Earlier today, a reader asked this question:
I am doing a 45-minute online presentation to accountants about the changing dynamics of tax advice and wonder if you could give me some information on the impact of social media?
I am working on the content now and am thinking of highlighting the growth of social media and how this puts the power in the hands of clients. I am also going to suggest that clients live in real-time service mode and effectively compare asking an accountant for advise to doing a search on Google. Needless to say, most accountants come a poor second.
Rather than provide a detailed email response, I decided to blog the answer in bullet points. Check out:
David Tebbutt’s entire presentation to librarians about social media which I referred to yesterday and which is available on Flickr. It is an excellent analysis of what’s happening in social media and why it is important. It could equally apply to tax librarians.
Dave Sifry’s State of the Blogosphere from April. 71+ million blogs and continuing on a hockey stick trajectory. OK – so 80% will be dead 3 months after creation but those that are regularly updated are doing very nicely.
The high speed and extensive coverage of SAPPHIRE07 from this Technorati tag. 95 stories related to a single event. We’ll see increased commentary on events like the annual Budget Day speech providing nuance and richness to the bare reporting we currently endure. As an aside, in a call with Dan Farber who manages ZDNet’s 30+ site blog effort, he said to me: “I want stories up in minutes, not hours.” That’s what blogs do. Mainstream media processes get in the way.
Richard Murphy’s TaxResearch blog. He’s totally focused on tax abuse and has not looked back since he was cajoled into working with this medium.
OpenCoffee. Started in London and spread virally around the world, OpenCoffee brings VCs and entrepreneurs together in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. Better still, if you’re in the London, Brighton, Bristol or other areas mentioned then just turn up and find out what’s happening. Who knows, you might find the odd client.
Wiki Wednesday. David Terrar is on a roll with this London based monthly event which talks about the power of wiki technology in not only developing communities of interest but also providing collaborative content creation opportunities. Think about bank presentations, client project consulting, M&A work, tax strategy creation, HR policies – for starters.
GoodmanJones. GJ won an award last year for its website which is regularly updated and serves as a magnet for new business. Alongside, partner Philip Woodgate writes an easily accessible blog on SME issues. His post about New Media should be on every partner’s required reading list.
Bottom line?
- Despite the continuing belief that partners are in charge of the firm>client relationship, the fact is that clients have infinite choice at their fingertips. That translates directly into attention deficit. There’s simply too much ‘stuff’ out there for people to absorb. In an attention starved economy, intention to buy a service become harder to manage.
- In order to be relevant, you’ve got to be up there on the first Google search page. Regular, relevant, focused and valuable content wins every time, especially now that Google tracks blog postings.
- If you’re not operating at the interface between client and social media then you are at risk of being rendered irrelevant. Here’s an example. A reader asked for a professional recommendation. I provided a choice of 3 accountants I know through their blogs. No-one else got a look in. Why? Because I ‘know’ these people and have confidence in their authority.
- Irrelevance is the worst thing that can happen to a business because it is but one short step from there to oblivion.
