and awareness about your Facebook page.
For example, work with a local spa for a
“spa day” giveaway and, in exchange, the
spa’s fans on Facebook who join your page
can receive a discount on your services. Or
work with local bars and restaurants on similar contests, offering gift certificates and “a
night out on us” prize that will draw added
fans to your page, and consequently mean
that additional people using Facebook will
become aware of your business, and your position as the local tax-return authority.
The five Cs of Facebook
Command, contest, cause, cost and connect
BY john case Y
Many accountants are recognizing that
Facebook is fast becoming their No. 1 public
relations tool. But in order to sustain the lifeblood for that page, they need to incorporate
public relations tactics to generate traffic and
build brand awareness. An easy and creative
way to do this is to incorporate five Cs to “PR”
your Facebook page: command, contest,
cause, cost and connect.
“We’ve got to have a Facebook page!” That’s the exclamation of
most cPa and accounting firms. and then, while many pages
go live, they sit almost lifeless, as one of an infinite number of
silent trees in a dense forest.
COMMAND
Creating command of an issue or topic is
central to establishing a niche authority in
your industry. Take a look at a CPA, tax and
accounting business, with lots of service offerings. Let’s make your firm the local tax-return authority!
First, establish command as the local tax-return authority by posting links to articles
and issues directly relevant (and interesting!)
to current and potential customers. At the beginning of tax season, post articles that are of
interest to early filers and refund anticipation
loan customers, and later articles that capture
the attention of late filers who seek advice
about deductions and itemizing tips.
It’s important not to post “boring” or inconsequential items; rather, choose links that
are interesting (Internal Revenue Service approval of breast milk as a deduction for late-filing season) and those with local slants (
issues with local RAL filers looking for nearby
alternatives). Contact the business desk of
your local newspaper, offering someone from
your firm as the local tax authority for stories
the media inevitably prepare during tax filing season. Seek out issues that you can offer
insight about, including tips about RAL filing do’s and don’ts, recent law changes to tax
credits and deductions, and late-filing tips.
Any coverage generated should, naturally,
be posted on your Facebook page.
Gradually, knowledge of your expertise
on tax returns begins to spread, inevitably
drawing more customers to your business
and more interest to your page. Substitute
“tax return” for any of your offerings.
media, with local Yellow Pages and newspaper
ads accounting for perhaps the largest chunk
of your marketing dollars. Social media, when
supported by a thoughtful, smart and less-expensive public relations campaign, usually
provides a stronger ROI. Predominantly, you
will find that your business will spend less
money, and yield a greater spread of brand
awareness and word of mouth.
Moreover, Facebook is the ultimate “
Re-fer-A-Friend” program — undoubtedly the
industry’s most effective marketing initiative
— since basically, through a Facebook campaign, you are having your fans and customers spread positive word of mouth about you
to their Facebook friends through their “likes”
and comments. Social media is undeniably
more cost-effective!
John Casey, a former Capitol Hill press
secretary, and public and media relations
executive for Toys “R” Us, Sears and Kmart,
is currently director of freshfluff: spread
good stuff!, a PR/social media agency
( www.freshfluff.com).
CONTEST
Public relations-driven contests are a great
way to build traffic and fans on your Facebook page, so long as the contest raises and
reinforces awareness about your services.
For a CPA firm, Facebook contests are more
successful and effective when co-sponsored
with a non-competing local partner. Let’s go
back to your campaign. Reach out to myriad
local, non-competing businesses offering reciprocal contests and discounts to build fans
CAUSE
Nothing spreads goodwill like supporting a
local cause, particularly one that has an active
fan base on Facebook. Every major corporation and business helps support a variety of
causes. Local tax and accounting businesses
should adopt the same big-business mentality, and not only help support a local charity,
but also engage your fans (and theirs) in a
clever campaign to raise awareness for the
cause and for you.
For your cause campaign, select a partner
with an active Facebook presence and fan
base. It also doesn’t hurt to team up with
another local business with a unique campaign. Lansing, Mich.-based X-Tax worked
with local area Qdoba restaurants on the
“Meximum Refund Program: Cups for Cash
and Paws” that benefited the local humane
society. New customers who brought in their
Qdoba cups to X-Tax received a discount on
their tax returns. For every cup they collected,
X-Tax donated one dollar to the humane society. The campaign helped a worthy cause,
promoted awareness for X-Tax, Qdoba and
the humane society, and solidified X-Tax as
the local tax-return authority while creating
excitement and bringing new fans to their
Facebook page.
COST
Over the years, your marketing dollars were
inevitably geared toward costly traditional
CONNECT
By its very nature, social media is meant to
connect. Thus, your Facebook initiatives
should connect your tax and accounting
business with new and potential customers. For every new fan you gain on Facebook
through unique cause programs, contests
or promotions, you will be automatically
connecting with your new fans’ Facebook
friends, introducing your brand to scores of
potential new customers.
Many CPA and accounting businesses
“preach to the choir” by keeping their posts
and activities limited to bland (
cookie-cut-ter programs provide bland and impersonal
links) and business-centric posts, links and
comments. Moreover, they treat the page
as a circular, posting endless discounts and
specials. This was not how Facebook was intended to be used, and this will not connect
you with new customers.
Connect by commanding an issue, connect
with local and non-competing businesses,
connect contests to causes and promotions,
and connect your CPA and accounting busi-
ness to new customers by connecting PR to
social media campaigns on Facebook. AT
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