Social Media Marketing

Source: AICPA CPA Insider

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Vikram Rajan.

Now that tax season is essentially over, it's time to focus on marketing your practice. Social media marketing should be part of the mix. Here's a quick rundown on the top networks.

Facebook is the biggest. You can find nearly every kind of business person and individual through it. Promote your Facebook page by uploading your email contacts, including clients. This is the springboard for them to “like” your practice. Why do this? Everybody in their network would immediately see that your contacts appreciate you, plus your contacts would receive an alert every time you update your page.

LinkedIn is strictly professional. Unlike Facebook's business page, LinkedIn's corporate page is awful. It is far better to focus on your individual account by completing your profile and then uploading your email contacts. Focus on LinkedIn Groups and Advanced People Search to target specific companies or job titles.

If Facebook is like a barbecue and LinkedIn is like a trade show, then Twitter is most similar to a press conference. Journalists, editors, producers, and freelancers use Twitter frequently to find and keep up with subject matter experts. You are limited to 140 characters, so most often you will need to link back to your website or blog to deliver longer messages.

Google+ has received a lot of media attention. However, its active user base is still smaller than MySpace.

YouTube is often forgotten. YouTube videos are meant to be short; three-minute videos are ideal and you can easily use your webcam.

Is Pinterest critical to your practice marketing? Probably not, unless your accounting practice is niched in the fashion, entertainment, food, or consumer markets.

For the complete article, read “Which social network is right for you?”

From AICPA CPA Insider, April 16, 2012, www.CPA2biz.com.