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Social media is crucial for attorneys looking to increase their online visibility. While managing multiple platforms is a great way to get your brand in front of potential clients, it is often time-consuming and requires a certain level of expertise. A solid social media strategy requires careful research, planning, and scheduling. If you are running a law firm and what to increase your social media presence without impacting your firm’s core business activities, you may want to consider hiring a virtual assistant.
What Is a Social Media Virtual Assistant?
A social media virtual assistant does everything a typical social media manager does, except they work from a remote location. They focus on time-sensitive social media tasks, so you can spend your time focusing on core business activities. Examples of tasks include:
- Planning and starting social media profiles
- Developing high-quality content and images for social media platforms
- Connecting with audiences through social media channels
- Curating and managing social media campaigns
While you can spend your own work hours or personal hours on social media tasks, doing so could let potential clients slip through the cracks. If you are interested in bringing a virtual assistant to your team, you need to understand your options and the hiring process.
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant to Manage Your Social Media
To hire a virtual assistant, you have the option of going through an agency or hiring an individual. There are pros and cons to both. Ultimately, determining which route to go depends on the security you are seeking, as well as the number of candidates you want to choose from.
Virtual Assistant Agencies
If you choose to hire through a virtual assistant agency, you will likely have support options from the agency in the event of a problem. Agencies that hire virtual assistants walk through the hiring process with individuals to ensure they are up for the task of working the job. Some agencies also perform regular quality checks to ensure their employees or contractors are performing work properly. If you are concerned about hiring an assistant that is not right for your law firm, ask agencies if they offer a replacement guarantee.
Individual Virtual Assistants
If you would instead seek an assistant on your own, you can hire an independent virtual assistant. It can take time and experience to pick the right assistant for your needs, especially when using a freelancer network or marketplace. Individual virtual assistance may have more flexibility in terms of payment and schedule, so it is essential to weigh your options and determine which hiring method is suitable for you.
The Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Your Law Firm
While not every law firm needs a remote social media assistant, most will reap the benefits of hiring one. The most common benefits include reducing hiring costs, expanding your firm faster, and giving you more time.
Reduce Hiring and Training Costs
Hiring is expensive and time-consuming. If you want a social media manager but are not looking to screen, interview, recruit, and train candidates, a virtual assistant could be the right call. No matter whether you go through an agency or hire an independent virtual assistant, they will already be aware of social media management and should be able to adjust to your firm’s needs and requirements quickly.
Note that virtual assistants are different than full-time employees. In many instances, virtual assistants are part-time, but you may choose to hire them for more hours per week. While they will not be physically present in your law firm, they can manage your social media from anywhere and typically have flexible schedules depending on your firm’s needs.
Grow Your Firm Faster
Many social media tasks are time-consuming but not core to your business. Examples include replying to comments, creating quality content, and researching hashtags. Instead of focusing on your firm’s social media presence, a virtual assistant can handle posting and campaigns while you focus on core activities that fuel your firm’s growth.
Boost Your Productivity
While you may be capable of managing your law firm’s social media presence, you could sacrifice crucial time doing so. Virtual assistants who specialize in social media can handle those repetitive tasks and will likely be able to do so in a time-efficient manner. As a result, you will have more time on your hands which could, in turn, boost your productivity during working hours.
Common Tasks for a Social Media Virtual Assistant
The tasks you assign to your virtual assistant will depend on your firm’s needs. There may be a transition period as they learn your different social media channels, target audience, and overall goals. In most instances, virtual assistants are capable of the following:
- Develop a social media strategy. If you do not already have a social media strategy, a virtual assistant can help you develop one that focuses on your brand and goals. If you have a plan, the assistant can evaluate its effectiveness and suggest changes as needed.
- Research and create content. To produce quality content for social media pages, you need to know what to post, when to post it, and how to reach your target audience. A virtual assistant can manage that research for you.
- Find and use high-quality images. In addition to quality content, you also need to use high-quality images on your social media posts. Doing so makes your posts more attractive and more likely to be viewed.
- Curate content from other channels. Original content is just a portion of what you post on social media. Your virtual assistant will also curate relevant content from other websites and reputable sources.
- Proofread and edit content. Even if the information you present is credible and valuable, a single grammatical or spelling error can make you look bad. Virtual assistants can proof your content and ensure everything that goes live is 100% accurate.
- Schedule and manage posts. A consistent and planned social media posting schedule can increase viewership and, as a result, potential leads.
- Monitor conversations and reply to comments. While some discussions on threads are useful, there may be inappropriate or irrelevant comments. Your virtual assistant can monitor conversations, reply to queries, and hide or remove comments as needed.
- Set up and manage advertising campaigns. Facebook ad campaigns are an excellent way to meet your target audience and share your services, but managing a campaign can take time. A virtual assistant can help.
- Create surveys and promotions. Law firms can also increase social media engagement by conducting polls and surveys, which can help attorneys understand their audience and build relationships with potential clients.
- Compile and analyze marketing data. To determine if your social media strategy is effective, you need to compile and analyze data and statistics. Your virtual assistant can collect that information and present it to you so you can determine if changes need to be made.
The list above is not comprehensive. Depending on your firm’s needs, you will likely be able to find a virtual assistant who can handle any required tasks. If you work with an agency, you can have them vet the right candidate for your firm. If you choose to hire an individual virtual assistant, you can review their experience and determine if they are right for you.
Managing Your Law Firm’s Virtual Assistant
Communication can be a challenge when working with a virtual assistant, but it does not have to be. To ensure you can adequately communicate with your remote assistant, you need to ensure you have the right communication tools in place.
To start, you should have a messaging tool. Online tools like Slack and ClickUp let you share files and create dedicated channels for communication. You will also want to implement a video calling tool like Zoom or Skype to explain tasks more effectively. If need be, you can also utilize an employee monitoring tool to ensure your remote workers can track their time and pay based on hours or projects.
How Law Quill Can Help With Social Media
Hiring a virtual assistant for your law firm’s social media management can help you grow your social media presence faster without taking time away from your firm’s core business activities. Remember that researching, creating, and scheduling content for even just one platform is time-consuming. With a dedicated expert managing your social media content, you can take your firm’s online presence to a higher level.
If you are uncertain about how best to proceed when it comes to hiring a remote assistant, or you need help with your firm’s social media content, Law Quill can is ready to assist. We are here to help and would welcome the opportunity to visit with you for free regarding your law firm website’s content, and how we can take these tasks off your plate! Schedule a free visit with us by scheduling a quick phone or zoom call at your convenience on our calendar today. You can also email us at support@lawquill.com.
