Harris Lipman News

Forward-thinking accountants using social media to attract new clients

07/06/2011

Accountants who are shunning the use of social media to attract new clientele are missing out on the benefits that forward-thinking accountants, who have a social media plan in place, are enjoying.

As the popularity of social media networks continue to rise, by using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as a means of attracting prospective clients, accountancy firms are seeing positive results and are reaping the benefits.

Opting to be progressive rather than just relying on traditional methods of networking, accountancy firms are also using social networks as a means of keeping current clients up-to-date with news from the firm, updating them on finance, business and tax news, and also sustaining relationships with clients online.

Although accountancy firms continue to use the more traditional methods of networking with prospective clients, such as word-of-mouth and personal networking, social media has established itself as a highly effective method in catching the attention of new clientele and reaching a new audience.

Harris Lipman, a chartered accountancy firm based in London, Oxford and Wales, has a social media programme in place, which involves a daily blog, three daily tweets, a LinkedIn account and a Facebook Page.

Barry Lewis, partner at Harris Lipman, said: “By having a social media programme in place at Harris Lipman we have been able to reach an audience that we have not been able to before. Having a presence in the social media world means we are more visible to potential clients and we can also sustain close relationships with our current clients.”

It is not enough for firms to set up social media accounts alone, it is important that accounts are regularly updated - an empty Twitter or Facebook account would offer a worse impression than not having one at all. 

“We have a daily blog, which are about current topics in the news that will be of interest to our clients. We also post three daily tweets, which include links to business news articles, and we have a good number of followers,” Mr Lewis added.

During the month of May, the Harris Lipman website received a total of 3,672 visitors and 673 of those were from referring sites. Facebook proved to be the most successful social network website in diverting traffic to the Harris Lipman website, with a total of 145 referred visits, followed by Twitter with 93 visits and then 53 visits from LinkedIn.

“There are a number of ways that Harris Lipman reaches a wider audience by having a Twitter account. We reach prospective clients by ‘following’ accounts that new clients may also be following, and people who are following our clients – who are following us - will see that they are following Harris Lipman and may be encouraged to follow us if they are in need of financial or business advice,” Mr Lewis said.

Harris Lipman proved just how cutting edge the firm had become with the launch of their very own phone Apple App for users of the iPhone. The LipmanLogic game appears to read players’ minds by inviting them to think of a number and then correctly guessing what it is.

Harris Lipman partner Martin Atkins said: “We’ve always tried to be at the forefront of new technology and use the latest methods to communicate with new and existing clients.”

With the use of social media networks continuing to rise in the UK, clients now automatically expect firms to be ‘online’. If they are not, the firm will instantly look behind the times which gives a bad first impression. And we all know how important first impressions are.

For more information, please contact Harris Lipman on 020 8446 9000.

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