Social Media Business Tools for Accountants

SOCIAL MEDIA BUSINESS TOOLS

Social Networking Lessons and Strategies for Accountants

Level: Intermediate

Course duration: Half day

Overview:

Think Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media websites are just a fad? Think again. At least 500 million people of all ages around the world (including at least 120 million in North America) routinely use social media. Millions more are signing up every week, and everyone from Coco-Cola to Nike, and the Royal Bank to the Department of Homeland Security are adopting social media in a big way. But what does it mean for accountants and the accounting profession? The session cuts through all the hype and delivers a concise and balanced introduction to the good, bad and ugly of social media. You’ll learn about blogs, micro-blogs, video channels, photo-streams, social networks, crowdsourcing, widgets, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds, mashups and other social media applications and how they’re being used to engage accounting clients in new ways. The session also reveals how accounting firms and single practitioners can develop a social media strategy at virtually no cost and how it can be used to build your business, particularly during these tough economic times.

Topics include:

• The key characteristics, opportunities and drawbacks of social media.
• The different types of social media models and how they’re being used in organizations around the world.
• Social networks: the most popular social media.
• Niche social networks
• Case studies of how accounting organizations are using social media.
• 20+ social media strategies for accountants
• Facebook 101
• Lessons learned from two years Facebook experience.
• How to use Facebook in your personal life.
• How to use (and not use) Facebook in your organization.
• Three key Facebook strategies for every accounting business.

On completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Better understand the popularity and benefits of social media and why a growing number of organizations, big and small, are embracing social media applications.
• Determine if social media is right for their organization.
• Recognize and use the 20+ types of social media models from blogs to micro-blogs to video sharing.
• Develop a low-budget but high impact social media strategy for their accounting practice.
• Track what is being said about themselves and their organizations in the social media space.
• Subscribe to key social media resources.
• Create an RSS feed for their website – a key social media promotion application.
• Share and search for professional documents online.
• Use social media marketplaces such as Craigslist to buy and sell online.
• Develop a Facebook profile for themselves and their organization.
• Create their own private-label social network from scratch at no charge.
• Develop their own branded blogs, micro-blogs, video channels, photo-streams, forums, widgets, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds, mashups and other social applications for free or nearly free.
• All participants receive a free 60+ page Social Media manual which spotlights hundreds of proven social media resources, tips and strategies.

Who will benefit:

CAs, CPAs, CFOs, Controllers, CEOs, CIOs, senior managers, practitioners and other professionals who are curious about social media, and want to explore how such applications can be used to boost their accounting practice, and better engage and assist clients.

Prerequisite:

You should have a basic understanding of the Internet and know how to navigate and download online. The seminar is non-technical and jargon-free and has been especially designed for experienced accounting professionals (ages 35 years and up).

Comments from past participants:

• “Excellent, entertaining and informative session … really worthwhile attending.”
• “A fascinating and reassuring (for old guys like me who prefer books!) presentation that I thoroughly enjoyed!”
• “A wild cyber ride.”

Accreditations:

The following organizations have accredited the course as part of their professional development programs:

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta

How to order:

Call 778.898.9059 or e-mail me to order the seminar today for your organization.