Making Sense of Social Media for Accounting Professionals, Part II

In last week’s post we discussed some of the basic differences between Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Next let’s tackle the question: “How can I make this work for me?” But first, I’d like to share some statistics with you.

(Everyone loves statistics, too, right?)

Last January, Wendy Roltgen from suite101.com reported that, according to Twitter’s Yellow Pages, Twellow, there were more than 2,800 accounting-related Twitter accounts. Today that number is 41,411, a 1,379 percent increase in just over one year. Accounting professionals and accounting firms are Tweeting.

Google’s blog search shows more than 600,000 results for accounting-related blogs and there are more than 500 Facebook pages dedicated to accounting businesses and groups. Accountants and accounting firms are blogging and Facebooking.

In fact, each of the Big 4 accounting firms have a blog (or multiple blogs), Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. And, not only are accounting firms and professionals using these forms of social media, they are making it work for them.

A few examples:

• For the 13^th year in a row, Plante and Moran, the 12^th largest accounting firm in the United States, was named one of the “Top 100 Firms to Work For” by FORTUNE Magazine. To celebrate the award, the firm issued a charity challenge via Facebook, using the social network to send out a survey asking which one of the 15 charitable organizations the firm supports should be awarded $1,300. The response was so overwhelming they ended up with four winners instead of just one.
  
  
• Andrew Rose, director of marketing and business development at accounting firm Naden/Lean has a fantastic Twitter success story. After setting up his Twitter account he searched his firm’s name to see what people were saying and found a Tweet mentioning how great his firm’s advice was. He followed that person and thanked him for recognizing them publicly. The person’s Tweet, which linked to one of Naden/Lean’s industry blogs, got the firm ranked in the top 20 in Google’s organic search results.
  
  
• CPA Dan Morris from VeraSage Institute made front page of the Marketplace section of the Wall Street Journal after sharing information about alternatives to hourly fees for accountants via Facebook and Twitter. He credits the success of the placement of the story to spreading the word via social networking.

The opportunities for success with social media are as limitless as your creativity and willingness to learn about it. The better you understand it, the more effectively you will be able to use it. Some accounting professionals get so caught up in thinking about ways they can make these tools work for them that they forget that the first step is knowledge and getting your hands a little dirty.

Don’t just set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Anyone can do that. Establish the page, add information, some personal touches and useful content. Share a link, post picture or video, find people to follow, interact with your fans. Comment on other people’s blog posts, re-tweet something relevant to your followers, engage people in conversation. Engagement leads to trust, and trust leads (eventually) to more customers and increased sales.

Social media isn’t as scary as you think. It just takes time, effort and a little bit of perseverance.