Which social media is right for my accounting firm?
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There is huge potential out there for accounting firms to leverage social media marketing to their advantage to not only elevate their firm's online presence but also develop a level of trust, boost SEO, and increase leads. While have probably heard from people preaching to you about the importance of social media for your business before, you might be hesitant and not know what to do or how to get begin. The first big hurdle is deciding WHICH social media platforms work for you.
Don't try to do it all
Let me start off by saying that the best way to implement social media for your accounting firm is NOT to try to tackle every social media platform. It's near impossible to manage that many accounts well without a staff person dedicated to it. Instead of trying to do a lot of social media platforms on a mediocre level, I suggest you choose 1 or 2 platforms and just do them really well.
Not every social media makes sense for every accounting firm, and not every firm will use the same platforms. Below is an overview of each platform and the pros and cons of each when it comes using them in the accounting industry.
LinkedIn for Accountants
LinkedIn is going to be the most professional social media. People who are on LinkedIn are actively thinking about their business or their careers when they log in. It's a great place to connect with others in your industry, as well as business owners who could be potential clients. It is a place you can join professional groups for like-minded people allowing you to network and learn. Overall, it's a great place to show off your business and services. If you don't use any social media at the moment and don't know where to start, I suggest LinkedIn.
LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with users based on email address or by their career or industry. And, as far as the feed, just like with other social medias, you will see a feed of posts from other people in your network once you're connected and they will see posts from you. The platform allows you to share links to content and write LinkedIn articles. LinkedIn articles have the potential to show up in Google searches, so if you're someone who enjoys writing, it can be a great way to generate more potential leads and traffic.
One of the perks of LinkedIn is it's not expected that you're posting as regularly as some of the other social medias, so maintaining and managing it can be much less time-consuming.
Some of the downsides of LinkedIn would be that it's not necessarily as frequently visited. Users will visit their Facebook page daily, even hourly. But, most people log in to LinkedIn less often than that. Only about 40% of users log in daily, so sometimes the lead time is longer.
Facebook for Accountants
Facebook is one of the more social of the social media platforms. It's also the largest platform with the most users compared to any other social media. Because of this, the reach can be much stronger.
Unlike LinkedIn, where you'd use mostly your personal profile, on Facebook you'd want to create a business page for your accounting firm. This page will allow you to highlight your firm and services, link to your website, and add your contact information. You can post a range of things to your business page from relevant articles, tax tips, firm happenings, due date announcements, pictures from the office/office events, etc. Because of this, it's can be a great place to show your brand's personality a little more. This allows you to show how you're different, develop a more personal connection, and allow clients and prospective clients to get to know you/your brand a little better.
Facebook also has great advertising capabilities if you're interested in doing paid marketing, Facebook can be a very successful place to do that. Their targeting is very robust and makes it easier to get in front of the eyes of prospective clients.
The biggest downside of Facebook would be time/effort. It is expected that you're posting on Facebook at least 1-3 times a week. Additionally, it can take a little longer to develop a following since you need someone to actively "follow" you, as opposed to LinkedIn where you just connect. From the onset, this part can be frustrating to get your feet off the ground.
Twitter for Accountants
Twitter is unique in that it's still 100% chronological and it's limited to a set amount of characters. Because of this, it tends to be a lot of small, short messages, announcements, thoughts, and link/media shares. Twitter can be great for sharing timely or buzz-worthy content. Also, because it's still chronological, it can act as a way to connect with other professionals in real time who might be at the same event or conference as you.
In general, Twitter can be a hard platform for accountants to use because it is so unique. If you're not already a Twitter user, we don't recommend choosing Twitter as a platform to use for your firm because it's not worth the learning curve. However, if you do use Twitter and understand how it works, then there could be beneficial ways to make it work for you.
YouTube for Accountants
YouTube is a social platform but also a powerful search engine. When something is posted on YouTube, it also has the chance to show up in Google searches when someone is searching for a related keyword. However, YouTube is strictly videos. While videos are extremely persuasive and powerful, they are also much more time-consuming and expensive. If you're not ready to create videos for your business (at least every few months), then YouTube isn't the spot for you.
Instagram for Accountants
Like YouTube, Instagram is limited to the fact that it's a media-only based platform. You can only post images or short 60 second videos. Since accounting isn't the most visual industry, it can be very hard to make Instagram work for your accounting firm in a way that is going to be worth your time and effort. Unless simply making an Instagram account for fun, we don't recommend it as a top platform for accounting firms.
