I hear a lot of people talk about how marketing and social media can be extremely overwhelming for bookkeepers. Social media has been core to my marketing since I started my practice back in 2009. Today, I’m pulling back the curtain and I’m going to share my marketing tech stack with you!
Marketing My Business Over The Years
If you don’t know my background, I started my bookkeeping practice 11 years ago after having my first daughter {I have 2 now}. I couldn’t network traditionally, so I turned to social media and got most of my clients from twitter.
A few years in I developed a weekly twitter chat for accountants and bookkeepers called “QBOchat” and hosted that for 6 years, until 2019 when I started my podcast.
I also created and now manage the Facebook group, Build Your Best Bookkeeping Practice. And, in between all of that, I’m constantly updated and working on my website, promoting my courses on different social media platforms, and sending out regular newsletters and updates through my email list.
It’s a lot and you may think it sounds like too much to handle. But let me tell you, it really doesn’t have to be. I’m going to share my current marketing tech stack for and how I’ve been able to really streamline and make all of this fairly easy.
#1 MeetEdgar
This has got to be my favorite tool. MeetEdgar allows me to save my content into different categories. I create a weekly schedule of when I want content from a different category to post and on which social media accounts.
Scheduling Posts
For example, my “Master Courses” category has 97 content items. Here is how they are scheduled:
Facebook Group – 2 times a week
Facebook Page – 4 times a week
LinkedIn – 2 times a week
Twitter – 3 times a week
Here is what that one category looks like in the MeetEdgar schedule view.
Just for the Facebook group, that is almost a year’s worth of posts! And, the content will always rotate. So, once it goes through everything in the category, it will start over. You can also add new content or delete content from your library at any time.
Creating Posts
Randomly, I get inspired to create a certain type of content and I’ll just enter it in batches to MeetEdgar. I got this idea from one of MeetEdgar’s “Batch Parties”.
Reviewing Post Performance
I’ll also review the historical performance of posts to see if I need to delete anything or change the schedule up some. And, I’m also shifting the schedule and content around to try to get more engagement. {Trust me – EVERYONE worries about doing too much or too little. I’m even worried you’ll judge me now based on my current schedule.}
My point though is it is an amazing tool!
Sign up with my affiliate link and you’ll get your first month free!
#2 Canva
I use Canva to create all of my social media graphics. It is super easy to use.
Now, here is why I love it!
They have a ton of already done templates to make things easy. {But, once you sign up, you are going to see those templates used all over the place, so try to make them unique somehow by changing a color or front here or there.}
They have free stock images.
They’ll automatically size images for the various social media platforms. You don’t have to remember the perfect size. I just select “twitter post” and it creates a blank template at the perfect size.
They have one-click resize. So, once I create that twitter post, I just click to have it copied and put into a Facebook post sized graphic.
They have a brand manager. So, you can put your logo in and select what your brand colors are. Those are now at your fingertips every time you are designing. I don’t have to guess if I have the right greens in my images, I’ve already got it all saved in my brand manager.
When it comes to pricing, Canva has a free version. But, I’m going to recommend you go for the Pro version ($12.95 per month – billed monthly) because that is where you get the “one-click resize” and “brand manager” features. I don’t think I could live without either.
When it comes to conversing with people and networking, I find myself on individual social platforms most of the time. It is the easiest way to track conversations and stay up to date on things.
You can make life easier by setting up different zaps on Zapier to send posts to Slack (or some other program). Here is my example. With managing the Facebook group, it is sometimes impossible to see all of the new posts, so I have each new post automatically added to a Slack channel. It includes the link back to the original post so I can easily click and reply to anything.
#4 Mailchimp
Finally, let’s talk about my email list platform. Now, Mailchimp is calling itself a “Marketing Platform” now. I’d say they really can be considering all of the tools they have added just over the past few years.
Here is what you can get with just their free plan:
Up to 2,000 people on your email list
Up to 10,000 emails can be sent in one month
Basic email templates {you don’t need fancy}
Landing pages
Social posting of your newsletters
Integrations with 200+ apps
Surveys*
Website*
Plus more things that you might not ever use
These are new features that I really don’t know much about, so I suggest checking out their website for more information.
That’s It! I really only have 3 paid subscriptions {4 if you include Zapier} and I’m able to handle all of my marketing pretty easily. Once you get the content in together, these tools will handle the rest.
Cathy Iconis, CPA is the creator and facilitator of the weekly tweetchat #QBOchat and the website QBOchat.com - a community for QuickBooks Online Users.
She is also the founder of Iconis Group, an Intuit Top 20 Firm of the Future, that supports small businesses all over the United States with their bookkeeping needs.
She is a five-time recipient of the prestigious CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 Award, given annually to just 40 people nationwide.
