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?