Use social media to grow your business

Mazuma is a national service specialising in providing monthly bookkeeping and accountancy services to sole traders and those that are self-employed. Lucy Cohen and Sophie Hughes set up Mazuma  in 2006 and it has expanded quickly, with many branches throughout the UK.

Mazuma currently have over twenty staff and more than two thousand clients nationwide. They have also opened their first office internationally, in Salt Lake City, US. As the business doesn’t offer a face-to-face service, Lucy and Sophie have invested a lot of time and energy in social media in order to retain and find new customers.

Here Lucy shares with us some thoughts on how they’ve used social media to enhance their business:

Social media and the way it’s used has changed dramatically in the last five years. No longer is it seen as a “fluffy bit of fun” rather a very important business tool.

There are many businesses out there that are hesitant to change and even more businesses that occasionally dip their toes into the world of social media, but do not have a consistent approach and struggle at the first hurdle. Here at Mazuma, all of our management team take responsibility for our social media strategy, which fits into the much larger picture of producing content that communicates in a fun but professional way to our audience. We encourage our employees to interact with customers through social media and it’s woven into the fabric of every day office activity.

We invested a lot of time developing a character called Mr P and by his own admission, he’s a very cheeky little envelope. We created him to give our brand a face which customers can speak and relate too. It’s important that we have this character because as mentioned above we don’t offer a face-to-face service so ‘Mr P’ is a great solution and he works very well for us. Also ‘Mr P’ can get away with being a little more gregarious and bold without being seen as unprofessional. Anyone and everyone can ask Mr P a question via Twitter and as mentioned on our website and we’ll do our best to answer as many questions as we can.

We’ve always been upfront and honest with the way we use social media as we’re aware of the pitfalls by being anything other than honest and open. Twitter very much fits into what we call the “iPad generation” who are more than happy to communicate electronically and completely buy into the no face- to- face service that we offer. We can genuinely be hassle-free for these customers because they can even get in touch with us whilst they are browsing through their social media accounts.

The most important thing to understand about social media is how quickly things can change – your customers will always be quick to praise you and your business but they’ll be even quicker to let you know when you’re doing things wrong. Having a social media strategy in place which your management team all adhere too, is fundamental to how successful you’ll be interacting with customers online and protecting your brand.

I’d urge businesses across all industries, including accountancy and finance that are hesitant about social media, to get involved and to start investing time to understand these channels. The reality is that technology is advancing and social media is evolving; customers are happier to use online services and shop and spend through them. Those brands that give their customers a really thorough and good experience will of course be steps ahead of their competition as they have a better understanding of what makes their customers happy and can act, adapt and change accordingly.

Don’t have social media strategy for your business? Why not start with the top tips on how to use LinkedIn to help business growth. You can also watch our YouTube video featuring Lucy and Sophie giving interview advice here.

Lucy Cohen is the co-founder of Mazuma Accountants.