Are you Twittering yet? Here’s what can happen.
Andrew Rose, director of marketing and business development at Naden/Lean CPAs in Timonium, Md., reports on the Association for Accounting Marketing listserv that he went from Twitter newbie to Twitter success story. (The listserv alone, by the way, is worth the price of AAM membership.)
Here’s his tale:
I was a little leery of jumping on the bandwagon, but after the talk, I began to formulate a strategy. I put up four accounts, one personal, one for the firm, one for a niche practice area that is hot, and one for a project I’m working on related to the niche practice area.
Once I set them up, I started Twitter searching to see what people were saying, er, tweeting, about us. You can imagine my surprise when I found a post related to an industry niche blog we run describing how valuable our advice was. It was from someone I didn’t know. So I began following him and thanked him for recognizing us in this public fashion, unsolicited.
And, the kicker? His tweet, reposting a link to our industry blog now ranks in the top 20 for a keyword in an organic Google search….
Not bad eh?
Not bad at all, indeed.
Rose and like-minded CPA firm marketers will be swapping more stories at AAM’s annual conference in Austin, June 2-5. See you there.
And don’t forget to follow the firm at www.twitter.com/nadenlean.
6 Responses to “How Twitter launched a CPA firm into the top Google rankings”
Making Sense of Social Media for Accounting Professionals, Part II | The modern accountant -
[…] Rose, director of marketing and business development at accounting firm Naden/Lean has a fantastic Twitter success story. After setting up his Twitter account he searched his firm’s name to see what people were saying […]
Rick Telberg
Thanks for the comments, Brian.
You’ll find some fresh research on how CPA firms are currently using social media marketing, here:
SURVEY RESULTS: How Accountants Use Social Media
http://cpatrendlines.wpengine.com/2009/06/17/survey-results-how-accountants-use-social-media/
Maybe it’ll be useful.
Brian Strahle
Thanks for the post and topic.
My personal experience:
I started a national state and local tax (SALT) blog (http://leveragesalt.blogspot.com/) back in January 2009 to build a practice, etc. I also started using Twitter a month or so ago. To this point it has generated some business, referrals, and guest blogging opportunities.
I have recently had discussions with national CPA firms about using social media to grow their SALT practices, and they seem hesitant or stuck in “non-traditional” methods of marketing, etc.
My argument is that companies interact with CCH, or RIA, etc. everyday to get tax developments. Do they interact every day with their SALT consultant? In addition, by the time firms come out with articles or analysis on SALT developments, it is old news. A blog post can be done in a shorter amount of time with, I believe, just as much effect.
In addition, I am aware of law firms that have built seven-figure practices solely using the internet.
Will I be successful in convincing these firms to use social media?
Andrew Rose
The Twitter 101 class I took lasted about an hour with q/a. The Twitter search I did (the listening stage) took about 15 minutes. Setting up my account and tweeting took another 10-15 minutes. The Google search rankings happened almost immediately. Does that help?
Brian Swanson
I read this with delight. Andrew is very bright and I can tell from meeting him that he has a solid grasp on twitter and other social media outlets through which he can promote his firm. I am curious how long in terms of time and actual hours the process took?
Jonathan Milligan - CPA
This is a great post. I have been observing Twitter for sometime and been interested in how Public Accounting Firms might be able to take advantage of a social medium like this. I am sure more will get on board after reading this story.
Jonathan