Social Media For Accountants - 3 Ways To Win New Clients

How many clients have you won from social media?

Maybe it’s none, maybe it’s a handful. But would it surprise you to know that there are accountants out there right now winning clients from social media every single week?

I know, sounds a little too good to be true?

Well, it isn’t...

As part of our Practice Owner’s Playbook, we spoke to 3 accountants in particular who are all using social media with great success when it comes to winning new clients. 

What’s interesting though is that none of them are using social media in the same way…

Sure, there are a few common traits (and we’ll cover those a little bit later), but for the most part, they’re all doing things slightly differently.

So let’s dive in. Here are 3 ways you can use social media to generate new enquiries and clients for your accounting or bookkeeping practice.

1. Jeri Williams - Create interesting and fun content

Jeri is the founder of Smooth Accounting and somewhat of a LinkedIn superstar. 

Her approach is very much based on creating interesting and fun content that people want to engage with. And guess what, very little of it has to do with accounts or tax. 

This could be posting about something that’s happened over the weekend or starting an interesting discussion like this one here where she talks about her motivations.

In terms of the platforms she uses and the types of content she shares on each, it differs...

“The platforms I’ve had the most success on have been Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. The way I use them has evolved over time from running competitions on Facebook giving away hampers to my most recent video marketing on LinkedIn, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is that I post consistently to them all of the time.”

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2. Francesca Tricarico - Just hit post and get yourself out there

Francesca is the founder of Future Cloud Accounting and the creator of the hashtag #Thejourneyisreal. 

Her approach to social media is a very simple one… just hit post and get yourself out there (even if you finish recording your video and realise you had lipstick on your teeth the whole time!)

For Francesca, this means recording daily videos in her car where she talks about what she’s been up to and shares the ups AND the downs of entrepreneurship in a very real and authentic way.

“I was quite nervous about doing this at the beginning and I had to work on building my confidence up whilst in a previous role. But once I went out on my own I started posting more personal content to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. I’ll post updates about where I go, the different coffee shops I’m working in, the different networking events that I’m attending.”

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3. Laura Taylor - Focus on adding value to them 

Laura founded Empowered by Cloud in 2017 and it wasn’t until recently (late 2019) that she got a website built for her business. Up till that point, she had grown primarily through social media.

Laura’s approach is slightly different from Jeri’s and Francesca’s in that she does focus on talking about what she does for work but in a very value-adding kind of way. 

She breaks up her approach to creating content into 3 main categories:

Value-adding — 70%

“Most of the content I share is adding value to my ideal clients. I’ll share tips on how they can use Xero better, or other software they can use for example ReceiptBank. I don’t do any selling here, it’s just value-adding.”

Personal — 20%

“I also share some more personal content on LinkedIn. This could be something funny, something about being a parent or even my own experiences of running my business.”

Promo - 10%

“The final type of content I’ll share is promotional. This could be promoting an event I’m running or even just advertising my services and letting people know that I am a business.”

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What’s stopping you from going all-in?

So there you have it, 3 slightly different yet effective approaches for using social media to generate enquiries and clients for your accounting or bookkeeping firm.

Whilst it’s clear that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, trying different things and seeing what works and what doesn’t work for your firm is crucial. 

If we had to pick out some, then the 2 biggest keys to success are:

1. Consistency
2. Going all-in on it

By showing up regularly and going all-in, over time your following will build and your ideal clients will begin to notice you. 

Social media can and does work when it comes to generating you clients. So what’s stopping you from going all-in?