36 Tasks Specialist Virtual Assistants Can Do

Whatever type of business you have, you can count on an administrative VA to help you run your routine operations smoothly. If you’re in the eCommerce industry, an eCommerce VA can help you manage your store, fulfill orders, and do other typical online store maintenance tasks.

But what if you need a VA who can do a lot more than basic data entry or customer service? What if you need someone to write on your blog, design creative assets for your social media page, or fix bugs in your website? 

Some business owners rely on their general admin VA to also create content or manage their multiple social media pages. Some eCommerce entrepreneurs rely on their eCommerce VA to create videos for their product listings or troubleshoot issues in their online store. But did you know that you can hire a VA who can do these complex tasks more efficiently while yielding better results?

If need a virtual assistant to do specialized work for you that an admin or eCommerce VA can’t do, hire a Specialist Virtual Assistant.

What is a Specialist Virtual Assistant?

Administrative and eCommerce virtual assistants, while they may have different specific skills and experiences, share several common characteristics. On the other hand, specialist virtual assistants can have very different skill sets, levels of experience, and specializations.

A content writer virtual assistant is a specialist virtual assistant just as much as a graphic designer VA is. Typically, specialist VAs provide services in the digital marketing, design, and development fields. After all, tasks in these fields can usually be performed efficiently by a remote staff. There are also specialist VAs whose expertise lies in bookkeeping and accounting, or VAs in the medical transcription field and other industries that require specialized knowledge. However, these VAs are not as common.

Specialist VAs are often backed by more specific training and a higher level of education (many have college degrees relevant to their field). Because of this, they normally command a higher hourly or per-project rate compared to admin and eCommerce VAs with the same level of experience in their respective fields.

If you need certain tasks done such as developing your company website or writing articles for your company blog, you need to spend more. Investing in a specialist VA as opposed to training a general admin VA is definitely worth the extra upfront cost.

 

Hire a Specialist Virtual Assistant to Do These Tasks

What exactly can you hire a specialist VA for? Here’s a thorough rundown of the most common skills and specializations offered by Specialist VAs in trusted virtual staffing company, 20Four7VA.

DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing has grown at an astonishingly rapid pace and has arguably outstripped many traditional marketing methods in terms of reach and success rate. If you want to keep up with the competition, you need to employ an effective digital marketing strategy. Many specialist VAs can help you with the planning, implementation, and monitoring of various digital marketing strategies such as the ones below.

• SEO Planning and Management – this involves creating solid Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies on and off-page. This can also include the actual implementation, management, and monitoring of said strategies.SEO specialist VAs are well-versed in using software such as Google Analytics, SemRush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, and more.

• Keyword Research and Optimization – keyword research deals specifically with finding out which words, terms, or phrases to target in your blog posts and other website content. This is vital in improving your search engine visibility and ranking.Your keyword research and optimization VA will work with your content team to make sure that all your online content includes the relevant keywords.

• Social Media Management – social media marketing (SMM) has boomed in the past couple of years. Your social media manager VA is in charge of posting on all your social media channels. They also monitor your posts and help keep the engagement rate on your social channels high.Social media manager VAs are also experts at identifying and analyzing key data and metrics and giving suggestions or tweaks to improve your social media strategy. The most common social media sites for business that are managed by SMM VAs are Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Yelp.

• Pay Per Click Advertising – pay-per-click or PPC advertising is a form of paid digital marketing strategy. Your PPC VA will be responsible for distributing display and search ads on the right platforms and bidding on the right keywords. They will also monitor the performance of your ads to ensure maximum ROI (return-on-investment).There are several online ad networks today, but the most popular ones are Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and Bing Ads.

• Promotions Management – promotions management involves omnichannel promotions planning and forecasting, implementation, and tracking. It’s important for a promotions management VA to carefully track promotions-generated data. They need to separate them from other sales data to accurately gauge the success of each promotional campaign.

• Amazon Sponsored Ads – a VA that specializes in Amazon sponsored ads is in charge of planning ad placement and targeting for an online store’s sponsored ads on the Amazon marketplace. Their duties also include ad campaign monitoring and strategy adjustments to maximize ROI.

• Clickfunnels Management – creating sales funnels in Clickfunnels is the main role of a Clickfunnels management VA. They also help in ensuring proper implementation, monitoring, and adjustment of funnels to maximize conversions.

• Influencer Outreach – a VA that specializes in influencer outreach deals with scoping out the best influencers to partner with. They are also responsible for creating attractive but profitable offers for influencers, engaging with them, and reaching out to them for partnership opportunities.
• Reputation Management – ensuring that your brand is viewed positively by existing and potential customers is the main goal of a reputation management VA. Their duties include monitoring feedback about your company, implementing strategies to reduce negative feedback, addressing potentially harmful content, and promoting a better brand image.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Content will always be king — even with videos, infographics, and other creative ways to present information available these days. Having informative, well-written, and keyword-enriched content is still one of the best ways to educate and entertain your audience and keep them engaged. 

Content can also be incredibly helpful when it comes to building a trusted, sought-after brand. Also, when enriched with keywords, content is instrumental in achieving a high ranking for your website in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

• Presentation Development – crafting beautiful, engaging, and highly informative presentations for your website, business presentations, and more is the main role of a presentation development VA. This means that presentation development VAs are equipped with great research, writing, and design skills.
• Content and Article Writing – writing blog articles, content for website pages, and emails are just some of the usual responsibilities of a content writer VA.Content writer VAs usually have a background in mass communications and are well-versed in long-form writing.

• Copywriting and Proofreading – writing marketing copy is different from content writing because copywriting is more geared towards making sales rather than informing the audience about something. A copywriting and proofreading VA can help you draft copy for your marketing collateral, social media posts, promotional messages, and more.
• Content Marketing – a content marketing VA handles the creation and distribution of content. Their aim to stimulate interest or inform the audience about a company’s products and services.Aside from writing, they also create content strategies to ensure that the content created will resonate with the audience. They also help make sure that all content is distributed on the right platforms and on the right schedule.

• Email Marketing – an email marketing VA creates content for email campaigns that aim to promote a company’s products/services and keep their customers and leads engaged.An entry-level email marketing VA usually just writes the emails, but advanced-level email marketing VAs can also help create, monitor, and test your email marketing campaign strategies.

• Newsletter Creation – newsletters are often part of a company’s email marketing strategy. However, since newsletters are sent regularly, you might want to hire a VA specifically for this purpose. A newsletter creation VA can help write content and design the email template for your newsletters.
• Blog Management – if you want your company blog to succeed, you need to have high-quality, interesting content and consistent updates. A blog management VA can help you with both.A blog management VA can work on several aspects of your blog from article writing to uploading and scheduling. They can create a content calendar for you to make sure that you’re posting on a regular schedule. They can also do research on trending topics and topics that your competitors are writing about so that you can improve your own content.

• CRM Automations – if your company uses a CRM to track customer sales and contact records, you’ve probably heard of automations already. Automating certain parts of your CRM workflow helps improve efficiency and data accuracy.A CRM automation VA can help you figure out which parts of your staff’s usual workflow can be automated. Once they know how to improve the process, they will set up the automations in the CRM. They are also in charge of testing the automations to ensure that everything’s working the way they should.

• eBook Development – eBooks are excellent when it comes to enticing audiences. Adding a free eBook download in your opt-in forms can help boost signups Publishing eBooks is also a great way to establish credibility in your industry.However, writing and designing eBooks can be very tedious. An eBook development VA can help you create eBooks without having to worry about creating content or designing the layout. Depending on the skill level and experience of your VA, they can help you with everything including research, content writing, layout design, and publishing of your eBook.

CREATIVE DESIGN

• Video Editing – video content is all the rage today. To help you create better quality, more enticing videos, hire a video editing expert. A video editing VA is equipped with the right skills and tools needed to create beautiful videos for marketing, social media, vlogs, podcasts, and many more.
• Photo Editing – high-quality imagery can improve a lot of things: blog articles, product listings, websites, flyers, social media posts, the list goes on. To ensure that all photos used in your marketing are topnotch, hire a photo editing VA.A photo editing VA is in charge of choosing the best photos for their specific purpose, obtaining royalty-free photos from different websites, and making necessary changes to the photos to ensure that they look great wherever they are used.

• Logo Design – your company logo is a major part of your brand identity, so don’t skimp on it and try to design it yourself. Logo design VA aren’t just great illustrators and graphic designers, they also know what graphic elements appeal to the audience.A logo design VA can help you craft an excellent logo that meshes well with your brand and appeals to your target audience.

• Print Ad Design – despite the constant rise in the use of digital ads, print advertising still works. If you want to print a lot of marketing collateral to draw in the local audience, hire a print ad expert.A print ad design VA can create flyers, brochures, banners, tarpaulins, and other types of print marketing collateral. They know how printing works, so they create collateral with the right colors and measurements for print. Print ad designers usually do the layout and graphic design elements only, so you to write the content yourself or hire a content writer VA to do it for you.
• Product Image Editing – product image editing is a very specific niche in photo editing. These editors only specialize in making sure that the photos used in your product listings meet the specific requirements for whatever online marketplace you’re selling on. 

• AVC / A+ Development – if you need someone to oversee Enhanced Brand Content for your Amazon account on Amazon Vendor Central, you’re looking for a VA who specializes in AVC / A+ Development.
  These VAs are experts at creating a complete catalog of branding and marketing content for your Amazon store.
• Infographic Development – Infographics are graphical representations of data that can enhance articles or be published by themselves as resources for your audience. If you need help with infographic development, you can hire a graphic design VA to assist you. 
• UI/UX Design – UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) design are two very important elements when it comes to designing products, services, websites, online stores, and more.A UI/UX design VA can help ensure that your audience is happy with every aspect of your website, product, or service. UI/UX designers do more than just design processes and key audience interactions; they also do product, market, and competitor research. They can conduct quantitative and qualitative research, analyze the data, and give you suggestions on how to improve your product, service, app, or website to provide a better experience for your users.

• Graphic Design – if you’re not yet sure what type of design work you need, or if you need someone who can do various types of design tasks, hire an all-around graphic design VA.A graphic design VA can do photo editing and photo manipulation, website design, print design, and digital graphics. Some graphic design VAs can also do illustrations, 3D design, moving graphics, and so on. Graphic design VAs are experts in at least one graphic design tool such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator.

IT DEVELOPMENT

• WordPress Site Development – WordPress is a very versatile website development platform that can be used for blogging, eCommerce, business websites, podcasting websites, online course websites, etc.A  WordPress site development VA is someone who specializes in developing all sorts of WordPress websites. These VAs are well-versed in creating WordPress websites, customizing themes and plugins, and troubleshooting any issues with your WordPress website.

• Woocommerce Management – if your eCommerce website is built on WordPress, you’re most likely using the Woocommerce plugin. Woocommerce is arguably the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress, and it’s definitely a great tool for powering your online store. Woocommerce is great in itself, but to take full advantage of this tool, you need a Woocommerce development and management VAA Woocommerce developer can create custom themes and plugins that can take your Woocommerce store to the next level. A Woocommerce VA is an expert in all aspects of the plugin. They can figure out issues with your Woocommerce plugin settings, do Woocommerce troubleshooting, and help with integrating or scaling your Woocommerce store.

• Shopify Store Setup & Management – Shopify is an excellent online selling platform with lots of features and tools. However, setup, customization, and management of your Shopify store can be tricky if you do it by yourself.A Shopify store setup & management VA knows all the ins and outs of developing and maintaining a Shopify store. Professional Shopify virtual assistants can also help you customize your Shopify store to make it stand out from other Shopify sellers.

• Amazon Store Setup – an Amazon store setup VA can help you configure your new Amazon store. This includes setting up product categories, Amazon FBA setup, importing product listings from an existing database or manually adding initial product listings, and keyword optimization for your initial products.
• Static Website Development – if you need a business website without eCommerce or other advanced capabilities, a VA who specializes in static website development is the right VA to hire for you.Web developer VAs can specialize in different website development platforms. Some are WordPress experts, others use Squarespace, Wix, or other drag-and-drop website creation platforms, while others can code your static website from scratch.

• Web Server Setup & Management – a web server setup and management VA can help you figure out the type of web server that’s most suitable for your website and computer system and configure your web server.After the initial setup, they help ensure that your website and company’s computer systems are running smoothly. They troubleshoot server issues, monitor server usage, and ensure server security.

• Content Management System Setup – a Content Management System (CMS) helps your staff update content on your website without any specialized or technical knowledge of how the website’s backend works.A CMS developer or CMS VA can set up a CMS that your staff can use to easily upload articles, update photos or videos, or just generally add, delete, and edit content. WordPress is the most common CMS, but a CMS development VA can also set up Joomla, Drupal, Magento (for eCommerce), or any other CMS you prefer.

• Google Business Suite Setup – if you’re ready to upgrade from the free Google tools to a Google Business Suite (GSuite) account, you can hire an IT expert VA to help you out.When your virtual assistant sets up your Google Business Suite, they can do the initial configuration of GSuite for all your company’s users and help with the training and onboarding of your staff on GSuite.

• Mail Server Backup & Maintenance – company emails are essential in running a business. To ensure that your business email communications are secure and reliable, you can hire a mail server backup & maintenance VA to help you out.It might be tempting to hire just one VA to do several of the tasks above. However, a specialist VA typically specializes in one or two skills only. Hiring a content writer VA to write articles, do SEO, and design your website means that some of their duties will be compromised. The VA will either work more slowly or produce substandard results.

To get the best results from your specialist VA/s, make sure you hire a skilled VA for each position. If you want to save, you can hire a part-time VA for each position instead of getting one full-time VA to do everything for you.

Do You Need a Specialist VA?

As your business grows, you will find that you’re going to start needing help with a lot of things. Many of these things will require people with highly specialized skill sets. Sometimes, a general admin VA or yourself won’t be able to handle these necessary updates.

If you need any help with the tasks mentioned above, then hiring a Specialist VA is definitely beneficial to you. Instead of wasting your time learning a new skill, invest in someone who already has a mastery of the skill you need. Since it can be costly to hire local employees or open a full-time position for tasks that you only need someone a few hours a week to do, it’s best to hire a VA instead.

Ready to hire a specialist VA? Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation call with us now.