How To Hire A Virtual Assistant

There are two sides to marketing — the fun, creative side and the mundane, repetitive side.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PU3rWSqwUE?rel=0&showinfo=0]No one really likes doing the mundane part of marketing, but it’s a crucial step in achieving success. Some of it can be automated through tools, such as Cloud Campaign, but there are some tasks that need a human touch, and this is where virtual assistants come in.Virtual assistants (VAs) can assist with all parts of marketing from content creation to guerrilla marketing. So this begs the question — how do you hire a virtual assistant?

1. Where to Hire a VA

There are many sites to find freelancers or virtual assistants. The one I've used in the past was guru.com, but there are others such as freelancer.com and upwork.com.

2. How to Pick a VA

In most cases, hiring through an agency rather than an individual will yield better results and less work on your end.If someone gets sick or suddenly stops responding, an agency will find a replacement for you and the work will go on as usual. If you hired that individual directly, you would be responsible for finding a new VA to hire and terminating the old contract.

3. How to Hire a VA

Be explicit. Clearly state how many hours a week you want the individual working and the task you want completed. Give an example of a completed task, and have them reiterate in their own words what it is that you want to be done.There’s nothing worse than getting an invoice a week later for 8 hours of a task you didn’t need completed.For us, I clearly stated I wanted a VA that was okay with working only 2 hours a week. The task would include finding relevant discussions on LinkedIn and Quora, and contributing to them by 1. Providing value and 2. Mentioning our product if relevant. At the end of the 2-hour session each week, the VA was requested to send me a digest including a link to every discussion they contributed to.In that initial email, I included a link to 3 example discussions that I had already contributed to, so they knew what I was looking for.And one last piece of advice — I wouldn’t recommend outsourcing a task until you’ve done it yourself and fully understand all implications.