My answer to this question is always: “You don’t NEED to be on twitter but you might enjoy it”

This is the second in a series of blog posts that offer NO-HYPE answers to the question ‘Do I need to be on twitter?‘ The first one considered the position of someone who runs their own small practice.

For employed people in large firms of accoutants, lawyers, surveyors etc, a better question is why MIGHT you want to be on twitter?

And the answer then is in two parts: Personal and Professional. And you will also need to ensure that you comply with your firm’s social media strategy (if there is one).

Personal

I shared ten non-business reasons why plenty of accountants enjoy twitter on this recent blogpost. If you’re new to twitter then I strongly suggest that you start here and do not worry about generating any professional benefits until you have got used to it.

Professional

There’s a Catch-22 at play. For a while, hardly anyone will see what you tweet. And yet you will only build up (real) followers if you tweet interesting stuff. You can create the impression that you have lots of readers by chasing new followers, but if they’re not really interested they won’t be reading your tweets, so what’s the point?  The bottom line is that it takes time to build a relevant following on twitter. Even then, when you post a tweet the only people who will see it are:

• Some of those people who follow you on twitter.  Only some of them as few regular tweeters read all the tweets posted by the people they follow. And many of your followers will be people whose sole interest is whether you will follow them back to boost their follower numbers.
• Some of those who follow anyone who ReTweets your comment. Even if your tweets are copied to a wider audience, only some of them will be on twitter and see them.
• Anyone who is searching for tweets with keywords in them. This is how the media pick up on who said what about key news events etc.

Evidencing your interest in key clients

You may find that some of your clients are active on twitter. (‘Active’, not merely ‘registered’ on twitter). You can follow them and how they use twitter, in the same way as you might look out for references to them in the media. You might also be using ‘Google alerts’ to inform you about when they or their business appears on the web.

Such activity may inform your conversations with clients and can evidence that you are genuinely interested in them. You don’t have to engage with them on twitter to achieve this. You can just follow them and read their tweets. You can do this openly through a twitter account in your own name, or you can do it through an anonymous account.

In general the people posting tweets for the client are unlikely to be the individuals with whom you or your colleagues liaise.

What about to generate clients?

I am doubtful that you will generate new clients for your big firm through tweeting. You MAY, over time, build up a following if your tweets are of particular interest to key business owners who are active on twitter. The thing is though that I doubt that many decision makers in organisations that would be your firm’s target clients are active on twitter. If they are and you follow them, they MAY choose to follow you back. But will your activity on twitter really be a catalyst or a clincher for them becoming clients of your big firm? I doubt it. And do keep in mind the opportunity cost of your time spent on twitter too.

How about to raise the profile of the firm?

I would say that is a question for the partners and for the marketing team. Not for an individual.

What about my profile?

Yes, you could do that if you find that you enjoy using twitter. Over time you may be able to build up a following of fellow tweeters who share similar interests to you and with whom you could build profitable relationships. These can be continued offline or kept online. Who knows where they could lead?

I am following some great people on twitter who work for larger firms. They are stuck in the Catch-22 position I mentioned above. They have very few followers and yet unless they do something beyond posting a few tweets, that will not change. But as long as they are happy (and not embarrassing their colleagues) all is well.

Have I missed anything out do you think? Please add your comments/feedback below.

NB: On 23rd February 2012 Mark is speaking at two masterclasses in London addressing (respectively) The ‘Why bother?’ side of social media and The ‘How to?’ side of social media. Full details here.