Discover the key attributes of an effective virtual assistant as you continue reading – all the insights are coming your way! Having the luxury of working from home is only one of the benefits of being a remote assistant. Some even have the opportunity to work on their own time as long as they meet the client’s demands on a scheduled deadline. With the pandemic, there has been an increase in web assistants.
Even after this pandemic, digital assistants will still be increasing as marketing has taken a new approach and that is through the internet. If you’re managing an expanding or sizable enterprise, it’s impractical to handle all tasks single-handedly. This is precisely why there’s a current surge in demand for online office assistants and outsourced staffing. However, the question remains: How can you make the appropriate selection?
Major Qualities of a Good Virtual Assistant
1. Reliable
Essential to note is the paramount importance of reliability, which stands as the foremost quality in a commendable virtual assistant. Regardless of their brilliance or qualifications, if you can’t depend on them to provide progress updates on projects or respond promptly to your emails, it will have a negative impact on your business in the long term. It’s crucial for them to demonstrate responsibility and self-sufficiency in carrying out their assigned tasks, given that your digital assistant will likely be operating remotely.
2. Excellent Communicator
They should have demonstrative and effective communication skills in responding to your emails or phone calls in a timely manner before you even extend an offer to someone. Insufficiently conveying an issue or problem can result in catastrophic consequences. A delay in the process, generating extra costs and a relationship with your clients are some of the consequences you will reap if a virtual assistant has the inability to communicate, which could result in misunderstandings and more.
3. Resourceful and Proactive
A virtual office assistant who simply goes through their checklist without truly investing time in producing quality work or putting extra effort is the last thing everybody wants. Possessing resourcefulness and a proactive attitude are essential attributes for an effective virtual assistant. The primary objective of engaging a remote assistant is to benefit from their support in accomplishing designated tasks, identifying resolutions, and addressing potential client-related problems. Even when faced with unfamiliar challenges, these assistants should demonstrate resourcefulness. They can seek guidance within virtual support specialist forums, leverage instructional YouTube tutorials, or delve into articles providing the required information.
4. Trustworthy and Honest
Lying and being untrustworthy are not qualities of good virtual assistants. In a virtual work setting, honesty holds greater significance than before. It’s essential to ready yourself, as every online assistant is prone to occasional mistakes. However, what sets apart an adept virtual assistant is their willingness to openly communicate about any challenges or setbacks that emerge, potentially causing delays in task completion. While it may seem excessive, employing a screen and time monitoring system to oversee the progress of your virtual office assistants and guarantee accurate work hours is a potential method of supervision. Nonetheless, this choice is subjective and hinges on the extent of trust vested in your virtual support specialists.
5. Multitasker
Among the top 5 qualities of a good virtual assistant, multitasking should be one of them. They will likely have multiple tasks to handle, and they must be able to stay organized, keep things moving forward, and go back and forth with multiple clients with ease. Maintaining an effective timetable, understanding key priorities, and operating with high efficiency are essential factors for the success of a virtual personal assistant.
6. Work Well Under Pressure
The most important thing for a virtual assistant to understand is that you never want your clients to see what is going on behind the screen, no matter how chaotic they are. Working well under pressure is one of the skills virtual support specialists should have. Regardless of how hectic the tasks and work may be, they should place an emphasis on making each client feel as though they are the number one priority. A VA should not only handle pressure but also refrain from passing on negativity to a client, even when there are instances where there is a short turnaround time or a higher workload than normal.
7. Great with Follow Up
Staying on top of all of their task, even when a client may not be one of the qualities of a good virtual assistant. Rather than sitting on a certain task and waiting for further instructions, a VA should possess the know-how to reach out when things fall through the cracks on the client’s end.
Why Are Virtual Assistants Important Today?
VAs contribute to business growth, no matter what business and market you are in. A good VA could not only help your business grow but to be a success as well. If you are an entrepreneur or handling a growing business, VAs are your backbone in almost anything. They help you with marketing, analysis, shipping, product reviews and many more. They help you keep your business on the competitive stage even when you are busy with your daily life. You would always need help, and VAs are the solution to managing your problems.
Here are the 5 Social Media Tasks You Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant
If your goal is to swiftly connect with potential clients and expand your brand’s presence, immersing yourself in the realm of social media is strongly recommended. Employing a virtual assistant can readily handle all the essential tasks required for effective social media management. With the many things you need to think about and do for your company every day, handling many social media accounts may be a problem for you. This is where your VA can help you manage your social accounts and do all the needed tasks for you. In this post, we share the main social media duties you can outsource to a virtual office assistant.
1. Community Engagement
It is important to promptly reply to comments and client inquiries, so having a virtual assistant is helpful in making sure that you are engaging with people across your different social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. Your VA is capable of filtering out and removing spam comments, as well as crossposting and resharing images, all while ensuring strong user engagement.
2. Content Writing
One key aspect in social media that you have to consider is content writing. Having someone who is an expert in social media content writing, who can create fresh and new content weekly, can be a huge time saver for you and your business. This is also a great way to share ideas with your followers by writing relevant and useful content for people to enjoy.
3. Content Creation
You can rely on your virtual assistant to create beautiful posts and images across your social media accounts and ultimately build a good social media presence for your brand. You don’t need to think about creating attention-grabbing and visually appealing posts, as someone else has the know-how and even expertise in creating images relevant to your brand and vision.
4. Calendar Management + Scheduling
Another important aspect of social media is timing. Aside from creating beautiful images for posting, it is also important to know when to actually post them so they are seen by target audiences at the right time. Scheduling posts is crucial in building a good social media presence so people can discover your posts easily. Planning monthly editorial calendars and scheduling posts are also some of the tasks you can hand over to your virtual assistant.
5. Social Analytics
Your social media VA can also help you check how well and effectively your content is and can help you analyze content analytics to make sure your posts are actually driving traffic. Your virtual assistant can create and explain reports for the different content and can advise you on which type of content is working or not. This can help you strategize new ways to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and ultimately achieve brand goals.
Social Media Virtual Assistance from ProcessCorp
There can be more social media tasks you can hand over to a virtual assistant, but these ones can be a good start. Don’t hesitate to hire remote virtual support specialists to help you out with social media management. Here at ProcessCorp, our VAs have the skilled expertise in handling your social accounts and helping you reach your goals. Contact us!