Maybe more than we are!
Last year, if you had asked me about social media I would have said “Huh?” Ask me today and you get quite a different response.
Lifestreaming (the hour to hour documenting over the internet of your daily life) and Microblogging (140 words or less of whatever you would like to tell the cyberworld) have really taken over a good part of the day for those of us who work “virtually” and who actively network online to find new friends, business associates, clients, or just mentors. There is
and aggregators like ping.fm and Friend Feed, just to name a few. You can tell the world about what you are working on, why, for whom and where. You can meet potential clients, colleagues and just learn and increase your niche or spectrum of services based on the inspiration of others.
Howard Lindzon had a “Twitter” which I picked up, which lead me to his blog. I saw an article which described the advent of “Social Media Assistants”
Howard details just one of the many reasons that someone could utilize a Virtual Assistant.
Is it possible that social networking could open up a plethora of services that we can provide to our new and future clients? Possibly, but we have to learn the ropes first. I suggest researching all you can on the services I mention above, how you can manage the feeds with aggregators, how they can be used in business, and how bringing all this together can be a deliverable that you can bring to your clients.
We also need to constantly stay on top of trends and information for blogging, SEO and WordPress. A great place to start is I’m Blogging That. I have become a HUGE fan of this blog. It is a must for me to read her blog whenever she has a new post. Check it out!
Do you agree that Virtual Assistants and Virtual Business Professionals should spend more time on social media or do you think it is a trend that is going to be old hat soon?
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Author bio: Taryn Merrick is a Professional Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager (OBM). As Principal of Merrick Management And Media Services, she has over 20 years of administrative management experience. Taryn works to promote the Virtual Assistant industry and to make it stand out as a true profession of excellence. Her style is easy going, yet precise, with emphasis placed on exceeding customer expectations, client communication and satisfaction.
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This entire phenomenon has me flummoxed.
I am alternately seduced and guilt-ridden over my own time spent on Social Media.To be honest, I don’t know whether I am there for professional reasons (research, networking) or just because it is fun and exciting!
I agree that support VAs could jump on this as a service offering but ultimately that may cause some of the appeal to be lost. I want to interact directly with people, not their gatekeeper or assistant. On the other hand, I am following Barack Obama and he’s following me. Do I really believe that Obama himself is following me?! It would be cool, but…
Like all cool things (remember when Craig’s list was new and fresh and free from con artists and spammers and worse?), we’ll figure out how best to use it judiciously. Or it will also fall victim to manipulation and will be a thing of the past.
Katie: I agree to a point. There is a flip side to this issue, of course. A VA can have a business and personal twitter, or combine the two. For me, mine is 80% business and 20% light personal. For example, describing an interesting place I’ve been, etc.
I think the breadth of services which Virtual Assistants can provide to their clients with this service is endless though. For the client and VA who know each other quite well and have a solid line of communication, I think something like posting for them can be quite achievable.
You said it yourself, when you think of how much time social media can absorb, that is yet one more task a Virtual Assistant can handle for their clients.
Agreed, it is not for every client nor every VA. It is a highly specialized kind of service, in my opinion.