The Big 4, Social Media Edition: Facebook

With well over 2.5 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. Because of its huge user base, you can be certain that your audience is on Facebook. Ignoring Facebook as a part of your accounting firm’s marketing strategy is an offense you don’t want to make.  

If marketing an accounting firm on social media is new to you, or you could use some pointers, you’re in the right place! This blog will cover Facebook best practices for accountants and accounting firms. 

Your Personal Facebook 

If I had to take a guess, I’d feel confident in saying that you have a Facebook account. Even my 90+ year old grandma is on Facebook. Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook isn’t a professional network by nature. That said, your marketing strategy should reflect this difference. 

People use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends and see what they’re up to. Because if this, you shouldn’t treat it the same as LinkedIn. Instead of inundating your Facebook friends with updates from your accounting firm, you should shift your focus. 

 Here are some of the tools you can use to market your services and your firm on Facebook: 

  • Join groups and discussions your target audience participates in 
  • Get reminded of colleague’s and client’s birthdays 
  • See when your audience is most active and schedule a post 75 days in advance on Meta Business Suite 
  • View and post a variety of content types such as live videos, location check-ins, photos, videos, stories, etc.
  • Create and find online and in-person events 

Personal Page Best Practices 

Since Facebook is used more to keep in touch with friends and family than it is to promote businesses, your job doesn’t need to be the center of your page. I would, however, recommend the following: 

  • List your current and previous work positions in your About section 
  • Have the link to your firm or another professional landing page you want to send visitors to in your About section 
  • Add links to any other social network sites you’re active on to your About section 
  • Join and participate in relevant groups such as broad accounting industry groups and niche groups that you serve 
  • Follow and engage with your firm’s Facebook page (if they have one) 

Notice that posting work-related content isn’t on that list. That’s not to say you can’t post that content, but I would encourage you to not to get so carried away that you end up treating Facebook the same as LinkedIn. Remember that Facebook is more intimate and personal. 

 

Company Page Best Practices 

Unless your target audience is young children or people in a country where Facebook is banned, they’re on the platform, and your firm should be, too. You need to meet your audience where they already spend time, and for much of your audience, that’s Facebook. 

Setting up a page is simple. Your page should have a clear profile picture—likely your logo—, a branded cover image, the firm website and contact information, links to your firm’s other social accounts and a bio that explains your firm and services offered. 

Unlike a personal page, Facebook users follow your firm’s page to see content about your firm. You can use a Facebook page similarly to a LinkedIn page, but I would still encourage you to make your page more personal on than it is on LinkedIn.  

Here are some unique features to consider using on your firm’s page: 

  • Pin posts to the top of the page 
  • Connect Facebook and Instagram pages 
  • Create and find in-person and online events 
  • Tag employees and other sources when they’re in your content 

Your firm should post to its company page often. However, every post doesn’t have to come directly from your firm. You can post relevant new stories, industry news, etc. to mix things up. As with most social platforms, posts with videos or images tend to perform best. If you’re an admin of your firm’s company page, you can switch between engaging with content as your personal profile or as the page. Follow other pages and engage with them as your firm page. 

 These are all general best practices. Use Meta Business Suite to analyze what works best for your firm. You can use the Meta Business Suite to see everything from analytics to notifications and messages for both your firm’s Facebook and Instagram pages, as long as they’re connected. 

 All in all, Facebook has the largest user base of the Big 4 social media platforms. Your audience is there, so your firm should be as well.