Social Media for Professional Services: A Case Story

By Sean McVey

It’s easy to dismiss Facebook and Twitter as a waste of company time and a productivity killer. To be honest, sometimes they are. But in the case of Fortinet, an IT services firm with an extraordinary grasp of social media, there’s nothing unproductive about it.

Marketing Senior Manager Maeve Naughton and her team have found unique ways to use popular social media tools leading to increase their brand visibility in the marketplace. Let’s take a look at what tools this network security company uses and how:

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Infographic: Facebook vs. LinkedIn For Professional Services

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.; Infographic by Brian Lemen

[Click image to see full infographic]

Two titans of social media are battling it out to win your loyalty and business. Do you side with the much larger Facebook to maximize your reach? Or do you target the smaller, more business oriented LinkedIn?

This infographic lays out the relative success enjoyed by B2B and B2C firms in terms of closing sales. Which contender is your best pick? Start by asking yourself these questions:

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3 Web Marketing Lessons from a Lead Generating Expert

By Sean McVey

Mari Anne Vanella is a lead generating expert.  As CEO of the The Vanella Group, a firm specializing in B2B lead generation, she understands how to get businesses what they want: more leads.

I was curious to know how lead generating experts use their own website as a lead generating tool.  So I caught up with Mari recently. After picking her brain, I came away with three important lessons:

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The More You Know, The Faster You Grow

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.; Infographic by Brian Lemen

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The Importance of Market Research for Growth and Profitability

As professional service providers, we think that we know our clients pretty well. But how well do you know your audience… really? Can systematic research on your target market impact the growth of your firm?

We investigated the importance of market research as part of a recent study of professional services firms. We knew from our experience working with professional services firms that such research can be very useful. But because so many factors affect growth and profitability, we were skeptical that research would play a significant role.

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HPD Architecture: A Study in Social Media for Architects

By Sean McVey

HPD Architecture gets it.
Plain and simple.

This three-person Dallas-based architecture and interior design firm has made progress in the social media world that you just don’t see every day; especially compared to other professional services firms.

By blogging, podcasting, and interacting with the design community online, these guys have raised their visibility to a national level.  And in a world of referrals and word-of-mouth marketing, they are driving serious traffic to their website and generating targeted, qualified leads online.

How can three busy people accomplish this? I had the opportunity to chat with HPD vice presidents Laura Davis (@hpdArchitecture) and Larry Paschall (@ArchHappyHour) to find out.

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TweetUps: The New Frontier for Professional Services Networking

By Sylvia Montgomery

Nothing shrinks the world like connecting with people online: across countries and time zones. Recently, we at Hinge conducted a “virtual coffee TweetUp.”  A TweetUp is when a group of Twitter users meet up online to have a friendly conversation or discuss a particular topic. Think of it as online networking with an appointed time and an appointed topic.

While the name of this type of interaction may sound frivolous, there are some very significant conversations taking place in TweetUps. There are hundreds of virtual meetings taking place on Twitter at any time. To an outsider, these conversations can appear chaotic. However there is a structure to these events and they can be a tremendous opportunity to connect with people outside of your physical reach. (If you are interested in hosting your own tweetchat, check out: http://www.gnosisarts.com/home/Tweetchat_Wiki — they have a schedule of hundreds of chats, organized by topic and/or day of the week).

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