In the past few months since discovering the Virtual Assistant Forum and dedicating myself to building a successful VA practice I have taken the leap into the world of social media to learn as much as I can.

Oh, I am familiar with social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, on a “personal” level to connect and with family and friends. The challenging step for me was learning to utilize and navigate Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media as social forums on a “business level”.

Well, there’s nothing like “baptism by fire”, so I started out by creating my business Twitter account (@CustomVA). I followed fellow VAs from VAF, as well as others I was familiar with, I read their tweets, checked out their links and their followers. After a few days, I started to interact with other “tweeters”. Whenever I received a “thank you” for following someone I did my best to reply back. When I thought a tweet was especially interesting or informational I let the tweeter know.

After a couple of weeks I started to become more comfortable with using Twitter to connect with others on a professional level. There were a few times when I was unsure of some of the “lingo” or symbols used in messages, but a quick Google search provided the helpful resources to learn what I need to.

It’s only been a couple of months since I established my @CustomVA Twitter account, but I definitely understand the importance of this social forum in developing relationships, networking opportunities, providing support, and sharing information with other business owners and professionals.

Whether my interaction on Twitter is to thank a new follower, tweet a good morning message, send well wishes, tweet a link to something interesting, or engage in a conversation, my goal is to connect with others in a positive, supportive, encouraging manner. I may still have a ways to go with learning how to use Twitter to the best of its capabilities, but the important thing is that I am using it and I will learn as I go.

Anita Armas
CustomVA