Social media strategy for accountants
Love it or hate it, social media has become an integral part of communication in the modern world, and forms a key part of the digital marketing strategy for many companies. But getting started can be a bit of a minefield – which platform should you choose, and how do you get people to engage?
For accountants, it may even seem like social media is unnecessary – indeed, there aren’t an awful lot of accounting firms using social media compared with other businesses. After all, it’s not something that lends itself to enticing imagery and trendy TikTok videos. And do you even have time to keep updating it and engaging with it? Sidestepping it altogether can be a tempting choice, but putting your doubts aside and embracing it can have big benefits.
Why social media marketing for accountants matters
Nearly five billion people worldwide actively use social media, with 33% heading there to learn about a product or service. Can you really afford to miss out on such extensive reach?
Social media can be a tool to help you do all sorts of things that you can’t do with your website. You can connect to other local businesses, engage with your online community, and put some personality behind your brand. In the long term, you could see traffic to your website increase and even begin to gain clients.
But to engage with social media in a way that will bring your business results, you need to have a solid strategy in place. Here’s why taking the time to create a strategy will pay dividends.
- To build brand awareness
Social media is a great tool for building brand awareness. Because it’s used by so many, you can get exposure outside of organic or paid search (where you’re relying on users to enter a specific term into a search engine in order for your brand to be exposed). But you can’t simply throw a bunch of adverts together, target them at everyone, and hope for the best.
A strategy will help you determine who to serve your adverts to, which businesses or individuals to follow and interact with, and how to go about increasing your visibility.
- To be consistent
The first rule of social media engagement is to be consistent. You’re unlikely to see any results at all if you’re erratic with your posts, so keeping up a constant presence is important to ensure consumers don’t simply forget about you. With a clear strategy in place, you know exactly what kind of content you need to create and can schedule it in advance so that all posts for the week are covered. This leaves you free to continue with all the other day-to-day tasks you need to focus on.
- To ensure your goals are covered
Goals are always a key part of any business activity. Without them, you’re aimlessly trying things and hoping they work. The same is true for social media. A social media strategy for accountants will ensure your efforts are bearing fruit and contributing to your wider business goals.
When creating your strategy, start with your goals and work backwards, identifying campaigns and content that will reinforce and support them. As part of this, set specific social media goals to monitor the efficacy of your activity. You might want to attain a particular number of followers on your page, for example, or increase the level of engagement with your posts.
Of course, all this must be monitored – and your strategy will change as you discover which content works better for you.
- To stay ahead of the competition
Having a social media strategy can give you a real advantage over the competition – particularly if the competition isn’t great at using social media. Just by having a strategy and staying consistent with posts you could already be a step ahead.
With a strategy in place, however, you can also track and analyse your results, adjusting and improving your approach to ensure the best possible outcomes. By developing a strong presence, voice and brand in the social space, you can carve a niche in which you stand out, all while adding value to consumers.
How get started with your strategy
Getting started with social media for accountants can be tricky due to all the other things your company has on its plate. But as we’ve seen, creating a social strategy can bring big rewards when combined with your other marketing efforts. So how should you proceed?
Start small
Start with a single account to get the ball rolling. As an accounting firm, your best bets will be LinkedIn and Facebook, so choose one of these two platforms and take a look at what others in your field are doing, research influencers, and determine what kind of content will generate interest. Of course, this involves some trial and error, so keep your strategy flexible to begin with.
Starting small gives you the chance to get into the swing of creating for social media and enables you to manage your accounts, meaning you’re less likely to get overwhelmed by the extra work and abandon them after three months.
Create a content plan
Before you begin posting, take a look at the key points throughout the year that may require content. Social media for tax professionals, for example, could include relevant posts around the annual tax return deadlines, and posts about the Budget and how it might affect your audience. These are events you know are going to happen, so you can plan to create content around them that will benefit your readers.
You can also leave space in your plan for reactive content – that which relates to topics that have come up unexpectedly, or that your audience asks for. As you progress, you’ll see which kinds of content generate the most engagement and refine your plan accordingly.
Engage an agency for support
If you’re at a loss or struggling to find the time to get a social strategy and content plan together, you can enlist the services of a marketing agency for accountancy firms. At Whitefish Marketing, we specialise in helping accountants with their online marketing, and can assist with the planning and execution of your social strategy. Chat to us today to find out more.
