I want you to know that it takes a while to get ready to outsource your FB content, and if you don’t want to make the mistakes I made, there’s some effort required on your part, before you can bring someone on board. I learned the hard way, so take it from me. I’ve created list of 9 ESSENTIAL steps you need to take to ensure that your first task of outsourcing FB content with a new VA works out. I’ve listed them below.

1. A content plan
You need to have mapped out WHAT gets posted and WHEN. This is called a content plan. If you have one post per day going up, then your content plan might look like this:
Monday – motivational/quote/inspiring
Tuesday – Top tip
Wednesday – Promote your products/services
Thursday – Something about you
Friday – something fun/joke/meme
Saturday – on the go
Sunday – Something free
Without a plan, a VA will not know what to post or when to do it. Make sure it’s stored somewhere digitally that they can access anytime – I love using Asana. There’s an example of my content plan here.

2. Pre-written content
You cannot expect someone who is NOT in your zone of genius to be able to write the way you do. You also shouldn’t expect that outsourcing your FB content means that you won’t EVER be involved. Your voice still needs to be in the content. It’s crucial. My dear friend Laura Dick quotes Denise Duffield-Thomas on this a LOT. It’s effortLESS, not effort NONE. The moment you try to hand ALL of the content over (including writing the posts) your voice disappears and it becomes less authentic. Please don’t think that outsourcing your FB content means that you won’t EVER be involved. This just means that you need to batch some of your content before a VA can start. Here’s some ideas.

3. A system for when the pre-written content runs out
You’ll batch some content for when your VA first starts, but eventually it will run out. If you batch 6 months worth, then you’re AWESOME, and your VA can just go ahead and re-post that once it’s all used up. Most of us aren’t able to batch that much in advance, so just make sure you have a system in place so that you don’t run out of content and then days, weeks, months pass until you write more for your VA.

4. A progress tracker
It’s important that you have a way to track where your VA is up to with their scheduling. Yes, you can go and look at the FB page but it’s not the best way of seeing where they are up to. I suggest setting the content up as a board in Asana, and setting the tasks to reoccur each week. This way, you can go into Asana at any point in time and see where they are up to with their tasks. If you want help with how to do this, let me know.

5. Design templates
You’d be mad if you didn’t also get your VA to make images to go with your posts, right? But you’ve gotta give them something to work off. I suggest that you make a file in Canva, with some examples of what you like to use. Before they start, give them a task of designing 10 images for you to check, before they actually start using them. This means that you’re able to tell them if there’s anything that you don’t like. Also, make sure that your colours are already loaded into the ‘my brand’ section of Canva, which you’ll find on left hand side of the home page once you’re logged in.

6. Feedback model
Make sure you decide how you’d prefer to communicate with your VA. Is is email? FB messenger? Slack? The more you communicate in the early stages, the better. Pick one channel and stick to it. Let them know that they can ask you ANY questions they have. It’ll help iron out all the kinks early on. You also need to talk about how you’ll give them feedback. If you need something to be changed, or if something they design or do isn’t quite right, you need to communicate that to them so they don’t keep doing it. Be clear from the beginning that you will offer feedback, and assure them that you will be polite and helpful, and you expect the same.

7. Hire someone who knows your systems
If you’re going to use Asana and Slack, make sure you hire someone who knows how to use both. If you use Trello and google docs, make sure the person is competent in those systems.

8. Access to FB
You’ll need to give your VA access to your biz page only. You can do this through the page, and you don’t need to use a password keeper like LastPass. Simply go to your page on a computer and click on Settings (top right) >> Page Roles (from the menu on the left) >> Assign a New Page Role. Type their name as it appears on FB (you don’t need to be friends) and add them as an Editor. No need to give them ‘Admin’ access, Editor is fine.

9. Access to Canva
I HIGHLY recommend you get yourself a free LastPass account. It stores your passwords safely so you don’t have to literally give your VA (or anyone) your passwords. Use it to share your Canva password with your new VA.

I want you to know that it takes a while to work up to having a good chunk of your FB content outsourced SUCCESSFULLY. I suggest you start with ONE post type at a time and get your system working with your VA. For example, you might have written some quotes and collected some quotes from others that you like, and your VA can schedule those once a week onto your page as their first task. Once you’re happy with their work and you’ve overcome any teething issues, then (and only then) do I suggest you give them an additional task. If you need some help, get in touch via Facebook message.

Please don’t hand over ALL OF IT all at once. Cover yourself – just in case it doesn’t work out. Not everyone finds the perfect VA the first time. I tried 2 that didn’t work out before I found the VA I currently use.