Any small business or entrepreneur anywhere near an Internet connection these days, will have heard about the importance of using social media as a marketing tool. Many will not know the ins and outs of how to go about getting started or keeping up with their social media efforts. What’s more is that small business owners and entrepreneurs are VERY BUSY and they just do not have time to  learn and maintain everything that goes with social media. This is where I come in as a Social Media Virtual Assistant.

I help small business owners figure out the what and the how for using social media for their business. We identify what their goals are and how to work towards achieving those goals and some measurable outcomes in using social media for business. I can take care of the initial set up, including all the technical aspects along with my recommendations or shortcuts for how to fully optimize a their presence on different social media platforms. I will give suggestions for how to help syndicate their content throughout their networks and I can help set up systems for helping to manage or automate where it seems feasible.

My efforts work best and get the best results with clients when there is good, open communication and when the client clearly understands and participates where needed with the different social media platforms and networks. The biggest mistake I encounter in working as a Social Media Virtual Assistant, is that some clients come to the table with a “set it and forget it” mentality despite my best efforts to advise them otherwise. Hiring a Virtual Assistant to help you with your social media and online visibility but thinking that it will not require any participation from you is a mistake.

I am happy to be a partner in my client’s social media and online efforts. I love the rush of seeing how making connections, networking and creating relationships can really help small business owners and entrepreneurs thrive. What I’ve decided I won’t do, is run a client’s social media on auto pilot. It’s not right for social media and it’s not right for me.

The “social” part of “social networking” means BEING ENGAGED. Hiring a Virtual Assistant to help out with tasks related to social media doesn’t make you social and I guarantee that you will be disappointed with the outcome if you choose not to also participate.

I can help streamline your social media efforts and I can keep on top of what needs a response from you. But, in the end the words and voice need to be yours.

Would love to hear your thoughts or comments on this!

Image by Joriel “Joz” Jimenez via Flickr

Watching him bring this rock to life made me think about the awesome power of the imagination. We all have it, but sometimes I think we sort of loose the ability to use it to it’s full capacity. Using your imagination to imagine greatness and success in your own life can be a powerful (and inexpensive) tool that we should all be taking advantage of everyday.

For those of us who are small business owners or solo entrepreneurs, we are where we are because we imagined it could happen and it did. We imagined that we could be successful and we are or we have been or we will be.

So now I ask you this…what else are you imagining to move your business and yourself forward? As you continue to imagine and think about where you would like to see yourself in a years time, does that include figuring out a way to gain more time or to start delegate tasks? Do you imagine that you will have achieved greater strides in your own business success?

Bring your own “rock” to life and imagine all the possibilities for what you can achieve. Tell me what you are imagining about right now…if you can imagine it, it can happen.

A Virtual Assistant is a skilled administrative professional and entrepreneur who provides off-site administrative assistance and specialized business services from their home office. Because Virtual Assistants are contracted services providers then there are no extra employee related expenses, no benefits to pay for, and no overhead cost such as those associated with having an in-house employee.

It is estimated that small business owners spend as much as 40-60% of their time on administrative tasks. Working with a Virtual Assistant is one way that small business owners can minimize the costs of their administrative overhead while not sacrificing service or compromising their business. A Virtual Assistant can keep your business running efficiently and effectively while creating more time for you to focus your core business tasks and income generating activities.

Continuing to market and advertise your business during a recession will be the key to staying connected with your customer base. Business analysts often recommend that companies not reduce their marketing or advertising activities during an economic downturn. However, you may want need to consider lower cost alternatives for your marketing and this is where a Virtual Assistant can help you. Many Virtual Assistants have knowledge and expertise to help the small business owner or solo entrepreneur with marketing activities, especially with online marketing ideas such as setting up and maintaining a blog. A blog is an inexpensive way to provide fresh, new content about your business online. Further, a blog linked with your website can help to improve your visibility with the search engines.

Social networking and Web 2.0 has quickly become one of best ways to get known and stay known online. Virtual Assistants are familiar with most of the social and business networking sites because many of them utilize these sites for their own business needs. Since Virtual Assistants can work with clients from anywhere in the world, the establishment and maintenance of their online persona is vital to the success of their business. This makes them the perfect resource for you to use to set up and maintain your online social and business network profile and persona.

Staying connected with your current and existing customers is also important. Your current customers are already familiar with your business, services, or products so showing them the added value that you bring will help you maintain that customer base. A Virtual Assistant can help you to send out personalized cards or make phone calls on your behalf to let customers know that you appreciate their business. Setting up, revitalizing or maintaining a newsletter is a low-cost way to continue marketing and keep in touch with your customers. Typically, Virtual Assistants have the training and experience to do this either in a hard copy format or for distribution via email.

Economic analysts suggest that one of the best ways to ride out a recession is to remain flexible. Small business owners can stay flexible by thinking outside of the traditional way of doing business and embracing the technology available that makes outsourcing their administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant a cost-effective and time efficient option.