Even at a small CPA firm, marketing is vital. It is what attracts new customers and also what retains existing ones. You have plenty of information to send to your clients, and Protexure Accountants is here to help you expand your reach by offering you some tips for using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn within your marketing strategy. Facebook With over 120 million active users and counting, Facebook is the largest social network in the world. With so many potential clients registered on the site, it is vital for your Small Firm to start your social media success story on Facebook. Some of the perks that it offers include Facebook Insights, Reply Options, and the ability to "Like" other businesses. Facebook Insights provide real-time data about who is looking at your page, how many people look at your posts, and how many people "Like" your page. This is quality information that your business can use in order to narrow your focus onto your target market. The best part is that Facebook allows this information to be exported into an Excel file, where you can examine each "Insight" (Total Likes Received, Total Reach, etc.) and use some basic statistical analysis to find out just how well your page is doing. Your Total Reach is what you must keep the closest eye on. This is how many people see what you post per day (that is, all the "Friends" of the people who "Liked" your page). Try to maximize this number by consistently posting content and linking your page to your other social media pages. Reply Options and the ability to "Like" other businesses are two of the most underutilized tools in the Business side of Facebook, but the companies that employ these tools set themselves apart from others that do not. Reply Options allow you to have conversations with people that interact with your page. For example, if someone comments on a recent post asking a quick question, such as how long you have been established as a CPA firm, you can directly reply to their comment and answer their question. Then, a notification will be sent to the commenter indicating that their comment has been replied to. Not only is the personal attention to the commenter something that might make them want to do business with you, it is shown publicly so that everyone who sees that post will see the personal reply. It is a brand new feature to Business Pages, so take advantage of it before your competition does! The ability to "Like" other businesses can boost the popularity of your page. When you "Like" another Business Page, that page will list you in their "Recent Likes" section. There is no downside to liking a lot of pages, and businesses usually return the favor. Twitter Twitter is unique in that it only allows you to send quick, 140 character messages to your followers per post. This can be a daunting task for someone unfamiliar with how Twitter works, but once you get the hang of it, Twitter can be used as a great marketing tool. The primary thing to remember when using Twitter is that the character limit is only a guideline. You CAN use more than the allotted 140 characters to get your point across. This can be done by using shortlinks. There are several websites that allow you to tweet a message that is longer than 140 characters, the only downside is that the entire message does not come up on the Twitter feeds of your followers. There will be a shortlink to the full message, so the key is to make the first sentence of your tweet attractive to your target market. Other suggestions we have for using Twitter is to link it to your Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media network pages. This will allow your users to interact with your other pages and increase the number of tweets posted, which indicates that you are making an effort to keep your clients informed about what's going on inside and outside your Small Firm. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a highly underutilized social media platform, especially for Businesses. There are many personal accounts on LinkedIn, but it is seldom that you find a well-done, well-thought-out LinkedIn page for a small business. Since so many professionals are registered on LinkedIn, it could be a key component to your online marketing strategy going forward. A few tips for using LinkedIn to promote your small business are as follows:

• Take advantage of LinkedIn's Paid Advertisements- LinkedIn offers companies the opportunity to pay for Ads that display on the right side of their website. They are tailored to attract people that you specify as your target market
• Post Events and Create Groups- Posting events is a great way to attract new clients, and creating groups are a way to build loyalty with clients.
• Recommendations- What's the best way to get recommendations? Give recommendations. Businesses all want recommendations on LinkedIn in order to build brand equity. Give recommendations and most businesses will return the favor.

This is a lot of information to take in all at once, but we believe that becoming a Social Media Success is a gradual process for a Small Business, and especially a Small CPA Firm. There are not going to be 1,000 likes the first day you create your page, but eventually the work you put in to building and promoting the page will pay off. As always, we at Protexure Accountants are here to help! We wish you luck on your social media endeavors. At Protexure Accountants, we provide our clients with the utmost professionalism and competitive policy rates that are among the best in the industry. Our policies are tailored towards the needs of smaller Accounting firms. This allows us to provide a more personal form of customer service along with a policy that satisfies the specific needs of a small firm. Our online application process is streamlined and simplified. We allow you to spend more time running your business, and not filling out paperwork. For a quick, free quote, visit our website at www.Protexure.com or give us a call at (888) 803-9898. Also, be sure to “Like” our Facebook page and Follow us on Twitter @ProtexureACCTS to stay up to date with the latest news regarding Professional Liability Insurance for Accountants!