The past decade has seen a rise in the number of professional social media marketing companies. You could say that the internet is so commonplace now that it should no longer be considered as new technology, yet social media marketing is still proving to be a stumbling block for many law and accountancy firms.
Is it that many accountancy companies are still confused about where social media fits into their every day practices? Who should adopt this important technology within the firm? Is it a struggle for traditional firms to see the value of social media where there is no immediate financial payout? Of could it simply be that social media and accountancy firms just don’t mix.
A lack of ownership is often blamed by many large law and accountancy companies. They hire people to work as lawyers or accountants specifically, and the idea to hire staff solely to manage their company social media may still feel a little alien to the company bosses.
At the end of the day, the end clients don’t really care who ‘owns’ it, as long as they get what they want from it. Social audiences are made up of both existing clients and also new prospective clients, so it is important to get your company out there to where your customers are hanging out.
Whether that means a re-structuring of the traditional way of doing things within your firm so that some existing staff can take on social media tasks as part of their role, or completely out-sourcing your social media to an external agency, something has to be addressed. There is no place for half-hearted attempts at keeping up a social presence online if you cannot be consistently delivering quality posts to keep your existing clients engaged, while at the same time attracting new customers.
No management board buy-in or continuous participation.
A lot of time and thought needs to be invested into planning, creating and managing social media. Having senior level buy-in and engagement is crucial if an accountancy firm is to make their social media efforts a success. The management board has to understand the need to make changes within the firms business practices to make it work. The most senior partners must understand and support the social initiative within their company, and provide adequate resources and financing for it. It would also help greatly if senior level management took an active role in their social activities, and participate regularly themselves.
An unwillingness to be transparent and authentic.
A traditional or old-fashioned law and accountancy company may be unwilling or reluctant to engage too deeply in social media. The old-school views of some well-established firms may see it as an intrusion to have the friendly face of social media poking its nose into every aspect of the business, and those who work for it.
Many stalwarts would be happy to just feed their clients standard corporate chatter, and while there isn’t anything wrong with posting some corporate information, their clients will soon grow tired of reading the same things over again. The coldness and business like approach reflected on many accountancy sites often leave the client feeling that they are being kept at arms-length.
If you are going to successfully keep your clients happy and engaged, you must learn to adopt a policy of honesty and complete transparency that leads to creating genuine and authentic conversations with your target audiences.
Confusion about how to respond to audiences.
Understanding how social media actually works is essential if senior staff are ever going to be able to react to or interact with their existing clients and target audiences. Managers may be fearful of saying or doing something that might damage their companies hard-won reputation, and will be worried about how that will reflect on them in the eyes of more senior staff.
Where you are naturally going to be protective of your company brand, it does not mean that you cannot nurture your brand development into a more positive light on social media, and be seen as a more dynamic company because of it.
Consultation across all departments can lead to a unified message that is agreed upon and upheld by every member of staff. This message can then be underpinned through your social media efforts, and provide a consistency to your posts and social engagements that will get your company seen in a positive light.
Having a unified approach and strategy will mean that your employees will have guidelines and rules in place about what is and what is not acceptable to share on social media, and this will lead to greater engagement to help maximise your bottom line.
Conclusion
Social media and accountancy can go together. You just have to remember that it is about putting your audience first, and not the company itself.
Are you ready to take your social media engagement further? Let’s be awesome together! Contact us today to get yourself started: Call us on 0203 773 9137 or email info@creativeharmony.co.uk so we can help you become the social media success you deserve to be.
