The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Social Media Virtual Assistant

A social media virtual assistant is a highly skilled professional who can help you with your social media-related tasks. While they work remotely, they can coordinate with you regarding every aspect of your social media strategy. 

Some of the tasks that can be delegated to social media virtual assistants include:

• Managing your social media accounts and campaigns,
• Creating and posting compelling content that would appeal to your target audience,
• Growing your social media presence, and
• Monitoring platform analytics to gauge the performance of your social media campaigns.

Social media VAs can also provide invaluable support to influencers. Some of the administrative and creative support social media VAs can provide to influencers include:

• Generating, uploading, and scheduling content for different social media channels,
• Researching potential sponsors to pitch to,
• Managing inboxes and DMs,
• Co-managing brand deals and sponsorships, 
• Booking guests (e.g. for YouTube videos or podcasts), and
• Making travel arrangements.

In the next section, we'll examine some of the tasks that businesses and influencers can assign to social media VAs in greater detail.

What Tasks Can Be Outsourced to a Social Media Virtual Assistant?

1. Executing and refining your social media marketing strategy

While you may have a viable social media marketing strategy in place, you’ll need a trusted social media specialist to execute this strategy.

Your social media VA will thoroughly familiarize themselves with your goals, the tactics you’ll be using to achieve those goals, and the metrics you’ll be using to measure progress. They’ll also create daily, weekly, and monthly action plans that are designed to drive your goals forward using your preferred social media management software. 

To track campaign performance, your social media VA will use social media analytics tools—like Google Analytics, BuzzSumo, Hootsuite, and Brand24. They’ll periodically review the reports generated by these analytics tools to identify the channels and content types that are performing best. 

Based on the resulting data, your social media virtual assistant can make informed recommendations—like identifying the best-performing content and how frequently you should post to achieve maximum engagement. They can even help you identify the best times to post on social media for maximum likes, comments, shares, and click-throughs.

Your social media analytics could also be used to discover new engagement opportunities, business ventures, and target audiences. Competitor analysis could be performed to identify gaps in your strategy and keep you several steps ahead of the competition. 

Just as importantly, your social media VA will research and test the latest social media best practices to increase the effectiveness of your campaigns.

2. Setting up and managing your social media accounts

It takes time to set up and manage your business’ various social media accounts. Fortunately, your trusted remote social media assistant can handle the bulk of these responsibilities.

Some of the account setup tasks your social media VA can handle include:

• Signing up for business accounts with multiple social media channels, or switching your personal accounts to business accounts.
• Creating Facebook Groups or Pages for your business.
• Creating LinkedIn Groups or Pages for your business. 
• Configuring security and privacy settings for different profiles.
• Adding profile information (including contact info, addresses, operating hours, and business details).
• Uploading profile pictures, background images, and header photos to your accounts.
• Linking your website or blog to your social media pages.
• Setting up Shops on Facebook and Instagram. 
• Drafting standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your social media accounts.
• Following the profiles of key industry players, business partners, influencers, prospects, and customers.

Once your accounts have been set up, your social media VA can perform the following day-to-day management tasks:

• Publish content. 
• Respond to comments, inquiries, and private messages. 
• Upload images and videos.
• Curate and share relevant content from other sites. 
• Monitor brand mentions, hashtags, and alerts.
• Send or confirm follow requests.
• Monitor and respond to comments and posts on Facebook and LinkedIn Groups.
• Perform social media sentiment analysis. 

3. Developing unique and engaging content for all of your social media channels

Busy entrepreneurs and influencers often don’t have the time to develop unique and engaging content for all of their social media channels. Even if they’re greatly involved in the topic ideation process, they need help with the actual content creation—whether that’s producing, editing, scheduling, or uploading content. 

A highly experienced virtual assistant for social media can help you manage your social media content calendar. Your social media VA will use your content calendar to manage campaigns, plan posts, and review ongoing social media strategies.

Listed here are some of the content development tasks you can assign to your social media VA:

• Write social media copy for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
• Create content for Facebook and LinkedIn groups. 
• Create optimized YouTube descriptions.
• Write YouTube scripts.
• Edit YouTube videos and create graphics for thumbnails.
• Research popular hashtags to grow your audience. 
• Create graphics, infographics, and GIFS to add to posts.
• Edit photos and videos to add to posts.
• Create YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok videos.
• Generate new content ideas and research topics for upcoming content.
• Create quizzes, surveys, and polls (e.g. Twitter Polls).
• Ideate and launch contests. 
  

4. Repurposing content for your social media channels

Your business or personal brand is likely producing a great deal of high-quality content. This content can be leveraged further by repurposing it into new formats for distribution via your social media channels. 

If you’re a business owner, delegating content repurposing to your social media VA enables you to focus on the more critical parts of your business. If you’re a social media influencer, delegating this task frees up your schedule. You can then use this free time to focus on creating new content or networking with brands and industry peers.

Listed here are some of the content repurposing tasks you can delegate to your remote virtual assistant:

• Extracting content from blog posts and turning it into LinkedIn and Twitter posts,
• Slicing up long-form YouTube videos and resharing them as Instagram Reels, YouTube  Shorts, and TikTok videos.
• Taking quotes from your blog posts, videos, and other content assets and resharing them on Instagram and Twitter.
• Turning your blog posts, whitepapers, or eBooks into infographics.
• Turning your YouTube videos or podcast episodes into blog posts and vice versa. 
• Turning your case studies, blog posts, and infographics into slide decks for SlideShare.

5. Performing administrative tasks

Just like a regular executive virtual assistant, your social media VA can perform an array of administrative tasks for you. 

Some of the work-related admin tasks they can perform include: 

• Managing your inbox and calendar; 
• Scheduling meetings, appointments, and events;
• Reminding you about important dates and events;  
• Booking and rebooking flights, hotels, and airport shuttle services;
• Providing bookkeeping services; and
• Providing IT services. 

Your social media VA can also help you manage your personal and family logistics. Some of the tasks that can be delegated to your VA include:

• Household maintenance and repairs;
• Reservations at your favorite bars and restaurants; 
• Child and family logistics;
• Online bills payments and shopping; and
• Home, car, and garden maintenance.

6. Performing other digital marketing tasks

Related digital marketing tasks that can be performed by your social media VA include:

• Conducting surveys, 
• Setting up email campaigns,
• Creating and sending out newsletters, 
• Managing and tracking paid social media campaigns, and
• Helping conceptualize and manage affiliate programs.

What are the Benefits of Hiring a Social Media Virtual Assistant?

1. They'll drive more successful results for your social media marketing endeavors

Aside from enabling you to focus on your core priorities—whether that’s running your business, closing deals with new brands, or producing top-notch content for your audience—delegating tasks to a highly experienced social media VA will drive more successful results for your campaigns.

Aside from being proficient in the best social media tools and analytics software, a competent social media VA will also be familiar with the strategies and tactics that will drive optimum results for your campaigns. You’ll reach your goals faster and reap the financial benefits.

2. They’ll unlock new business opportunities

As already mentioned, your social media specialist will be using the best tools and software to perform competitor and social media sentiment analysis, respond to comments and inquiries, and track user engagement.

This gives your social media specialist crucial intel which could be used to unlock the following:

• New opportunities to grow your audience, brand, and business.
• Discover new brands, companies, and thought leaders/influencers to partner with. 

3. They'll help you achieve work-life balance and prevent burnout

Having a reliable social media VA handling your SocMed campaigns—as well as your other work-related and personal admin tasks—will free up much valuable time in your schedule. You could use this free time to rest, spend time with family and friends, or work on your passion projects and hobbies.

4. They'll help reduce salary and overhead costs

Hiring an executive virtual assistant gives you access to augmented support and resources without having to shoulder the salary and overhead costs that come with hiring full-time, in-house employees. 

In other words, you’ll only be paying for the services your VA provides. This means you won’t have to shoulder any of the mandatory benefits associated with hiring full-time staff—including paid time off, health insurance, and retirement savings plans.

You also won’t need to rent office space for your remote employees or provide them with office equipment, computers, and an internet allowance. Your executive VA will cover all of these needs, helping your team or business save a great deal of money. 

Check out our blog post for more information on the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant to support your team.

How Do You Hire a Social Media Virtual Assistant? 

Clients who are looking for social media virtual assistant services generally have three hiring routes: word-of-mouth referrals, online marketplaces, and managed virtual assistant services. 

Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Ask your peers if they can recommend a high-caliber social media virtual assistant. SocMed VAs who come highly recommended by those you trust are more likely to have the skills and experience that you’re looking for. 

You could make a general post on LinkedIn or send your contacts direct messages asking them for their recommendations. You could also make the same post on Slack, LinkedIn, or Facebook groups for professionals. 

Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces—like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer—allow you to connect with freelance SocMed VAs from around the world. You can post the job role and freelance VAs will respond with their information and rates. 

Managed Virtual Assistant Services

You can also contact managed virtual assistant services and hire a SocMed VA through them. The best virtual assistant services will provide you with a client success manager who will be in charge of all your concerns. The client success manager will make sure to pair you with a SocMed VA who most closely matches your personality and work style, as well as the tasks that need to be accomplished.

For more actionable hiring tips, check out our comprehensive guide to hiring a virtual assistant. 

How Much Does a Social Media Virtual Assistant Cost?

The rates charged by social media virtual assistants can vary widely—with those on the lower end of the scale charging just $1 per hour and those at the higher end charging $100 or more per hour. According to Upwork, the median hourly rate for its virtual assistants is between $10 to $20 per hour.

The hourly rate charged by social media virtual assistants will depend on many factors—namely their work experience, their skill set, their location, as well as the scope and duration of your project. 

During the selection process, don’t let rates be the sole determining factor. Remember that you get what you pay for, and you’re bound to end up with a subpar contractor if you hire a VA that charges rock-bottom prices.

If you’re looking to hire a high-caliber social media VA who’s worth every penny, consider hiring through Sigrid. We have a strict screening and hiring process, which means you’ll work only with the best. Our virtual assistants also receive continuous training and are managed by a client success manager.

Achieve Your Targets with Your Sigrid Remote Social Media Specialist

If you want to delegate your SocMed to-do list to a qualified social media virtual assistant, look no further than Sigrid. Our specialists can handle all aspects of social media management—from strategy execution and content development, to account management and analytics. 

With qualified support from seasoned professionals, you’ll scale your campaigns and achieve your social media goals more quickly. 

Looking for other types of remote support? Sigrid’s Remote Subscription Staffing gives you access to top talent on a monthly subscription.

Some of the other services we provide include:

• Project Management Assistance 
• Customer Service
• Presentation Design
• Event Management
• Data Entry & Research
• Sales Support
• Virtual Receptionist Services
• Digital Marketing
• Online Purchasing Assistance
• …and much more.

Ready to start your journey with us? Book a consultation or test run our services. We currently offer the first 14-day period for free on all our subscription plans.