CPAs and Social Media

Are CPAs looking at technology to strengthen their marketing efforts? As revealed in yesterday's Webinar, Technology: Investment and Implementation, part of The Seven Keys to Successful CPA Firm Management series, 35% of survey respondents are doing so. Leading firms are 35% more likely to identify using technology to strengthen their marketing efforts as a tech initiative.

CPA Trendlines research indicates that CPAs:

• 54% on LinkedIn
• 48% on Facebook
• 21% on Twitter
• 12% on Plaxo
• 6% on MySpace

Social media marketing is causing us to another look at how we create and execute marketing programs. The MarketingSherpa Social Media Marketing and PR Benchmark Survey 2008 reveals:

• Social media is changing the way your company communicates: 31% strongly agree, 45% agree
• 48% of respondents will increase their social media budgets
• Social media marketing and PR is very effective at influencing brand perception (39%), increasing brand awareness (37%), improving search engine rankings (38%), and increasing website traffic (33%).

What I've learned so far is that we need to embrace change. This can be uncomfortable. Yet, change enables us to enhance our skills and try new things, two characteristics of motivated achievers.