How Accounting Firms Can Break Up with Their Social Media Platform

Your firm has been using one or more social media platforms to supplement its traditional marketing efforts. However, you’re just not seeing the ROI you’d hope for.

You’ve spent a lot of time, resources, and energy feeding your social network in hopes of gaining new clients and increasing the firm’s ROI. In some cases, the additional branding awareness and thought-leader status weren’t as shiny and new as you had hoped.

If the appropriate goals for the network – traffic increases, lead generation, growth and reach, engagement, and sentiment – were set; yet, they are still coming up short, it might be time for the old heave-ho. But, before you do, answer these questions.

Pre-Break-Up Questions

Have you given the effort a serious try, putting energy, resources, and time into the effort?
Have you experimented with new media, such as video, photos, and open-ended questions?
Were various posting times and content variations put into play?
Did you leverage keywords and hashtags to gain exposure to people talking about your firm’s topics?

Pre-Break-Up Steps

Often times, what works on one social platform, may not work on another. Before you decide to break up with your social media platform, here are some steps to consider.

Do some recon. View your competitors’ social platforms to see what they are doing. Consider following the thought leaders in your industries to see what type of content is being shared, and on which platforms.
Increase photo usage in posts. Images are becoming more and more common on social platforms today, even on platforms like Twitter.
Review your social platform analytics to see what type of posts people are responding to.
Increase awareness for each platform your using by including part of a story in an email with a link to your social media platform of choice.
Buy ad space, which is great for brand recognition and lead generation. Several social media platforms offer ad-buying opportunities, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and more.
Use unique URLs for each piece of content that is placed on each social media platform. This will help inform the analytics tool of which platforms are driving the most traffic to your site. Consider a UTM link builder to help you create unique links for each social post and platform.
Keyword Audit. Are you sure you’re using the right keywords and hashtags in your posts? Without doing the research, you may be using terms that do not resonate with your target market.

In the end, if you’ve done all of the above, and are still not seeing the results you’d like, it may be time for the dreaded, “It’s not you; it’s me.” conversation. Before you pull the plug, remember to invite existing followers to the new platform of choice.

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to social media management in your firm?

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Becky Livingston is the President and CEO of Penheel Marketing, which specializes in social media and digital marketing for CPAs, small business owners and non-profit organizations.