Marketing for professional service companies is undergoing some dramatic change, which bekons the reason why it pays to be social. Today, buyers are relying highly on the convenience of the internet to find out about professional service firms. Marketing is shifting towards sharing knowledge and adding value to your prospects, which improves the reputation of a firm. Research shows that professional firms that are using social media as a means of marketing are growing faster and becoming more profitable. Thus, more and more professional service companies are embracing social media and using it as their marketing weapon.

Determine the purpose:

Before building up the strategy, a professional firm needs to know about the aim of its social media program. A firm needs to figure out if they require it for building a relationship with their audience or for sharing new ideas. It might even be used for attracting new visitors to the website or simply to know about competitors’ position in the marketplace.

Define the target audience:

To make an effective strategy, a firm must clearly define its target audience. Formal research should be conducted, such as, polling or online monitoring or getting your voice of your customers.

Choosing the appropriate media:

It is important to figure out the right social media platform where you are more likely to find your target audience and prospective clients. For professional service firms like high tech companies, consulting firms, law firms, etc., LinkedIn is a very good option to start with. Twitter and YouTube are also considered to be good platforms to showcase the brand and services of the firm.

How to do effective social media marketing and boost your professional service firm’s business?

Making strong connections is a very important part of marketing. LinkedIn is the world’s largest business-focused social network. So, it can prove to be very effective if your firm focuses on this social media site. The information about the firm should be genuine and not overtly promotional.
Social media can have an impact on sales throughout the entire process. For example, if a certain contact is becoming less responsive, comment on their LinkedIn posts to get them back. Sales representatives should always keep a track of conversations of their contacts or clients and take active participation in those conversations by monitoring them in the social media stream.
Company representatives should always find out time to post daily on their profile walls. Frequent posts can be a very effective way of drawing the attention of the customers. The firm should not only post about their own professional services or products but should also share other information related to their field.
Social selling and marketing are however not a replacement for the traditional marketing process. They can be effectively utilized together for growing professional service firms.