A business deals with many tasks daily, and as these tasks grow, the need for different types of virtual assistants grows with it. True or false?
If you’re invested in your company’s success, you’d say true.
People think a virtual assistant is that one-stop employee ready to take on any task no matter how complex the required skills may be. But virtual assistants are not workplace chameleons. You can’t expect them to magically adapt to various requests hoping they’ll figure out how to do it all.
This is why it’s important to get acquainted with the different types of virtual assistants in the job market. In doing so, you don’t stretch them too thin, and you get excellent work.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the types of virtual assistants businesses across industries need.
The Different Types of Virtual Assistants
Before we get into it, let’s take a look at who virtual assistants are.
A virtual assistant is an online worker responsible for supporting an executive team, a CEO, managers, or anyone in the company requiring an extra pair of hands to fully commit to their jobs. Because they’re online staff, virtual assistants work remotely. The help they offer takes place in the digital space.
However, it can be difficult to identify the kind of work within their job title’s scope. And we’re to give you the answers once and for all.
Note that the following list doesn’t cover all types of virtual assistants.
The roles of VAs change depending on a company’s or executive’s needs. What we’re tackling in this blog are merely some of the most common types of VAs, who are also likely to serve your business in some way.
So, ready to dive in? Let’s go.
In-Demand Types of Virtual Assistants
The types of virtual assistants you need depends on the nature of your business. But there are in-demand virtual assistant services simply because a majority of businesses need them to function successfully.
Let’s start with these types of virtual assistants:
Data entry specialists
This type of virtual assistant organizes and inputs bulks of data into a system to make the information easy to understand for anyone who has to use it.
Administrative assistants
The main role of virtual administrative assistant mostly involves scheduling or rescheduling meetings, events, appointments, and the like; taking minutes at meetings; responding to certain calls or emails; and even assisting in scheduling company trips. Administrative assistants perform tasks that are clerical in nature, and anything beyond that would require specialists in other fields.
Chat & tech support agents
Virtual chat and tech support agents answer customer queries and concerns online. They can do this on the website of the company they’re representing, the company’s social media pages, or through email. The difference between them is chat support is the broad term for agents who engage with customers in any business. On the other hand, tech support requires an in-depth understanding of the company’s technical products or services.
Quality assurance specialists
The work of a quality assurance specialist primarily involves checking whether a business’s product or service is up to standard. They also oversee and inspect the company’s production processes and recommend measures to improve such processes.
Bookkeepers
The role of a bookkeeper in any business is to keep tabs on a company’s transactions regularly. They carefully and consistently manage accounting ledgers and record transactions in the correct category. Bookkeepers are also tasked to create trial balances, reconcile accounts, or adjust bookkeeping errors where needed.
Learn more about these on our blog tackling the in-demand virtual assistant services for business.
Other Kinds of VAs
Here are other types of virtual assistants many companies may need for their marketing and sales goals:
Social media assistant
Many tend to think a social media assistant is interchangeable with a social media strategist, social media marketer, or social media writer.
However, social media assistants, like all of the types of virtual assistants here, perform clerical tasks. That means their work mainly entails scheduling social media posts; going through competitors’ social media pages to collect data; keeping tabs on the nature of queries received; scanning trends on designated social media platforms; tallying a company’s social media stats; and even answering queries on a company’s socials.
Beyond these tasks will require other kinds of professionals.
Digital marketing assistant
The work of a digital marketing assistant is quite similar to that of a social media assistant.
They perform the same duties, except digital marketing assistants document data across marketing strategies. So things like SEO and paid ads are examples of campaigns whose data they may track. But if a company’s main digital marketing platform is its social media pages, then these first two types can be interchanged.
Leads generation specialists
According to one of our specialists, the primary task involved in lead generation is database building. Ensuring the accuracy of entries collected and the quality of data are their top concerns. Clients may specify the platforms where specialists can find leads or leave it up to them to determine where to find leads optimally.
Research assistants
As the name suggests, research assistants have to conduct research on matters that will aid a company or their superior with their work.
They’re also an in-demand type of assistant, but the businesses that hire them tend to be data-heavy. Universities, marketing agencies, or establishments in need of big data usually hire them.
Industry-Specific VAs
No matter the industry, every business stands to benefit from having virtual assistants. However, there are certain types of VAs with special roles because of the industry their company operates in. These are the following:
Real estate assistants
Many real estate companies seek out skilled real estate virtual assistants. They need professionals who can assist agents in closing sales, so they can be required to set up listings online, be the first one to engage with interested prospects, manage a database containing leads, and other kinds of clerical work.
eCommerce assistants
Online shops will invariably require an online support team to keep up with sales. eCommerce assistants may provide support by taking inventory of the items, updating the website to accommodate new products, taking note of shop numbers (whether sales or marketing analytics), and the like.
Healthcare assistants
A virtual healthcare assistant can deal with reviewing medical records to ensure their accuracy, scheduling appointments for physicians or patients, and even answering queries relating to the healthcare establishment or a physician.
eLearning assistants
eLearning virtual assistants may sound like another term for eLearning instructors or teachers; however, this type of virtual assistant doesn’t necessarily teach. Rather, their primary duties may involve transcribing lectures, making very simple video edits, and helping prevent eLearning courses from running into technical issues.
Legal assistants
A legal assistant is the more administrative counterpart of a paralegal. Like healthcare assistants, their tasks may include scheduling meetings, formatting documents, or managing inquiries concerning a lawyer or law firm.
In Summary
The different types of virtual assistants are:
- Data entry specialist
- Administrative assistant
- Chat & tech support specialist
- Quality assurance specialist
- Research assistant
- Bookkeeper
- Social media virtual assistant
- Digital marketing virtual assistant
- Leads generation virtual assistant
- Real estate virtual assistant
- eCommerce virtual assistant
- Healthcare virtual assistant
- eLearning virtual assistant
- Legal assistant
Need to get in touch with a rockstar virtual assistant outsourcing company? Don’t hesitate to contact NarraSoft.
With over 12 years of outsourcing experience, we’re more than capable of rendering a wide range of virtual assistant work.
This includes chat and email support services, technical support services, data entry & processing services, bookkeeping and accounting services, and many more.
For a free consultation or if you have any inquiries, send an email to sales@narrasoft.com or message us on our chat box below or our contact form.