Small Law Firms and Solo Attorneys Can Utilize Facebook Deals

We've all seen those check-ins from friends on Facebook, but have you ever considered using a check-in to attract more business for your law practice?

It's really not that far-fetched - and the "Deals" feature for businesses on Facebook Places can help make it happen.

According to Facebook,

“Deals gives businesses the opportunity to reward customers [clients] when they check in on Facebook, and this helps generate awareness, encourage in-store traffic and build customer loyalty.”

There are four types of “Deals” to choose from:

1. Friends Deals: Offer a discount to groups of up to 8 people when they check in together.
2. Charity Deals: Give something to charity each time someone checks in.
3. Individual Deals: These are one-time deals.
4. Loyalty Deals: You can offer a deal to clients after as few as 2 or as many as 20 check ins.  Great for a complimentary offer.

Getting started with Facebook Deals is extremely easy, however implementing your deal is a little tricky. You'll want to offer something of VALUE. Value, of course, is relative to the perception of the client, so make sure the Deal is worth the time and effort that client must take to redeem it.

Your offer should also be easy to redeem. Communicate a deadline and how to redeem it. And, don't be afraid to change your deal regularly - about every 1-to-4 weeks.

Promotion is key to driving your Facebook Deal. Spread the word about your latest offer on your Facebook business page, on Twitter, in your email marketing, and on your blog or website.

Make word about your law firm and your services spread like wild fire! Give Facebook Deals a try.

Getting the Most Out of Pinterest for Lawyers

Pinterest for lawyers?

Does it even make sense?

Yes, it does. Who wouldn't want to promote their brand on what The Wall Street Journal calls "the hottest startup... in Silicon Valley?"

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can collect and share things you love and that inspire you. Businesses - and yes, lawyers - are joining Pinterest to display products, services, create brand awareness, build communities and, in some cases, grow profits by leaps and bounds.

Pinterest is a complete visual entity, so you must be creative in finding ways to use it for legal marketing. It's not hard. You just have to think outside the box. Step away from the things that interest you personally, and find pins (or images) that interest you professionally.

For example, you could create a board for legal topics. Pin images you use in your law blog, or from other industry articles you have written. When you create a new post, pin the images in the post to your law board on Pinterest. Be sure to take advantage of the text area and write a description for your image. Don't be afraid to pin interesting images or portraits from your law firm website as well. Literally, the sky's the limit!

Here are some other ways you can use visuals to speak to the value of a service.

• Find powerful images to enhance your blog articles and post them on Pinterest, linking back to the article. And don't forget your call to action; we want to convert these new visitors!
• Have you written a book, e-book, white paper, or report? Your cover images are a great pin!
• Infographics are popular! Use images from your PowerPoint deck, marketing materials or website to pique the interest of your audience.
• Get your clients involved by asking them to submit images of themselves or something that relates to your firm. A happy client is an image that everyone will connect with.
• Pin images of your staff at work or enjoying everyday life. Consumers love to connect to a company in this way.
• Have pictures taken at your speaking events. A shot of you on stage in front of a captivated audience positions you as the expert that you are.

How are you using Pinterest and what are your results? Send me your thoughts.

Facebook Drives the World's Social Behavior

If you thought Facebook was falling victim to Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, and now Pinterest ... think again.

Facebook is still a powerful force in the social world - and on a global level.

Consider this:

Facebook is the third largest web property in the world, standing behind Google Sties and Microsoft Sites.

Also read: Smart Ways to Research Your Competition

In October 2011, Facebook reached more than half of the world's global audience (55%) and accounted for approximately 3 in every 4 minutes spent on social networking sites, and 1 in every 7 minutes spent online around the world.

While Facebook spans Asia, Latin America, and Europe, there are only seven markets where the social network does not have a large audience: Brazil, China, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, and Vietnam.

So, what should a busy attorney or law firm make of all this?

Don't discount Facebook when marketing your services. Facebook has proven to be a dominant global force that shows no signs of slowing down.

Also read: Popular FAQs about Posting on Facebook

It's one of the fastest ways you can grow your practice through word-of-mouth. And, it's important to note that not just young people are using it. Users 55 and older represent the fastest growing segment in social networking usage.

Your next clients may be on Facebook right now. Get on there and find them!

Source: comScore Inc.

4 Ways to See Who's Sharing Your Content and Talking about Your Website

Social networks are big places. Chances are someone out there has mentioned you, your firm, or your legal website.

But who? And when?

Wouldn't you like to know?

Here are some handy tips to add to your internet arsenal. Just remember to replace domain.com with your domain.

1. Twitter

Twitter is perhaps the easiest network to track conversations. There are two ways to do it.

First, you can perform a real time search on Twitter itself using the following URL:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%domain.com%22

The second way to search Twitter is by using a site called Topsy. Topsy shows you the tweet count next to results from your domain. Click on the count of a particular post and Topsy will show you who tweeted it.

2. Facebook

If you want to see a sampling of who is sharing your posts on Facebook, try the following in the Google search bar:

site:facebook.com inurl:posts “domain.com”

FYI: If you run a search in Facebook itself, you will only get results when someone has typed your domain in the comment of their share, and only within the last 30 days. Not helpful.

3. Google +

When you search using Google+, you will get mentions of links from your domain that have been shared as well as anyone who has mentioned your domain in their comments.

https://plus.google.com/s/domain.com/posts

4. LinkedIn

You can search domain mentions on LinkedIn using the following URL. Be sure to use the left side options to see people who tweet your content by location, company, industry, connections, and more.

http://www.linkedin.com/signal/?type=updates&keywords=domain.com

Related articles:

Make Business Connections through Former Classmates

Top Social Networks for Legal and Law Firm Marketing

Social Media at the Law Firm - Embrace it or Ban it?

A New Statistical Feature is Unveiled for LinkedIn Groups

Your professional network is calling you on LinkedIn - and if you haven't joined the discussions yet, now is the perfect time.

LinkedIn has made its Groups feature even more worth your while by unveiling a new statistics dashboard that offers a serious look at each LinkedIn group's demographics, growth and activity.

This is an excellent resource for lawyers or any active online business networker who uses or might consider participating in specific groups to meet other people in their industry.

"The new group statistics "provide visibility into the types of professionals in a particular group and the level and shape of the conversation," says LinkedIn principal product manager Ian McCarthy.

In the demographics view, you can see information about the seniority level, function/role, location, and industry of the professionals in a particular group. This is valuable for a networking professional because it provides "easy visibility into the types of expertise and functions of people in any given group, who is in your region or a region where your service is looking to expand, and whether the group is composed of the desired mix of senior, middle and entry-level professionals," McCarthy says.

When you click on the growth tab you can see how a group's membership has grown over time, and the activity tab shows how regularly members start and contribute to discussions. It also displays recent job and promotion counts for the group. LinkedIn says a large number of promotions can indicate that the group is being actively moderated by managers and members.

Never before has there been this much value in LinkedIn. It's the perfect place to exchange ideas and perspectives, extend relationships, and develop new ones.

I'll see you over there!

Related articles:

Make Business Connections through Former Classmates

Top Social Networks for Legal and Law Firm Marketing

LinkedIn Maps Offers a Big Picture of Your Network

Social Media at the Law Firm - Embrace it or Ban it?

Useful Posting Techniques for Your Facebook Business Page

Last week I discussed the lifeline of a Facebook post, and today I will address the technique of Facebook posting.

Posting on Facebook is a serious topic for online marketers. To get your message seen and your voice heard, you have to know know where, when, and how to post properly.

In a report called Engagement and Interaction: A Scientific Approach to Facebook Marketing, Momentus Media provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about Facebook posting techniques.

1. When's the best time to post?

While weekends and off-peak hours from 2pm to 5am are the times when page admins are least likely to add a new post, those are the posts that receive the highest interaction rates. Thursdays, on the other hand, shoulder the highest number of postings during the week and the lowest interaction rate.

2. How many times should I post per day?

You’d think too many posts would offend your followers but the report suggests frequent posting increases interaction. As you might suspect, fewer posts reduce the chances users will see them. And while unsubscribe rates go up after three posts per day, they level off at higher frequencies.

If you're a frequent poster, make sure the content you publish is valuable to your fans.

3. What type of content elicits the most interaction?

Photos generate the highest interaction rate for the six varieties of content, with status updates ranking No. 2. Others -- in descending order -- include video, music and links. Photos rank at the top because they’re visual, easy to digest and they elicit emotion.

4. Should I ask my fans questions?

You’d think that by asking questions you’d get a better interaction rate, but such is not the case. However, Facebook page admins looking to achieve the highest comment rate should pose questions and then directly ask for fans to reply with comments.

5. How long should my status messages be? 

While there’s a higher posting rate for shorter posts (especially those that stay within the 140-character limit for cross-posting purposes on both Twitter and Facebook), interaction increases as the length of the status message increases.

6. How long do my messages remain in the Newsfeed?

For this answer, please read my earlier article called Social Media Marketing: Understanding the Lifeline of a Facebook Post.

Related articles:

Join a Tweetup - and Boost Your Legal Marketing and Networking

In-house Counsel Warm Up to Social Media for Legal Marketing

Online Legal Marketing: How to Attract Your Target Audience

Use Social Media to Interact with Clients

How Long will a Facebook Post Attract Comments and Likes?

It's a question that has crossed many of our minds, "How long will people see my status update? A few hours? A day? A week?"

While questioning the lifeline of a Facebook status update may seem pretty insignificant, it's really not - especially with regard to social media marketing.

Lawyers and other professionals who continually update their Facebook business pages want to know how long their posts are going to attract precious comments and likes.

According to Jeff Widman, co-founder of PageLever, a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup that makes analytics and metrics tools for Facebook pages, you have very limited time to make a mark on Facebook. Whether you're promoting a blog post or introducing a new service, it's important to know that status updates don't remain in the Facebook newsfeed for long. In fact, Widman says that devising a timing strategy for how often to post new items to your Facebook business page should be a priority.

So, how does a person craft such a timetable for Facebook?

Widman offers this guide:

• The average lifetime of a post in the Facebook Newsfeed is 22 hours and 51 minutes for comments and Likes, and 28 hours and 57 minutes for per-post impressions. 
• The standard deviation of hours of posting ranged from a minimum of 10 hours and 42 minutes for comments and Likes and 11 hours and 29 minutes for per-post impressions. 

Timing matters on Facebook because one status update that's visible to your fans on the Newsfeed is really all you want at one time. Any more and you may annoy your Facebook fans. Any less and you may be forgotten.

Facebook is a great medium for social media marketing, so please use it wisely.

Related posts:

Don't Let Business Fans on Facebook UN-FRIEND You 

In-house Counsel: 4 Ways to Use Twitter

A Career Networking App for Facebook

Google+ for Lawyers: Is it Worth Your Time?

Smart Ways to Standout on Twitter

If you use Twitter, chances are you've seen a hashtag. Twitter hashtags are a way for users to organize their tweets in specific topics. The most popular hashtags are conferences, events, natural disasters - and jokes.

Before you start using hashtags, it's best to know what the current popular hashtags are. Hashtag trends on Twitter come and go, so to use your hashtags effectively, it's important to keep up with the trends. There are several online resources that will tell you which hashtags are popular at any given moment, like:

• What the Trend
• Twubs
• Hashtags.org
• Tagalus

It makes sense for a business to hashtag their tweets about conferences and events that they are attending so that their tweets will pop up in the feed of people following these popular hashtags.  But professionals can take it even further and research niche hashtags related to their specialty.

If you start to use a niche hashtag, make sure to briefly explain your hashtag in a single tweet so that others know what the hashtag means.

It's important not to appear too spammy on Twitter, so don't put too many hashtags into one tweet. Stick to two or three at the most. Using hashtags inside your tweet instead of attaching it at the end will save space in your tweets.  And, from time to time, have some of your tweets be hashtag-free so you look like a human online rather than a tagging robot.

#FindMeOnTwitter @GainYourGoals!

Related articles:

Use Social Media to Interact with Clients

Join a Tweetup and Boost Your Legal Marketing and Networking

How is Your Firm Represented on Twitter?

The Most Important Skill in Social Media

Use this Skill to Connect to Your Target Audience Online

Want to know a secret?

Listening is the single most important skill in social media.

Why?

Because if and when potential clients acknowledge that you're listening, you immediately strengthen your relationships with them.  By listening, you make your audience feel like they are being heard - and that makes them very happy.

Listening will also help you better understand how people might use your legal service. You can use this information to make critical changes to your offerings and to how you communicate about them. You can also uncover new opportunities you hadn't thought of!

Listening keeps your finger on the pulse of your clients.

How to Listen

There are a lot of free ways to listen to what people are saying online.

If you're new to social listening, try these free tools first:

• Google alerts.
• Technorati blog search.
• Twitter search.
• Facebook search.
• YouTube search.
• TweetBeep.

If you go to any social network and type a phrase into the search box, you will see what people are saying using that keyword in real time.

Consider social listening the ultimate focus-group tool. It's practically free and available to you 24/7!

Related articles:

4 Ways to Tap into Conversations on Twitter

Social Media at the Law Firm - Embrace it or Ban it?

Top Social Networks for Legal and Law Firm Marketing

How is Your Firm Represented on Twitter?

Get a Professional Snapshot of Your Facebook Friend Network 

There is a new Facebook application out and it looks awfully similar to LinkedIn.

It's called Talent.me.

What Does it Do?

Talent.me is a career networking service on Facebook. Just sign up using your Facebook login and you can access inside professional connections within your social network.

Once you've started using Talent.me, the app will appear in the left bar on your Facebook profile.

Yes, you need a Facebook account to register to use it.

No, the app does not import your Facebook status updates and photos. Talent.me is strictly about professional networking, not social.

Why Use it?

This is the first big application that lets Facebook users actually focus more on their professional connections.

Find out things like:

• Which companies your friends have worked for.
• If any of your friends work at a company where you would like to get a job.

Talent.me will give you a professional snapshot of your entire friend network - and allows you to leverage that network and make it work for your career.

Ready to get started?

Visit Talent.me and see what the app can do for you.

Related articles:

Top 10 iPhone Apps for Lawyers

5 Best Apps for Lawyer Networking

Time-Saving Web Apps 

Want to Stay in Touch with Clients? There's an App for that!