Self employed guide to Social Media

How to use social media to get more customers?

The Internet revolutionised communication by making ‘electronic mail’ possible as a way of communicating with people. We now take this for granted as both a business and a personal communication tool, and it is now seen as an everyday means of communication.

More recently though, there has been a new communication concept which has changed the world yet again. We’re talking of course about ‘social media’, or social networking as it’s more commonly known. It's fair to say that not everybody has embraced social media, some still feel it is a tool to be used to communicate purely with friends and not as a business tool.

Sites such as LinkedIn, which were set up primarily for business use, can definitely provide a valuable additional communication tool for all types of businesses – but tell someone that you can use social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook as a means of communicating about business as well, and they will probably look at you as if you’re a little mad!

The reality is though, that business is all about interacting with people – in a way which suits them. If you want to make more people aware of your services or products, you can’t always expect them to seek you out. Instead you have to find them, wherever they are, and if your customers are on social networking sites – well, that’s where you need to be, so that they can find you, even if they didn’t know they were looking for you.

Many business owners either avoid getting involved with sites such as Twitter or Facebook simply because they do not understand them. Others sign up purely thinking it will add credibility to their business without fully knowing how they work and hence have no idea of the full benefits which they can bring. Time to re-think all that.

Social networking now accounts for 11% of all time spent online, with users spending 5.5 hours per month on these types of sites. That’s an increase from just two years ago of 3.2 hours per month and if your nearest competitor is regularly interacting with their customers via Twitter or Facebook to generate a buzz, gain feedback about their service, and promote their service offers then why aren’t you?

To find out more about three of the most common social media sites in use today, read our valuable guides:

Learn just how easy it is to set up an accountant, the benefits, how it will get you more customers and broaden your knowledge of the useful tools available to make you a social networking king or queen.

For more information or a general chat about your business plans please call us on 0500 234111 / 01442 275767.

Easy Accountancy

Easy Accountancy is the UK’s only national specialist accountancy firm for freelancers, sole traders and small businesses

If you’ve just started out as a freelancer or run a small business, you’ll definitely need a small accountant and there are plenty of options out there! However, most accountants will charge you every time you get in touch with them; for every phone call, email or meeting.

We don’t want our clients to be scared to contact us and potentially lose out on valuable tax saving advice. It's even more important when you first start out as you really need to set your business up in the best way possible. As a start up you’ll probably have loads of questions and will really appreciate the fact you can call your accountant as many times as you like without the fear of racking up large bills.

Our low cost, all-inclusive fixed-fee accountancy service includes unlimited access to your own accountant throughout the year, so you never need to worry about picking up the phone and then receiving a bill afterwards for the privilege, and covers all your business and personal tax affairs needs. All clients additionally receive:

Help to run your business in the most tax efficient way possible
Help so you can understand the taxes you need to pay
Advice on the best ways to manage your business
Updates and reminders so you'll never miss a deadline
Help to ensure you maximise your tax allowances
Provide proactive tax advice throughout the year

We’ve saved our clients up to half on their accountancy bills – if you’d like a quote, click on the quote me button to the right of this page. Alternatively, call us on 0500 234111 / 01442 275767 or email jessica@easyaccountancy.co.uk

We also have a money-back service guarantee - all of your telephone calls and emails will be answered on the same day, or we will refund your monthly fee (another first within the accountancy world).

To appoint us as your accountants, please fill in our Client Agreement Form online.

If you are a contractor working through a limited company then visit SJD Accountancy (our sister company) who specialise in providing tax advice and accountancy services for Limited Company contractors. You can also keep up to date by following the SJD Accountancy Twitter

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