Today, May 15, 2009, is International Virtual Assistants Day.

The virtual assistant industry continues to grow as more solo professionals have a need for quality assistance to help them grow their businesses.

Some of the online marketing strategies we use to assist solo professionals are:

1. Blogs

2. Websites

3. Ezines

4. Email marketing

5. Social networking

6. Article submissions

7. Virtual event promotion

What would you like a virtual assistant to do for you?

Social networking is the wave many solopreneurs are now riding. Using social networking as a piece of your marketing strategy helps your prospects get to know you and your business, how you work, what values and ethics you uphold. Your prospects come to trust you, turn to you for information, and eventually want your services and products. They will even refer you to other people they know who can use your services. 

Why haven't you decided to ride the wave of social networking? Some small business owners I've talked to give these reasons for not jumping into social networking: 

1. It's too complicated.
2. It takes too much time.
3. There's no way to track the return on investment
4. You can't get new clients from social networking 

Social networking does not need to be complicated or take hours and hours each day. So how can you use social networking responsibly and effectively? Remember - no one wants to be inundated with offers of your costly services all day long. When I start getting a dozen messages everyday from the same people over and over again offering their expensive services, I quickly tire of that and don't want to hear from them anymore. 

However, I do appreciate receiving valuable and interesting information, tips, quotes, etc. So start small. I suggest taking these steps in this order: 

1. Post tips your prospects can use
2. Offer a free report or gift to those who sign up for your newsletter
3. Put together a free or low-cost teleseminar to build your list and promote it 

Remember, social networking needs to be about building relationships - not primarily about self-promotion. So balance is needed when using social networking as a marketing strategy.

A virtual assistant can help you get started in social networking and assist in maintaining your profile. Save time by having your virtual assistant update your social sites on a regular basis. There are tools, such as TweetLater.com, that can be used to schedule Tweets in advance so you're not spending every minute of the day on Twitter. 

If you're not using social networking to market your business, you're missing out on a big piece of the puzzle. Remember that it may take seeing your information 8-20 times before a prospect picks up the phone to call you or contacts you through your website. So let's get busy and start networking! 

Sue Canfield

For over 25 years Sue Canfield, Virtual Office Administrator and Owner of Awesome Assistant, has helped small business owners with administrative tasks. Since 2005 she has worked with over 30 clients to help them grow their businesses, specifically by using online marketing strategies such as email newsletters, blogs, articles, and social networking. Her mission is to partner with her clients to work together to create and implement strategies to promote their businesses. For more information about how she can help your business, visit http://www.AwesomeAssistant.info.

Teleseminars are a great way to inform people of you and your services. Teleseminars help people get to know you, come to like you and then trust you. A great way to promote a teleseminar is through social networking. If you are already on social networking sites and have access to many contacts, you already have a base of people who know and trust you. These people are more likely to register for your teleseminars and tell their friends about it.

Social networks allow you to post useful tips and information that can help your target market. You can also read and listen to what others are saying so you know what things are of interest to them. You can answer questions on LinkedIn, share your blog posts on Facebook, post a tip on Twitter. Doing these things helps build your credibility so people are more likely to want to participate in your teleseminar. Of course you want to use social networking responsibly and not overdo your promotion. Balance your promotion with valuable information you share.

What do you do to promote your teleseminars?

Many solo professionals are intimadated by the idea of starting a blog. There are many questions they want answered?

1. What blogging platform should be used - WordPress, Blogger, Typepad or something else?

2. How will I find time to post entries?

3. What will I write about?

4. How do I get people to find my blog?

I've helped several clients create and maintain their blogs. We create strategies to find time to write the entries and create ideas for entries. Our strategies to promote their blogs include links on their websites, social networking sites, and on Twitter.

Here are recent blogs I helped create:

Stacey Martino's blog

Springboard Connections

Andrew Rogerson's blog

Would you like help in starting a blog? Then drop me a line.

Social networking is a part of our marketing strategy in today's market. Trying to figure it all out can be confusing and overwhelming. I found a great article by Albert Kaufman that I think explains the basic of social networking in a way we all can understand. Check it out here: Living in a house of social networks - a new frame for social networking.

What is your opinion of social networking?