Types of Virtual Assistant Services

In the previous chapter: what is a virtual assistant, I’ve explained what a virtual assistant is what they do.Here, I’ll talk about the types of virtual assistant services you can hire to boost your productivity and ease your burden out.
The virtual assistant market is growing at an exponential growth. And with this outburst in the market, you can hire a virtual assistant to complete a wide variety of tasks.
One of my friends, Rebecca, hired a virtual assistant for the management of her recipe website. Janny, her virtual assistant, updates Rebecca’s website and replies comments on social channels. Now, Rebecca has more time for creating new recipes.
My other friend, Mary, hired a virtual assistant to do Internet research. Mary is a Chief marketing officer in a big firm. Her role demands a great deal of Internet research.
Before hiring a VA, she used to spend a boatload of time on the Internet research. Many times, she had to stay back in the office to complete her tasks. Her VA, Shreyam, has made Mary’s life a lot easier. Shreyam completes Internet research while Mary focuses on important tasks. Now, Mary leaves office on time and spend more quality time with her family.
Mary is glad about this new arrangement, so is her 6-year-old son, Jim.Shreyam completes Internet research while Mary focuses on important tasks. Now, Mary leaves office on time and spend more quality time with her family. Mary is glad about this new arrangement, so is her 6-year-old son, Jim.

Different Types of Virtual Assistant
There are mainly 8 types of virtual assistants.1. Social Media Virtual Assistant:
Social media is a necessary evil. Small business owners spend an average of between 6 to 10 hours a week on social media marketing.
- Creating Facebook, LinkedIn, Google + page for your business
- Creating social media profiles on different channels
- Doing research to find fresh content for social media posts
- Scheduling posts with the help of social media tools
- Increasing and engaging your audience on different social channels
- Creating performance metrics and measuring analytics
- Keeping a watchful eye on your competitors

2. Real Estate Virtual Assistant
I have a friend, Matt, who runs a real estate business. I don’t remember any meeting with him when he doesn’t complain about not having time to spend with his family. Matt is always a busy person. He does all tasks himself from posting ads on Craigslist to following up with prospective renters to buyers. One day, his wife suggested him to hire a real estate agent. Though resisted initially, he hired a VA eventually to avoid nagging of his wife. You would be surprised to know what happened next. He has more time for his family and goes for a vacation after every three months. And the best part, His business has witnessed a quick growth. Matt is not alone in hiring a real estate virtual assistant. As seen on REALTORMag,
- Real estate data scraping with the help of classifieds software from different websites, such as Craigslist, Backpage, Oodle, and eBay
- Posting ads on Craigslist, Zumper, Postlets, RentLinx, Zillow and others
- Sending introductory messages to potential renters along with appropriate listings based on what they require
- Compiling morning reports with information received from MLS
- Managing your calendar
- Responding to email inquiries
- Setting up your meetings
- Following up with prospective renters and buyers
- Social media campaigns for your real estate website
- Writing blogs and articles for content marketing
- Database management
- Email campaigns
- Doing property research and creating property report
- Following up over phone and email with parties involved in the closing process like a home inspector and home appraiser
3. Virtual Research Assistant

- Searching for credible sites for up-to-date information based on your needs
- Compiling research data
- Presenting data in an easy-to-understand format
- Searching for important statistics based on your business
- Identifying opportunities for your business growth
- Conducting competitive intelligence
- Helping you choose a right vendor by comparing prices
- Searching for guest blogging opportunities

4. Virtual Administrative Assistant
Are you a busy entrepreneur like my friend, Robin? Robin is running a startup business. He offers HVAC system repairing to the local residents of Charleston, South Carolina. Robin has an office staff of 4 people. Due to a small number of headcounts, Robin had to do lots of work himself. Many a time, he stayed late in the office to manage work. His friend suggested him to hire a virtual administrative assistant. After a little fuss, he hired a virtual assistant to manage administrative tasks that started to save him 2-3 hours daily. Now, he has more time to make plans for the growth of his business, and he reaches his home on time. A virtual administrative assistant not only made Robin’s life easier, but also helped him grow the business. Now, you might have a question what is a virtual administrative assistant and how did he help Robin? The definition of virtual administrative assistant can be given as below, “A virtual administrative assistant is someone who does a variety of administrative tasks, such as managing contact lists, handling billing and accounting, handling basic HR duties, etc.” The list of important tasks that you can assign to your virtual administrative assistant are mentioned below:- Managing emails and telephone calls
- Scheduling management
- Bookkeeping and customer management
- Keeping you informed about your industry
- Managing a contact list in a spreadsheet
- Calendar management and setting up meetings
- Making travel arrangement
- Document formatting and management
5. eCommerce Virtual Assistant

- eCommerce product data entry
- Handling transaction in a seamless way
- Managing inventory on a daily basis
- Writing SEO-friendly product descriptions
- Conducting your competitors’ analysis
- Providing 24/7 email and chat supports to your customers
- Taking care of order processing
- Editing product images
- Product category management
- Coupon data entry
- Product classification & taxonomy development
- Handling return and exchange of products

6. Data Entry Virtual Assistant
I have asked many entrepreneurs about one of the most cumbersome tasks, and most of them gave the same answer – data entry. A study suggests that data entry tasks completed in time stress cause emotional irritation, making it difficult for people to input data correctly. Data entry virtual assistants work as a savior for entrepreneurs. They can save you both time and money. Hear a list of tasks that you can assign to your data entry virtual assistant:- Preparing, compiling and sorting data for entry
- Reviewing data for accuracy
- Data management (updating data & deleting unnecessary files)
- Keeping a track for activities and tasks
- Generating reports and entering data into your CRM system
7. Virtual Bookkeeping Assistant

- Inventory management
- Taking care of record keeping and bookkeeping procedures
- Budgeting and year-end bookkeeping
- Projecting cash flow and account reconciliation
- Revenue expenditure management
- QuickBooks and Sage 50 accounts management
- Payroll processing
- Bank and credit card reconciliation
- Excel bookkeeping data entry
8. Virtual Marketing Assistants


- Social media marketing
- Conducting keyword research
- Creating and running AdWord campaigns
- Promoting your blog post
- Developing new and innovative content for all social media platforms
- Researching and identifying new leads in your business domain
- Managing and setting up mail merges using YesWare for Gmail
