What is a virtual assistant?

February 17, 2010

I had someone just inquire on Twitter what is a virtual assistant. I get this question all the time! Don’t worry if you have  the same question! I have decided to write about what is a virtual assistant (often called a VA), what we can do for you and how we can save you money!

Virtual Assistant – an administrative assistant just like any other assistant, secretary, etc… that you are use to seeing work at someone’s office. Maybe you have even had a administrative assistant before. The virtual portion means we work using technology to complete your assignments, we don’t physically come into your office and work from a desk there. We work from our offices. Usually which are located in our home.

How we work? We can:

• remotely connect to your office computer (if necessary) to complete your assignments.
• complete many tasks, such as your newsletter via Constant Contact, 1shopping cart, etc…
• maintenance your website, blog, etc.. via the web.
• type your letters, emails, design your brochures, press releases via our computer.
• make follow up phone calls, send your emails, schedule appointments, etc…
• maintain your social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

We complete all of these tasks using some type of technology, usually related to the Internet. We just need a high speed Internet connection, your assignment and we are set to go.

How does a virtual assistant save you money? You do not have to pay for:

• office space, office equipment, printers, Internet connection.
• payroll taxes, health insurance, vacation, sick pay and holidays.
• wasted time spent on breaks, at water coolers and personal phone calls.
• time to train new staff.

If you want to save time and money by utilizing the services of a Virtual Assistant do contact me. If I can’t help you, I certainly know some great virtual assistants that can.

All virtual assistants have a specialty or passion, mine is Social Media, I help my clients leverage social networking applications, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to grow their brand and brand awareness. However, I also do many other tasks for my clients from typing, creating newsletters to scanning business cards.

What I recommend if you are considering hiring a virtual assistant:

• Define what tasks your virtual assistant can complete for you.
• Determine what area most of these tasks fall into.
• Find someone that specializes in that area.
• Make sure they can also complete the other tasks for you.

Virtual assistants do charge a higher fee in most cases than having someone work for you in your office, however, as mentioned above they are absorbing the cost for all your savings. You are hiring a 100% professional, highly dedicated assistant focusing on you and you alone for the allotted time you pay for. We are not focusing on anything or anyone else for the time we are set to work for you. Tasks get accomplished faster, with accuracy and professionalism.

Do feel free to email me or call if you would like to discuss my services further, or if you need a recommendation for a specialist. I am the organizer of the Virtual Assistants of Dallas Fort Worth Meetup group. Our members range from specializing in transcription, accounting, writing, social media to organizing your junk drawer.

Some VAs only complete certain tasks and not others, do make sure when interviewing a potential virtual assistant you get all the facts, so you can have a one stop shop, vs. going to many assistants for many different tasks!

Twitter Tips (Contributed by users)!

February 15, 2010

At the end of December I put out a challenge to all my Twitter friends to submit their Twitter Tips and Twitter Etiquette. I am posting a disclaimer right now that I don’t always agree with these tips. Or at least maybe I don’t follow them all, I am sharing them with you and it’s your job to determine which ones you’ll follow or ignore.

1. Don’t use an automated welcome direct message and if you’re going to use an automated direct message, don’t share a link, etc… Submitted by @VickiBerry.

Submitted by @julialilly: Use an auto-reply message for new followers. Make sure the message clearly states that it is an auto-reply and that you will get back to their bio soon. Don’t try to be sneaky about it. The trick to making this work is that you actually do get back to the new follower. Set aside some time each day or each week to go back and read each new followers bio and reply to all that are not spam. All real people should be acknowledged, even it just a simple reply such as “Jim, thank you again for the follow. I hope you enjoy my posts”.

My perspective: I use an automated direct message, but tell the people I’m connecting with that it’s automated. If you don’t want to receive automated DM’s follow @optmeout on Twitter, follow their directions and you’ll be opted out of receiving automated direct messages from social oomph users.

2. Do not autofollow Twitter users. Be selective and make sure they are a fit for your interests and needs. Submitted by @mikedmerrill!

Again, another tip I don’t follow. I do autofollow users back. However, I do vet them as they appear in my Twitter stream. (I can always unfollow those that are not interesting to me or send spammy direct messages.)

3. Remember to check your @yourname replies/tweets so you don’t miss something said about or to you. Respond accordingly. Submitted by @iPresort

Great tip here! I do this and would like to add to this, if you use a TweetDeck run a search for yourname, sometimes mentions will get overlooked in the @mentions, but not as often in the search option!

4. Businesses – a high percentage of your tweets should be relevant content to your company, but don’t just tweet company ads. Submitted by @iPresort

Another great tip! Your tweets need to be content, articles, interesting information, etc… related to your industry. Keep your self promotion down to occasionally! Use a 1 to 6 ratio!

5. Make your #FollowFriday recommendations one at a time, with info on “why to follow”. Keep using multiple Twitter id’s to a minimum. Submitted by @evolutionfiles!

I don’t always follow this tip! I do some of both! I do like to give #FollowFriday with by industry.

6. Keep using quotes for your tweets to a minimum. And if you do post a quote, make it relevant to your target audience. Submitted by @evolutionfiles!

I agree! Right on with this tip! Quotes are inspiring, but you can only handle so much inspiration in one day, right?

7. Basic one – “at” people to engage and connect. Then connect in real world if possible. Don’t just tweet your pitch repeatedly. Submitted by @evolutionfiles!

I love this part of tweeting! Having a conversation online one on one is the key to developing relationships, taking an online relationship offline to become strategic partners or even gaining a new client!

8. Instead of, or in addition to, thanking tweeps for #FollowFriday, Retweets & Mentions… *Reciprocate* by Retweeting them back or giving #FollowFriday back. Submitted by @evolutionfiles.

I agree with this tip and actually use this strategy often. However, if someone retweets, #FollowFriday’s or mentions me that doesn’t have good content, I kindly just thank them and skip the returning the favor part.

9. Follow LOTS of peeps. But check their weblink and quality of their content first. Unfollow most who don’t follow back after 1 month. Submitted via @evolutionfiles.

I agree totally! Don’t try and look good on Twitter by having lots of people following you and you following no one. It makes you look like “You think you’re to good to follow back”. Who wants to develop a relationship with this type of person! Not me!

1o. Use a Twitter tool (ie Tweetdeck, Seesmic, etc) to manage followers and your tweets. Submitted by @anitasantiago.

11. Go for quality instead of quantity when it comes to followers. If you provide quality to your followers, quantity will come on it’s own with time! Submitted by @anitasantiago.

Nothing to add here! Right on, Anita!

12. Try to avoid Retweeeting yourself (tweeting with your own username in the tweet). Submitted by @evolutionfiles.

I actually follow this tip for the most part! I do retweet someone that has mentioned my Twitter id sometimes, if I feel they added some value, however, I remove my Twitter id for the most part!

13. Help me to retweet you. Make your tweets 120 characters or less. Submitted by @billhurlbut.

I sent Bill a direct message after sending this tip and asked him if it was a hint! I know this rule, recommend it to others, but don’t always follow it!

14. When modifying someone else’s tweet to fit within the 140 character requirement, add a P for partial in front of the RT! Lets the readers and the person you are retweeing know that you modified their tweet. Submitted by @pattyfarmer.

15. Make sure if you use a tweetdeck to manage your Twitter accounts, don’t forget to log into your Twitter account through your Internet browser occasionally and check for retweets. Users that retweet your through the browser don’t also show up in the tweetdeck @mentions column. You sure don’t want to overlook thanking someone. Submitted via @pattyfarmer.

Here are my Twitter tips (@lissaduty) to add:

16. When you are adding comments to someone else’s tweet, add your comments at the front before the RT! Not after. If you place your comments after, it looks like the original Twitter user posted the comments.

17. Secrets to Shorten words to meet the 140 character requirement: i.e. for use 4, to use 2, great use gr8, about use abt, forward use 4ward, see use c, before use b4, Thanks use Thk or Thx, with use w/, without use w/o.

18. If someone mentions you, retweets you, etc… in the public stream Thank them in the public stream. If they direct message you a request, respond via direct message. If you answer a question for them via direct message, but want to share the answer – write the message as a tip and share publicly, without using their Twitter id in the public stream.

19. Be a generous retweeter. Twitter is not just about you sharing interesting content to make yourself look good and knowledgeable. It’s about helping your friends on Twitter look good also! Retweet them, mention them, etc….

20. Don’t SPAM! Everyone includes this as one of their Twitter tips, so I thought I would add this tip also.

Realizing, most of you that read this post don’t plan to spam on Twitter, however what you view as not spam, another will. Keep in mind when sending a tweet or direct message, is this relevant to my followers. Am I trying to sell them something or share a success. Sometimes spamming is all in the wording!

I highly recommend you follow and connect with all the Twitter users that contributed to this post! As they are excellent at following the tips listed above! Happy tweeting! Please feel free to add any of your Twitter Tips and Twitter Etiquette in the comments section!