A Brave New World with Social Media

In a previous post, Garrett Wasny [1] listed ways in which accounting and finance professionals are using Twitter to good advantage. Because his specialty is professional development consulting for accountants, we followed up and asked him how social media has changed the way he conducts his own business. Here is Garrett’s very interesting list—contrasting the old days (before social media) with the new ways (after social media).

Says Garrett:

“I use social media to—

Improve my marketing

Old: static business cards

New: dynamic LinkedIn profile

Boost my professional development

Old: magazines subscriptions

New: RSS feeds

Enhance communications with customers and colleagues

Old: zero access to top decision-makers

New: now, directly connect and eavesdrop using Twitter  

Accelerate workflow and productivity

Old: Travel

New: Virtual meetings and webinars

Help me recruit

Old: newspaper ads

New: LinkedIn candidate search

Find new gigs and jobs

Old: public library research

New: follow companies on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

Make me a smarter shopper and cut costs

Old: hard copy catalogs

New: Red Laser app on mobile phone

Create new business models and revenue streams

Old: only banks loaned money

New: peer-to-peer lending marketplaces provide lending and borrowing opportunities

Improve Google ranking

Old: launch website and hope users find me

New: Every mention of my name on social media raises profile and boosts search results”

How are you using social media in your firm?