Social Media Etiquette Every VA Should Know

Social media is one of the most powerful tools available to any online business, and as a VA it is where many of your potential clients are spending their time. UK adults now spend an average of over two hours a day on social media platforms, so it makes sense to show up there.

But showing up is only half of it. How you behave on those platforms matters just as much as how often you post. There are no official rulebook when it comes to social media, but there are some habits that are quietly turning potential clients off. Here are five of the most common ones.

1. Accepting every friend or follow request without a second thought

Numbers can feel reassuring, but engagement and genuine connection are what actually move the needle in your business. With the volume of fake and spam accounts out there, adding people indiscriminately is doing you no favours.

Before you accept a request, take a moment to check whether they have a profile picture, read their about page, and ask yourself whether there is any genuine reason they might want to connect with you. If it does not feel right, trust that instinct.

Personally, I have created some rules for my business on Facebook – I only connect with my real family and friends, clients and then people I have built a relationship with. Anyone who does not fall into those categories – gets to either follow me, follow my business page or join my Facebook group – the VA Help Desk.

2. Adding people to groups without asking

If you run a group and genuinely think someone would benefit from it, share it with them and let them choose. Adding people without their permission is one of the quickest ways to get yourself a bad reputation online, and not everyone wants to be in a social media group regardless of how good it is.

If someone else adds a contact of yours to a group, it is worth checking with both parties that it was actually wanted. It sounds like a small thing, but it shows respect for people’s time and space.

3. Sending a sales pitch the moment someone connects with you

There is nothing wrong with reaching out to a new contact. A genuine message introducing yourself or asking about what they do is a perfectly reasonable thing to send. What is not a good look is immediately following up with a request to buy something or join something.

People need time to get to know you before they are ready to take any action. Jumping straight to the pitch skips the most important part of the process. Give people the chance to reach the point where they know, like and trust you before you make any kind of ask.

The amount of these I get on LinkedIn with an immediate pitch to join their travel business – eurgh!

4. Posting sales content constantly

You are in business and you absolutely should be talking about what you offer. But if every post is a sales post, people will switch off, and your reach will suffer for it.

A useful guide is to keep promotional content to around 20% of what you post, with the remaining 80% focused on adding value, sharing insight, and building relationships. Some people work to a 4:1:1 rule. Either way, the principle is the same: earn the right to sell by being genuinely useful first.

5. Sharing someone else’s content as your own

This one is more common than it should be. If you come across a post that your audience would find valuable, share it properly using the share function, and ideally add your own perspective on it. What you should not do is copy the text and post it without any credit to the original author.

If the post is set to private and cannot be shared directly, either ask the person for permission or include a clear note in your post that it was originally written by them, and tag them in.

Your reputation is one of your most valuable business assets. How you conduct yourself online is just as important as how you show up in person, and people are watching, even when you think they are not.

If you are looking for a community of VAs where good practice, honest conversation and genuine support are the norm, come and join us in the free VA Help Desk Facebook group. It is a great place to ask questions, share what is working and connect with others who get it.