Bill Gates, in an old podcast, shared that when he was younger, he didn’t appreciate the importance of specialists. If he had advice to his younger self, he would have insisted on delegating some aspects of the job to experts—which brings us to virtual assistants.
Although they are lumped under the virtual assistant services umbrella, they offer several specializations.
This is important because if you are looking to hire one, you want somebody with a narrower set of expertise rather than a virtual assistant with a general knowledge with a slightly above average skill set.
Here are some of the types of virtual assistant services that you probably are not aware of:
Real Estate Virtual Assistant. They work with realtors, real estate agents, and developers as they provide administrative services so their employer can focus on more critical tasks. The virtual assistant is expected to have more knowledge of the terminologies and the industry compared to the average person.
- Managing your calls and emails
- Remind you of your daily tasks and meetings
- Conduct research on the market and current trends
- Organize your listings and your contacts
- Lead generation
- Respond to all email or website inquiries
- Transcribe notes of meetings
Administrative Assistant. As the name suggests, the virtual assistants handle all the general administrative tasks. Among the tasks include:
- Setting your appointments
- Handling the billing and accounting
- Reminding you of the daily tasks
- Managing the contact list
- Booking your tickets
- Managing your calls and emails
Social Media Assistant. This type of virtual assistant will serve as the administrator and manager of your social media accounts. Among the tasks of the social media virtual assistant include:
- Update all the information related to your business
- Upload relevant content
- Grow your traffic
- Reply to all comments
- Online reputation management
- Update you of the social metrics
- Create engaging content to encourage people to visit always
Virtual Research Assistant. Research assistants are usually found in the academic or social research setting. They are typically students looking to hone their craft or get extra money to finish their degrees. The good thing is that they have a background on different research methodologies so you know that their output can be trusted.
Their main task is to collect and aggregate information. They will also present this information to you in such a way to prompt action.
eCommerce Assistant. The eCommerce assistant will ease your burden of running your online company. They are virtual assistants with a strong background in marketing. Among the tasks include:
Writing description for the product
- Do product research
- Manage the inventory
- Manage the product listing
- Handle orders and shipping
- Answer product queries
- Manage exchanges and product returns
- Prepare performance report
Virtual assistant services are typically outsourced to agents who work by remote. In some cases, rather than work at home, some virtual assistants work in a regular office. They work to share your load so it will free up your valuable time so you can focus on your core expertise than being saddled with administrative tasks.
