If you work as a virtual assistant, your clients likely need more than just administrative support. Adding social media management services to your business is a great way to bring in more revenue and support them in achieving their goals.

With businesses leaning increasingly on social media platforms to reach their target customers, there is a growing need for good social media managers. This article will help you add social media management services to your virtual assistant business.

What’s the difference between a social media manager and a virtual assistant?

That’s a great question! And one we come across all the time from both businesses and members of The Social Media Managers Hub.

So, virtual assistants typically provide administrative support and diary or email management.  Because the primary objective of a virtual assistant is usually related to the daily management of the business to ensure it is functioning well. 

Whereas a social media manager is responsible for the marketing of the business to ensure the client can continue to reach new and existing customers and bring revenue into the business.

The key difference between virtual assistants and social media managers is the strategy. Whereas virtual assistants will mostly just focus on scheduling content, a social media manager will be responsible for the full strategy behind the content being scheduled.

How to price your social media management services.

The biggest difference in pricing when it comes to transitioning from virtual assistant services to offering social media management is how you charge a client.

Virtual assistants typically charge by the hour, and the client pays for the time taken to complete certain tasks. Sometimes they might pay a retainer for a set number of hours regardless of whether the time is filled or not.

But when offering social media management services, you should never charge by the hour as it can make it hard to quantify your workflow to a client – especially when there are so many moving parts. 

As a result, they may have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved in the time they’re paying you for – because, remember, you are not just charging for content creation; there is a whole strategy and testing regime in place too.

Social media marketing cannot be done effectively on an hour-by-hour or day-by-day basis, which makes hourly and daily rates obsolete, in our opinion.

Pre-priced packages aren’t ideal either. They don’t take into account the unique requirements of each client, and you may end up having to work harder than you anticipated to achieve the desired results.

Instead, we recommend providing prospective clients with custom proposals to manage their social media channels and provide a fee to match their specific goals. 

What does a social media manager do that a virtual assistant doesn't?

Social media managers have a wide range of responsibilities, including (but not limited to):

• Building a social media strategy
• Content creation
• Scheduling – A virtual assistant might support the social media manager in scheduling content using tools like Agorapulse.
• Data analysis and reporting
• Customer service
• Social listening
• Crisis management
• Social networking
• Managing launch strategies & social selling
• Building and nurturing leads and community
• A crucial part of their role includes proactive and reactive engagement strategies.

Do you need to take a social media management course?

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of courses teaching social media management. The vast majority focus on content creation and how each platform works.

If you know the ins and outs of the platform you plan to help your clients with; you are already one step ahead. But to offer social media management services to your clients, you need to know more than which buttons to press and how to create pretty graphics.

So if you have no marketing experience or training, it would be wise to consider filling any skills gaps to ensure you can provide a full service to your clients.

When you can get consistent results for your clients and help them to sell more of whatever they sell, you can charge a premium for your services.

So when choosing a course, look for ones that focus on getting your audience to take action rather than understanding the algorithm. Instead, look for programmes that include social selling so you can deliver results to your clients.

We are somewhat biased, of course, but if you consider investing in your professional development, we highly recommend our unique, psychology-driven social media marketing programme.

Social prf takes your marketing skills to the next level and helps you to develop a strategic launch strategy to sell anything on social media.

Learn more about our social media marketing programme.

Understanding social media strategy so you can get your clients great results.

Social media marketing is more than simply posting content on the preferred social media platform. If it were that easy to market a business on social media, companies wouldn't need social media managers at all.

If your client is keen to have support with their social media marketing, it is likely they will be looking for tangible results, typically generating leads or sales or managing customer service. 

So your role as a social media manager starts with creating an in-depth strategy which outlines the key business objectives and a plan to work towards those goals strategically.

In-depth knowledge of social media strategy is what set social media managers apart from virtual assistants, and this knowledge means you can charge more for social media management services than administrative services.

A social media strategy outlines all the moving parts you'll consider while creating content and managing a client's social media pages.

The strategy will outline essential information such as:

• Why does the business want to be on social media?
• Who are they trying to reach and connect with?
• What content will they be sharing, and when?

And will provide in-depth information on ten key areas, including:

• In-depth audience personas (also known as customer avatars) containing both psychographic and demographic information about the audience you are trying to reach on social media.
• The brand voice and content strategy
• Proactive and reactive engagement strategy
• Influencer strategy
• In-depth competitor analysis
• The social listening strategy
• Key metrics to track the success of the strategy

Remember that not all businesses are at the same stage in terms of their social media marketing. So your client's goals and objectives will all differ, and they won't all need the same support.

Recognising this and providing a bespoke service – meeting your clients where they are – will set you apart from other virtual assistants offering social media management services.

What you do for a client at the beginning of their marketing pathway will differ from the deliverables of a more established brand. And you can adapt your pricing structure based on the level of support they need.

Unsure where to start with a social media strategy? We outline everything you need to know and cover when creating a strategy for a client in THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CREATING A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY.