When you think of a social media influencer, who comes to mind? Perhaps Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian?
They have millions of followers, and they’re highly successful. They are masterful at selling products. They’re also keenly aware of getting people to follow them and watch what they do. People follow them because sometimes their lives are like a train wreck, and you just have to watch.
Accounting and bookkeeping social media influencers
Who are the social media influencers in the accounting world? Names like Michelle Long and Hector Garcia come to mind. But there are many others. How did they become the person you envision when you think of QuickBooks®? It doesn’t happen randomly. You have to lay out a plan.
I’ve been following Michelle Long forever—even before social media. In the early days, our social media was the Intuit® Community Board. I learned much of what I know today from reading Michele’s posts. If you’re 40 or under, you know Hector Garcia. What made these two people unique, and what makes them influencers?
In our industry, influencers share what they know. They help others. To me, that’s genuinely what an influencer does.
#1: Be brave!
You have to put yourself out there. Make videos and share them on Facebook or Instagram, or even TikTok.
When I started getting my name out there, I partnered with Matthew Fulton, and I learned a lot from him on how to be strategic and get people to want to hear what we had to say and to follow us. Helping others was always part of the theme.
Part of our plan was to be bold and daring and let go of the fear of any criticism. Our master plan was to start a Facebook group (QB Community Live), post content, share what we know, go to QuickBooks Connect, be ourselves, and act like everybody should know us.
At conferences, we would run around (not as speakers) and interview anyone who wanted to be interviewed. We spoke to vendors, and we interviewed the conference-goers. People walked up to us and wanted to be interviewed. It was crazy! We had a lot of fun doing it, and people started recognizing who we were.
Of course, that’s just one method of just jumping out and saying, “Hello, world! Here I am!”
#2: Using Facebook as a method
When you think of Hector Garcia, you think of Hector on YouTube. But he has a Facebook group that he started with Michele Long. They would answer questions on Facebook.
There are a lot of Facebook groups out there, and you have to work at it to make the Facebook group both engaging and a place people want to engage. Hector does a masterful job of engaging and answering the group questions, as does Michelle Long and Dan DeLong. Hector also does a lot of polls, which drives engagement.
On the other hand, look at another influencer like Veronica Wasek. She has a Facebook group called the 5 Minute Bookkeeping Community. Her group is super active, and she is kind, has a safe place for anyone to ask questions, and provides a ton of content to her group.
#3: Show off your specialty
Even when I decided to shift my firm to a niche that was legal industry specific, I had to announce the pivot. I let everyone know who I was and what I was doing. I wanted the world to know.
I started a Facebook group, Accountants Law Lab, with my business partner, Sarah Prevost, and we never looked back. We do Facebook Live (another method for sharing with the world what you know) every week, and help others in our group learn legal accounting. We share the app vendors we use and interview them at conferences to help them get more users. We are known as the two legal ladies—a hat we wear with pride!
The common thread is that it all comes down to providing value. Helping others and setting yourself up as that expert will assist in becoming that social media influencer. So, find what you love and share what you know. That’s the recipe for success! Become that influencer!
