PICPA’s Social Media Video Campaign: A Q&A with Maureen Renzi, Part 1

Most people understand that social media is supposed to be relevant and engaging, but not everyone is able to put that concept into action and execute truly successful social media campaigns. Social media can be a little overwhelming and sometimes even scary to a lot of professionals.

They know it’s important. They know people use it. They know their customers use it. But creating fantastic social media campaigns takes more than knowing social media can work. It requires more than setting up a Facebook page or a YouTube channel. It takes effort, time and thought. It necessitates true creativity and consistent interaction.

I recently spoke with the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs (PICPA) vice president of communications, Maureen Renzi, about one of the organization’s most successful social media campaigns, “The CPA Players” – a video campaign on YouTube that began in 2007.

The CPA Players videos, initiated as a way to re-define how the public views accounting professionals, have evolved into an entire series of short and very funny videos that have garnered thousands of views on YouTube and received a lot of positive feedback for PICPA.

Renzi, who has been involved with PICPA for more than 25 years, shared a ton of information with me on the CPA Players and how social media has enhanced PICPA’s presence in an industry that often gets unfair labels. Hopefully her answers will help you as you start thinking about creative social media campaigns your organization can create itself.

I understand the “CPA Players” video campaign was initiated as a way to “tweak” the image of accounting professionals. What was the issue that led to the belief that this needed to be addressed?

Research indicates that CPAs are consistently rated high in the areas of knowledge, integrity and objectivity, which are all important qualities when working with professionals who are handling finances. Consumers, however, don’t often think of CPA personality traits. This campaign was designed to show the humor and creativity of the members of the profession and place CPAs in a less traditional venue.

How did you choose a social media video campaign as a way to address this issue?

We’re in social media for two reasons: it’s where people are and it’s an inexpensive way to get our message out. Our hope is to harness the power of humor – which works so well in social media – to get consumers’ attention and drive them to our more traditional consumer resources such as brochures and our online “Ask a CPA” service.

Your CPA Players videos have thousands of views – what has the feedback been like?

We haven’t had many comments on the YouTube site, but our Facebook page has gotten quite a few “likes.” Various members have sent me positive comments and unsolicited rankings of the series. What I have found interesting is that people definitely have their favorites – and they are related to people’s ages and their experiences. Many of our more senior members liked the Casablanca production, while The Silence of the Lambs fans are from the younger crowd. Empire Strikes Back is one of my favorites, because the message is just so unexpected.

I read that some of your senior members had somewhat of a difficult time “getting” the videos – how do you explain video campaign’s goals and convince them of its value?

CPAs understand numbers. They are also trying to understand the value of this medium not only for their professional organization, but for opportunities for firm or business growth. What’s interesting about this campaign is that there are easy measurables, unlike the image enhancement campaigns in the more traditional newspaper and radio ad placements.

We can see how many people view the videos and we also have a call to action – visit www.ineedacpa.org – which is a portal to our consumer page on our web site. Since the release of the videos, the number of visits to our portal is definitely trending up. On average, we received four to seven times more visits in March and April than we get to the portal the rest of the year. Members can then see the value in the effort.

 When did your organization start exploring social media platforms? What was the initial reason?

 In 2007 we started the PICPA YouTube channel with a funny financial literacy video called “Moneytalks.” It was a great way to share a video, encourage members to use in presentations, and also provide consumers with some tips on how to better manage their money.

Since then, we have also developed a LinkedIn presence, have an active Facebook page, and have started three Twitter accounts – one is for members, another is legislation-based, and the third is for reporters who cover personal finance and looking for story ideas to cover in Pennsylvania. We need to be on all these platforms, because people get their information in different ways and in different venues. We need to be sure that we are where people look for information.