What Does a Virtual Assistant Do

In my previous chapter, I have discussed top reasons to hire a virtual assistant. I’m certain that, by now, you must have made up your mind to take a virtual assistant on board.
But what tasks would you assign to your virtual assistant? What does a virtual assistant actually do? If these questions are taking shape in your mind, you are at the right place.
In this chapter, I’ll talk about what virtual assistants do.
I have many friends who have hired virtual assistants for a wide spectrum of tasks. Ben hired a virtual assistant for administrative work, Rebecca for the management of her recipe website, Mary, for Internet research, and Matt, for getting help in his real estate business.
The point here is virtual assistants can complete a wide array of tasks. You can assign a virtual assistant any task you can think of, which doesn’t require a physical presence.

Here is a list of the top 7 tasks you can assign to your virtual assistant.

1- Social Media Tasks:
John Calvin Maxwell, an American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books on leadership, said once, “If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.” All entrepreneurs must follow this adage, especially when they spend 43% 6+ hours per week in managing their social media channels. And needless to say, this a boatload of time. You can save this it and focus more on your core business activities by hiring a virtual assistant. Here is a list of tasks that your social media virtual assistant can do for you:- Creating Facebook, LinkedIn page for your business
- Creating profiles on various social channels, such as Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.
- Updating the latest information on your social profiles
- Finding relevant content to share on your social channels
- Managing, building the relevant audience on different social channels
- Monitoring engagement on your social network
- Measuring analytics on different social profiles
2- Research-based Tasks

- Doing research based on the instructions
- Searching for guest blog opportunities
- Keeping an eye on her competitors
- Searching new business opportunities with the help of World Wide Web
- Searching for best practices in your business domain

3- Data Entry Tasks
Kevin Kruse, who writes about leadership development, shared his personal experience on Forbes, “In interviewing hundreds of highly successful people, including billionaires, famous entrepreneurs, and elite athletes, I’ve reached a conclusion: People who actively look for things to delegate report higher levels of productivity, happiness and energy, and are less likely to feel “overworked and overwhelmed.” The takeaway here is – delegation improves productivity. What tasks should you assign to your data entry virtual assistant?
- Database building and updating (sales, contacts, CRM, etc.)
- Reviewing data for accuracy
- Generating reports and entering data into CRM
- Compiling data collected from online surveys and enter it into CRM
4- eCommerce Tasks

- Writing SEO-friendly product descriptions
- Product category management
- Editing product images
- Order processing
- Handling exchange and return via phone, chat, emails
- Conducting competitor analysis
- Handling transaction on your website
- Offering customer support
- Commenting on reviews

5- Administrative Tasks
As I have mentioned before, Ben hired a virtual assistant for administrative tasks, so did my other friend, Robin, who runs an HVAC repairing business. Prior to hiring virtual administrative assistants, Robin and Ben used to be super busy. Virtual administrative assistants made their lives easier. Following are the top tasks that you can delegate to your virtual administrative assistant:- Email managing/labeling
- Booking appointments with clients
- Following up with clients and customers
- Calendar management
- File management with the help of Dropbox
- Answering support tickets
- Writing and sending invoices to your customers
- Producing graphs from your spreadsheets
6- Real Estate Tasks

- Preparing seminar material for your meeting
- Running online ads for your business
- Manage your social media presence
- Setting up your appointments with the sellers/buyers of the houses
- Finding comparable properties within the area
- Custom competitive market analysis
- Reviewing and proofreading documents
- Entering data into MLS
- Updating listing changes
- Managing contact list and researching real estate market trends
- Real estate data scraping with the help of classified software from different websites such as Backpage, Oodle, and Craigslist.

