CPAs are Aflutter About Twitter (Part 4)

This is it! It’s time to dive in. Michael Phelps has nothing on you…after this, you’ll be a Twitter gold medalist!

According to the poll on my blog, only 35% of firms are using Twitter while 45% are using Facebook and 95% are using LinkedIn. If you haven’t yet weighed in, please do so (the poll is in the column on the left). The survey is only open for 1 more day…so hurry!

Twitter for Business (Advanced Users)

The first thing I’d recommend doing is personalizing your Twitter background (see snapshot of mine above). If you’ve got a graphic designer on staff, the dimensions of the graphic are 1920 px wide by 1200 px tall (but you have to leave space for your feed, etc.) I used this website to download a PowerPoint template that I turned into a JPEG to upload (the directions are on the website). If you get the PPT finished and get stuck there, email it to me and I’ll convert it for you (once I completed the design in PPT I used Photoshop; much easier!).

The next thing you want to do, if you have a Facebook page, is set your Twitter account to cross-post to both sites (so you’re not duplicating your efforts). You can use the Twitter Facebook App (http://apps.facebook.com/twitter) or a third party site like http://ping.fm, which will cross post to multiple sites at once.

If this is a firm account and you’re trying to decide to use one account or several, here’s my advice (take it for what it’s worth). I would use one account with multiple users. Using your custom background, you can identify each of the twitterers by including a photo and their name, title, etc. Include some way for them to sign their messages, like their initials (mine would be “^KG”) so the readers know who tweeted the message. Also be sure to include all of their names in the Bio section of Twitter’s Settings/Profile, since you will have used your firm name as the name of the account.

This leads me to the reminder to be authentic and transparent. Always let the readers know who is behind the tweets; the greatest opportunity Twitter gives you is the chance to show the personality and humanness behind your organization. This is your chance to communicate your firm’s culture (I keep coming back to @Zappos as an example because I think Tony does this exquisitely). Allow your staff to participate in the conversations too. They are an extension of your firm’s brand and can have a positive impact on your web presence. Just be sure to have some guidelines in place.

Twitter is not really a place to sell your services; yes, that will hopefully be a byproduct of the dialogue that happens within Twitter, but Twitter is for making conversations and generating buzz. Your traditional marketing methods (because yes, you still need those) are for closing the deal. However, if you can come up with a creative contest, promotion or tweetup, Twitterers are suckers for those and will participate and retweet, potentially generating revenue for the firm.

Back up, what’s a TweetUp? A tweetup is akin to a meet-up; through Twitter, sometimes using a designated hashtag, you organize a live gathering somewhere in your city. For instance, you’ve been conversing with several individuals who may be good prospects so you invite them for a tweetup at the local Starbucks, coffee on you. It’s an informal opportunity to gather and network in person.

Okay, I’m getting “wordy” again, so I’m going to jump back into bullet points of info:

• Twhirl (http://twhirl.com) sits on your desktop and delivers a steady stream of tweets (you have to download Adobe Air first; http://www.adobe.com/products/air). It can help you stay on top of your tweets, but may be overwhelming and suck up time. So use this with caution.
• Use Advanced Search to locate questions/needs in your area of expertise and grab an RSS feed; keep an eye on this and respond when you can. Please note that you should approach with a little caution; be friendly and offer your assistance. If done right, you’ll develop a positive reputation as an expert in your area.
• Link appealingly and creatively to your website or blog; the headline you choose will either generate more web traffic or drive people away (never tweet, “New blog post: blah, blah, blah, link).
• Pictures ARE worth a thousand words. Post pictures using TwitPic (http://twitpic.com)
• REPOST IMPORTANT MESSAGES several times; each post only receives about 5 minutes of view time. That means if it hasn’t been clicked through within the first 5 minutes, chances are people didn’t see it. So repost it throughout the day to be sure it’s seen (use bit.ly to track click throughs)
  

Advanced Hashtag Uses (in each instance, you need to designate a hashtag so you can aggregate the responses)

• Tweetups
• Collecting ideas
• Sharing experiences
• Group live chats (publicize hashtag and date/time in advance!)
• Live Twitter an event, seminar or conference (publicize hashtag and date/times in advance!)
  

Tracking Traffic to your Website & Blog

• Google Analytics
• http://bit.ly.com (URL shortener and tracker)
• http://backtweets.com (tracks links to your site that may have been shortened by someone else); you can also grab an RSS feed from Backtweets
  

Finally, use Twitter to engage journalists and PR people (see Centers of Influence). Twitter has become a major source for reporters to find great stories. Follow HARO (“Help a Reporter Out”), Twitter handle @skydiver; he regularly posts inquiries from reporters.

That’s it! You made it through! Easy enough, right? Maybe not. Just remember that I’m here to help you navigate the Twitterverse, so feel free to email me anytime with questions.

If you plan to make the leap (or already have but are quickly seeing how complicated 140 characters can be), I recommend buying The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein. It retails for $19.99 but you can find it on Amazon for under $14.

CPAs are Aflutter About Twitter (Part 3)

Okay, you’ve taken the leap into social media and created your Twitter account. You’ve completed your profile and are finding friends and smart people to follow. You’ve got the general idea of how Twitter works and the primary terms you need to know (hashtags, @messages, retweets and direct messages). Now that you’ve dipped your toes in, let’s wade in a little further…

According to the poll on my blog, only 35% of firms are using Twitter while 45% are using Facebook and 95% are using LinkedIn. If you haven’t yet weighed in, please do so (the poll is in the column on the left). The survey is only open for 2 more days…so hurry!

Twitter for New and Learning Users

First, is this for your firm’s account or a personal account? There are very few differences except when it comes to following people. If it’s your personal account, you can be choosy about who you follow. If it’s a firm account, it’s best to be safe and not risk offending anybody (like a potential client) and follow everyone who follows you. So what happens if you’re following 1000 people but there is only a handful that you really want to keep tabs on? Grab the RSS feed from their account page so all their tweets dump into your Outlook. Just click on the user’s name (http://twitter.com/kristingentry) and scroll down a little. On the right, look under the set of “following” boxes and you’ll see “RSS feed of Kristin Gentry’s tweets); click on it and it will walk you through adding the feed to your Outlook. I have several that I follow like that (including all of those I recommended in yesterday’s blog).

Twitter has a basic search function and an advanced search function. The advanced is usually more helpful, so I recommend going there: http://search.twitter.com/advanced. There are 4 very important things you should search for:

• Your name
• Your Twitter account name
• Your company, brand or product
• Your competitors

To keep tabs on these, you can also pull RSS feed of your searches into your Outlook.

One critical aspect of Twitter is the 140 character limit and the value of providing links to interesting and informative websites. Websites URL’s are typically quite long and can take up most/all of you character limit. I recommend using a URL shortener like http://bit.ly to both shorten your links and allow you to track click-throughs. It’s user friendly so just create an account and begin dumping your links (especially to your site or blog) in there. It saves the shortened links and you can go back in anytime to copy them for reuse, and it tracks the click-throughs for you (this is a nice complement to Google Analytics for your website and blog; both are free to use).

There are several reasons to have mobile access to Twitter; it may be the conversational aspect of what you’re doing or interesting/funny things that you come across that people enjoy or catching breaking news (like the Hudson River landing). You can use SMS texting for your mobile phone (in Twitter, go to Settings / Devices to set up), or you can download an application for your Blackberry or iPhone. Examples of apps include Twitterberry for Blackberry (http://orangatame.com/products/twitterberry) and Twitterific for iPhone (http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterific).

Still lots to cover, so we’re going to move into bullet points again:

• Retweet - Add your own commentary so your followers know why you found it valuable (especially when you’re passing on a link). And always give credit to the original poster; if there are several and it puts you over the character limit, you only need to credit the originator and the person you received it from. You are allowed to edit/delete previous commentary if you’re still over the character limit. One more thing; RT your clients whenever you can; it shows respect and builds rapport.
• @messages/replies - Make sure your replies are smart and seen. How? If you reply to someone’s tweet, include enough commentary so everyone knows what you’re referencing (not, “hey, thanks for the info!”). That’s smart. To be seen, you need to be sure to place at least one word before the @kristingentry or only those who are following both of you will see it. What do I mean? Here are 2 examples: (@kristingentry Thanks for the sample Social Media Policy, it was very helpful!), only those who are following both you and @kristingentry are going to see that post. If you post it like this, (Thanks for the sample Social Media Policy @kristingentry It was very helpful!), everyone who follows you will see it; you have a bigger audience that way. Get it?
• Links - Link to interesting and consistent (for your expertise) websites; people will click through and are more likely to Retweet you AND it boosts your reputation as a thought leader in that realm of expertise.
• Spam - DON’T spam anyone! First rule of thumb, don’t set an auto DM (direct message) to go out whenever someone follows you, especially if it contains a link to your site or blog. It’s impersonal and sounds like spam. Also, listen first; Twitter is for holding conversations, not making announcements.
• Follow Fridays - #FollowFridays (or #FF) were created for Twitterers to recommend their favorite followers to others. I make it a point to recommend those people who RT me, because if they enjoy my tweets, chances are my followers have something in common with them and it’s nice to make that connection. Also, try to include some context as to why you think others should follow them.
• Post on the right days – The bulk of tweets happen Tuesday through Thursday. And readership is highest those days; also, try to post during the Eastern time zone business hours.
  

When you’re tweeting, before you hit “update”, stop and think of a more entertaining or informative way to make your point. If you’re not interesting, people will un-follow you (remember, this is an opt-in medium). Make an offbeat observation or poke a little fun at yourself. Don’t always talk about business! People want to connect with the person behind the tweets…people want to do business with their friends. Be friendly and approachable.

REMINDER: Here are the Keys to Success at Twitter

• Add value by holding great conversations
• Get followers, which means be interesting and conversational (Zappos is a great example)
• Follow relevant people
• Reply to your @messages
• Make sure you are findable
• Don’t get overwhelmed; the average number of tweets per day is only 4.22

Got it? Are you still with me? We have one more day to go…Advanced Twitter, or Twitter for Business. It’s easier than you may think, and please feel free to tweet me or email me with questions. I’m here to help you navigate the Twitterverse!

If you plan to make the leap (or already have but are quickly seeing how complicated 140 characters can be), I recommend buying The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein. It retails for $19.99 but you can find it on Amazon for under $14.

CPAs are Aflutter About Twitter (Part 2)

So you’re on that proverbial cliff and have decided to take the leap into social media and in particular, Twitter. That’s great! In my opinion, those firms who make the leap first and stake their claim will be the market leaders within social media. Don’t you want to be among the leaders?

According to the poll on my blog, only 25% of firms are using Twitter while 43% are using Facebook and 93% are using LinkedIn. If you haven’t yet weighed in, please do so (the poll is in the column on the left). The survey is only open for 3 more days…so hurry!

Getting Started - Beginners

First, if you haven’t already, go to http://twitter.com and sign up. Choose a username with as few characters as possible (because there is a 140 character limit on tweets and just trust me, that will be important as you grow with Twitter). Twitter doesn’t ask for much information when getting set up, so as soon as you finish the process you should immediately click on “Settings” (upper right corner of screen) and finish completing your profile. In particular, you need to add a bio and a picture or other screen icon (DON’T keep the default icon, it makes other people suspicious that you may be a spammer). Are you getting nervous? Don’t, I know there’s a lot to learn about Twitter but we’ll get through it together.

A funny side story; a friend of mine finally created an account on Twitter and followed me. So I went to his profile and saw he hadn’t finished completing it so I suggested he do so. He said he did that on purpose because he wasn’t sure he wanted anyone to know it was him yet! Trust me, it’s okay to put yourself out there. You’re probably just going to be listening in for awhile anyway until you get the hang of it.

Start out by finding your friends and other interesting people to follow. Warning: people can sometimes be hard to find if they’re username is different from their real name; that’s one reason it’s so important to make sure your profile and bio are complete.

Here are some of my recommendations for CPAs:
http://twitter.com/AICPA_JofA (AICPA Journal of Accountancy)
http://twitter.com/AICPANews (AICPA News)
http://twitter.com/CPA_Trendlines (Rick Telberg)
http://twitter.com/cpamanagement (Rita Keller)
http://twitter.com/kristingentry (me!)
http://twitter.com/zappos (Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos; he’s just plain fun to follow)
http://twitter.com/mashable (if you’re into social media, Mashable is a great resource)

Okay, we have a lot more to cover so we’re going to change gears into bullet points of info:

• You get an email notification every time someone follows you
• You do not get an email notification if someone un-follows you (that also means that if you change your mind about following someone, they probably won’t know if you un-follow them, so don’t feel guilty)
• All communications are limited to 140 characters, which is like a headline or 2 sentences, tops. Use abbreviations and numerals instead of writing out the numbers, etc. You may have to get a little creative. And make it interesting and/or funny if you can.
• Hashtags (#) – Hashtags allow you to categorize your tweets into topics; for example, you might see #CPA a lot. At any time, you can search for #CPA and find all postings that contain that hashtag.
• @ Messages – You can use an @kristingentry to reply to something I tweeted (for a direct but public reply, put it at the very beginning of the tweet), or use it inside a message to give credit or acknowledge someone else. You can view all messages that contain your name by clicking on the @yourname link in the navbar on the right.
• Retweets (RT) – The Retweet is an important part of Twitter. It shows respect and interest in someone else’s post by copying their tweet and pasting it into your message bar with “RT @kristingentry” at the beginning (giving that person credit for the original post).
• Direct Message (DM) – This is a private messaging option, but is only available if that person is following you (it doesn’t matter if you’re following them).
• Favorites – If you come across a tweet you want to save, hover your mouse over the tweet and you’ll see a little star; click on the star and it will move into your Favorites file in the navbar on the right.
• Following – The stream of tweets you get comes from the people you are following. Follow your friends and family, and follow smart people you don’t know. You can find these people by seeing who your friends are following or by using a service like Twellow (http://twellow.com) which is like a yellow pages for Twitter and categorizes users by topic. Oftentimes, if you follow someone and they think your profile is interesting, they’ll reciprocate with a follow.
  

Here are the Keys to Success at Twitter

• Add value by holding great conversations
• Get great followers, which means be interesting and conversational (Zappos is a great example)
• Follow relevant people
• Reply to your @messages
• Make sure you are findable (if it’s a firm account, put the firm name in the “name” field instead of your name because people will search for your company)
• Don’t get overwhelmed and/or spend too much time on Twitter. The average number of tweets per day is only 4.22.
  

Are you getting excited yet? Get moving, because there are two more blogs to come this week on Twitter; Intermediate and Advanced User information. So stay tuned!

If you plan to make the leap (or already have but are quickly seeing how complicated 140 characters can be), I recommend buying The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein. It retails for $19.99 but you can find it on Amazon for under $14.

CPAs are Aflutter About Twitter (Part 1)

Why Twitter?

Most CPA firms are standing on a proverbial cliff wondering if they should make the leap into social media and in particular, Twitter. According to the poll on my blog, only 25% of firms are using Twitter while 43% are using Facebook and 93% are using LinkedIn. If you haven’t yet weighed in, please do so (the poll is in the column on the left).

Why should your firm make the leap and begin tweeting? Here are the top 5 reasons:

1. Ambient Intimacy / Lightweight & Meaningful Connections

With a steady stream of tweets from your followers, you begin to get an idea of what others are thinking, feeling and doing. You can learn about their interests and figure out how you can connect in meaningful ways based on what your followers are tweeting about.

2. Share News & Commentary

There are two things you should share with your followers; up-to-date news about your expertise (because your clients/prospects are hopefully following you and this information is important to their business), and commentary about your life. That may seem odd, but how else can you build relationships/friendships with your followers if they don’t know anything about you other than your business? Always tweeting about work-related topics are boring, uninteresting, and can even be misinterpreted as spam. People will unfollow you if you don’t hold their interest or if they believe you are spamming them.

3. Real Time News Source

A nearby ferry passenger scooped the entire news media on the US Airways water landing in the Hudson River. Using his phone, he tweeted a message about it and included a photo. I first heard about the passing of Michael Jackson because “RIP Michael Jackson” was a trending topic on Twitter. What’s a trending topic? On the left column of your Twitter page is a list of the top 10 most twittered tweets at any given moment in time. News spreads like wildfire on Twitter…

4. Mind Reading

Thought it was impossible to read your clients’ minds? It’s not…if you’re following each other, you are able to get a keen insight into their business and personal lives. You have the ability to perform all kinds of searches (more info to come in future posts) and can get an idea of what people are thinking about and what groups are focusing on.

5. Business Conversations

Yes, it is possible to hold business conversations through Twitter. In fact, Twitter allows you to have real time engagement with your clients and other important people (see Centers of Influence) in a public forum. Using Direct Messages, Replies, Hashtags and Tweetups, you can connect regularly with your followers (stay tuned for details on all those Twitter terms).

I will post 3 more blogs this week on Twitter; Getting Started/Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced User information. So stay tuned!

If you plan to make the leap (or already have but are quickly seeing how complicated 140 characters can be), I recommend buying The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein. It retails for $19.99 but you can find it on Amazon for under $14.

Social Media = Time Invested = Depth of Participation = ROI Success!

I came across two interesting articles lately that can help you determine if social media is a good tool for your firm and if so, how much time you should invest to get an ROI. Because when you’re working with accountants, it’s ALWAYS going to boil down to dollars and cents. You know that, I know that. So while social media may be free, it can be time consuming and that is an issue that needs to be addressed, because time is money.

So first, What Type of Social Media User Are You?

Click on the link above to read Mashable’s insight on an Anderson Analytics survey. Mashable is one of the premiere social media experts, so if you’re into social media, get to know Mashable.

Once you’ve read the article, take the short survey to see what type of social media user you are.

Next, check out this new study released by enterprise wiki provider Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group. They found that “those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%.” They got these results in a RECESSION.

If you are a “Social Media Maven” or “Business User”, you are investing not only the time necessary to make an impact but have also reached a depth of participation in social media to get a measurable ROI (which many believe you can’t truly measure because social media is so qualitative). I think this survey proves otherwise.

Before I end this, I’m going to put you to a challenge (assuming you are an accounting firm or other professional services firm). If you are a Social Media Maven (or Business User) and you decide to invest 20 hours/week on social media, first think about how you are going to divide that time among your Centers of Influence. Think of your sales funnel in terms of a pyramid (see graphic at top right):

You should divide your time like this:

• 50% to current clients (because they have the shortest sales cycle for cross-sells AND it’s more cost effective to keep a client than to get a new one). So 50% = 10 hours
• 30% to referral sources (because the prospects they send you are already qualified and warm, so they have a shorter sales cycle.) So 30% = 6 hours
• 20% to cold prospects (they have the longest sales cycle but are an important part of keeping that pipeline full). So 20% = 4 hours
  

Include this strategy in your social media marketing plan and you will see results. But just to reemphasize one critical aspect of marketing/sales and ROI success; social media (while fantastic!) is not the end-all-be-all. You need to invest your other 20 hours/week into traditional marketing channels that compliment your social media strategy. If you are able to marry all of this strategy together successfully, not only will you be able to quantitatively measure your success but you will also most likely reduce your firm’s marketing expenses…maybe that will translate into a raise for your social media prowess?

A Diamond is Forever

“One of the most interesting aspects of connections is that they may be priceless. Your job is to add as many gems as you can by finding the mines, digging the gemstones, and then polishing them to the point when they become priceless.” ~ Jeffrey Gitomer, The Little Black Book of Connections

How much are your connections, your relationships, worth to you and your business? How much time do you spend seeding, weeding and feeding? Wait a minute; are two analogies too much for one blog? Let me explain...

Finding the Mines = Seeding = Lead Generation
Digging the Gemstones = Weeding = Qualifying Leads
Polishing the Gemstones = Feeding = Adding Value on a Regular Basis

Just as you would want your diamond to have the best cut, clarity and color; so you would want your garden to produce award-winning fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Just as “a diamond is forever,” so should your goal of providing value to your connections forever be your #1 priority.

The use of Social Media to do all of these things is increasingly (and exponentially) gaining in popularity and acceptance by all traditional target audiences…including yours. You can use these sources to monitor your “friends” and “connections” to know what they value so you can regularly and unselfishly provide said value to your relationships. You can and should also use these resources to communicate regularly with your Centers of Influence in meaningful ways. If you do these things, the business will come. Remember...

“All things being equal, people want to do business with friends. All things being not quite so equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.” ~ Jeffrey Gitomer

Marketing Budget = 3% of firm budget
Social Media Marketing = $0 (staff time, yes)
Building strong and lasting relationships (aka friendships) with clients = PRICELESS

Personal Privacy VS Firm Policy in Social Media

Ever since social media began invading the business landscape, there’s been a conundrum over how to balance personal privacy and firm policy. How far is too far to protect the firm, its staff and clients’ interests?

Most of the larger companies like IBM and Zappos encourage their employees to participate in social media marketing and networking. In fact, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh says “you [should] put a lot of executive, managerial and staff time into figuring out how to twitter, what to twitter about and then keeping the tweets flowing. The same with blogs.” That said, Hsieh also says this is in no way a replacement for spending as much time on the phone with your clients as possible.

So while your firm will continue to connect with your clients on a regular basis through phone calls, email and lunch or coffee “dates”, the concept of allowing and even encouraging staff members to participate in social media is still in strong debate. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to social media and there are substantiated fears that a staff member could create a PR nightmare by releasing unauthorized information or degrading the firm on their personal Facebook page. So how does a firm harness the power of social media without infringing on their staff members’ privacy?

Education is the answer. Create guidelines for participating in social media and train every staff member on the purpose of social media as it relates to your firm. Amber Naslund prefers the term “guidelines” because it’s more about steering than control. And there’s a twist: keep it positive. Instead of focusing on what staff members can’t do, focus on what they can do and how.

Or, you could keep it simple (just for grins):

“FIRM encourages team members to be active in social media as a representative of our firm. Only three rules – be real, add value and don’t say anything that would embarrass your mom. If your mom has low standards, then don’t say anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of USA Today.”
-The HR Capitalist Social Media Policy – All You’ll Ever Need…

Whether you create an in-depth set of guidelines or a simple paragraph, your firm will encounter the issue of staff members using social media, whether it’s for personal or professional use. Be proactive and protect your firm and its interests (this includes your human capital and clients, etc). Once you have a written policy in place, schedule a time to begin training your entire staff (receptionist to managing partner) on these guidelines. Finally, remember that this a living document; as new technologies surface, it may be necessary to add new guidelines.

I have created a sample Social Media Policy, or set of Guidelines. If you would like a copy, please send me an email at kristingentry@gmail.com. If you email me to request a copy of the sample policy, please include your firm name, city and state just so I have an idea of who may be using it. And if you do use all or part of it, please let me know; I'd love to see your version! Thanks!

Note: I use and quote the following sources in my research for the Sample Policy. The Sample Policy does not include reference information because it is meant to be used as an in-house document. Therefore, I am citing my references here and I encourage you to check them out:

Elements of Web 2.0 Communication Guidelines

10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy

Intel Social Media Guidelines

IBM Social Computing Guidelines

“Welcome to our Flat World”

I remember my former boss reading The World is Flat and talking about it with our staff. That was several years ago and was relevant then (before the Web 2.0 revolution, or evolution); who could have imagined that in just a few short years we would be here? On LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et al. I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I’m just going to share with you what George Benckenstein wrote in a blog titled “Welcome to our Flat World”. Below is an excerpt; click here to read the full article >>

A World Without Barriers

So why do we call it a “Flat World?” The world is being referred as a flat world, thanks to Tom Friedman’s book The World Is Flat. The world is now so well connected with the ubiquity of technology in all areas which gives you, me, all of us the power to collaborate, coordinate, produce and distribute seamlessly across borders, and cultural and language divides. In a flat world, everything of value is now connected — no more barriers.

Welcome To Our Flat World — The Good News

For connected individuals and forward-thinking corporations who are able to embrace change, there has never been a time where we’ve had more opportunity. There is little need for the organizational system as we once knew it. The power to create a global network to collaborate and coordinate effort is seamless and typical organizational structure just gets in the way of productivity. If organizations are able to recognize this and embrace this, there can be little doubt that operational efficiencies can be extended exponentially.

Welcome To Our Flat World — The Bad News

In a flat world, there are connected individuals and disconnected individuals. Unfortunately, this gap can only widen. To date, there are about 1.2 billion connected individuals. We are the conceptual and technical class. Our opportunity holds no bounds. However, for the disconnected individuals, there is a barrier being constructed. Technology changes is changing so fast that it has the possibility to create another sad state of human affairs. I am hopeful though. With the ubiquity of technology, the speed at which it has spread in the last decade and the low cost of connectivity, I cannot image that we will not have a connected world — one where knowledge is freely shared, data is relational and accessible and where the human spirit and innovation can come together to solve many of the world’s problems (and, of course, create new ones).

Networking & Relationships

All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends.

All things being not quite equal, people STILL want to do business with their friends.

HINT: To climb the ladder of success, you don't need more techniques and strategies, you need more friends.

From the book, Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections

I think social media can play a large part in helping you build stronger relationships with those in your network; additionally, they will introduce you to the folks in their network (which is outside yours) for you to cultivate and further grow your network.

Accountants know this better than anyone; the higher up on the Value Ladder you are with your clients (where you are a friend and integral part of their business), the lower the price resistance for services rendered (because your service is not a commodity) AND the greater the likelihood of continuing to doing business with that client long term. Really great accountants are in the business of relationships, not bean counting!

The key to SMM is authenticity. If you have “ghost” tweeters/bloggers and you’re discovered, your credibility is at stake.

Social Media Centers of Influence

When creating a social media campaign, one should ask themselves: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and HOW.

WHO are your Centers of Influence?
(click here to see the diagram)
Who are you interested in influencing and who do you want them to influence? Because those you choose to connect with will become your proponents in helping you advance your brand (brand = firm reputation and name recognition). Some of these groups are more likely to communicate with each other; such as your clients, prospects and referral sources and Universities, staff and VIP's.

WHAT is your social media goal regarding your Centers of Influence?
Communication between your Centers of Influence should be your ultimate goal; each of these groups of influencers has a lot to teach and share with each other. Wouldn’t you like your clients and referral sources sharing your brand and singing your praises to your prospects?

WHERE will you find your Centers of Influence?
The top five social media sites/activities are Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube. LinkedIn seems to be the medium of choice for professionals; however, Facebook is gaining momentum and is worth investigating. According to iStrategyLabs, as of 7/4/09, there were 18,102,320 users between the ages of 25-34 (a 60.8% increase in a 6 month period); 20,285,640 users between the ages of 35-54 (a 190.2% increase in a 6 month period); and 5,859,160 users over the age of 55 (a 513.7% increase in a 6 month period). So odds are if your Centers of Influence aren’t on Facebook yet, they will be soon! And don’t underestimate the value of the other social channels; firms are implementing all of these with great success.

WHEN should you connect with your Centers of Influence?
When should you blog, tweet and update your status or news feed? A savvy marketer will monitor their social network sites 24/7 (or at least several times a day, Mon-Fri). When you log in, your first order of business should be to scan the tweets or news feeds to see if you can comment on any of your Influencer’s postings. Then, if you have something of value to say, post your own tweets or news. Remember, the goal is to connect, engage and build relationships (aka friendships) with your Centers of Influence.

WHY should your firm use social media to connect with your Centers of Influence?
There are two major benefits to joining the conversation; first, your firm will get greater visibility and promotion from your Centers of Influence and second, your marketing overhead will actually decrease because social media is FREE.

HOW will you communicate your brand to your Centers of Influence?
There is a debate as to whether a firm should have one voice or many participating in the dialogue with your Centers of Influence. My opinion is to invite several key people from your firm to participate (and I don’t mean just partners; the 4th most viewed page on BCG & Company’s website is a series of blog postings from their high school interns sharing their experience at the firm). The key to success is deciding how you want to portray your brand (brand = firm reputation and name recognition) to your Centers of Influence and then educating/training your staff so that they may be a positive extension of your firm’s culture and brand.

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When developing an SMM campaign, first decide who your centers of influence are; who are you going to target? And then focus on HOW.

The foundation of Social Media is the Law of Reciprocity. Give freely and it will come back to you!

Joining the Conversation

Feel free to enter the Web 2.0 world slowly. When you Google “Twitter,” you get 615,000,000 search results. That can be overwhelming and believe me, for 140 characters, Twitter can be complicated! Start by creating accounts on the major sites; Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. There are two other popular social media sites that are optional but interesting; YouTube and Flickr. Firms are getting quite a bit of mileage out of those sites as well. Begin exploring and see what other firms are doing in these spaces. Get familiar with the medium and then build a plan.

When you make the decision to add social media to your marketing plan, the first thing you want to consider is who you are trying to influence. Who are you interested in communicating with? Who do you want to endorse or advance your brand out in cyberspace? I call these different groups your Social Media Marketing Centers of Influence and each one requires a different plan. (My next blog entry will focus on these Centers of Influence, so stay tuned!)

Incorporate your Social Media activities into your traditional marketing plan to build one cohesive strategic plan to both support and lead firm growth initiatives. This takes commitment from the partner team as their involvement is a key component to a successful social media campaign. Some may argue that it is best to have only one voice from a firm; I believe that it is better for many to participate in the dialogue as long as your brand is communicated appropriately. It is also a good idea, if many will be participating, that you train those involved on how to join the online conversation and promote your brand effectively. Oh, and be sure to monitor everyone’s tweets to ensure compliance. You can’t always control what’s being said about your firm by outsiders but you can educate your staff as needed if you come across something inappropriate and not conducive to your firm’s culture or brand.

There are a lot of questions surrounding personal privacy and firm policies regarding social media. So far, I am unaware of a definitive answer or a standing policy that is being circulated; my best answer is to 1) educate your staff, 2) monitor conversations and 3) have conversations with staff when necessary as to how best to promote your firm’s brand online.

As far as cross-promotion goes, make sure your website, blog and eNewsletters all have the appropriate links for visitors to bookmark and add you to their social networks. All posted articles should have links allowing readers to post the articles to their social networking sites. This will increase interest from potential prospects who are outside your social network.

Finally, remember that Social Media Marketing is about connecting, engaging and building relationships with your firm’s Centers of Influence. It is a conversation or dialogue, not broadcast media or a monologue. I encourage you to join the Social Media scene now (if you haven’t already). There are two major benefits to joining the conversation; first, your firm will get greater visibility and promotion from your Centers of Influence and second, your marketing overhead will actually decrease because social media is FREE.

A New Generation: Firm 2.0

How can you harness the power of Web 2.0 to become a Firm 2.0, and moreover, why should you even care? Now more than ever, the consumer is in control. Between pop-up ads, banner ads, telemarketers, TV and radio commercials, your clients are consumed every second of every day by interruptive marketing. Technology has put consumers in control and they’re searching for communities of like-minded individuals with which to escape the sales pitch and simply enjoy connecting with others. Savvy firms are paying attention and participating in these conversations.

What if you’re not ready? Jenny Hertzig from BCG & Company in Akron, OH says, “Even if you don’t want to have a presence in the 2.0 communities yet, you should at the very least set up listening posts on different networks to monitor what people are saying about your brand.” That’s certainly not the case with BCG & Company, as they are about as active as you can get in the social 2.0 space. Hertzig emphasizes that “when you allow the client to be in control, they tell you what they want or need; you can answer by creating the service or product to fit that need instead of speculating.”

You see, it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at marketing; what matters is your focus and intensity on marketing your brand. That’s the beauty of being a Firm 2.0; the technologies you are utilizing are 1) free and 2) in sync with the way your clients are connecting and communicating. “Your audience is out there and ready to talk, you just have to ask,” says Hertzig. But remember the old adage, “You have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you talk.” That’s the key; remember this is a dialogue and not a monologue or broadcast media.

Watch WebCPA tomorrow (Inside View section) for the complete article.