TechTimes CPAConnections News From Your Association Leaders
Introducing CPAConnect’s 2017 Advisory Committee Chair Craig Franklin of Craig Franklin, CPA, P.C., leads the 2017 advisory committee Craig Franklin, the 2017 CPAConnect advisory committee chair, has a long history in giving back. From tutoring accounting in college, to helping out members on the CPAConnect discussion list, to supporting a variety of causes and charities in the San Antonio area, Franklin, president of CPA, P.C., located in San Antonio, Texas (and CPAConnect member since 2007), believes in Craig Franklin lending a hand.
Robinson. Charles Harkins was chair, Michael Noonan was past chair and Ramin Karimi was vice chair. I appreciated it very much that they selected me to be on the committee. Franklin had a smooth transition when he joined the committee. He said, “I had great people to follow – Charles Harkins, Michael Noonan, Ramin Karimi, Horace Gordon and Richard Kasperski ... Adam Robinson has always been a good person to work with, too. It was an easy transition because of ... the great CPAConnect staff.”
Volume 2, 2017
accounting tutor in college and chairman of the accounting careers committee for the state society of CPAs, and he also helped the AICPA develop the program, “Accounting is the Language of Business,” which is presented at high schools and junior colleges to help encourage students to learn about the accounting profession.
CPAC: I noticed that your firm supports a variety of local organizations. CF: Yes. I served on the Providence Catholic School for Girls for about seven years. I did that because a friend of mine ... asked me to join the committee to CPAC: Tell us about your transition to the We asked Franklin about how he became help get the school’s finances in order chair. He said, “As I participated on the and once we did this, I was able to conAdvisory Committee Chair fidently leave after seven years, knowCF: Sure. After a few years of participation discussion list and learned more about ing that the school was in good hands on the [CPAConnect Discussion List] and being on the committee and helping and its finances were in great shape. I attending two CPAConnect Roundtables, with the roundtables, I waited my turn I was humbled and honored to be selected and continued to learn from the existing am currently chairman of the board for chairs. It was easy to learn and emulate H.I.S. Bridge Builders. It is an organizawhen [Ernie Moyer, former director of the previous committee chairs.” tion where we work (specifically on the CPAConnect] emailed me ... to serve as a east side of San Antonio) with kids at an new member of the advisory committee Franklin loves to teach; he was an after-school program (approximately 70 along with Richard Kasperski and Adam Read Franklin, continued on page 2
Tech Corner with Randy Johnston
Social Media - An Engagement and Marketing Strategy Social media should be one of the many channels you use to engage current and potential clients. We suggest that you use your website, email campaigns, mailing, and other branding activities in conjunction with the primary social media tools. But before you invest time and effort, consider your vision or why you care about social media. In this article, we’ll spend time crafting a strategy, provide an overview of the major media including: blogs, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. We’ll also discuss metrics, tools needed, and some useful reference materials. Ultimately, clients don’t really want
you, they want your services to solve business problems. Some of your new competitors know this. The problem is that Millennial clients are looking for solutions to accounting problems. Where are they going to find their accountant? Will it be in Yellow Pages, phone books or on the radio? I doubt it! The majority of younger clients use social media or referral from friends/other clients of the firm to find you. You must be where clients look for them to find you! Those places may include Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) as well as traditional referral partners (banks, attorneys) or from your web/ online presence. Keyword-optimized original content and linked social media is a great way to raise your rankings in the
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) engines so your web site and message is found. If you have written original content, it can be repurposed into a monthly/quarterly newsletter inexpensively. Your website must be mobile-friendly and tabletfriendly. If you’re not mobile, you don’t exist. Creating a Strategy Be thoughtful about your goals and Tech Corner, continued on page 3