Social Networking Sites: Which is the Best Choice for Your CPA Practice?
Because you are reading this it's a pretty safe bet that you're already at least a fairly savvy marketer. I'm going to presume that you already comprehend the value of CPA sites and the web when it comes to marketing your firm and you're most likely at least looking at the benefits of Facebook and Twitter to boost your business. Here are some selected pragmatic approaches to help you decide where to focus your resources. There is a stigma attached to these sites.
Social networks carry the stereotype that they're all about "play," but this isn't necessarily the case all across the board. There are business oriented social business networks liked LinkedIn, sure, but the sites on the "social" end of the networking spectrum can still work for you.
A lot of important deals get closed on the golf course, yes?
With Facebook and Twitter, scale is on your side. Last I checked Facebook has over 500 million users and Twitter has over 190 million. LinkedIn only has about 80 million users.
The numbers are also telling. Contrary to popular belief Facebook and Twitter are not dominated by teenagers. The 12-17 demographic only makes up about 11% of Twitter's market. If Quancast's estimates are correct more than 35% of their users are 35 or over. In short: there's a lot of money on these sites.
In my opinion if you're looking into promoting your business, it's usually better to go with Facebook than Twitter. Twitter has a larger base of business users, almost 6%, but only a small percentage report it as being effective. Facebook is structured to target a user's "likes", effectively providing a back door to their interests.
Each service also has tools that make promotion easier.
On Twitter, hashtags and searches with desktop and mobile-based clients like TweetDeck allow you to connect with others with like interests. To see how hastags work just do a twitter search for #CPA to tune into the conversation that CPAs are having. Facebook makes it easier. Just search for groups with appropriate interests and you'll get access to plenty of other users. You can find just about anything, from start-up businesses, to entrepreneurs, to just about every specific industry.
These are just some of the ways that these social networks can help you elevate your firm. Learn by doing. All it takes is putting yourself out there and doing a little good old-fashioned networking. You won't regret it. There's no limit to the potetial contacts, and profits, to be had.