By Chris Lee

Business social network LinkedIn now boasts 85 million members in more than 200 countries and is being used by many organisations worldwide to win new business, interact with customers and partners, and recruit staff.

But many in the accounting sector need to “sharpen up their use of business social media as they are behind their competitors”. This is the stark warning of Tim Prizeman, director at PR firm Kelso Consulting, whose research found that not only was there evidence of very low usage of LinkedIn among mid-tier accountancy firms, but also that many of those that were active on LinkedIn took a “me-too” approach, often providing “bland corporate pages” on their profiles.

A question of trust

According to Prizeman people do not change their accountants or other professional advisers lightly. 

“It is very hard to tell a good accountant from a great accountant from a poor one until you have experienced working with them,” he told NMK. “Even then it is still hard because much of the advice has to be taken on trust. For this reason people usually look to appoint accountants they have worked with, or who are recommended by people they trust.  This is why being on LinkedIn is hugely important for accountants.  While it has numerous uses, above all it is about making it easy for people who know you to either track you down or refer you.”

Prizeman warned that the biggest mistakes accountants make in LinkedIn is banning its use, often because they confuse it as a business equivalent of Facebook, which he stressed it is not.

“The other big mistake which many accountants make with all their marketing is being vague and general – they are so scared of putting off potential clients, rather than attracting them, they describe themselves and their firms in vague and unmemorable ways that are quickly forgotten,” Prizeman added.

Get involved in the conversation

According to Prizeman, the online world is now an important, fast-growing channel for accountants’ clients, so accountancy firms should be factoring this reality into their marketing.

“At the very least, most prospective clients will check out your website and what is being said about you online.  If you create a poor impression compared to your competitors, then you have created a big hurdle to overcome that may well cost you the potential client,” he said.

So who should be managing this process internally? Prizeman recommends a senior marketing person or a partner who is an enthusiastic LinkedIn user to create and manage the company’s LinkedIn page and all individual employees should make the most of their own LinkedIn profile.

“There seems to be a fear in certain firms that their people will immediately start posting inappropriate comments or otherwise making a huge faux pas that lingers forever in cyberspace,” Prizeman said. “In my view if people can be trusted to provide your clients with great accountancy advice then they are sensible enough to use LinkedIn without nannying and lots of controls.”

So what are Prizeman’s top tips for good LinkedIn management?

“It will take a bit of effort on LinkedIn to build up your contacts and my view is that people should use it at least once a week to keep it looking fresh,” he concluded. “However, like most business activity, rewards come from using it over a period of time and contributing rather than simply expecting to receive. Like all networking, you will get back what you give to others - if you simply sit back and expect lots of leads from your contacts without helping them you are likely to have a long wait for any benefit.”

You can read Kelso Consulting’s accountancy industry LinkedIn use findings here.