How firms can use social media more effectively

CPA firms have a long way to go before they are making effective use of social media, according to a new survey report.

Firms can improve their effectiveness on social media with better training and tools, and by adopting written social media policies and monitoring metrics, says the 2014 Social CPAs Survey, How Accounting Firms Use Social Media Today.

The report, produced by consultancy SocialCPAs, Inovautus Consulting, and the Association for Accounting Marketing, can be downloaded for free...

...Firms seeking to improve their social media effectiveness, according to MacQuarrie and Dobek, can do so by:

Training . Half of the survey respondents said they provide their employees no training in use of social media. “I talked with some CPAs about LinkedIn, and they were asking, ‘Why would you need training on LinkedIn? Everybody knows how to use it,’ ” MacQuarrie said. “And I think the perception is, much like Excel, if I know 10% or 20% of Excel, I feel like a power user. And I have no idea what I don’t know"...

To read full article, click here

Source: Ken Tysiac (www.journalofaccountancy.com)

Finding job opportunities through social networking

Social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter can be valuable tools in your job search. Your online profile provides a great way to advertise yourself and let others know what you are looking for. By making the right connections, you also get direct, personal, and instantaneous access to the knowledge and insights of industry leaders, top executives, hiring managers, and recruiters.

Information on what these individuals are doing and thinking may provide you with that extra advantage needed to get ahead. You may want to attend a conference they are attending or read the books they are recommending. Or you may even get first dibs on news of a job opening through a tweet or status update.

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Your boss wants to befriend you on Facebook

Social networking is now blurring the line between our personal and work lives. But even if your firm is ready to embrace social networking and everyone from the intern to your CEO is on Facebook, remember that networking and “friending” are two different concepts.

To be safe, it’s good practice to remove any unprofessional content and set your privacy options to limit the degree of access certain individuals have to your profile. Another suggestion is to create separate accounts – one for business and one for personal use.

But no matter how carefully you restrict access, remember that nothing online is truly private.

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