Should accountants post personal content on social media? A little, and the line matters more than the amount

The short answer

Yes, a little. Personal content helps clients trust the people behind the firm, and for an accountancy practice that trust is most of what you sell. But the firm's page is not anyone's personal account. Where you draw the line between the two matters far more than how many personal posts you put out.

A good rule of thumb: personal content on the firm's page should be about the people at the firm as they relate to the firm. Meet the team, why someone chose this work, the charity the office supports. Anything that is only personal belongs on that person's own account.

Why a little personal content helps

Clients choose an accountant they feel they can talk to. Before they ring, many will look at your website and your social media pages to get a sense of who they would be dealing with. A page made only of deadline reminders and tax tips tells them what you know. A few posts about the people tell them who you are.

Personal posts are also some of the easiest to write. Nobody needs to check a tax rate before posting that Priya has passed her final exam. That makes them a useful filler for weeks when there is no deadline or rule change to write about.

ICAEW's helpsheet on using social media notes that the boundaries between personal and professional use are often not clear, and that the same ethical obligations that apply offline also apply online. That is the reason to be deliberate about the line, not a reason to avoid personal content altogether.

If you are still deciding whether your firm needs to be on social media at all, start with do accountants need social media?

Personal content that works on a firm's page

The personal posts that work best show the people behind the service. They are warm, short and still connected to the firm.

• Team introductions. A photo, a name, a role and one line about what they help clients with. New joiners are the obvious moment.
• Why someone became an accountant. A partner explaining what drew them to the work, or what they still enjoy about it, says more about the firm than a mission statement.
• Exams, qualifications and milestones.A trainee passing an exam, a colleague reaching ten years with the firm, the practice's own anniversary.
• Community and charity involvement. The local football team you sponsor, the fun run the office entered, the talk a partner gave at the business network.
• Ordinary office life. The new office, the team lunch, the cake for the end of January. Check the background first (see the photos section below).
• A partner's genuine interests, kept brief. One line that a partner is off to walk a long-distance trail for a local hospice, with the link to donate, is fine. A weekly update on their running times is not.

That example is ours, written to show the shape. Notice it ends on what Tom does for clients: the post is personal, but it still answers the question a client has. For more ideas in this vein, our list of social media post ideas for accountants includes several team and community formats.

What to keep off the firm's page

Some personal content does the firm harm, however friendly it feels at the time. Keep these off the firm's accounts.

• Politics.Your clients vote every way there is. A political post on the firm's page tells some of them the firm is not for them.
• Anything that could identify a client.That includes the "lovely morning visiting a client's farm" post with a photo of the farm. Being your client is something the client may not want public.
• Personal opinions presented as the firm's view.A partner's strong view on a news story, posted on the firm's page, reads as the firm's position whether that was meant or not.
• Holiday and family oversharing.One photo of the team at the Christmas meal is fine. A partner's holiday album, or their children's school play, belongs on their own account.
• Complaints and criticism.Moaning about a supplier, HMRC phone queues or a difficult week. ICAEW's helpsheet warns against naming or criticising employers, clients, colleagues or people at other businesses, directly or indirectly.

Staff and their own accounts

Partners and staff will have their own social media accounts, and most will mention where they work. That is usually good for the firm. The aim is to keep personal accounts clearly separate from the firm's account, with a few simple expectations.

• No client information, ever.A client's affairs are no less confidential on a personal profile than on the firm's page.
• No naming clients, including the "guess who came in today" hint and tagging a client in a photo.
• Watch location sharing.ICAEW's helpsheet points out that apps which share data such as location can give away a confidential client relationship by accident. A check-in at a client's premises does exactly that.
• Make personal views clearly personal. Someone who names the firm on their profile should not sound as if they speak for it.
• Resharing the firm's posts is welcome.Tell staff so. It is the easiest way for them to help, and it keeps the firm's message in the firm's words.

You cannot control what people do in their own time, and you should not try. A short, friendly conversation when someone joins, covering the points above, beats a row after something has gone out. If more than one person posts for the firm, write these expectations down. Our guide on whether accountants should have a social media policy covers how to set out the rules on personal accounts in a one-page policy, so there is no need to repeat it here.

Photos and consent

Ask before you post anyone's photo, and never post a client's photo or premises without their clear permission. Photos are where personal content most often goes wrong, because a picture can show far more than the person posting noticed.

• Ask colleagues first.Not everyone wants their face on the firm's page. Ask each time, or agree once and let people opt out at any point.
• Check the background. Screens, whiteboards, files on desks and post in the tray can all show client names or figures.
• Clients need clear permission.A client at an event, a photo of their new shop or a handshake on signing all reveal the relationship. Get the client's clear agreement for that specific post, and keep a note of it.
• Children and family.Leave them out of the firm's page altogether.

A two-question test before posting

Before anything personal goes on the firm's page, ask two questions. If either answer is uncertain, leave it out or move it to someone's own account.

• Would a prospective client trust the firm more or less after seeing this? A trainee's exam pass: more. A partner's rant about traffic: less.
• Would anyone in it mind it being public? That includes colleagues in the background, clients who could be identified, and family members who never asked to be on a business page.

The test takes ten seconds. It also gives whoever approves the firm's posts a simple, fair reason for saying no, without it becoming a matter of taste.

Making it part of the routine

Personal posts work best when they are planned like any other post, rather than dashed off on a phone. Collect the moments as they happen: a new joiner, an exam result, the charity day. Then fit one into the month's plan alongside the useful posts.

A tool can help with the drafting. Pillr, for example, drafts a month of posts from your firm's own website in the firm's voice. Nothing is scheduled until someone at the firm approves it, so a partner can apply the two-question test to every draft, including the personal-feeling ones, before anything goes out.

Personal posts also do some of the work of turning followers into enquiries, because people get in touch with people they feel they already know. Our guide on how accountants turn followers into clients covers the rest of that journey. To see a month of drafts for your own firm, waiting for your approval, paste your website address on the home page.

This guide is general information. Check your own professional body's guidance on social media and confidentiality, whether that is ICAEW, ACCA, AAT or another body.

Questions accountants ask about personal content