Tax season is upon us; there is no denying that. While the standard print ads and authoritative TV ads have been making their appearances for weeks now, they seem to be less prominent than in recent years. With increasing regularity, accounting firms countrywide are turning to social media in unparalleled numbers to ramp up their marketing efforts. It seems that CPAs and do-it-for-you tax companies are finally recognizing the power of social channels, and are talking action accordingly.

According to survey results from Robert Half Management Resources, 22% of CFOs interviewed by telephone cited active participation in Social Media platforms, such as LinkedIn and Twitter. A 22% usage percentage may seem unimpressive relatively, but for a professional service such as this it does reflect a high adoption rate.

To reap the largest yield from your Social Media Marketing efforts, take a 3-pronged approach:

1. Focus — Define a clear focus, including desired target market(s) and ultimate goals for visibility and conversion.
2. Educate — Take every opportunity to share helpful information with clients (current and potential) via blog posts. Well-written and helpful content is oft-shared content, and will help establish brand authority.
3. Optimize — Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be used in conjunction with Social Media Marketing, also known as Social Media Optimization, to gain increased exposure and better ROI.

Your credit score carries significant weight in your financial life. Want to rent an apartment or buy a car? Good luck doing so with a bad credit score. The same logic applies to landing a job if you have a negative online reputation. So says MyWebCareer, an early stage startup that has developed algorithms to run your “Career Score,” a credit check for your professional web persona.

The most-frequently cited reason Facebook users give for “unliking” a brand is that it posts too frequently, according to a new report from Exact Target and CoTweet. Data from “The Social Break-up” indicates 44% of Facebook users list this as a top reason for unliking a brand they once liked on Facebook.

Infographics are nothing new; presenting data in a graphically-appealing manner has been around just about as long as the data itself. Anyone spending a reasonable amount of time of the internet as of late however will note the sudden and perplexing popularity of these graphics however. An “insider” who got a little tired of seeing these graphics pop up everywhere revealed the truth; infographics are an advanced keyword-spamming tactic.

It is common knowledge that the more features you can squeeze into a piece of real estate the better, and HTML links are no different. Is the increasing use of link shortening services such as TinyURL and bit.ly harming your SEO efforts however?

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/*Mobile internet usage is exploding as can be seen in several NetMarketShare reports. The Browsing by Device Type report (see below) shows that mobile internet usage has now grown to 2.6% for August 2010. It was 0.94% for August 2009, so has more than doubled in a year’s time. It could easily [...]

Facebook is the second most popular site in the world, with visitors spending 30 minutes or more on-site during a typical visit. Your official Facebook page for your company is therefore a great way to develop brand recognition and loyalty. Taking an SEO approach to managing your Facebook page can help; here are some strategies to get you started.

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/*In my previous post, I gave an overview of Online Reputation Management (ORM) and the importance of adapting ORM in your business. Continuing on the topic of Online Reputation Management, here are some free tools that you can use to monitor your online reputation.
With the large number of tools available, you will need to do [...]

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/*All businesses, especially those who rely on Search Engine Marketing, can be subject to bad publicity. It takes just one negative comment on a blog or website with the right audience to drive your reputation into the ditch. If you haven’t heard of or are not doing Online Reputation Management (ORM), here are the basics [...]

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/*When it comes effective search engine marketing – Content is King. This holds true as much as ever these days. Gather CEO Tom Gerace, who is also founder of the Social Media Advertising Consortium (SMAC), a non-profit organization working on the creation of standards for social media engagement campaigns, offered some tips on marketing through [...]