Technology

26 October 2014

CPAs AND SOCIAL MEDIA:

PASSIONS AND PITFALLS

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PASSIONS AND PITFALLS

Technology

28 October 2014

Illustrations by Martin Megino

Many accounting firms around the globe are discovering how the effective use of social

media can help them thrive. Jemelyn Yadao finds out why Hong Kong CPAs should be

excited about using Twitter and Facebook at work, and why they should be nervous

F or a profession schooled in the use of hard num-bers and the importance of client confidentiality, the idea of accountants venturing into social me-dia sounds like a minefield. Yet many firms are doing just that: leveraging the power and reach of

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other platforms.Many accounting firms around the world, both big and small,

see social media as a powerful tool for generating conversations. The language of social media, such as “likes” and “followers,” has entered the world of accounting.

The reason, say social media experts, is that CPAs bring their personal as well as professional skills to bear as trusted advisers to clients. “People buy from people and increasingly consumers are looking for the human touch,” says Paul Thomas, Senior Manag-er, Digital Communications and Social Media, at Grant Thornton U.K. LLP in London. “To hide our people away from social media would be the wrong thing to do and a massive missed opportunity.”

The human touch was evident when a Princeton, New Jer-sey-based CPA firm, WithumSmith+Brown, promoted the firm’s acquisition of New York firm EisnerLupin with a “flash mob” event. Staff members, including Chief Executive Officer Bill Hagaman, got off a train, took to the streets of New York and danced to the tune of Party Rock Anthem by dance-pop duo LMFAO in front of the firm’s new Manhattan office building, much to the bewilderment of passers-by.

Boosted by mentions on Facebook and Twitter, the clip on YouTube has been watched more than 64,000 times as of late Sep-

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tember. “The videos we make have proven to be a huge success... with external ‘Mil-lennial’ and ‘Generation X’ audiences,” says Rhonda Maraziti, Director of Marketing at WithumSmith+Brown, adding that the film helped lure in prospective employees. “We receive emails weekly from young profession-als who see the videos and were compelled to submit their resumes.”

While the WithumSmith+Brown effort was as much for fun as for promotional gain, experts say CPA firms can benefit from seri-ous social media engagement. “At its best, so-cial media is one enormous open conversa-tion, and, at a very fundamental level, our people need to understand the opportu-nity that presents to them as individuals and as a business,” says Thomas.

In the United Kingdom, Grant Thorn-ton has been encouraging staff to use so-cial media and has been implementing a strategy for the past four years. The U.K. firm uses various platforms: it has corporate and staff accounts on Twitter, a successful recruit-ment page on Facebook, a trainee blog and a Value Added Tax and Indirect Tax group on LinkedIn with more than 2,500 members.

Faithful followersAsia-Pacific professional services firms are also tapping into the trend. In Hong Kong, 71 percent of smartphone owners use social me-dia apps on their phones, according to 2013 data by research company Ipsos. The Big Four firms recognize the importance of embracing social media channels as a way to stay rele-vant and competitive. “Social media helps us leverage the knowledge and expertise throughout our offices, particularly in Asia,” says Cyrana Tan, Head of Marketing and Communications, Asia Pacific, at Pricewater-houseCoopers in Hong Kong (see How to make social media work on page 30).

Like other firms, PwC Hong Kong tailors

its messages – or posts – according to the target audience of the social media plat-form to ensure maximum engagement. For example, the firm’s LinkedIn and Twitter accounts focus on sharing business insights with the market, while its Facebook page is used mainly for graduate recruitment.

EY also witnessed how Facebook can play a key role in strengthening the brand

and staff prospects. Its career fan page on the site, which was launched in 2011 in Hong Kong, has accumulated more than 10,000 followers so far. “We use it to promote highlights from our events, showcase EY leaders and cor-porate social responsibility activities,” says Agnes Chan, the firm’s Managing Partner for Hong Kong and Macau, and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs. “Social media is one way for us to share all of this in-formation to the university students – fast.”

Deloitte China has developed and used social media campaigns for years. “We have generally found these [social media plat-forms] to be effective channels, especially

for marketing and recruitment purposes,” says Derek Lai, Managing Partner, South-ern Region, at the firm. “Social media en-ables us to deliver our professional insights and thought-leaderships in an innovative and interesting way.”

One of the common misconceptions some people have is that a large number of follow-ers on the firms’ Twitter account indicates social media success. “That’s the wrong metric to chase,” observes Mark Lee, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a U.K.-based speaker

and mentor who writes for BookMarkLee, a blog aimed at accountants.

“It’s quite easy to get 5,000 plus follow-ers simply by following thousands of peo-ple yourself,” Lee points out. “It’s much better to identify key targets in your area

and with whom you have some shared in-terest. Better to have 200 relevant interest-

ed followers than 20,000 who ignore you.”The Chinese microblogging site Weibo

and social networking site Renren are also, of course, widely used by Hong Kong firms. “Channels that are more popular in China such as WeChat, Weibo and Laiwang pro-vide us with additional platforms to share global thought-leadership reports,” says Tan. “This gives our Chinese clients quick access to PwC’s views in both the macro- economic and micro level.”

While many question social media’s ef-fectiveness, some experts believe that if the medium is used properly, it is unlikely that firms will be talking to themselves on Twitter. “Customers, employees, clients and businesses are constantly talking on social networks,” says Tan. “The key is whether they are talking about you and what you’re doing about it.”

According to findings in PwC’s May re-port on mobile advertising in China, the nation has more active social media users

“People buy from people and

increasingly consumers are looking for the human touch.”

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30 October 2014

than its global peers. “In a country where we found 68 percent of Chinese consumers write reviews online about the products they buy, the consumer journey starts and ends online,” says Tan. “In the same way companies are increasingly listening to customers to target advertising, we as a firm have to identify and implement busi-ness change based on social insights and analytics.”

Think before you clickWhile social media can clearly bring firms rewards, these digital platforms can also pose tremendous risks. Firms recognize that the main challenges include disclosure of proprietary or confidential in-formation, and people who represent the firm in a way that can cause brand damage, or touch upon political, legal and regulatory issues.

How to respond to negative or false comments on the firm’s or its staff’s social media networks is also a major concern. “It is crucial that firms actively monitor and react as quickly as possible,” says Tan. “The viral nature of social media means that the longer the issue is left unaddressed, the more likely it is to spin into a bigger problem. Proactive social insight is a sensible precautionary measure, while waiting for a regulatory or

How to make social media workTo avoid being left behind in today’s technology-driven world, businesses are changing the way they interact with customers and are falling in love with social media. However few accounting firms are tweeting half-heartedly.

For firms to realize the real business value of social me-dia, they must first apply it to a well-defined business pur-pose. Having a Facebook page or a Twitter account does not automatically mean that an organization engages with social media, experts warn. “Aimless accounts are two-a-penny,”

says Paul Thomas, Senior Manager, Digital Communications and So-

cial Media, at Grant Thornton U.K. LLP in London.

Using the different social platforms for different purposes is key. With LinkedIn’s orga-nized format highlighting users’ qualifications and

expertise, Grant Thornton in the U.K. used the net-

work primarily to put their “best foot forward to the

world,” says Thomas. “We recognize that our people

are being searched for and looked at online and LinkedIn is usually the first

place that they are found – it’s almost good housekeeping.” Twitter can also be a great marketing

channel for any business. “It’s a place that we need to be present,” he says. Firms are urged to acknowledge its limitations. “I think the main

opportunity is for individuals to talk directly to the communities they want to engage with. It’s all about conver-sations and it’s hard for us as an organization to have conversations that matter on Twitter.”

While Facebook has estab-lished a reputation for connecting almost everyone, it is mainly all about signposting, says Thomas. “If people find us there then great, but it’s not where we expect or see much interest. However, from a recruitment point of view, and particularly trainee recruitment, it has worked really well for us.”

As well as matching the right content to the right target audience, the effectiveness of social media for accountants lies in them avoiding one of the social media pitfalls: conservatism.

“Most of the accounting profession has a very risk-averse approach to social media, and focuses a

disproportionate amount of attention on the potential risks than on the benefits,”

says Cyrana Tan, Head of Marketing and Communications, Asia Pacific, at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong.

“It’s necessary to have the monitoring tools and skills in place,” she adds, “and then really empower

[staff] to be passionate about their issues and firm on the networks.”

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legal intervention means it will likely be too late to mitigate the damage to the brand.”

Ensuring policies or the dos and don’ts on appropriate social media postings are laid out clearly for all employees is key. “We have Facebook guidelines, protocols and procedures for all the pages,” says Chan at EY. “It’s about managing and monitoring these reputational risks from the beginning and tightening up risk management from the source.”

Partly in response to social media’s confi-dentiality risks, EY last year launched Yam-mer, a Twitter-like micro-blogging tool that allows its employees around the world to connect and collaborate on the go. “We have more than 100,000 connected to Yammer worldwide, while the adoption rate within the Greater China region is around 40 percent,” says Chan.

The internal platform is open to EY staff only, which means business issues and infor-mation can be safely and openly discussed. “A client-facing colleague who needs critical information quickly can post a question on Yammer and within minutes they would get an answer from one of their colleagues in an-other country, so it’s really helpful in terms of service delivery,” she notes.

Measuring successTo get the most out of social media, Hong Kong firms must first think about what exactly they want social media to do for them, notes Lee. “Who do you want to influence? Who is your target audience and where will you find them? The answers may be different depending on whether your objectives relate to business development, client communication, job searching or recruitment.”

Despite being a social media enthusiast, Lee says social media is not for everyone, add-ing that he would not encourage accounting firms to get involved in sites other than Linke-dIn, which is known for its business focus. “If

you exclude LinkedIn [in social media statistics] then certainly in the U.K. you would find only a minority of accountancy firms who can point to social media as being a successful ini-tiative. Typically these firms are using Face-book and Twitter to aid their recruit-ment efforts,” he says.

Lee says a CPA firm should first es-tablish a clear strategy for each of the popular social media platforms to generate real business expo-sure and benefits. Be aware of the pitfalls, he urges, saying CPA firms should steer away from posting overly self-promotional messages. “[They] are a huge turn-off on social media. Indeed, it’s an-ti-social to do this and thus counter-productive.”

Thomas at Grant Thorn-ton is used to dealing with sceptics when he’s pro-moting the value of social media to financial services firms. “You can almost see people sink into their chairs when you’re introduced as a social media special-ist,” he says. However, he adds, CPAs cannot ignore that “the growing impact of social me-dia and the Internet on the world of business affects all organizations.”

An initial open conversation about the opportunities, challenges, policy and gov-ernance is essential for creating a successful social media strategy. “Remember that each business culture will be completely differ-ent, so there cannot be one fixed approach,” Thomas advises. “And have fun. These are brilliant channels in interesting times. What’s not to love about that?”

“Who is your target audience and where

will you find them? The answers may be different

depending on whether your objectives relate to business development, client communication,

job searching or recruitment.”