social media presence as a whole to see where you could improve. A social media VA will look at each platform, see how past posts worked, and make suggestions on what could be better, such as posting more often or making visuals better.
Salary of a Social Media Marketing Virtual Assistant
Social media marketing VA salary can be very high or low, depending on their experience and location. In this post, let’s take a deeper look into what you can expect when you hire a Philippines VA or from other parts of the world.
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Entry-Level Virtual Assistants
A VA hire from the Philippines at the entry-level is around $400 to $600 per month. That being said, these VAs could be tasked with more basic tasks like post-scheduling, content research, and initial audience engagement. In addition, they may do administrative work, such as putting together content calendars and taking a hand in customer support.
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Mid-Level Virtual Assistants
On the other hand, more experienced virtual assistants with the skills of managing their multiple platforms and crafting their strategies can make between $600 and $1000 per month. A social media marketing VA can be at this level and will do more than just like and share content. They might manage multiple accounts, run paid advertising campaigns, or create more complex content like videos and infographics.
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Senior and Specialized Virtual Assistants
For VAs who are very experienced, with a particular area of expertise in digital marketing for example, $1,000 or more is not uncommon. They can do the work of developing comprehensive marketing strategies, managing influencer campaigns, or running sophisticated social media ads.
Hiring a virtual assistant from the Philippines or from another region means you can get the expertise you need without breaking the bank, which is usually at least half the price of hiring locally.
Where to Hire a Social Media Marketing Virtual Assistant
Finding the right social media marketing VA can be a game changer for your business, but knowing where to find one is key. Below are some of the top places to hire virtual assistants from around the world.
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Virtual Assistant Agencies
For businesses that want a streamlined hiring process, agencies are an excellent option. EO Staff are agencies that match businesses with highly skilled virtual assistants that have been pre-vetted and trained. It takes care of the recruitment, onboarding, and performance management so you can focus on your business. However, hiring through agencies also means you get reliable support from a dedicated team that is always at hand when needed.
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Freelance Platforms
Finding freelancers for your website is easy on websites like Upwork and Fiverr. It is possible to hire a Filipino VA or a VA from any other region, and usually at competitive rates. This platform also provides user reviews, so you can check whether the freelancer’s work is good before hiring.
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Specialized Job Boards
If you are searching for social media marketing VAs or Filipino virtual assistants, online job boards are very good because they have a large variety of highly skilled professionals. Finding long-term, dedicated virtual assistants can be done on these platforms.
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Social Media Groups
Surprisingly, some of the best virtual assistants can be found on social media groups on platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. There are groups that help business owners find virtual assistants, and this can be a great way to hire without third-party fees.
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Word of Mouth
You can often find a reliable social media marketing virtual assistant from referrals from other business owners. Reach out to your peers in the industry and ask them where they hire their VAs and if they recommend certain agencies or platforms.
The Benefits of Hiring a Social Media Marketing Virtual Assistant
If you’re thinking about hiring a social media marketing VA, it’s a decision that can make a huge difference to your business. Here’s why:
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Cost Efficiency
If you’re looking to save money on your staffing costs, hiring a Filipino VA or virtual assistants from India or South America can save you up to 70% on hiring full-time local employees. VAs are remote, so there’s no need to worry about benefits, office space, or equipment.
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Time Savings
When you hire a social media VA, you offload all the tedious and time-consuming tasks consuming your day. Your VA keeps your social media active and interesting, whether it’s responding to comments or scheduling posts, while simultaneously keeping you focused on what you do best.
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Scalability
A social media marketing VA helps you scale your business as you grow. VAs provide flexible solutions; whether you need a part-time assistant for a few hours a week or full-time support across multiple platforms, VAs will grow with you.
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Expertise on Demand
Virtual assistants typically focus on a specific area, such as social media marketing, so you can use the latest tools, trends, and strategies without having in-house expertise. A Philippines VA hire may be very well-versed in using the most cutting-edge social media tools to give your business cutting-edge insights.
