PUT SOCIAL MEDIA TO WORK FOR YOU AND YOUR COMPANYpresented by Katherine M. Swartz, CAE

South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants

Presentation Overview

WHAT is Social Media? WHO is using WHAT

tools HOW do I get started? WHY should I “go

social?” WHAT is SCACPA doing? WHERE can I find

additional resources?

The Rules. . .

Browsing the Internet on these sites, commenting and tweeting is strictly preferred!

www.scacpa.org (log into your user account!)

m.facebook.com (search for SCACPA) linkedin.com (search for SCACPA) m.twitter.com/scacpa

Become a Follower Give us a shout out: @scacpa Hashtag Comment : #scacpa

Socialnomics.com Video

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Online connectivity

Social media is an umbrella term that defines various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, video and audio.

Social media is

people having

conversations

and developing

relationships

online.

Types of social media

Blogs Online chat and

Listservs RSS (Really Simple

Syndication) Widgets Wikis

Social Networks Social Bookmarks Message Boards Podcasts &

Videocasts Video & Photo

Sharing Sites Virtual Worlds

It’s all about relationships!

Social networking is about relationships, not technology.

Just like SCACPA and civic involvement, speaking engagements and published articles are important tools to develop relationships and build networks, social networking adds a powerful additional way to increase visibility, build personal and professional brands, while generating leads and future business.

Increase visibility

Build brands

Generate leads

Intro to Social Networking Video

WHO IS USING SOCIAL MEDIA AND WITH WHAT TOOLS?

Facebook

• 175 million active users worldwide; 100 million users in nine months

• Fastest member group is women ages 55-65

• 1.5 million pieces of content posted daily

• Valued at more than $15 billion

• Create a profile page and develop online links with friends and acquaintances

• Businesses and organizations create groups to stay connected with members, clients, constituents and donors.

• Social applications, “apps,” are available

Facebook is giving

people the power

to share and

make the world

more open and

connected.

Sample Facebook Profile Page

Sample Facebook Home Page Inbox (email)

Networking

requests

News feed from network

Instant Messagin

g

Highlights (who’s doing

what/when)

SCACPA Group Page on Facebook

LinkedIn

• 40 million members in 150 countries

• Valued at more than 1 billion

• World’s largest online professional networking forum

• Added functions like resume and job postings, client referrals and recommendations, and apps like book clubs and online mentoring

LinkedIn connects

you to your

trusted contacts

and helps you

exchange

knowledge, ideas,

and opportunities

with a broader

network of

professionals.

Sample LinkedIn Home Page

Network of Professionals: 233 direct connections = nearly 2 million connections three degrees away!

SCACPA Group on LinkedIn

Linked In for Grads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnx9t8IwLzI

Step 1: Own a profile that truly represents you. List your current and past positions

and education along with your tenure. This helps the right people and opportunities find you.

Add a profile photo – people never forget a face!

Add a summary paragraph. Think of it as your professional elevator pitch.

Step 2: Ensure your connections represent your “real-world” network. Use Web mail import to see, in

seconds, all the people you know who are already on LinkedIn. You can then select who you wish to invite to join your trusted network.

Upload a contacts file from Outlook, Palm, ACT!, or Mac Address

View our list of your colleagues and classmates that are already on LinkedIn.

Step 3: Leverage the power of your LinkedIn network! Post a question in the LinkedIn “Answers”

area and tap into the experts you’re connected to and the entire LinkedIn network.

Look up someone’s profile before you meet with them. Learn their background and see who you know in common to get off to a fast start.

Search for Service Providers and select based on trusted recommendations from people in your network. Anonymous web searches to find providers are a thing of the past.

Step 4: Learn More at Free Webinars LinkedIn 101: The basics of LinkedIn

When: Wednesdays at 1 pm CST Job Seekers: Tips for using your LinkedIn

Account to help you land your next great opportunityWhen: Thursdays at 1pm CST

LinkedIn Subscriptions: Get the most out of your premium subscriptionWhen: 2nd/3rd Tuesday each month at 1pm CST

LinkedIn New Group Owners/Managers: Learn to manage, scale and engage your newly created group communityWhen: Mondays at 1 pm CST - Register at Managing and Growing Your New LinkedIn Group

Twitter…Tweet…Hashtag…WHAT?• 8 million+ users

• Fastest-growing member community in 2009

• Investor funding has exceeded more than 490 million for the past three years

• Users post messages (“tweets”) of 140 characters or less.

• Other users “follow” you, which means they subscribe to your updates

• Users can comments on others’ tweets, fostering a dialogue

Blogging meets

instant

messaging!

www.twitter.com/

scacpa

@scacpa

#scacpa

Welcome to Twitterville!

Twitter Terminology PrimerHashtag: used to create groupings on Twitter. Example uses:

•Events or conferences, e.g.: “SCACPA’s PIU was packed with great info! #scacpapiu09" 

•Disasters: "#sandiegofire A shelter has opened up downtown for fire refugees." 

•Context: "I can't believe anyone would design software like this! #microsoftoffice" 

•Recall: "Buy some toilet paper. #todo"

•Quote: "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt  #quote

@reply: precedes messages sent from one person to another that are public.

Direct Message: private tweet from one user to another (your recipient must be a follower of yours)

Retweet - or RT - is when you share the tweet of one user with all of your Twitter followers. Best practice: preface with "RT @username."

Follow Friday: A popular hashtag is #FollowFriday. You'll see every Friday posts from different “tweople” suggesting who they think you should follow.

Get Started with Twitter Search for people and businesses that are

tweeting about things related to your business. Add comments to what they’re saying (like

small talk with people you’ve met today!) Update constantly (even while you’re in class)

about where you are and what you’re doing...increases chances of gaining followers.

Post about industry news (what you’re working on) and the mundane (walking your dog). The goal = let them get to know the person behind the feed.

Don’t pitch too many products and services…it will alienate (and annoy) followers.

Ask questions to draw in followers and net actionable data!

Even the IRS Is Going Social. . .

According to The Wall Street Journal and The Kiplinger Report, agents are using Facebook and MySpace to find tax evaders

The IRS is on YouTube too, offering instructional “tip” videos for the public in multiple languageshttp://www.youtube.com/user/irsvideos

“Big” and regional firms are using social media for staff alumni connections

General Tips for Using Social Media Personal Branding. Be a

social personality that is connected and approachable.  

Get (and Give!) Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.

Hire People. Need a good logo designer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.

Direct traffic. Get traffic to your Web sites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to message/tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news.

More General Tips. . .

Read News. Find links to useful sites or articles and sources of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to feeds for specific Web sites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.

Take Notes. Record important ideas or concepts you want to explore further. Include links relevant to ideas you want to explore. Note taking can also be done offline via mobile applications.

Make New Friends. Connect with people outside of your usual circle. Make an effort to add active users you find interesting. A social media acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.

Network for benefits. Interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.

More General Tips. . .

Business Management. Consider use as a company intranet that connects employees to one another. Workers can liaise with each other when working on group projects. Particularly useful when certain workers go out often in the field. Updates could be set to private for security reasons.

Set Up Meetings. Organize impromptu meetups. It’s an informal and casual way of arranging a meeting.

Use it as a To Do list. Use Twitter to record down what you need to do while you are away from the computer. Mark the tweet as a favorite to file it for referencing. Another alternative is to use an Online task management service that is synced with Twitter. One example is Remember The Milk.

Last General Tips

Provide Live coverage. Provide real-time commentary which may help to spark further discussion or interest on the event as other users spread the message. Very useful for citizen journalism.

Acquire Votes. Send a link to your stories you’ve submitted/written. Sometimes your followers will vote up the stories because they agree with it. This allows you to acquire more support for your efforts on other social media Web sites.

Time Management and Analysis. Keep a detailed record of what you are doing every daily.

Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.

Bonus Tip: Fight the Addiction Constant connectivity can be

addictive! Networking and network building is

entertaining, if not fun. Access to real-time information is valuable,

if not amazing. Time spent on social networking must be

integrated and balanced. Have a plan and be consistent.

Mobile and automated applications should help you maximize your time investment.

Profiles and accounts should provide you efficient access to contacts, resources, referrals and job opportunities.

NOW I KNOW WHO, WHAT AND HOW, BUT WHY?

It’s all about you, me and us!

“If you don’t brand yourself, Google will brand you.” Sherry Beck Paprocki, co-author , “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Branding Yourself”

Social networking is about our relationships and what we want to say.

Four Steps to Building a Personal Brand Discover, create, communicate and

maintain. Discover your passion and put it together

with your expertise; Create a “personal branding tool kit”

(résumé, online profile, blog and portfolio of your work) that consistently reflects your brand;

Communicate by pitching your brand online and offline;

Maintain, update and monitor any conversations about your brand.

Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career

Success”

Social networking is fundamental. Social networking isn’t the latest

advertising, marketing, or public relations gimmick that you can ignore. Social networking is life, and it demands that you care.

Every day, social networks are becoming more relevant and useful to the people with whom you’d like to communicate.

Top Five Benefits for You and Your Company1. Listen first, speak later2. Find unexpected collaborators,

and maybe even colleagues3. Build a global business from

scratch: Think of social networking as your virtual rolodex, with the ability to obliterate geographic boundaries and connect from every point on the globe.

4. Find talent in the trenches5. Viral marketing on the cheap (and

on the fly!)

Value of Social Media According to US Executives, July 2009 (% of respondents)

Reasons that US Executives Use Social Media, July 2009 (% of respondents)

Reasons that US Executives Do Not Use Social Media, July 2009

You already understand the importance of relationships and referrals. . .“The same rules apply when using social media. Social media empowers us to build our networking around the clock, get feedback instantly, and be aware of the customer’s state of mind. Don’t think of social media as a technology, but instead as a new way to do what we’ve all done: network.”Chris Jenkins, CAE, CISSP, CCNA, MCSE,

Chief Technology Strategist, Ohio Society of CPAs

Old-School Marketing vs. Neo Marketing

Old-school marketing Neo MarketingMarketers/advertisers do it Everyone does it

Focused on how the company “rocks”

Focused on how the user rocks

Marketers have the power Users have the power

Advertising Evangelizing

Branding and tightly controlled “brand message”

Focus on passionate users and brand “hijacked” by users

One-way broadcast or monologue A >>> B

Two-way conversation or dialogueA <<< >>> B

Company-created content User-created content

He who outspends, wins He who outteaches, wins

Mass markets Selective, focused users

One size fits all Personalized, custom-tailored

Deception Transparency and authenticity

30-second spots are king Word of mouth is king

Focus groups User feedback and contributions

Simply put. . .

It’s cheap It’s sticky It’s viral It’s highly visible It’s global It changes rapidly

HOW IS SCACPA INVOLVED?

The new SCACPA.org!

Enhancements and Social Networking on SCACPA.org• Personal Profile:

Areas of Interest and Expertise; Other Memberships

• Professional Profile: Firm Services

• Find-a-CPA Program (for referrals inside and outside of SCACPA)

• Career Center

• CPE Catalog

• CPE Transcript

• Online courses and Web casts

• E-Communications

Get Social with SCACPA!

Join SCACPA's Facebook Groups: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=scacpa&init=quick

Connect with SCACPA on LinkedIn:http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1785390

Follow SCACPA on Twitter:http://twitter.com/scacpa

Resources

Check out the sites in this presentation and our PIU Links and Resources page on scacpa.org.

Look for future information in the SC CPA Report, Current Assets and on scacpa.org.

Go social with your feedback and questions.

Let’s reconnect…socially!

Katherine Swartz, CAE, Member Services Director

kswartz@scacpa.org (803) 791-4181 ext. 105 www.scacpa.org www.twitter.com/scacpa www.twitter.com/katswartz

Last Thought. . .

“Think of (social media) as the world’s largest 24/7 networking event. Admission is free, and the event is guaranteed to be packed wall-to wall. You’ll have the opportunity to meet new contacts and catch-up with old ones, all while sitting comfortably in your own home or office. You have the benefits of networking without awkwardly balancing cocktail napkins and messy appetizers.”

- Chris Jenkins, Ohio Society of CPAs