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Are Professional Service Firms Fully Leveraging the Power of Facebook?

Facebook is arguably the most powerful social media platform going, with 1.59 billion monthly active viewers. And while most (92 percent) of the 25 top Detroit professional service firms – as ranked by Crain’s Detroit Business – have Facebook pages, many are failing to leverage its power to boost awareness and engagement for their brands.

Consider these facts: 1) one-third of Americans get news through Facebook; and 2) the average user spends 20 minutes per day on Facebook – almost 2.5 times more than is spent on Twitter. That means there may be a lot of potential engagement time that you can make work for your company.

Our Social Media Use by Professional Services (SMUPS™) of the of 25 top Detroit professional service firms shows several areas of opportunity for firms to approach Facebook – and other top social media platforms – more effectively.

Some things to consider to amp up the effectiveness of your firm’s Facebook page:

• Be Visual – If your company is part of the 24 percent of firms that don’t include images or videos with your posts, turn that around. Simply adding a visual element (a photo, chart, graph, infographic or video) to your posts can do a world of wonder for catching eyes and boosting engagement.

• Share Coverage – Our research shows that sharing earned media coverage on Facebook is shockingly low. Nearly 95 percent of professional service firms’ posts don’t focus on media coverage they have received. Be sure to share articles about your firm with your followers. This not only demonstrates that the company is receiving credible attention from a third party, but it also shows journalists that you appreciate their attention.

• Have Some Fun – Out of all the social media platforms we studied, Facebook is the one where you can loosen up and have a little fun. Since Facebook lends itself to a more community-like feel, this is the place to post surveys, trivia, games, contents, Throwback Thursday style posts, pop culture references, etc. If any of your social media pages lets you humanize your firm, this is the place for it.

• Get personal – People don’t really hire firms, they hire people they have come to know and trust. Facebook is the most personal of all social media platforms, so use your own personal Facebook profile to start building personal relationships with prospects and to occasionally share the firm’s Facebook posts, among other more personal updates, with prospects.

For more info on our SMUPS study, visit Study Reveals Top Five Social Media Mistakes of Professional Services Firms or call us at 248-269-1122 to learn more.