A while back I had a chat with one of our long standing members Maz Schirmer from Institute of Women International and her Virtual Assistant Elaine about utilising her social media management skills to increase audience engagement.
Admittedly Maz had great engagement anyway on her social media channels with lots of likes on her posts – enviable amounts actually!
However, the posts were all quite click bait style and mostly from other people that she just re-posted on her page.
They got a lot of likes which of course is good to increase your organic reach but did little to actually increase real engagement, build out the brand, build her personal profile or develop a deeper relationship with the audience.
When it came time for her to promote anything, the engagement factor just wasn’t there
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Using Her Social Media Virtual Assistant’s Skills To Boost Engagement
While coming up with a social media strategy, we decided to introduce some more personal elements and focus on building out a bit more of Maz’s personal story, her profile, and her big ‘why’ for what she does in her amazing business transforming the lives of women feeling emotionally blocked.
With her social media skills, Elaine introduced and executed one of our core The Virtual Hub digital marketing strategies.
She went back through older blog posts, webinars, videos and interviews and picked out interesting snippets, tips and quotes from Maz for social media.
I just had a look and am so happy to see that these posts have been the ones to get large amounts of shares!
We have broken the nexus of people just liking her posts and have actually increased real engagement and eyeballs via sharing.
The likes are not as high as the more click bait style stuff but a few points to note here:
- Shares count for more in the Facebook algorithms than likes – they are much higher for audience engagement.
- Shares demonstrate people are so moved by it they want to endorse the content with their circles.
- It connects the audience directly with the heart of Maz and shows her why and mission.
- It builds her profile as a thought leader in this space – quotes from her are getting shared online. If that’s not a thought leader, then I am not sure what is!
Utilising your Virtual Assistant’s social media skills can make a difference in the engagement with your target audience and may also increase brand recognition!
Let’s look at some facts!
Adweek in a recent article quoted Dennis Yu, CEO of Social Media Insights firm BlitzMetrics:
“Facebook’s News Feed algorithm gives up to 1,300 percent more weight to shares than likes when it comes to what’s shown near the top of a user’s feed, affecting a promotion’s viral performance,” said Dennis Yu, CEO of social media insights firm BlitzMetrics.
He said, “It says people endorse your content to the point of putting their reputation on the line. Your ad or post is interesting enough where people are willing to share it.”
According to Yu, some brands err in using click bait-type content for ads and posts to get easy likes and comments. “They post cute photos that get a lot of views,” he said. “Brands should focus on storytelling to create real engagement.”
And Justin Seeley provides a fantastic example of why it is so powerful in his article on the topic:
“Let’s say you create a video and share it on Facebook. You have 1,000 people who like your page, so that means roughly 100 of them will see the post by default.
“Even if all 100 people see and like your post, you have exactly that, 100 likes. Whereas if out of those same 100 people, one of them shares your post with their 500 friends (the average for most Facebook users these days), and out of those 500 people 100 people see it, you’ve just doubled your viewing audience. If you could get 1 of those ‘500 people to share your post with their list of friends, you’ve just tripled your viewers without spending a dime.”
Make Sense?
“Remember, the game of social media is all about eyeballs and how many of them you an put on any given piece of content that you produce. In order to win the eyeballs game, you can either pay for it, or create share-worthy content that scales on its own.” – Justin Seeley
We know that this move by Maz and her Social Media Virtual Assistant Elaine is going to add fuel to the fire that is igniting with her mission and business.
The addition of this social media marketing strategy will not only boost Maz’s engagement numbers significantly with Facebook but it will also build her profile as a thought leader as her quotes get shared.
This can have dramatic effects on her ability to get interviewed on high profile podcasts, YouTube channels and even secure speaking engagements.
Things You Need To Know About A Social Media Virtual Assistant
You can click on these links below to jump on a specific information you want:
- What Is A Social Media Virtual Assistant?
- What Skills Does A Social Media VA Have That Can Help Engagement?
- How Can Social Media VAs Help With Audience Engagement?
- The Benefits Of Hiring A Social Media Virtual Assistant
- Tasks A Social Media Virtual Assistant Can Help With
- What To Look For When Hiring A Social Media VA
2. What Skills Does A Social Media VA Have That Can Help Engagement?
Some of the skills a social media VA might have that can help engagement are: writing engaging content, creating visually appealing social media posts, knowing how to use hashtags, conducting market research, and more. By having a VA who is skilled in social media, companies or individuals can focus on other aspects of their business while the VA handles your social media management. This can help increase engagement as well as reach on social media.
3. How Can Social Media VAs Help With Audience Engagement?
A good social media VA helps with audience engagement by creating content that is engaging, monitoring and responding to comments and messages, using hashtags to increase reach and more. By doing this, the VA can help create a deeper relationship with the audience and encourage more interaction, and increase your brands' social media presence.
4. The Benefits Of Hiring A Social Media Virtual Assistant
There are a number of benefits that come with hiring social media virtual assistants. Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that it frees up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business. Social media can be very time-consuming, and if you're not careful, it can easily take over your life. By outsourcing this task to someone else, you can regain control of your time and use it more effectively elsewhere. This is especially beneficial for small business owners or any growing business.
Another benefit of hiring social media virtual assistants is that they can bring a fresh perspective to your social media presence. If you've been managing social media accounts for a while, it's easy to get into a rut and start posting the same old things. A social media virtual assistant will help to keep your accounts fresh and interesting, which can result in more followers and better engagement.
Finally, hiring a social media virtual assistant can be a cost-effective way to improve your social media presence, especially for small businesses. Rather than spending hours trying to learn everything yourself, you can hire someone who is already an expert and who can help you to get the most out of your social media platforms. This can save you both time and money in the long run.
5. Tasks A Social Media Virtual Assistant Can Help With
There are a number of social media tasks that a specialized virtual assistant can help with. These can include:
- Creating relevant content and scheduling posts
Managing different social media channels
Running social media campaigns
Running or checking on paid ad campaigns
Whichever social media platform you use, outsourcing these tasks to a VA can free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business or personal life.
6. What To Look For When Hiring A Social Media VA
When you're looking to hire a social media VA, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Firstly, consider what tasks you need help with and make sure that the VA you're considering is experienced in those areas. Secondly, take a look at their previous work and make sure that their style is compatible with your own. Finally, be sure to discuss your expectations with the VA and make sure that they're willing to work within the parameters you set. By taking these things into account, you can ensure that you're hiring the right social media VA for your business or individual needs.
For more information on what other things a virtual assistant can help you with, you can read our Ultimate Guide to Virtual Assistants which walks you through all aspects of what a virtual assistant is and what one can do to grow your business.
If you would like to talk to me about having one of our Virtual Assistants assist you in the implementation of this strategy (because who the hell has time to do all this?) then please book a private strategy call now.
1. What Is A Social Media Virtual Assistant?
Also known as a social media assistant is someone who helps manage a person's lone or multiple social media accounts. This can include tasks such as creating and scheduling content, monitoring and responding to comments and messages, conducting market research, and more. Some virtual assistants have experience in social media management and are familiar with a variety of platforms. Others may specialize in a particular platform, such as more popular ones like Facebook or Twitter.