Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Standing Out: A Crash Course on Virtual Assistant Social Media Marketing

No one notices you.

It’s been happening ever since you started your new job as a virtual assistant. You don’t know why, but you feel invisible – all the time. You’re see-through, like water in a bottle. You feel alone, separated. Ignorance has become a frequent acquaintance. You ask yourself a question – what’s going on?

You should’ve known this would probably happen before you even considered a virtual assistant profession.

Remember: Virtual assistance is a business. And you have lots of competition. Like thousands of competition.

The important question is: How do you stand out?

First Thing’s First – Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

You spent another couple of hours in your favorite online community. Been a member for over a year and you love how the people there feel the same way as you do. Only here did you ever feel comfortable, like it’s your home. You never want to leave. You’re scared of even just thinking about it.

Unless you want to look like this, get a vacation off your comfort zone. Spending too much time laughing about LOLcat pictures can steer you away from your primary goal as a new virtual assistant – getting clients.

Sure, you might have to give up certain things to achieve this goal. But what’s important is that you’ve taken that first step into going back to reality – you’re broke and you need work.

Getting Noticed Using Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing with Facebook has taken over your social life. Talking to the girl next door no longer involved getting a new haircut – Facebook messaging does the same job faster. You can’t ask for anything more.

Actually, it’s not just Facebook. All other social networking sites are integral in any social media marketing campaign. Not only will they allow you to easily communicate with clients, they can also help you find clients.

Pretend that you own a different kind of business – a restaurant for example – and you’re looking for new customers. Also pretend that it’s still the 80’s, when the Internet didn’t exist. How do you get customers?

One great way is by announcing to the world that your business exists through the help of social media marketing! Give out flyers, post adverts or tell the person sitting next to you.

Now, alter that idea to fit our technologically advanced society: Give out likes, post status updates or tell the person following you on Twitter.

Engaging in conversation is essential for your business to gain clients. When someone asks a question, or wants to clarify something, don’t ignore him/her. (Unless it’s spam) They’re all potential clients.

Establish connections, build your online repertoire and get famous.

Showing Off With the Help of Social Media Marketing

You open your web browser. You googled “virtual assistant”. After 0.07 seconds, the results load up in your monitor screen. You notice something – a ‘Blogs’ button. You clicked it with immediate curiosity.

Blogs are popular, let’s admit that. Some people even blog for a living.

Through blogging, you can inform people about your state as a virtual assistant. You can share tips, and give advice. If you get regular readers, you can ask questions through your blog.

A blog would also reinforce your marketing efforts by posting about your achievements, client testimonials, or your portfolio.

This would either draw clients to you or keep them away. Make sure you double-check what you blog before you click that Post button.

Establishing Your Brand Through Social Media Marketing

You notice something odd. You’ve been spending a lot of your time on marketing your business, but it still feels like nobody notices you. Maybe you’re cursed. Or just plain incompetent. Nevertheless, you do some thinking.

Remember that even if you have an excellent social media marketing strategy for your virtual assistant business, clients won’t come back to you if you performed like crap on your tasks.

What’s worse is if your work’s really crappy they’d tell that to their peers – ending in you not having new clients.

Remember that giving quality service to your clients is more important than social media marketing. If you can impress your clients enough with your work, they might even market you themselves to their peers.

The more clients you impress = the more clients for you in the future.

You have to establish your own brand in the virtual assistance field. Be an authority in the field and clients would line up for you like they would for the newest Apple gadget.

Ready for Greatness?

Well, this is just a crash course.

If you follow the things said here, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. It’s better to learn more about social media marketing as you go about in your profession. Remember that if you do well in your job, you probably wouldn’t even need to do the marketing yourself. Just focus on doing your job right and everything else will fall into place.

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