Professional Services Industry Secrets: Follow These Six Steps to Build a Social Media Strategy (And Trust Online)
Professional services are flooded with expertise, knowledge and value – but how do firms showcase this asset and build brand?
Social media is the way the world perceives and learns about the world, but we know from experience professional service firms often struggle with extracting valuable information from internal team members, publishing it, and then maintaining consistency online.
Does this resonate with you? Try this scenario; a team member is an expert in their field with a wealth of knowledge, stories, and experiences to share. The firm knows there is value in sharing these insights with prospects and clients but the team member is engrossed in delivery and day-to-day tasks, so sharing this information via social media gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.
Or, perhaps a team member is tasked with the job of ‘posting to social media’ thinking it’s easy and straight forward. Only to post content of “how great the firm is” and add absolutely no value at all (yawn!).
Social media must add value, build trust and showcase industry expertise – with a human element behind it.
Want to develop an impactful social media strategy for your professional services firm? Follow these steps:
- Problem Profile: What is the problem the firm solves for clients? As an example: the primary problem an accounting firm solves is compliance, but perhaps the value is in a deep understanding of tax policies and the expertise available within the firm when it comes to tax? Property management: it’s knowing that at midnight when the pipe bursts the property owner won’t be bothered and can concentrate on sleeping (or other things). What is the problem your firm solves and how does it emotionally impact the target audience?
- Brainstorm Content Ideas: What ‘value add’ content can be published through social media? Industry insights? Market updates? Hints and tips? As much value as possible is key here to showcase expertise and build trust. When an industry announcement happens – is your firm the first to produce content on the topic?
- Content: Engage a photographer to capture humans. You’ll need 100+ photos to add to social media posts, articles, websites and expect to capture photos every 4-6 months for base line content/posts. The fun behind the scenes; shared lunches, birthday celebrations etc can be captured on a phone camera and shared easily but you’ll need a content bank to call from. The key here is to have a mix between ‘casual/raw’ imagery captured on a phone vs branded professionally captured candid photography.
- Interview: Book in a time to interview experts within the firm for a ‘content download’. Turn this into articles, emails, and multiple social media posts. The audience wants to hear from experts, and it builds brand authority. Can one article be broken into multiple pieces to tease out the value? - most likely!
- Calendar: Create a calendar outlining what to post and when it will be posted. Blackjet has a free content calendar for download (send us an email here). When will emails be sent and what will they entail? What date will the interview with a Director go live? Plan it out.
- Execute: Our top tip here is to build accountability into execution. A monthly meeting, schedule, goals and metrics. Unfortunately, this is where most businesses fail. Enthusiasm wains and momentum drops – social media gets pushed to the bottom of the to-do list – we understand. This is why Blackjet exists – to build momentum and consistency online, to conduct the content strategy meeting, engage in interviews, write and create the content, build emails, and ultimately post on social media on your behalf.
Ultimately, building a social media presence online for professional services is all about showcasing expertise, authority and building trust. We all know how much value is within the firm, it’s a matter of extracting that information and sharing it.
If you are unsure about how to implement your strategy and you are struggling to maintain it in-house, book in a FREE 30-minute Discovery Call with Blackjet to discuss how we can take over this critical part of building your business brand online.