Don't Confuse Social Networking with Technology

Source: Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders

Following is a complete blog entry by Rita Keller, reproduced with permission.

The title of today's post is from a Journal of Accountancy interview with Tom Hood, CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs, How to Leverage Social Networking (August 2009).

I was talking with Roy Keeley of Xcentric yesterday (about moderating a webcast with Roman Kepczyk and Trey James--watch for it in September) and he made a comment that hit home with me. His comment might help define all this social media mystery for you. "Social media gets lumped in with technology topics and it's really not."

Here's how Tom Hood puts it in the JofA article:

"CPA firms are all about people and relationships. So if you're about people and relationships, social media is just another dimension of that relationship. People keep thinking about it in terms of technology, and it's not. It's really about the connections you make."

So, how does a small to mid size CPA firm get started? I think Hood's answer is great advice:

"I would say the answer is to start small. So go out there, set up a profile, get on these social networks, and then step two, listen. Don't start throwing a lot of stuff out there right away, just watch some conversations, make some friends, talk, find out what the conversations are, and then begin to add to those communities. And then step three would be to continue to experiment and have fun."

I would love to see more tax partners blogging--just quick, short tips for clients and prospects to entice them to call your firm. It could lead to, as today's title suggests--Meeting your clients (and prospects) where they are!

"The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don't like to do. They don't like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose." - E. M. Gray

To view the blog entry, click here.

From Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, president of Keller Advisors, LLC, [email protected], "We Meet Our Members Where They Are," August 7, 2009.