First, let’s define it. Social Media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques (Wikipedia). That’s a fancy way of saying what we see Facebook, Twitter, and thousands of other websites now accomplishing on the web.

I think it is also helpful to understand modern day Social Media(SM) by way of a simple formula:

D + C + S = SM

Device = computers, phones, e-readers
Connectivity = advanced cellular signals, Wi-Fi availability, WiMax
Software = Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Yelp, Craigslist

The development of devices, connectivity and software has expanded our capacity for mobility and collaboration exponentially, and it is their interaction that has birthed this ‘new’ technology called Social Media.

So what does this mean for you and how does this apply to your business?

The answer is multi-faceted, so let’s break it down into three points and discuss how each component might affect you and your firm:

1 – Access to ‘inf-ada-tent’ (information, data, & content). Everyone is now a publisher of sorts, creating both supply & demand of ‘inf-ada-tent’ like never before. How does all this help or hurt when making a decision, either personally or professionally?

• Pros:
  o    You are able to tap the collective wisdom of many in a matter of minutes.
  o    You can filter who you listen to and who you don’t; think of it as a ‘wisdom aggregator’.
• Cons:
  o    Access to too much information; paralysis by analysis as it’s commonly called.
  o    Marketers are becoming more savvy in guising their message, thus making it unclear as to what can be trusted as an authentic referral.

2 – You will be noticed. Who doesn’t like a pat on the back every once in a while for a job well done- especially when it encourages business?  But what about the negative feedback that can spread just as fast?  Is being noticed a good thing?

• Pros:
  o    If you are good at your job and your business delivers value, people can now spread the good news in more ways and faster than ever before.
  o    More and more people look to others for their decisions, so as people take notice, it will have a rippling effect far greater than in the past.
• Cons:
  o    If you or your business has a bad day and rubs someone the wrong way, it may cause damage that is undeserved, out of proportion, or flat out incorrect.
  o    Staying under the radar- away from competition, etc- is a good rule of thumb for some business models, but this will no longer be an option since anyone can spread the word about the good or bad service they receive.

3 – You have a voice. Conversations have never held so much weight; however, there have never been this many conversations happening at once. At what point does too much of a good thing become a bad thing?

• Pros:
  o    In today’s conversant world, if you have a message you will have listeners.
  o    Social Media has allowed ‘permission marketing’ to reach full potential and has now made it easier to build a base of raving fans.
• Cons:
  o    More people saying more things means people have to be more and more protective of their time, causing them to shut certain things off; just hope it’s not you.
  o    You have a voice, but it may not be a pretty one. If your organization lacks a compelling or clear message, the problem will be compounded and you will get lost in the noise of Social Media.

These three points, as stated, are tip of the iceberg thinking. We must learn, as individuals, where & when Social Media tools make sense for us to use personally and professionally. Does social media help or hurt you?  You may only be able to find out after trying a few contained experiments.  But what’s good about the current marketplace is that you are just like everyone else– experimenting.

Take a look at Socialcast – “a simple, secure collaboration tool that helps employees communicate in real-time”.  Some of the features this tool brings to the table are microblogging, real-time conversation tracking, custom tags, private and public groups, link sharing, file sharing, and search-ability.

Reduce email and provide search-ability:

Think about all those group emails that get sent out and take up space in your inbox. Socialcast can allow your group or company to reduce those mass emails by putting group conversations and collaboration in one place. Another great feature of social networking are tags. You could start a conversation about an upcoming conference and tag it with “#conference”, which will make your conversation easier to find in the future by looking at the “tag cloud” (which is kind of like an index).

Basically, if you are familiar with Twitter and Facebook, that is what Socialcast is, but exclusively for your business.

Microblogging:

Talk about something you are working on, share a tip that might help others, or ask a question to get some feedback. You can also “@mention” other coworkers, in a Twitter-like fashion, so that your message will show up on their page to alert them that something has been posted relating to them.

Platforms:

Socialcast can be used via the web site, a desktop application for PC or Mac, as well as a newly released native iPhone application.

desktop application

iPhone application

Conversations:

You can subscribe to specific people in your company and watch what they have to say. Or you can watch the whole company stream at any point in time. You can also “flag” conversations, even if you don’t have anything to say, so that you can keep track of what is being said about that particular topic.

Groups:

Private or public groups can be created to collaborate in more of a streamlined manner for conversations that don’t need to include the entire company.

These are just a few of the features and benefits that Socialcast brings to the table. They offer a free version of their platform, as well as a paid version which offers a few more features. The adoption of a tool like this could seem hard to incorporate to a company that has relied on email for so long. However, there is a Socialcast Cookbook which contains best practices and simple tips for growing a community, which may help put your firm on its way to being savvy in the area of social networking. They also offer a NASA case study which tells of NASA’s use of the tool.

For a first-hand look at the service, visit the Socialcast Demo here.

The details are here, but in short – this is a huge ruling by the FTC that will effect the current landscape of Social Media.

First let’s discuss the basic nature of social media sites and how that may impact where you start. There are two categories in ‘lay terms’:

1. Static + Dynamic (S+D): A site that centers everything around the profile of a business or a person. A dynamic nature exists where you can network, add photos, etc but it’s not an imperative after you start your profile. To get full value from the site the dynamic must be tapped, but to get your feet wet you can start with just the static side of the equation.

These sites include: Facebook, LinkedIN, Google Local (see video), & other ‘directory based sites’.

2. Dynamic: A site that needs to be consistently updated to both drive and derive value from it. You need to think in terms of  constant content creation as being the normal mode of operation. This blog would be an example of that.

These sites include: Twitter, Blogs, YouTube

So where do I start?

As a CPA you should start with the S+D sites first and, once accomplishing those with some success, you can move on to the others. It’s not as much a question of ability; it’s more about desire and commitment. The dynamic sites take a rewiring of sorts. The S+D sites can easily be a quarterly exercise where you spend a few hours getting them in tip top shape. The Dynamic sites take constant care and attention that most business people are not willing to lend it currently due to the fuzzy nature of impact towards the bottom line.

So here is my prescription for the standard busy CPA in order:

And don’t forget this one crucial element. As a business person your hub for all things Social Media is your business’s website. What shape is it in? If it’s like most CPA firms’ sites, people who work for you don’t even know it exists, let alone use it as a tool to do business & network with. That may be your first place to start!

A video on Google Local Business Center