Tips for Newbies: How to Approach Social Media Marketing as a Bookkeeper

There’s no denying: social media is here to stay. But with so many different platforms to choose from, how does one start today? Should one go for a personal or a company page, and how can one reach potential clients on social media? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss social media marketing for bookkeepers in their Tips for Newbies series.

[0:42] Hannah, who has been the social media manager at Bookkeeping.com for almost five years, kicks off the episode series on social media marketing for bookkeepers.

[1:53] As it was mentioned in the previous episode, social media is actually one of the first things Melissa outsourced in her business.

[2:39] What social media needs to be on a business’ radar? For Hannah, the top 5 social media platforms at the moment are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. Your business may not need all five. What you need to do is 1) determine how important social media is to your business, and 2) determine where your audience resides and go there

[4:46] What’s Hannah’s best advice for taking care of social media marketing the DIY way? The first step is to take a moment to decide whether you’d actually like to do it yourself or should delegate it to someone. After that, it’s about determining where your audience is, and then doing some market research – who do your target customers follow on social media? What are they looking for? And ask yourself this key question: Am I answering what potential clients are looking for on Instagram, TikTok or other platforms they hang out on?

[8:50] What do people do when they log on to any social media platform? They look for something: information, inspiration, something aesthetically pleasing, to decompress, to laugh. It’s important to try to be the question to what your target clients are seeking out on social media.

[10:08] With so many social media to choose from, how should a business owner go about getting started? Hannah recommends creating a game plan and being laser-focused – if you’re feeling overwhelmed, then pick only two platforms and focus on them first.

[10:58] When starting out with social media, what overwhelmed Melissa the most? She didn’t focus on a couple of platforms, rather followed a “the more, the merrier” approach.

[11:40] What are some additional reasons that lead people to feel overwhelmed when it comes to leveraging social media for their business? Hannah believes that one of the main causes of this is focusing too much on content without actually doing much brainstorming.

[12:42] What should one do if she feels she’s too old for something like TikTok? The answer is simple: if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, just don’t do it.

[15:08] Feel as if your target clients are on a specific social media platform but you aren’t on there much? You should act now, says Hannah. In Melissa’s case, for instance, many painters are on TikTok. And another thing they do is leave a lot of reviews. And which platform gets plenty of reviews published on it? Facebook…

[15:32] ‘Do I go personal or business?’ is one of the questions many business owners ask themselves. And are there particular boundaries to set with clients who would like to connect with me on my personal profiles? Hannah recommends making your social media profiles not personal pages but business pages. As far as boundaries are concerned, she suggests not becoming Facebook friends with your clients, as they’re likely to talk business on your personal profile. You may have working hours with your business but that’s harder to do because social media has blurred the line of your 9-to-5. That’s why it’s important to create boundaries and “aggressively” protect your personal life.

[20:26] Once the audience has been defined and found on social media, how does one go about creating content? When starting out, Melissa really struggled with this because she had a ton of ideas and she wasn’t sure which one to create content around. Hannah suggests looking at other pages for inspiration for content you may want to create. As for the actual creation, Canva – especially the Pro plan – is the platform both Hannah and Melissa rave about. Create content that adds value, then mix it up.

[24:06] Wondering how you can engage others on social media? Using a giveaway can be a great way to engage others. The incentive can be as small as a $5 or $10 gift card to a place like Starbucks, for instance.

[26:56] Are there some strategies for inviting people to follow me on social media? Yes, there are. Hannah shared how some people and companies actually create ad-hoc discounts that are available only to those who start following them on social media, because most people enjoy getting free stuff.

[29:21] What’s something that shouldn’t be done on social media? Copying other people’s content is a big no-no, and keeping your visuals high-quality matters.

[33:31] How do you go about finding someone to help you with social media? If you have content ideas in your head but you’re just missing that creative flow or perhaps you need some small graphic design tasks done, then you could look into hiring a graphic design student as a contractor. In case you’re having a tough time with planning, coming up with a calendar, and scheduling, then you’re more in need of help from an agency or from somebody who does this full-time.

[35:06] Wondering about Hannah’s #1 social media tip for newbies? You’ve actually heard it before: find where your target customers are, and go there.

Mentioned in this episode:

success@ilovebookkeeping.com