Auditors are bean counters who sit in cubicles all day - MYTH!
FACT: Auditors work in teams with diverse backgrounds & experience to deliver valuable insights and help solve important financial reporting matters.
For the annual Center for Audit Quality (CAQ)-led #AuditorProud awareness day, PwC conducted an analysis of how PwC and our industry counterparts have typically participated in past #AuditorProud days. We learned that participation in past events was centered on flooding social feeds -- a focus on content quantity in an attempt to claim the largest share of voice, resulting in a swell of social noise featuring smiling auditors along with the #AuditorProud and relevant company hashtags. Our past efforts had been a fun but fleeting social media exercise without considering how #AuditorProud could be used as a true differentiating exercise for PwC's current auditors, leadership, and potential recruits.
Based on this key insight, PwC built a communications campaign fully embracing the CAQ-set "mythbusting" theme, highlighting the important role auditors play in our capital markets and the well-functioning of our economy, as well as the benefits of a career in auditing. Leveraging social media, our objectives were:
- Elevate the auditing profession to attract the best and brightest talent
- Showcase PwC as an innovative place to work that is both digitally fit and a leader in leveraging world-class digital tools to conduct quality audits
- Support the CAQ in driving the #AuditorProud message and differentiate PwC's share of voice with content using an authentic voice and compelling creative
We identified four key PwC differentiators in the market to proactively communicate, and laddered those up to common myths about the auditing profession. These included: Audit Quality, Audit Innovation/the PwC Tech-Enabled Audit, Our Be Well Work Well flexibility program, and PwC's emphasis on Creativity & Teamwork. To bring these messages to the market, we identified three strategic imperatives for success:
- Pursue quality content vs quantity on our branded firm social media handles, with all posts mapping back to our key differentiators under the umbrella "mythbusting" theme
- Elevate PwC staff and leadership to ambassadors authentically delivering the #AuditorProud message externally
- Execute a nimble paid campaign for all branded PwC social content to reach the right audiences on the right platforms
In an unprecedented cross-functional effort, we worked closely with PwC's US Leadership Team, Global Communications, Internal Communications, Market Communications, Marketing & Events, Video Production, Creative, National Quality Office, and our Social Media paid team to:
- Publish an #AuditorProud PwC landing page to serve as a central content hub for all assets built highlighting PwC's four key differentiators, including PwC's interactive audit immersion experience that demonstrates how PwC delivers Audit Quality
- Elevate PwC leadership participation through LinkedIn blog posts focused on mythbusting auditor preconceptions and why they are proud to have built their auditing career with PwC. These included blogs from:
- Tim Ryan, PwC US Chairman and Senior Partner
- Maria Moats, PwC US Audit and Assurance Leader
- Pierre-Alain Sur, PwC US Tech-enabled Audit Leader
- Jorge Milo, PwC US Assurance Quality Leader
- Amongst others, six additional LinkedIn articles from PwC market leaders to promote the #AuditorProud message at the market level
- Execute a two-pronged paid social campaign on Twitter and LinkedIn aimed at engaging a broad audience beyond our brand followers of young auditors/entry-level accounting professionals with messaging highlighting the four key PwC differentiators via videos, GIFs, static graphics and stats on PwC's Responsible Business Leadership efforts -- all couched in the umbrella 'mythbusting' theme
- For our traditional paid social campaigns on LinkedIn and Twitter, we set up two campaigns focused on driving traffic to our central #AuditorProud landing page as well as driving in-platform engagement with GIFs and video content, with both targeting a younger, entry-level audience with which #AuditorProud resonates most, allowing us to deepen engagement with our existing audience while at the same time attract potential talent to PwC.
- Additionally, we employed an "always-on" strategy to boost all #AuditorProud content posted on PwC's official social channels to reach a wider swath of our audience
- Develop three short videos for social highlighting how PwC is tech-enabling the audit to combat the myth that auditing is a stodgy, traditional profession; unexpected characteristics of PwC auditors to dispel the "bean counter myth"; and highlighting the flexible work life balance that auditors can have, contrary to the misconception that all auditors spend long hours locked up in their cubicles.
- Hold an internal social media contest motivating PwC staff to participate in #AuditorProud on social media, to ensure PwC appeared in organically in trending conversations throughout the day.
Through our social media campaign, we pushed out creative content throughout the #AuditorProud day on our PwC branded handles across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Our videos, GIFs and social cards were shared across the PwC Global Network and used by several international offices to mark the day. All content was designed to drive to our 2018 #AuditorProud landing page content hub, which hosted additional resources on PwC's responsible business leadership, audit immersive experience, and Assurance recruitment. Key results include:
- Over 43K engagements across platforms (+265% engagements year over year)
- 14K+ video views
- 3.4K visits to the landing page driven by organic posts from our auditors on Twitter
- 14.3K+ visits (+587% in visits year over year) to the landing page for an average stay of 5 min. 34 seconds (+83% in average time on site YOY, and well above industry benchmark of 2-3 minutes)
- 2.3K increase PwC LinkedIn followers
- Global social media participation from PwC offices, including Bermuda, Singapore, Brazil, Argentina, Gibraltar, Belarus, Colombia, Cyprus, Kenya, Malta, Austria, Mexico, Australia, and more
- 626 Twitter and Instagram posts on September 27 alone using #PwC and #AuditorProud; this organic participation across PwC's global footprint complemented our paid campaigns and increased PwC's visibility across platforms
Most importantly, we developed a model for PwC's participation in future #AuditorProud days that ensures the content we create is purposeful, highlights key PwC market differentiators, and can serve as evergreen content for proactive social media campaigns moving forward.
