This presentation was offered at the Arkansas Society of CPAs State Meeting on May 28, 2014. This information is tailored to the CPA professional looking to use social media to market their business.

1. Social Media Basics: Tips, tools & more!
Abbi Siler
Training Specialist & Business Consultant
lsiler@astate.edu or @abbisiler
Understanding how it all fits together!

2. Think About Your Online Strategy
• What are your goals?
– Education? Brick & Mortar Sales? Phone Call? Online Sale?
– Lead Generation?
– Communicating an idea, thought or brand?
• Where are your customers?
– Do they interact and research on Facebook? Google? LinkedIn? Twitter?
– How are you currently trying to reach them?
– Where are your competitors?
• Do you have a website?
– Is it updated? Do you have control? Is it flexible?
– Are your questions finding and using your website?
– What’s the main call to action on the site?

3. Let’s Talk About Your Website
• Should be user friendly, easy to access and interactive.
• Should have a goal & traffic should be monitored.
• Should have an easy to navigate and edit content
management system (CMS).
• Your web developer or agency should have the ability to
integrate social plugins with your website. Icons, like buttons,
etc.
– Understand these changes may take time and development, so request
information about pricing to make these additions.

4. Facebook
• A simple Facebook Icon alerts visitors to your website and can help increase
your likes.
• Facebook is going to give you mass distribution.
• Use pictures and balance your posts between links to your site and
information that is relevant to your audience.
– Example: You are working with folks on taxes – share articles on new tax
laws or data that may impact or inform your customers.
• Facebook is a great social network to build credibility and trust with
customers. To get started post once or twice a day or at minimum 3 times a
week. The more you share, the more likely you are to show up in the
newsfeed.
174,000,000+ people in United States
1,540,000+ people in Arkansas
300,000+ people in Little Rock
58,000+ people in Hot Springs
*Data collected March 2014 via Facebook Ad Engine.

5. Twitter
• A simple Twitter Icon alerts visitors to your website and can help increase your
followers.
• Twitter is a little smaller than Facebook and more easily targeted toward
specific audiences.
• The goal on Twitter is a conversation and information sharing. Only 140
characters, so keep it short and sweet.
• A bit more of a time commitment – you want to tweet at least 3-5 times a day
to get started and to grow.
• Hashtags are your best friend on Twitter when used effectively.
– Example: https://twitter.com/IRSnews/status/438762953782099969
– https://twitter.com/FreedMaxickCPAs
645,750,000+ total Twitter Users
58 million tweets sent per day
2.1 billion search queries per day
40% of users who watch Twitter but do not tweet
*Data collected March 2014 via Statisticbrain.com

6. LinkedIn
• LinkedIn is the professional network – what you share here will be building your
personal brand or your company’s brand.
• Share articles, tips and join groups that are pertinent to your industry.
• This network works great for legal offices, CPAs, Real Estate and other
businesses that really depend on the personal brand of their employees and
owners.
• Learn more about creating a Company Page – this is a great tool for
recruitment and product/services marketing.
270,000,000+ total Twitter Users
84 million LinkedIn users in the United States
187 million unique users per month
38% of users visit the site on a mobile device.
*Data collected March 2014 via Mediabistro.com

7. Helpful Tools for Managing Social Media
• Hootsuite:
– Time management tool – schedule tweets, cross promote from one
platform, short links, and more!
– https://hootsuite.com/features/social-networks
• Facebook Insights:
– This comes with any Facebook Page.
– Offers demographic information, likes, reports and growth opportunities.
– Shows you interactions and statistics for your Facebook Page.
• Help Sections on all Social Networks:
– Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and many other social networks provide white
papers in their Help areas to get you started – these can be downloaded
and read or shared with other staff members.

8. Building Credibility & Presence
Be available – don’t start and never finish.
Be responsive – don’t let a comment go unnoticed, positive or
negative.
Stand Out – provide information and tips no one else is providing
or present old information in new and fresh ways.
Content, Content, Content.
– Use already existing information – what common questions do your customers ask? Share short
versions of those answers online or provide them with a way to ask you those questions directly.

9. Let’s take a break!
Abbi Siler
Training Specialist & Business Consultant
lsiler@astate.edu or @abbisiler
Next: Social Media Etiquette

10. Part II: Social Media Etiquette
Abbi Siler
Training Specialist & Business Consultant
lsiler@astate.edu or @abbisiler

11. Some Do’s and some Don’ts

12. Do use proper grammar.
• Think about what you are writing and proof read yourself before you post.
• Use the “Edit my post” tool when you do make a error.
• Make sure your staff who is maintaining your social networks understands the
importance of grammar and the impression your words give online.
• Avoid slang terms and shortened phrases. Examples: “Go get ‘em” “totes cray
cray!” “TTYL, LOL, GTG, BRB, etc”
• Keep your status updates short and sweet. If you can’t say it in two sentences
or less, simplify.
Pro Tip: Proof read, proof read, proof read. I often proof read before I post and
then read it again after I press the post button.

13. Don’t click on weird links…
• There are all kinds of weird links out there – Twitter and Facebook is where you
have to watch it.
– Don’t click the link if the tweet or message says anything like “OMG, I saw you in this
photo you look terrible…” or “Have you heard what they are saying about you…”
– Be wary of “spam” accounts – you might get some followers automatically on Twitter
that have no profile pictures or descriptions – typically these accounts have zero or
less than five tweets. You can report the spam account or you can just ignore it. Just
don’t click anything that it sends you. My rule of thumb: block and report.
– Don’t re-share Facebook messages or status updates that seem ludicrous… like “Re-
share this or your account will be deleted…” “Facebook is closing down…do this
and you will be safe…” or anything that seems super dramatic. Half the time these
are just internet hoaxes. They won’t do you any harm, but they might make you look
like a looney tune.
Pro Tip: Listening first is always a great way to approach social media, especially when you
first get started – learn from other businesses mistakes and glean ideas on what’s working
and what’s just not worth your time.

14. Do some research…
• Don’t just use these social networks for sharing – check things out.
– Facebook Ads: you can do all kinds of research with this tool without even spending
any money. You can pull demographic information – see if Facebook is a place
where your customers are – search by age, proximity, and keywords!
– search.twitter.com: search keywords and potential hashtags before you create an
account. Check out what other competitors are sharing and how they are using the
social network to find out how to learn from them and also get creative ways to
share your information and services.
– LinkedIn Groups: Find some groups on LinkedIn that are related to your industry or
your specialty. These can often turn into great referral networks and can also lead to
professional training/education.
Pro Tip: Listening first is always a great way to approach social media, especially when
you first get started – learn from other businesses mistakes and glean ideas on what’s
working and what’s just not worth your time.

15. Don’t be THAT person.
• Your efforts on social media should be about building relationships that lead
to sales not just pitching products and services.
• Don’t just post things that you find interesting as the expert. Post things that
your customers need and are looking for.
• Use the tools properly. For example, don’t got #hashtag crazy on Facebook.
Don’t post about your lunch box on LinkedIn. Don’t write paragraphs in status
updates. etc.
• After you get out there and have shared lots of content- look at your insights,
look at the traffic to your website. Are you seeing results? Are people
engaging with you? If not, make sure the posts you are doing are providing
value and not just a bunch of noise that’s getting looked over.
• Don’t spam your competitors or your customers pages and profiles with links.
Pro Tip: If you would not do or say this to a person at a networking event then
don’t do or say it online. Remember, it’s about social etiquette. The basics.

16. Do have fun & don’t get discouraged!
Questions?