Key Takeaways:
61% of social media users turn to Instagram to find their next purchase.
Instagram posts where creators replied to comments saw about 21% higher engagement on average.
78% of marketers worldwide are using Instagram for marketing purposes. Your Instagram VA can help you leverage the platform to its maximum potential.
There are around 3 billion monthly active Instagram users.
So what difference does it make if your business doesn’t have a presence on Instagram?
You hand over visibility to your competitors on a silver platter while you stay invisible to your customers.
To give your brand the exposure it deserves, you need to market it on Instagram.
And an Instagram virtual assistant is the right person to give your brand the much-needed spotlight.
While you’re busy running your business, they build your online presence from the ground up, create content that gets seen and interacted with and engage your followers.
With a VA who truly understands how Instagram works, you don’t just show up online—you show up with content that’s unique, relevant and consistent.
Find out what tasks your VA takes up and how they create an unforgettable impression on the minds of your Instagram followers.
What Is an Instagram Virtual Assistant?
Kiely Kuligowski, a senior writer and expert on business strategy, says,
While advertisement and sponsorship opportunities exist, an Instagram business account is free. Businesses can establish a significant following without spending a dime. If you haven’t jumped on the Instagram bandwagon yet, you may be doing your business a disservice.
Instagram is a smart shortcut to market your products/services and attract high-quality leads.
But you may not always have the time or the right skills to leverage Instagram to its full potential.
That’s where Instagram virtual assistants come in.
Instagram VAs are remote professionals who handle various marketing tasks for your Instagram account to boost your brand’s visibility.
They’ll create trendy content for Instagram features like posts, stories and reels, promote your products/services and help you build a loyal following.
Your Instagram content won’t just be informative, but also visually captivating and engaging, so your followers stay hooked to your profile.
Read more: How Virtual Assistants for Facebook Posts Help Your Brand Stand Out
When Should You Hire a Virtual Assistant for Instagram?
Instagram is a social media platform highly leveraged by creators and businesses to expand their reach and attract customers.
For 81% of marketers, increased exposure is the top benefit of social media marketing, while for 71%, it’s more traffic and for 62%, it’s lead generation.
Marketing via Instagram involves understanding trends, algorithms and features.
Even if you take an Instagram marketing course, it takes innate creativity and experience to understand the tactics of social media marketing.
That’s why you need a professional to look after your business’s Instagram page.
A few signs that point out why you need an Instagram virtual assistant include:
- You are inconsistent with scheduling posts.
- You are unable to design attractive posts.
- You cannot keep up with fast-changing trends.
- You want your content to go viral.
- You want to increase your followers.
- You are juggling too many things.
How Can You Increase Instagram Engagement With a Virtual Assistant?
People across various age groups use Instagram, with 63% of users falling within the 18–34 age range.
From youngsters to senior citizens, Instagram gives your business a huge opportunity to attract your target audience.
But matching your profile feed to the audience’s interests is not as easy as it sounds.
Your audience isn’t one-dimensional, so aligning your profile to their expectations takes nuance. Audience interests keep changing and surface-level assumptions don’t work.
A skilled Instagram virtual assistant is aware of the latest trends, knows how to create a profile relevant to your audience and can help with consistent engagement.
Note down the tasks you can delegate to your Instagram VA.
1. Research
Scroll-stopping content starts long before you hit “post.” It starts with solid research.
Instead of guesswork, your Instagram virtual assistant will conduct in-depth research before creating and posting any content. This will help them understand how to target your audience, stay relevant and stand out from the crowd.
To tailor your Instagram profile’s marketing strategy, your VA will research:
- Target audience’s demographics and interests.
- Competitor profiles, messaging, visual design and engagement strategy.
- Popular trends.
- New Instagram features.
- High-performing hashtags and keywords.
- Content that’s performing well in your niche.
With the help of thorough research summaries, you can build a distinct Instagram strategy that resonates with your audience.
2. Create
Research shows that Instagram dominates all social media channels for product discovery. In fact, 61% of social media users turn to Instagram to find their next purchase.
As Vikram Joshi, the Founder and CTO at pulsd, says,
Social media can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to a website or online store. By sharing compelling content, businesses can encourage users to click through and explore their offerings. This can lead to increased website visits, conversions and, ultimately, higher revenue.
So, promoting your products and services on Instagram is a must!
Your Instagram virtual assistant won’t just create compelling content around your products or services. With relatable storytelling, social proof and easy buying cues, they’ll grab audience attention and influence them to make a purchase.
You can delegate content creation and graphic design tasks to your virtual assistant. They’ll ensure all content is catchy, visually appealing and aligned to your brand’s unique image.
Some of the content creation tasks they undertake include:
- Brainstorming fresh ideas.
- Creating an on-brand bio that’s informative and catchy.
- Writing content for posts and stories in your brand voice.
- Curating interesting Instagram captions.
- Trimming and editing reels and IGTV videos.
- Designing and editing images and graphics in your brand colors.
- Using trending songs, formats, hashtags and keywords.
- Sharing customer reviews and testimonials.
- Redirecting content to the specific product pages by managing the links in the bio.
3. Upload
To organize, schedule and strategize content creation for Instagram, you need a content calendar.
Your virtual assistant will plan daily, weekly and monthly content well in advance so that regular content reaches your audience and you avoid last-minute stress. They’ll also plan specific content that syncs with seasons, festivals and product launches.
A well-planned schedule will give them enough time to brainstorm creative ideas and curate polished content.
Later’s survey shows that consistent Instagram engagement spikes between 7 AM–9 AM and 11 AM–1 PM across global time zones. Your VA will be aware of such details and research the best time to post, depending on the day and your industry.
Using tools like Calendly or Doodle or Instagram’s post scheduling feature, your VA will upload timely content and keep your followers consistently engaged.
4. Engage
The job doesn’t end at creating and scheduling content. What comes after is much more important.
To increase brand visibility, build loyalty and make your brand feel more approachable, you must consistently engage with your followers on Instagram.
According to a Buffer analysis, Instagram posts where creators replied to comments saw about 21% higher engagement on average.
But replying to comments and DMs needs time and patience—something that’s not always easy for business owners due to other high-priority tasks.
An Instagram virtual assistant will take care of engagement and nurture authentic connections with your audience. They’ll do this by:
- Answering questions regarding your products and services via Instagram DMs.
- Redirecting collected leads to your website.
- Replying to comments using a fun, cheeky or friendly tone—as per your brand voice.
- Conducting polls, Q&A or live sessions with followers to gain consumer insights.
- Engaging with the Instagram profiles of other brands in the industry for more visibility.
- Running contests or giveaways to thank your followers for their loyalty and keep up the hype.
- Partnering with influencers or popular accounts to be visible to new audiences.
By creating a consumer-oriented experience on Instagram, your VA keeps your audience interested in your brand for the long haul.
5. Track
Instagram helps business or creator accounts access analytics to track their performance based on various metrics.
Your virtual assistant can access “Insights” from your accounts dashboard. Some of the key metrics they track include:
- Account reach: This includes how many new accounts saw your content.
- Impressions: The total number of times your content was viewed.
- Follower growth: The rate at which your follower count is increasing.
- Engagement rate: This includes the numbers of likes, comments, shares and saves.
- Profile interaction: This includes profile visits and link clicks from your bio.
- Audience demographics: Your followers’ age, gender and location.
- Activity time: Data on when your audience is most active.
With the help of such valuable insights, you and your VA will understand what content works best, what needs improvement and the optimal time for posting to maximize engagement.
What Are the Advantages of Hiring Instagram Virtual Assistants?
78% of marketers worldwide are using Instagram for marketing purposes.
This highlights Instagram’s relevance in promoting your brand—and you should leverage it to attract customers too.
Virtual assistants come prepped with professional skills like creativity, in-depth platform knowledge, copywriting skills, basic graphic design and more to level up your marketing.
If you’re still in two minds about hiring an Instagram VA, take a look at some of the benefits that they offer.
1. Improve Content Quality
Research shows that there is a strong positive relationship between social media content quality and customer loyalty. If your content is entertaining, informative and relevant, it can drive a positive brand perception and emotional connection.
Unprofessional content with amateur designs is not a good look for your brand.
Instagram virtual assistants have a clear idea of your audience profile and interests. Leveraging such insights helps them curate content accordingly.
To upload high-quality content, your VA will:
- Create content aligned to the latest trends.
- Proofread written content to avoid grammatical or spelling errors.
- Use professional-quality images and graphics.
- Optimize content with hashtags and keywords.
With a VA on your side working on Instagram content consistently, you won’t have to worry about putting out half-baked or last-minute content.
2. Maintain a Regular Schedule
Imagine you research and find that your audience is most active on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 AM–12 PM, only to do nothing about it.
There’s no value in knowing audience activity if you keep missing peak posting times.
Content without consistency will have no relevance, get no traction and disappear into the feed.
Without a proper schedule, customers may feel your brand is inconsistent, eventually forgetting you and turning to your competitors.
Great content deserves great timing—and your Instagram VA will do that for you!
Whether it’s a product launch, festive offer, sale announcement or holiday giveaways, your VA will time the content perfectly so your followers always stay in the loop.
Your VA will also track when your target audience is most active and schedule ready-to-go content accordingly.
3. Engage More With Customers
When business tasks like product development or future strategy planning take up your time, interacting with followers may take a backseat.
From hosting Q/A sessions to posting polls on stories, Instagram virtual assistants can devise newer ways for customers to stay engaged. This creates a sense of community, emotionally connecting your audience with your brand.
Through personalized and on-time conversations, your VA offers genuine, valuable advice to customers and can also convince them to choose your product over others.
4. Build Your Online Reputation
Instagram gives your brand a platform to present its story in a visually appealing way and reach a large number of people.
Leveraging IG’s features, your virtual assistant builds a brand persona that’s irresistible to the audience.
Their creative skills help them align the content to your brand’s aesthetic, curating a recall value in the minds of your followers.
They also keep a balance between professionalism and informality while interacting with your audience, fostering a sense of community.
Posting consistent and authentic content gives your brand its credibility.
When new visitors look at your structured profile and audience interaction, they feel safer engaging with your content and eventually buying from your brand.
5. Reach Out to Influencers
83.8% marketers believe that influencer marketing campaigns bring in high-quality customers compared to other marketing types.
Influencer marketing is gaining popularity in the Instagram scene, especially among Gen Z.
If you wish to employ this strategy to gain new followers faster but don’t have the right knowledge about influencer marketing, a VA who’s great at influencer outreach and networking can help.
VAs proactively reach out to influencers and creators, helping your brand get noticed. They engage with influencers and get access to their followers, enabling your business to make a long-term impact in a short amount of time.
When customers see their favourite influencer promoting your brand, they develop trust and decide to check out your products & services. This becomes an opportunity for you to make an impression, expand your brand’s reach and drive sales.
6. Save Costs
Unlike a traditional employee, virtual assistants work remotely, sparing you overhead costs. You don’t have to spend on office rent, utilities, devices or internet.
When you hire from a virtual assistant agency like Zenius, you also don’t have to worry about paid leave, employee benefits or insurance. Such agencies also support hiring and onboarding, saving you expensive hiring costs, too.
In short, hiring an Instagram VA is a cost-effective solution for your marketing needs!
Read more: Game-Changing Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant
How Can You Hire & Work With Your Instagram Virtual Assistant?
Finding a virtual assistant with good qualities who matches your business can be tedious. You have to hunt through freelance platforms and job portals, sift through multiple resumes and conduct numerous interviews to find that one right hire.
And in case the hire is a wrong fit? You’ll have to repeat this exhausting process all over again!
But if you opt for a VA company, you don’t have to stress about the onboarding process. If you are not satisfied with their performance, you can get easy replacements too!
To hire the best virtual assistant, ask mindful questions during the interview and conduct assessment tests to evaluate their skills. This helps you gauge whether your VA has the knowledge and experience to meet your company’s standards.
Look for someone who has an in-depth knowledge of the Instagram platform, is creative and tech-savvy and knows the best time management practices.
Once onboarded, follow these steps to work effortlessly with your Instagram virtual assistant:
- Entrust your VA with the credentials of your Instagram account.
- Follow the best delegation practices to assign responsibilities with clarity.
- Share past posts you love, preferred color palettes, fonts, tone and captions that match your brand voice.
- Discuss the engagement metrics that matter the most to you and set achievable KPIs.
- Approve content in batches and well in advance to avoid any last-minute rush.
- Share feedback regularly, striking a balance between positive and constructive criticism.
- Appreciate and celebrate their good work.
- Encourage honest and two-way communication.
With these tips in mind, you’ll be able to foster a healthy working relationship with your VA and ensure smooth collaboration.
What’s New With Instagram in 2025?
Instagram keeps rolling out new features to keep the platform fun, exciting and unpredictable for its users.
Such features also give businesses and creators a chance to reach, engage and convert their audience into customers in newer and better ways.
While staying updated with every new trend is not possible for a busy business owner, an Instagram virtual assistant will follow what’s new and tailor it to your campaigns.
Here are some of the latest trends on Instagram and how your Instagram VA will help you leverage them.
Trial Reels
The Instagram reels consumption is huge. Buffer’s research shows that reels get 36% more reach than carousel posts and 125% more reach than single-photo posts.
Naturally, your Instagram virtual assistant will edit and upload reels consistently to highlight your products and share customer reviews.
What’s new is that Instagram has introduced a new feature called “trial reels,” where creators can test content with non-followers first and understand what performs best.
Using this feature, your VA will be able to:
- Experiment with new content, format and features.
- Test what resonates best with new potential followers.
- Perform A/B testing using different hooks, music or editing styles to check which version gets the most engagement.
- Get insights on which strategies work best and refine current marketing strategies.
Broadcast Channels
Instagram also allows its creators to use its “broadcast channel” feature, which is a one-to-many messaging tool where creators can post updates.
Unlike your public Instagram account, a broadcast channel is exclusive to your subscribers.
While the algorithm may bury your feed posts, broadcast messages go directly to your subscribers’ inboxes, giving higher visibility. You get a pre-qualified audience who can react to your messages and participate in polls.
Your Instagram VA can set up a broadcast channel, create a content plan, use “Join Channel” stickers to invite followers, run campaigns and track insights.
Using a broadcast channel will help you:
- Get direct and guaranteed reach.
- Share announcements and get real-time feedback.
- Share exclusive content like behind-the-scenes updates or early-access offers to build loyalty.
- Test content ideas and campaigns.
- Build a more intimate community around your brand.
Final Thoughts
Content creation isn’t your strong suit, keeping up with trends feels overwhelming and you lack the time to learn about Instagram from scratch?
Then hiring a creative and dependable Instagram virtual assistant is your go-to option.
With thorough research, unique content, timely uploads, consistent engagement and proactive analytics tracking, your VA helps you create a memorable online presence.
More likes, more comments and more shares will mean more people are talking about your brand.
This visibility will help you score leads who’ll turn into loyal customers in the future.
