Michael Rozbruch shares his tips for using social media marketing to educate the public while boosting your online visibility and credibility.

Michael Rozbruch was skeptical when he first heard about blogging and Twitter – and many executives in his industry still don’t get how to effectively use social media to promote their businesses. Rozbruch is the founder and CEO of Tax Resolution Services, a national firm that helps individuals and small businesses permanently resolve their IRS problems. He started the Tax Resolution University blog in 2007 and now blogs and Twitters on a daily basis. He’s found that social media not only helps him achieve higher visibility for himself and his company, but it enables him to provide much needed tax help to more people than ever before.

As a business owner, industry leader and an educator, Rozbruch uses the social media platforms (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to reach a nationwide audience and educate them on complicated tax codes and IRS law. These online channels also enable him to interact with the public and answer their tax debt related questions in a safe and convenient forum. This fits in to the company’s customer-driven philosophy, which has always differentiated TRS as an industry leader.

Below Rozbruch shares his tips for using new marketing and media channels to educate the public while boosting your online visibility and credibility!

Why Businesses Should integrate Social Media into Their Marketing Plans

My main reason for blogging and using Twitter and other social media channels is to educate the public -  with the current economic downturn and IRS enforcement on the rise, it’s more important than ever to educate taxpayers on important financial strategies as well as their options for tax debt relief.  I’ve been able to use Twitter to increase traffic to my web site and introduce my more readers to my blog – which offers lots of educational content for helping the taxpaying public deal with their IRS problems so they can gain a new lease on their financial futures. For example, I recently blogged about how the IRS is using social networks like Facebook to mine for tax cheats and then tweeted a link to my blog post out to the 1,600+ followers who subscribe to my Twitter updates – this strategy has really helped to increase my pageviews and further position me as an authority in my field.

How to Use Social Media to Boost PR

Social networking has been a tremendous way for me and my company to reach a wider audience, including other bloggers and key online influencers in my niche who have helped me boost my visibility on the web. These days, PR isn’t just about garnering attention from traditional media outlets and growing your online presence can really help you reach exactly the audience you are targeting. Plus, having a solid online reputation can get you more play from mainstream media as well – busy reporters are also going to the web for info and story sources!

Why Businesses Should Integrate Twitter into their Social Media Marketing Plans

Many executives in my industry still don’t get how to use Twitter to promote their business. But as an early adopter in the tax relief industry, I’ve been able use Twitter as a quick, free, and fun way to step away from the ranks of CEO and connect and share with so many people I wouldn’t otherwise know – from people who tweet me with their IRS tax problems and other entrepreneurs who enjoy sharing tips for using the web to boost their biz, to media professionals and other tax professionals with breaking industry news. I think the key is that Twitter isn’t so much about “promoting” but about sharing and connecting. I’ve even seen a competing tax resolution firm retweeting me – so I guess I must be on to something!

Connect with Michael Rozbruch at @taxresolution or on Facebook.

To find out more about how to use social media marketing to boost your business, check out WMT’s  free web marketing podcasts, ebooks and online tutorials!