In a recent post, we recommended LinkedIn users update the Skills & Expertise section in their profiles and fill in all available 50 spots for skills. Besides the ability to showcase your expertise and abilities, it also prevents people from manually adding additional skills to your profile, via endorsements, that you’ve not pre-approved. And of course you immediately went to your LinkedIn profile and promptly updated, right? Even as wordy as we are, we understand that coming up with 50 self-descriptors can be a little daunting.

If you’ve gone to update your profile and find yourself at a loss after filling 30 or so of the available keyword slots, you can always let LinkedIn suggest which ones to add based on relevant skills similar professionals have used. The search feature for LinkedIn’s Skills & Expertise is located under the More tab on the navigation bar, at the top of your screen. This feature can be used in a few different ways. As mentioned before, you can use this to generate ideas for additional skills to add to your profile. Type in a term and it will bring back a sidebar with similar skills. Additionally, you’ll see a button under the primary skill that says that says “See Suggested Skills.” This will give you even more suggestions.

Under this section, LinkedIn lists other users who have these same skills. This can be used to find new networking contacts, but it also illustrates how easy it can be for a potential client to find you when searching for targeted professional skills and services. Move a little further down the page and you’ll see suggested LinkedIn Groups. If you’ve had a difficult time finding groups that might match your interest and skills, this feature will point you toward a few to help get you started.

Another interesting feature on the Skills & Expertise page is the feature that shows you the stats for how often the term is used in searches. For example, I ran a search on “Business Tax Planning,” with a screen shot below for reference. Next to the term, LinkedIn reports that searching for this term has gone up by 2.2%. You can use this stat to see which terms are used most often in searches, which ones are gaining in popularity and which ones are waning. By adding those skills that are popular, you stand a better chance of showing up in those searches. Also, on the right side of the page, a bar graph shows how this term performs compared to similar terms. This is just yet another way to see how people are combining terms when searching and to help you target the messaging in your profile.

In a recent post on Marketing Ideas for CPAs, we asked readers if they found LinkedIn’s new endorsement feature convenient or meaningless. While on its face it would seem that being able to quickly endorse someone’s skills would be a good thing, many think it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. Too often users are receiving endorsements from connections they’ve never directly worked with. It’s understood that they are trying to help the user out, and we’re not begrudging their altruism, but if they have no actual experience of this person’s skills, how can they properly endorse them?

One issue we’ve experienced is people providing endorsements for skills that either A) we don’t necessarily want to be known for B) don’t make sense or C) we don’t actually have. None of these have been negative or disparaging in the least, but if you’re hoping to be found for your actual strengths and skills, these odd-man-out keywords don’t help. For example, one of us received a notice that we had been endorsed for “Mindfulness.” This is not a bad trait to have and we do not doubt the endorser’s sincerity. Our guess is that LinkedIn suggested it and they said, “Well of course they’re mindful,” and clicked a button. Mashable did an article on oddball LinkedIn endorsements, that leaves our “Mindfulness” seeming very bland in comparison. Honestly, I don’t think I’d mind being known for “Fruity Loops.” (Seriously, this is a listed skill.)

To keep a handle on the terms being used to describe and endorse you, take the time (trust me, we now have) to go in and create those skills listings yourself. You have the ability to add up to 50 phrases and terms in the Skills & Expertise section of your profile. If you don’t use all 50, you’re giving outsiders the ability to manually add in their take on you. You need to be in charge of your personal branding and messaging and it’s not hard to do. To view the steps for editing your Skills & Expertise section, click here.

While LinkedIn had the best of intentions when it rolled out endorsements, there is still some room for improvement. For the time being, it’s important for users to be diligent in maintaining the messaging on their profiles. Take the time to review your skills and make sure they properly communicate who you are and what you do.

Have you received any interesting endorsements? We’d love to hear your examples!

In reality, these acronyms and abbreviations hold quite a bit of information. Just like people in years past wrote in shorthand to be efficient, today’s social media users rely on a sort of social media shorthand to quickly and effectively get their point across.

While these abbreviations and acronyms can be found on any social media platform, they are most often found on Twitter, with some being specific to the site. This is often because with only 140 characters available per tweet, users try to squeeze in as much information as possible within this limit. And then again, sometimes people just don’t feel like typing things out. Call it lazy or call it efficient, either way this code is here to stay and is now part of everyday conversation.

Below is a list of some examples of social media shorthand that we run across frequently. Some are just acronyms for common phrases while others require a little more explanation. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list of all the shorthand available. We recommend visiting Social Media Today and Chat Slang or just run a Google Search on social media abbreviations and you’ll see there’s far more out there than you can imagine. Hopefully this list will give you the basics you need to get started, so that you aren’t left completely clueless as to what in the world these crazy people are saying!

If we’ve missed any acronyms or abbreviations that you use or see on a regular basis, be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Abt: About

AFAIK: As far as I know

B/C: Because

B4: Before

BBL: Be back later

BRB: Be right back

BTW: By the way

CX: Correction


CT: Cut tweet. This is used when someone retweets just part of a tweet, a partial retweet.

CYL: Catch you later or see you later

DM: Direct message. If someone says “DM me,” they are asking that you send them a direct message, i.e. private message, through Twitter messaging, versus just tweeting it out to the public.

EM/Eml: Email

EMA: Email Address

F2F: Face to face

FB: Facebook

FF: Follow Friday. An unofficial Twitter event that takes place each Friday, where users recommend their favorite Twitter users to follow.

FML: F— my life. Typically used at the end of a tweet where the sender is complaining about something particularly bad, yet often comical, that happened to them.

FTR: For the record

FTW: For the win. An expression of enthusiasm and excitement, as though stating “this is awesome!” The antithesis of this would be FTL, or “for the loss.”

FWIW: For what it’s worth

GTG/G2G: Got to go

HT: Hat tip. This is a way of giving credit to other Twitter users when you share their link.

HTH: Hope that helps

IDC: I don’t care

IDK: I don’t know

IME: In my experience

IMO/IMHO: In my opinion or In my humble opinion

IRL: In real life

JFGI: Just f—ing Google it. This is a retort for those who ask a question that could just as easily have been answered by a Google search.

JK: Just kidding


JSYK: Just so you know

KWIM: Know what I mean?

LI: LinkedIn

LMAO: Laughing my a– off. Another version is LMFAO, which means “Laughing my f—ing a– off.”

LOL: Laugh out loud

MIRL: Meet in real life. The purpose of this is that we so often meet people online and build relationships that maybe, just maybe, we actually take the time to MIRL.

MRT: Modified retweet. Used when you are retweeting something but had to modify it.

MT: Modified tweet. This is used when you are retweeting something but had to modify it or paraphrase for the sake of room.

NOYB: None of your business

NSFW: Not safe for work. This often precedes a link to a video clip.

OH: Overheard. Sometimes used in place of RT to denote that the following was tweeted by someone else but you don’t want to give attribution to the original user. Can also mean you overheard something in real life and want to share, but not take credit for the thought.

OMG: Oh my god! Another take is ZOMG, which is OMG amplified. The Z is added because when people are incredibly excited while typing and not paying attention, they go to hit the Shift or Caps Lock key to capitalize OMG and mistakenly hit the Z key.

ORLY: Oh, really?

PLMK: Please let me know

PRT: Partial retweet. When placed at the beginning of a tweet, it indicates that the following information is a retweet, but only part of it.

PRT: Please retweet. When placed at the end of a tweet, it means the sender is asking followers to retweet.

RT: Retweet. Indicates the following information is being repeated on Twitter from another follower.

ROFL: Rolling on the floor laughing. Used in response to something that is particularly funny.

RTFM: Read the f—ing manual. This is used when replying to people who ask questions easily answered if they had taken the time to search or in response to someone who does something stupid that could have been avoided.

RTQ: Read the question. Usually used as a sarcastic response to someone who makes a statement without seemingly reading the initial question.

SFW: Safe for work

SMH: Shaking my head. Used in response to someone who says or reports something dumb. If it’s incredibly dumb, a variation used is SMDH, which is “shaking my damn head.”

TFTF: Thanks for the follow

TFTT: Thanks for the tweet

THX/TX: thanks

TLDR/TL;DR: Too long, didn’t read. It means what it says. It’s typically used in a comical manner to alert the writer they wrote a bit much and sometimes used in a rude manner to tell the writer to basically shut up.

TTYL: Talk to you later

TTYN: Talk to you never. A sarcastic way of letting a user know you’ll not be speaking with them again.

TY: Thank you

TYVM: Thank you very much

WTV: Whatever

YKWIM: You know what I mean

YOLO: You only live once

YOYO: You’re on your own

YVW: You’re very welcome

YW: You’re welcome

It’s called ad retargeting, and it’s a common practice among internet marketers. Profiling companies that identify you as you surf the web will decide you’re an ideal candidate for their products or services and proceed to target you for online advertising. The result is that you are served ads based on your recent internet activity – sometimes the same ones, over and over. It really can make you feel like you’re being stalked!

There isn’t really someone standing behind you as you go about your digital day. Not literally, anyway. But ad retargeting does serve as a reminder that you’re being tracked online. The very fact that marketers know what you’re interested in these days should make the point that someone is watching your movements.

Here’s how it works: You go to a website for whatever reason, and some entity places a cookie or web beacon on your IP address. They’ll do this because their market research indicates that if you went to that site (or they are the owner of the site you visited), you might be a potential customer for what they offer, and they’d like to convince you of that fact. They then track your future online activity via the cookie or beacon and serve you ads in the hopes that sooner or later you’ll give in and check them out.

It can be inspired by things you think about buying, as indicated by a trip to Zappos or an abandoned shopping cart on some site, or just from general surfing that gives marketers an idea of what you might be interested in. This information then gets tacked to your digital profile and used to feed you ads wherever you go. For example, Bonnie recently did some work that involved researching a client’s competition. Since that time, she’s been constantly bombarded by the same attorney’s ads, complete with his grinning face. It can definitely bring out the paranoia!

The idea is that by paying attention to what individual people are doing online, marketers can create a profile that lets them target ads these users are likely to respond to. It makes sense, and it works. Reminding you about stores you’ve visited or things you’re considering for purchase increases the likelihood that you will return or finally buy the item in question. The internet advertising industry states that only 2% of online shoppers actually buy on their first visit to the site, and Foresee conducted a study that indicates some 40% of internet users would rather see targeted ads than generic ones.

The trouble is that besides being slightly creepy, the practice doesn’t usually take into account the fact that you may have already met that need (the shoes are on their way) or that the ad doesn’t actually reflect your interests (as in the case of Bonnie and the lawyer who’s so desperate to woo her as a client).

It can also backfire when internet users get annoyed by seeing the same ad over and over. Most ad servers place limits on the number of times they’ll deliver the same ad to an individual per online session, but when several ad companies have all tagged you as the perfect candidate for an ad, you may end up seeing it a dozen or more times at a sitting. That gets old fast, and can turn a person off a company that might otherwise have held interest.

The ad retargeting industry is getting more sophisticated, which should let advertisers minimize the risks as they use better methods of tracking and refining their targets. At the same time, internet users are increasingly installing apps like Don’t Track Me and AdBlock to make it harder, if not downright impossible, for advertisers to find them, analyze their behavior and market to them online.

If you’re among the people who find being retargeted annoying, try downloading a few of these apps to minimize the number of targeted ads you see. They’re not always effective, but they do help. Or you can always have a little fun by misleading ad servers with a few judiciously chosen searches, like for open-minded taxidermists and diamond-studded horsewhips. I do both. It doesn’t entirely remove the targeted ads but at least it confuses the profilers and makes me feel slightly less powerless.

Everybody loves Pinterest. It’s been riding a crest of popularity within the social media world for several months, especially among women. Lots of businesses have been choosing to make an account as a way to increase their social media presence – should yours, too?

That’s a good question. Since you can’t be on all the social media sites and still get your work done (or have a life) let’s explore the reasons Pinterest might or might not be a good choice for your firm. It’s not the most obvious option from among the slate of social channels simply because it’s so visually focused, with an emphasis on crafts, cooking and fashion.

Accounting and financial services don’t exactly fit that mold. Still, there are plenty of businesses who have found it to be worthwhile. A flow chart found on the Intuit Small Business Blog can help you navigate some of the questions you should ask yourself before deciding if the site will offer you a good fit.

1. Are you new to social media? If this is your first ride on the social media carousel, Pinterest probably isn’t your best option. If you’ve been around and know the drill, it just may be the right place to expand your presence.
2. Do you have time and energy to add another platform? Social media isn’t free. It costs you time and mental effort to make profiles, build relationships, find or create content, monitor other people’s posts, respond to comments and all the other great stuff that’s part of the experience. If you’re happy with your current online presence and stretched to the max keeping up with the profiles you have, leave Pinterest alone. Use the time you save to do a great job with your established accounts.
3. Are you flexible with your content? The question for accounting firms is whether you’re willing to share content of various kinds, some of which works well in a visual format. Beyond what happens inside your firm, there are events and ideas that could appeal to people interested in your industry niche. If you can see your firm wanting to pin charts, graphs, photographs, infographics and other visual media along with your text-based content then Pinterest might work for you.
4. Can you think visually? Let’s face it – we aren’t all graphic artists. That doesn’t necessarily exclude you from Pinterest but if you’re completely stumped wondering how on earth to go about sharing anything you do in a visual medium, it might not be worth the effort. There’s plenty of content around the internet that will lend itself to this format for those who are comfortable thinking visually though, so don’t dismiss the site automatically. Who knows, you might gain new insights into your work by starting to think about it in a new way.

Pinterest’s users feel passionate about the site, but don’t feel obligated to join it just because it’s hot; the only sites worth your valuable time are those where you and your firm are really comfortable.  It’s a great place to be if your firm (or the person in charge of social media) has the time and inclination to make good use of an account there. Look at the ways other businesses have used it and spend a few minutes thinking about how you want to accomplish your goals. Then walk away smiling or jump in with both feet. Either way, you’ll benefit from knowing you’re making the right choice for your firm.

You know the analytical tools that come with your Google account can do a lot. In fact, they can do so much that it can be intimidating to even approach the analytics report – where to start? Where to look? What to make of all those features and the measurements they represent?

If you’ve been feeling a bit guilty due to a sense that you’re not using the tool to its full potential (just like your smartphone, and that fancy food processor you only use to slice carrots) then you’re not alone. Luckily, Jeff Sauer and Allan Johnson have put together a supremely useful and somewhat comforting graphic to help you find and understand your options: The Periodic Table of Google Analytics.

This handy chart displays the features, reports, metrics and product characteristics in a color-coded, ordered table, with brief descriptions below to help you make sense of what you’re being offered. Available on Jeff’s site, the periodic table is free to print and post in your office.

Google itself offers you the same information, but sometimes it’s easier to see the big picture and get a little background before you try to dig into the site and use it from your dashboard. If you’re more comfortable using a reference guide to approach the mysteries of site data collected by Google, grab this periodic table and breathe a sigh of relief. You passed tenth grade chemistry using a periodic table to help you frame the unfathomable, after all, and the same technique will work nicely here.

]]> http://www.marketingideasforcpas.com/the-chart-every-website-owner-needs/feed/ 0 http://www.marketingideasforcpas.com/rejoice-the-time-is-nigh-for-google-places-improvement/ http://www.marketingideasforcpas.com/rejoice-the-time-is-nigh-for-google-places-improvement/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:09:42 +0000 Sarah http://www.marketingideasforcpas.com/?p=1556 Google is updating its Places for Business dashboard. If you’re a new user, you’ve got it now. If not, you will have access to the redesign soon if you don’t already.

Business owners who manage pages through Google+ or Google Places have faced…ahem…challenging times for a while. Ever since the search giant released Google+ Local, things have been in a state of chaos, what with switching between the different formats and inconsistencies among the dashboard controls. Some have delicately called the situation messy, while others have been less reticent, opting to describe it in more vivid terms like “a train wreck.” To see just how confusing it can get, check out Google’s helpful blog post advising business owners who attempt to manage their accounts from the various sites about the upgrade.

At long last, Google has begun rolling out an updated Google Places for Business dashboard. As of April 11, all new U.S.-based accounts have access to the improved system for controlling their business information as it appears in search results. Current users will see the upgrades over a matter of weeks, according to the company. The new dashboard promises improvements in function as well as aesthetics:

• Faster. Google promises that in the new interface, your edits will go live within 48 hours. In this case, “live” means showing consistently across all the Google products where your business has a presence, including Maps and Local search.
• Easier. Appearance-wise, this dashboard is familiar as a standard Google interface. Controls down the left side and tabs across the top make it reminiscent of Gmail. It includes a widget to show what’s left to complete in your profile, and Google says “The upgraded interface is simpler and more intuitive, so the process of updating your business information is quick and easy.”
• Better. Improvements include letting mobile providers, or those without formal business addresses create a page for themselves. This is a welcome change for companies that struggled to further an online presence but lacked that all-important address that would have qualified them to use earlier versions.
• More integrated. Enhanced access to other Google products through this dashboard should make managing your online presence a bit easier. You’ll be able to share posts, photos and other social features using Google+ and manage your AdWords Express and Google Offers accounts through this dashboard, saving time and minimizing confusion.

Overall, what we know about the improved Google Places for Business dashboard seems to portend nothing but good things. The only real question is why hasn’t it happened before now?

Are you anxiously awaiting the upgrade to your accounting firm’s Google account or are you among the lucky few who already have access to it? Please let us know what you think in the comments section.

Marketing Ideas for CPAs, a marketing blog focused on the accounting industry, was recently named to a list of the Top 50 Accounting Blogs by Masters in Accounting. A creation of bbr marketing, the site was created to provide tips, analyze trends and share ideas that help accounting firms and the people who work to market them. Whether a reader is a marketing professional, a partner or a sole practitioner, the website encourages feedback and fosters discussion of ideas that translate across the industry.

“We have selected our top accounting blogs based on a review of the quality of content and usefulness for professionals in the accounting field and students who are looking to get started in an accounting career,” said Charles Sipe, executive editor of Masters In Accounting. “We also consider if the blog is recommended by other accounting blogs as a valuable resource.”

Found at MastersinAccounting.info, the site is a free resource focused on providing the best information for prospective Masters in Accounting students researching degrees, programs and schools. The site also provides research information on items such as career outlook, guides to becoming a student, potentially available scholarships and more.

“We selected Marketing Ideas for CPAs because it shares useful information for CPAs and accounting professionals who would like to promote their business,” Sipe continued. “Since many accounting professionals own their own business, understanding marketing best practices is key to their success.”

Masters in Accounting describes the sites it recognizes as varied and practical: “Our Top 50 Accounting Blogs reflect the blend of traditional principles, modern perspectives and revolutionary technologies that is shaping the profession and its industry today, frequently busting staid stereotypes in the process. Find a variety of viewpoints, straightforward advice and updates on issues that affect everyone with an eye on the bottom line.”

Along with creating and sharing marketing ideas on the primary site, Marketing Ideas for CPAs can also boast a very active LinkedIn group with nearly 350 members. In this professional but friendly environment, accounting and marketing professionals ask questions, share expert advice, tips and tricks and offer one another support and encouragement.

“We are honored to be included on this list of the top accounting blogs. When we originally created this blog and LinkedIn group, we hoped to make a community where the accounting marketing industry could learn and interact with peers,” says Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president of bbr marketing. “When we conceived of the idea of creating a productive conversation space, we thought it was a good plan. In reality it has been more fun, more educational and more popular than we ever imagined.”

On the Marketing Ideas for CPAs site, the most popular posts include What NOT to Do on Your Website, 5 Painless Networking Strategies, Trends in Content Marketing for Your CPA Firm and Come on CPAs…Show Some Personality!

Social media is personal – that’s what distinguishes it from public media. This is my news; these are my friends; these are the jokes that I find hilarious. The things we choose to share through social media reflect personal interests and attitudes, whether we’re illustrating what we agree with or what we find deeply repellant. This is a conscious choice in many cases, but not always. Research shows that Facebook ‘Likes’ are shockingly accurate predictors of a wide array of attributes, from intelligence to sexuality.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see why the updates and articles your accounting firm posts on social media channels speak to certain of your followers. To some extent this is as obvious as anything could be. Your friends and followers are by definition composed of a self-selected group who have an interest in the topics and services you focus on. You should expect that a good portion of what you share will resonate with this group simply because they’ve already indicated their affinity for you and your ideas, as well as a general interest in the area you represent.

Good content should have an appeal that’s close to universal. That is, it should be written clearly and in a style that easily conveys its message to the broadest range of readers possible. There are subgroups within your followers whose needs and life situations will create a greater or lesser level of interest for any particular post, but anything you post should have a good chance of appealing to many of your readers and others like them. So what makes the difference between sharing and simply reading?

The answer lies in the personal nature of social media. Since sharing is about personal branding, just as it is about firm branding, you must align your posts so closely to your readers’ identities that they perceive the choice to share your content as one that furthers their personal brands. After all, there are going to be many posts that discuss the same information. Readers with an interest in the topic can find plenty of options. Choosing yours as the one to share is based on not only the information it contains but the voice it uses, the attitude it implies and the style it shows.

Your firm’s posts may be appreciated by many who read them, but spreading farther than your original audience will come from hitting just the right note. Whether original content, or even commentary you have on another article, the decision to share it in their own accounts is driven by your readers’ willingness to identify with it as something they wish they’d said themselves.

To maximize sharing, therefore, you need to understand who your readers are, how they see themselves and how they’d like to be seen. Study the metrics about your firm’s content: which pages are most popular and which content gets the most attention? But also do what you can to really analyze your best clients. Who are they? What is it about you that makes them loyal? That’s your answer. Your unique attributes and style reflect their desires and self-images. Speak to those points effectively in your content and you’ll find your readers more than willing to share it, not only for its intrinsic use value but also for its ability to build their personal brands.

Facebook is working on a new feature that will allow users to enter search terms and phrases using natural language (up to 112 characters) and get results tailored to the individual user. The search algorithm matches phrases to deliver answers based on site content as well as the results of a web-wide search using Bing.

Graph Search was released in Beta version in January and is currently only available to Beta-testers using the site in English, with plans to extend the service to all users at a future date. It’s a push into semantic searching, one of the long-time goals of web architects, which seeks to deliver more accurate results by grasping the context and intent of the user query. Facebook is able to make this leap by combining the big data gleaned from their millions of users and additional information from other sources, and searching within the resulting mountain of detailed knowledge. According to company CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Graph Search’s algorithm depends on the data it finds within users’ networks as well as data delivered by Bing. You’ll be able to filter results, which will include information such as groups, people, events, pages, places, check-ins and public posts.

The advantage for your firm comes through added ability to find specific people who match criteria that define them as ideal customers. For example, if you want to contact users that like a particular publication and live within a given area, you can search for something like “people in Atlanta who read Accounting Today.” You could also find public conversations focused on topics you want to discuss, search for people who attended an event that interests you or even see who’s checked into a place where you are while you’re there.

Some people are expressing concerns about potential loss of privacy from Graph Search, but the company points out that users will still only see results based on information they’re already allowed to see, either because it’s public or set for sharing permissions that allow the recipients to access it. There’s also the question of just how well Facebook’s semantic search algorithm will work to interpret queries – many have tried to do this well and achieved only limited success.

Graph Search holds the potential to offer marketers great things. Since so many people use Facebook and tell it almost everything, this feature is well worth watching. Go ahead and join the waiting list, try it out when you can and be sure to share your observations. We’d love to learn the creative ways you find to use it and how well you think it works.