CPAs and Social Media

Dawn Westerberg

Dawn Westerberg Consulting LLC

Social Media

• LinkedIn• Google+• Facebook• Twitter• Tools• Resources

Profiles on each give rich link backto your website, increase online Footprint.

Today’s Agenda

• Epic changes of past few years

• What’s the benefit/application of social media for CPAs

• Some tips for each medium

• Q&A

Marketing Reality• Technology wreaking a path of extinction

– Yellow Pages– Bookstores– Newspaper circulation– Blockbuster

• Outbound, interruption-based marketing thwarted– CAN-SPAM– Netflix– TiVo/DVR– Satellite Radio– eMail Filters

• Buyer behavior has changed radically– Where are they hanging out?

Shocking Truth

• 126 million voted• 200+ million on the

‘Do Not Call’ registry• 2000 marketing

messages/day• 90% of email never

opened

Compare

• 129,391,711 voted in last election

• 200,000,000+ Americans on FTC “Do Not Call” registry

• Outright rejection of our outbound marketing

• So what influences their buying?

They prefer to search

They prefer to get advice, references from communities

10% of website traffic

How do they compare?

• 500,000,000 Facebook• 106,000,000 Twitter• 101,000,000 LinkedIn• 90,000,000 Google+

and growing– “More than Twitter, less

than a blog”– Huge Local Play– Immediate indexing– More targeted

How can Social Media help me in my CPA firm?

• Follow Key Contacts– Clients, Prospective clients– Network contacts– IRS, AICPA, Association– Publications

• Visit their websites to see which Social Media platforms they participate in

• Let them know you’re there too

How can Social Media help me in my CPA firm?

• Communicate with key audiences

• Do– Share facts– Deadline alerts– Use Common Sense

• Don’t– Share private information– Vent

How can Social Media help me?

• Help your clients organize and prepare better

• Stay top of mind

• Better search engine rankings

• Maybe even bring in a new client

Build a Following

• Most websites include buttons for following on Social Networks

• Each Social Network has a search capability

• Include Social Media buttons on your website, brochures

Plan weekly updates

• Share facts, deadlines, Federal Holidays– IRS never contacts you via email (scam)

• Share online articles that you find informative

• Share tips to be better organized

• Share links to forms– W-9

Behavior on Social Media same as at a Networking event

• Interact –but understand the etiquette of the platform.– OK to be quiet at first – See how people use the platform

• e.g. Facebook for family, friends, fun• e.g. LinkedIn means business

• Realize the restrictions of the media

• Realize the power of the media

Fears about Social Media

• Controversy• Incompetence• Criticism• Confidentiality

What Social Media Is

• Where people are choosing to get their information

• A new way for you to reach new prospective customers

• Like a phone, like email, like a networking event– Benign unless you light the match

Strategy before Tactics

• What to say• How it fits in overall

firm strategy• Monitor• Social Media to

amplify and accelerate other communications

Online House – The Hub

Connections & Connections of Your Connections

Social Media as a means to Amplify and Accelerate

Case Study

•Huckstep & Associates•Springfield, MO•Uses Twitter to amplify traditional marketing•Hub blog/website•Typical deployment of firm with no marketing team on staff

Tools - Hootsuite

Use columns to:-Follow lists-Add your LinkedIn and Facebook feeds-Monitor mentions

Tools - HootSuite

*Use AutoSchedule to send out your Tweets and updates so that you can spend time online responding and interacting.

So how would you get started?

• Focus on audiences important to you– Clients– Prospects– Editors

• OK to “be quiet” on social media while learning the lay of the land

What should you say?

• What types of information are you comfortable sharing?

• What type of information would be of value to your prospective client?

LinkedIn Create a Company Page

• Opportunity to gain online presence

• Showcase services• Think about your key

words, differentiation, specialties

Use the Update Section

• Links to useful IRS forms

• Announce new hires, promotions

• Highlight community involvement

• Deadline reminders

Research Prospective Clients

Google+

• Updates• Photo share• Video share• Differentiator

– Real time interaction• Hang outs• Chat

– Future Integration with Google Apps

Google+

• Can’t ignore the power of Google Search

• Powerful profile• Circles

Google+ Profile provides nifty list of all social media accounts

Google+ Circles

Facebook – 3 Quick Tips

• Profile so important– Personal page– Company page

• Update• Interact

Twitter – 3 Quick Tips

• Profile• Updates – More

frequent updates acceptable on Twitter

• Hashtags– #Audit– #Taxes– #SmallBiz

Google+ - 3 Quick Tips

• More than Twitter, less than a blog

• Profile• Instant indexing on

search engine

Resources• FREE eBook “7 Essential Stages of a

Total Online Presence” by John Jantsch: http://dawnwesterberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/topebook-westerberg.pdf

• Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms, Michelle Golden, Wiley Publications

• What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us, Guy Kawasaki

• Google+ for Business, Chris Brogan

Q&A

• Your questions• Please ask• Dawn Westerberg• dawn@dawnwesterberg.com• www.dawnwesterberg.com