50 tasks your virtual assistant can do to save you time

This article is a submission by The Virtual Assistant Company. The Virtual Assistant Company is a family-run, multi-award-winning team of dedicated Virtual Assistants.

“Should I start outsourcing?” If you’re asking yourself this question, chances are your business has reached the stage where you are ready to begin outsourcing in order to grow and scale.

Think about those tasks that are vital for the success of your business but don’t require your personal expertise. The tasks that could easily be outsourced to another pair of hands.

By outsourcing these tasks, you’ll be able to focus on the areas of the business that require your time and attention.

Outsourcing your business tasks to a virtual assistant can be a great way to free up your time. It can take a load off your plate so you can focus on growing your business.

Now we’ve established why a virtual assistant can be a valuable asset to your business, let’s take a look at the type of tasks they can help with.

General admin

Admin is an important aspect of any business, but it can be time-consuming. Why not let a virtual assistant take care of some of your day-to-day admin?

Here are some examples of admin tasks that a VA could handle for you:

1. Calendar/diary management – have your VA manage your calendar and help get you organized.

2. Setting up meetings – your VA can help to set up meetings, Zoom calls, and send calendar invites.

3. CRM management – have your VA tidy up your CRM by updating names and contact details, and adding or removing contacts where necessary.

4. Research tasks – need to carry out some research? Have your VA do this for you.

5. Book travel – your VA can handle booking flights, tickets, or hotels and even organize your entire trip.

6. Event planning – whether it’s organizing a personal or business event, your VA can help.

7. Minute-taking –  a VA can be tasked to take notes from your meetings.

8. Document formatting – need to format a document? Delegate this to your VA, or have them create document templates and slide deck designs.

9. Personal to-do list – your VA can help you with personal tasks too! Let them help you organize your travel, family calendar, parties, holidays, and more.

Website support

Your website is the digital shopfront for your business. It’s often the first time a prospective client finds you, so leaving a great first impression is important.

It’s therefore important to ensure your website is regularly updated, which helps with SEO too! Your VA can help with updating and maintaining your website.

Here are some examples of some tasks your virtual assistant can take care of for you:

10. Content updates – have your VA update your website as and when necessary.

11. Blog writing – a virtual assistant can write, edit and publish blog posts to your website.

12. Content writing – need to update your website’s copy? A VA can write effective copy for your website.

13. Design and maintenance – VAs specializing in website design and maintenance can help you out with these tasks.

Content creation

Content is an important element of social media posts, blogs, and other marketing materials for your business. Save time and outsource content creation to your Virtual Assistant.

Here are some examples of what they can help with:

14. Blogging – a VA can not only write blog posts for you, but they can also help with researching trending topics and reaching out to third parties for collaboration opportunities in terms of link building.

15. Social media content – specialized VAs can design on-brand graphics for your business to use on social media and other platforms. They can also write the content for your social media posts.

16. Engagement and blog commenting – your VA can help give your website an SEO boost by leaving comments on relevant blog posts with a link back to your site.

They can also engage on social media with target clients and relevant accounts to give your social profiles a boost too.

17. Newsletters – do you send a regular newsletter to your email list (or need to start)?

Have your VA write the content for the newsletter and even organize the entire campaign, from designing the newsletter to sending it out and tracking the statistics.

Marketing support

Marketing is an important aspect of any business. If you don’t have a dedicated in-house marketing team, why not outsource your marketing tasks to your Virtual Assistant?

Here are some examples of the type of marketing tasks they can support you with:

18. Social media outreach – your VA can find and contact potential clients for you to build relationships and generate leads.

19. Forum discussion – have your VA take part in discussions on forums that are relevant to your industry and niche. This can help to increase reach and brand awareness.

20. Social media group discussion – like forum discussion, your VA can also engage in conversations in relevant groups on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn to increase brand awareness and reach.

21. Lead generation – have your VA find and contact potential customers.

22. Moderating comments – moderating comments on your blog and social media can take time. Have your VA handle this for you.

23. Proofreading –  your VA can proofread content before it’s published.

24. Presentations and slide decks – VAs also have the skills to design, create, edit, proofread, or write content for specific presentations.

Design

Creating professional graphics and marketing materials requires certain expertise. A VA specializing in graphic design can help to create professional, on-brand graphics for your business.

Here are examples of what a virtual assistant can help you with:

25. Graphic design – a specialist VA can create professional graphics for your brand.

26. Logo design – as with graphics, a VA specializing in graphic design can help with logo design too.

27. Social media graphics – specialized VAs can design on-brand graphics for your business to use on social media and other platforms.

28. Web design – a specialist VA can help to create websites and landing pages for your business.

29. Design for printing – need some marketing materials printed? Have your VA design them for you and even organize the printing and delivery.

30. Business cards, brochures, letterheads – your VA can help with the design of your business cards, brochures, letterheads, and other documents.

Other support

Wondering what else a virtual assistant can help you with? Here are some more examples of tasks you can outsource to your VA:

31. Tech tasks – do you need some basic IT assistance? A TEG virtual assistant can help with just that!

32. Project management –  your VA can assist with all aspects of project management.

33. Customer support – a virtual assistant can act as the ‘face of your business’ and be the first port of call for your customers. VAs are equipped to manage customer inquiries, live chat, take calls, and more.

34. Invoicing, expenses, and receipts – have your assistant help with invoicing your customers, organize your expenses and manage your receipts.

35. Analytics and reporting – have your VA manage your marketing statistics and reports, including your website and social media data.

36. Hashtag research – your virtual assistant can research and identify hashtags that are relevant to your brand and industry for use on social media.

37. Social media posting and scheduling – have your assistant schedule and publish social media content on your behalf.

38. Social media set up and design – your VA can set up your social media profiles for your business.

They can help with the full set-up if required, including custom-designed cover images and a professionally written bio.

39. Audio transcription – save time and outsource audio transcription to your virtual assistant.

40. Remote file management – have your VA organize your files. Whether you use DropBox, SharePoint, Google Drive, or another platform, your assistant can help get everything in order.

41. Email outreach – a skilled and experienced VA can carry out cold email outreach on your behalf.

42. e-commerce assistance – your virtual assistant can help to update product listings and descriptions, images, and other aspects of your e-commerce business.

43. Property admin – your virtual assistant can manage all aspects of property admin on behalf of estate agents and property entrepreneurs.

This includes creating property listings, brochures, window cards, particulars, ordering boards, and managing tenants.

44. Influencer outreach – have your VA contact influencers on your behalf for potential collaborations and partnerships.

45. Designing infographics – a virtual assistant can help to create infographics for your business for use on your social media or blog.

46. WordPress management – specialized VAs can help with the ongoing management of your WordPress website, including updating the necessary plugins and software.

47. Research potential customers – have your assistant research potential clients and gather their contact information.

48. HR and recruitment –  your VA can also assist you with your HR and recruitment processes.

49. YouTube management – VAs can be tasked to upload video content, moderate comments, and manage the channel.

50. Prepare training resources – your VA can create training materials, video tutorials, and help get everything in order.

When trying to grow a business, there will come a time when you need some support.

Whether that’s to free up time to allow you to focus on the more important tasks or to benefit from the experience of another professional with knowledge and skills outside of your area of expertise.

Outsourcing to a virtual assistant is a flexible and cost-effective way of hiring without the commitment of employing someone in-house.

A virtual assistant can take much off your plate in your everyday life. If you’re a busy parent, you could even hire a VA to help with things such as booking appointments, planning events, and even online grocery shopping!