If you’ve stumbled across this post, then you likely realize that blogging isn’t dead. In fact, blogging has turned into a world within itself, now referred to as the influencer space. But being an influencer is a lot more than snapping a mirror selfie and telling the people on Instagram where you bought your top. There is a strategy and focus that goes on behind the scenes. Not to mention, the need for constant content creation is very time-consuming. This is exactly why many influencers are in need of help on a regular basis! If you’ve ever wanted to walk alongside an influencer, but not have to get in front of a camera, then this post is for you. I’m teaching you how to become a virtual assistant to the biggest bloggers!
We recently did a whole episode on the Bold Business Podcast talking about this very subject. You can listen by clicking below or wherever you get your podcasts.
APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY | STITCHER
Become A Virtual Assistant To The Biggest Bloggers
Understanding The Influencer Space
Sometimes seen as a negative term, influencers are individuals who have curated a specific audience that takes up real estate within a niche. They have the ability to provide one of three things: entertainment, value, connection, or maybe even all three. It’s important to understand the influencer space and how they make money. Influencers are extremely busy on the hamster wheel of content creation, they don’t have time to train you on the basics. If you’re new to the influencer world, here are the basics of how things work.
How Influencers Make Money
Influencers usually make money in two ways, through paid brand sponsorships and affiliate marketing. For example, a brand may pay an influencer to give an honest review about a product in a YouTube video, an Instagram story, and an email. This will vary depending on the brand’s objectives of the campaign. Some campaign goals are to generate brand awareness while other campaigns are trying to generate sales. This can be done in two ways. Either the influencer reaches out to the brand or vice versa. If your blogger or influencer has a brand manager, they will handle this process and the terms of the agreement for them.
Affiliate marketing is when an influencer uses a platform such as RewardStyle to share a link to a product. When someone from the influencer’s audience uses that link to purchase the item, the influencer receives a commission. The link is an embedded tracking link and will keep track of what all the consumer buys. For instance, an influencer shares a top they love. You tap to buy the $20 top. The influencer makes a set percentage from the consumer using their link. This is no extra cost to the consumer and commission rates vary from 1-15% generally speaking, but are usually on the lower end.
This is why influencers focus on growth so heavily.
Because the larger their audience size, the more of an impact selling a $20 top can have on their affiliate income. This is also why it’s important to let analytics, data, and feedback from an influencer’s audience guide what influencers share.
Influencers may also break out and do brand partnerships where they launch a product line under another brand’s umbrella. Or they may even have their own digital or physical products. This is another great way to generate income and utilize their audience in a new way.
Understanding Their Brand
Now that you understand how influencers make money, the next step in becoming a Virtual Assistant to an influencer is understanding the influencer’s brand and brand pillars. In order to truly be able to support them and their business you have to understand the influencer, their brand, their target audience, and what their brand pillars are.
An influencer’s brand is likely an extension of who they are as a person. This is who they are, their branding, their colors, fronts, and more. You, as their virtual assistant, would be like a second brain for them! They need to be able to trust you to make selections for their brand as if they were making it themselves… Remember, it’s not about what you like, it’s about their brand!
An influencer’s brand pillars are content that they share. For instance, they may share affordable fashion, workwear every Wednesday, sale alerts for their favorite brand, and sprinkle in mom life. Having a strong sense of their brand and their brand pillars allows you to do your job best. Without these, they may not be ready to hire. If you’re unsure whether an influencer is ready to hire, check out this post!
Provide Value
The final step to becoming a virtual assistant to the biggest bloggers is being able to provide value! This is by far the most important step of them all. Bloggers and Influencers are running a business. At the end of the day, their goal is to continue to grow and scale their business. So you want to think, how you can help them do that? Are there things in their business they should be doing but don’t have time for? Are there things that they need to refine? Maybe things they want to do more of? Maybe they just want a little time back? Below I’ve included a list of tasks and skills that an influencer might be looking for help on.
Virtual Assistant Services Influencers Are Looking For
The way in which bloggers and influencers run their businesses can vary greatly depending on their focus, how long they’ve been in business, their main social media platform, and more. Therefore the virtual assistant work that they are looking for may vary as well. However, most bloggers and influencers will be in search of a handful of the below virtual assistant services.
- Inbox Management
- Brand Negotiations
- Pinterest Management
- Email Marketing
- Graphics and Collages
- Affiliate Linking
- Social Media Engagement (responding to DMs, Comments, Etc.)
- Blog Posts
- Facebook Management
- Youtube Video Editing
- Social Media Management
- Podcast Manager
- RewardStyle Manager
- Website Design
My recommendation is to do some research on your ideal client. Hiring a virtual assistant for the first time can be intimidating and scary for most influencers. Remember, they are small business owners just like yourself! We want to make the process as easy as possible for them. You can do this by curating a list of ways in which you can help them. This makes it an easy YES for them when you go to reach out. This could look like writing a blog post for them, helping manage their direct messages, or creating custom graphics in Canva!
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If you’re looking to become a Virtual Assistant (or earn some extra income), grab my 7-step guide to starting your virtual assistant business in just one weekend!
Feel free to drop me a note if you have any questions about becoming a virtual assistant to the biggest bloggers. I’d love to chat! I also recommend checking out this section of our virtual assistant blog for even more resources!
