Social media is a great way to open dialogue between you and your target audience. It provides mechanisms to capture feedback, understand needs, and to attract potential clients. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other media, it’s important to continually engage these channels and build awareness. Here are 3 tips to help you effectively leverage social media for your firm.
 

Choose your Social Channels and Find Your Niche

An essential step to building a successful social media strategy is finding the right channels. Knowing what channels your audience frequent will ensure that you invest time in the right places. Search Facebook groups, test different Twitter hashtags and focus on trends with high amounts of traffic that are relevant to the people you’re trying to connect with. Be sure to like and follow the pages of other firms in your space, this will allow you to gauge what kind of content resonates – helping you plan for future content.

Once you’ve picked your channels, make sure to create content that is relevant to your target audience. It’s ok to focus on specific niches, rather than general accounting topics. For example, if your ideal client is a small retail business, share content relevant to that industry; or if your firm works with businesses in the foodservice industry, create content with that niche in mind. Knowing your audience and playing to their interests will increase traffic, likes and shares, which will result in increased reach.
 

Keep It Human

Share content that showcases the people in your firm. This adds a human element and makes your firm relatable. Posting pictures of company events is a great way to appear personable and to show off company culture. For example, sharing a picture of a company lunch, or celebrating an employee's birthday shows that your firm isn’t only about the 9 to 5 grind, but that it’s a fun and relatable place. Prospective clients are more likely to convert when they feel comfortable with, and can relate to, the firm they’re going to start a relationship with.

Here are some additional content ideas to add a human element to your posts:

• Create staff profiles on your website
• Reply to tweets and Facebook posts with friendly messages
• Post about holidays and fun events

We suggest being conversational when replying to comments or posting in forums, they’re “social” platforms after all!
 

Remember Your Purpose

Everything you publicly post online is a reflection of your firm's values. Therefore you should always double check your content to ensure that it fits in with your company's brand. Ultimately you are online to drive traffic to your firm and add new clients. Everything you do should positively portray your firm and the industries you serve. In some way or another, you want each piece of content to nudge potential clients in your direction. Awareness is the main goal of your social media presence, and making sure you drive awareness towards yourself and not the competitor is essential.
 

Wrap Up

Social media is an essential tool when marketing your firm. Whether you’re using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or your favourite forum, it's important to find your space and own it. Learning how to properly leverage and engage your audience is an easy and effective way to grow your practice.