Social media can be a very effective marketing tool for accounting firms as it helps them to:

• communicate with their clients to create a loyal, long-term relationship
• ask for feedback to improve services
• reach a larger target-market
• provide better customer service
• expand their customer-base with special promotions and offers
• increase customer satisfaction

In other words, social media can be used as a tool for:

• Public relations
• Customer service
• Loyalty-building
• Collaboration
• Networking
• Thought leadership
• Customer acquisition

Essentially, social media is any form of media that uses social interaction as its main form of dissemination. Rather than the more traditional model of communication where information flows only one way (from sender to recipient), social media is all about creating a two-way conversation with a larger audience. Social media often uses new technologies such as the Internet, and is therefore sometimes also referred to as new media.

As social media is becoming more popular through social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube and Twitter, it is increasingly used as an online marketing tool. Successful social media marketing follows these three steps:

1. Listen
2. Engage
3. Measure

To use social media in your firm marketing efforts,

1) Define your firm’s social media strategy
2) Stop thinking “campaigns”, start thinking “conversations”
3) Ask for help if you need it

Here are a few pointers to help you get started:

• Choose a unique username.
• Set up your account before you start following other users. Choose a picture and write a few attention-grabbing tweets. Visitors will want to know what you are all about before they decide to follow you.
• Be clear and concise – your tweet has to conform to a 140 character-limit.
• Twitter is about creating conversation – it’s not a one-way street of posting updates and statuses. Respond, ask questions, request feedback, share, comment.
• Be interesting and add value – offer tips, resources or links and ask questions, opinions or feedback. Be follow-worthy, make an impact!
• Tweet a mix of topics and materials – don’t just focus on self-promotion, but post news, ideas, reviews and feedback.
• Be selective in who you follow – it’s not about the number of people following you, but about getting the right people to follow you.

In this age of social media, there are many different social media tools. Twitter, a micr-blogging and social networking website, is currently one of the most effective and popular.

Twitter can help you connect with your clients and prospects, evaluate your competition, receive feedback, promote your firm, share resources and post updates. Although entering the world of social media can seem like a daunting task, if used effectively, Twitter can help you grow your firm whilst responding to a rapidly changing marketplace.

Twitter is all about recognition, networking, public relations and reputation management. Unlike popular belief, social media is not just about new, cutting-edge technology – instead, it’s all about people, participation and persuasion. It’s about ordinary people creating conversation, interacting.

Some reasons to use Twitter:

1. Create a relationship with your clients
2. Attract prospects
3. Network with industry leaders
4. Respond to a rapidly changing marketplace
5. Engage with a younger, more tech-savvy target market
6. Stay ahead of the competition
7. Be instantly informed of industry developments
8. Stay on the radar
9. Reputation management
10. Permission based marketing

Remember: the more you engage in conversation with your clients and prospects, the more likely they are to contact you when they need your products or services

It is possible to add media, such as Youtube videos, images and PDF documents to your website. You will first need to login using your editor account and create a new page or edit and existing one.

Above the large text box where you enter the body of your text, there should be an option saying Upload/Insert with 4 small icons located beside it:

1. Image
2. Video
3. Audio
4. Other media file

To upload the media file and insert it directly on your page,

1) Click on the relevant icon (for this example, an image).

2) A selection box should come up.  Click on Select Files.

3) After selecting the image you want from your computer, opt to insert it into your post.

To add a link to a media file (such as a word document or PDF),

1) Click on the relevant icon  (in this case, a pdf document).

2)  Click on Select Files.

3) After choosing the file you want from your computer, click on File URL.

4) Next to Title, enter the url text (eg. Newletter 1).

5) Click on Insert into Post.

Normally we will send you your login information after you have approved the preview-site and your firm website goes live.

However, if you have not received your email details or editor login (Firm Blog) after the launch of your website, please send a request to: software@practiceadvantage.com.au.

If you have not received your Client Central or Email Manager login details, please send a request to: graphics@practiceadvantage.com.au.

Your website will go live once you have reviewed and approved the preview site. After any necessary last-minute changes have been made, we will process the website domain details.

• If your website has no existing domain, it will generally go live in 1 day.
• If your website has an existing domain, it will generally go live between 1 – 3 days.

If you have an existing domain, it is important to provide us with:

• Domain Name
• Domain Provider
• Domain Username
• Domain Password

This information is collected from the Content form when you first ordered a website from us.

The Your Firm Online launch procedure is as follows:

1) Your preview-site is published online.

2) We will send you an e-mail with the url to the preview-site.

3) Once you have approved the website (after requesting any specific changes), it goes live.

4) The developer will send you an email with your email account details (including access instructions and login info).

5) You will receive a second email with additional login details, including Client Central (client login), editor account login for Firm Blog, email manager login (mailing list).

6) You can now access your website and use all additional services.

You can’t distribute your e-newsletters without a list of subscribers who have chosen to receive your e-mails. To get more subscribers, you could try some of the following techniques:

• Have a newsletter subscription form on  your firm’s website
• Place a sign-up link in your employee’s e-mail signatures
• Ask people to join when you exchange business cards
• Ask your clients and prospects for their e- mail address
• Offer an incentive to join your mailing list
• Include a sign-up URL in print advertising

Integrating e-mail into existing marketing efforts isn’t always easy or straight-forward. It is important to keep the following points in mind:

1. E-mail marketing should never be your sole strategy. Different mediums work best for different target markets. Not all of your potential and existing clients may have Internet access or an available email-address. It is therefore important to conduct some form of market research, establish your target markets and identify the most appropriate channels of communication for each market.
2. Combining different marketing mediums increases your rate of return. It can be a good idea to establish initial contact through traditional mediums, such as face-to-face marketing or phone-marketing. You can then use emails to follow-up these efforts.
3. Gain permission first. You should never send any email marketing material without prior permission – this is regarded as spam and is highly ineffective. Give potential and existing customers a chance to “opt in” to your e-mail marketing efforts. Ask them for their email address and whether they would be interested in receiving special offers, coupons or new product information.
4. Use corporate branding tactics. Corporate branding should be used across all your marketing mediums. Branding establishes your identity and reinforces your messages. Clients will respond more positively to your e-mails if they can identify your firm and recognise your messages. Use the same logo, firm name, consistent formatting and a specific colour scheme for both online and traditional marketing.
5. Have realistic expectations. Although e-mail marketing can achieve great results for your firm, it is not a magic tool. Ensure the amount of time and effort you put into your e-mail marketing strategies reflects realistic predictions on your return on investment.