From Secretaries to Virtual Assistants to … Social Media Assistants?
by Anita Campbell
I still remember the days when no self-respecting corporate executive or manager would be caught dead without a secretary.
Sometimes it felt as if your status as an executive depended on having someone to assist you by taking/transcribing dictation; typing and copying documents; handling the phones; making travel arrangements; scheduling meetings; and other support. Of course, that was back before executives used personal computers and user-friendly software.
Later the secretary’s job evolved. There came to be less emphasis on clerical duties such as typing, and more on administrative responsibilities such as completing reports. The title evolved, too, and increasingly came to be called “administrative assistant” or by other titles.
While their roles have evolved, secretaries and administrative assistants have not gone the way of the blacksmith or buggy maker. They are still around and will be for a long time to come. It’s just that their jobs look a lot different today. Over the years their responsibilities have increased, as has the respect for all they do.
In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook for secretaries and admins speaks specifically to the evolution of the role.
But like most government statistics, it’s dreadfully behind the times.
It doesn’t address the new kid in town — the virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant frequently does work that is similar to an administrative assistant, only working “virtually” — i.e., at a distance and not at your premises. The role reflects the distributed way so many of us work today, from “anywhere.” The virtual assistant is self-employed and works as an independent contractor typically making $30/hour or more. Home Office Warrior has a 4-part series that lists 100 duties/tasks you can outsource to a virtual assistant (start at part 1)
By all accounts the role of virtual assistant seems to be flourishing. Here’s one fun fact — the following Google Trends chart shows the growth of searches for the term “virtual assistant” over the past 4 years:
There are now industry associations for virtual assistants; agencies that specialize in placing virtual assistants (I had the head of Team DoubleClick on my radio show not long ago); online job boards and marketplaces to hire virtual assistants; and community forums where virtual assistants share tips and advice and give one another emotional support.
In the future, I see the need for virtual assistants only continuing to grow. One of the many factors I see driving that growth, interestingly enough, will be the growth of social media. Stay with me while I explain.
The Web is now viewed as a necessity by business, including small businesses (ignore all that stuff you hear about fewer than half of small businesses having websites — it’s outdated bunk). Business people in small and midsize businesses are looking for help with their online visibility. Online visibility increasingly relies on social media activities. Social media entails a certain amount of hands-on work that has to get done for an effective social media strategy. While social media consultants may help you craft a strategy and tell you WHAT to do, at some point you still need someone to actually carry it out. That’s where virtual assistants come in.
Virtual assistants are now being hired to write/proofread blog posts; update MySpace and Facebook pages; comment on forums; perform social bookmarking; compose Twitter tweets to publicize new blog posts; and a variety of other social-media activities.
You can already find virtual assistants who specialize by industry, including real estate, law, and retail. As the field of virtual assistants grows, look for it to organize into specialties by functional expertise, too — bookkeeping, admin, online marketing, etc. Look for one of those specialties to be the social media VA.
Do you use virtual assistants? Have you used a VA for social media? What’s your experience been like? And you VAs out there, how many of you are doing online marketing /social media work?
