When you think about social media, your child's Facebook or MySpace account probably comes to mind.
These days, however, social media are a lot more than just status updates and virtual games. They are MARKETING TOOLS!
Social media marketing is hot right now. Law firms are using it to connect with colleagues, potential clients, and to promote their companies.
If your firm doesn't have a social media presence yet, here's some advice for connecting to your market.
1. Understand the difference between personal and professional networking.
Remember, there are times when you'll be using social networking sites for business - not pleasure. Keep your posts professional and focus on topics potential clients will pick up on. Also, be sure to show a little personality in your posts. You want to appear likeable because most clients steer clear of anyone too one-dimensional or boring.
2. Interact on the social networks.
One of the simplest ways to interact online is to engage in conversations with potential clients using the status update features on Facebook and LinkedIn. Use these platforms to engage with others, maintain professional and personal relationships and promote your practice and accomplishments.
You can post:
- your firm’s most recent blog posts.
- occasional updates about your professional activities and accomplishments.
- links to interesting news stories relevant to your areas of practice.
- comments on your connections’ recent activities.
By interacting and providing useful and relevant information, you are able to keep your law firm on your potential clients’ and referrers’ “radar.”
Another way to connect with potential clients and referrers is through LinkedIn Groups. First, join local and regional groups that are likely to have potential clients as members. Then, interact with other group members, and get to know them and learn about their business concerns. Finally, consider moving the online relationship to an offline one by suggesting a business lunch.
3. Join the chatter on Twitter.
There is a lot going on over at Twitter - especially for those attorneys who want to build a national client base.
The key to Twitter success—or success with any social media platform, for that matter—is to set aside a small block of time each day to participate. When you do interact, be genuine, honest, kind and generous.
Social media experts offer this guide for tweeting:
- 50% of tweets should include links to articles, blogs posts, and other online content. This percentage should also include "retweets," or reposts from other users.
- 30% of tweets should be replies to other users' tweets. This is your chance to ENGAGE your followers.
- 10% of tweets should consist of self-promotion, including your firm's blog posts and information about your professional activities and accomplishments.
- The final 10% of tweets can focus on personal interest and hobbies. Doing this will humanize you, making you more interesting to your followers and potential clients.
Needless to say social media have a lot to offer you and your firm.
Get your feet wet first on LinkedIn and Facebook, then take the plunge on Twitter. In the end, you'll want to have an effective online presence and, perhaps, an edge in generating new business.
Adapted from article Marketing Your Practice Today: How to Use Social Media to Network and Build Relationships by Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black.
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Sure, e-mail and social networking are easy, but there is something to be said for real face-to-face interaction.
Contrary to what some Web 2.0 experts might say, interpersonal communication is not dead! In fact, it's alive and well in the legal world.
Online relationships only go so far. Therefore, to truly leverage the power of social media, lawyers must learn how to move their relationships offline.
Here are three ways you can convert online relationships into offline relationships.
1. Try to meet your online connections in-person.
Step outside your comfort zone and request a meeting. You could attend legal conferences with colleagues whom you've met through social media. Or, after connecting with potential referral sources online, arrange to meet them for lunch.
Face-to-face contact will give you the opportunity to strengthen the online contacts that you've made and use them to your benefit - like bringing in new business!
2. Find common ground with social media.
If you're fretting about what to say when you first meet your online connection in person, why not break the ice with a conversation about social media? After all, it's the place you and your contact first connected, so conversation about the subject should flow effortlessly. And, after a few minutes of conversation, you may even feel as though you've known your online friend for years.
3. Pick up the phone.
Can't meet in person? Pick up the phone and introduce yourself! You’d be surprised at how adding a voice to an online image helps make it more robust.
Social media have no doubt taken us where no other medium has gone before. It allows us to connect with people whom we'd otherwise never know and it breathes life into connections that have faded.
And, as powerful as that sounds, it's also nice to take a step back and reflect on the traditional approach to networking: face-to-face interaction.
Never underestimate the power of a good conversation OFFLINE.
Adapted from article Marketing Your Practice Today: How to Use Social Media to Network and Build Relationships by Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black.
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Do you have a website up and running, maybe even a law blog too, but find that business is still waning?
It may be time to start thinking about adding VIDEO to your homepage!
Believe it or not, more law firms around the world are making video one of their "go to" marketing tools. They're a cinch to produce. They're easy on the budget. And, they're one of the most effective ways to promote and connect with a market.
Want to know more?
Here are five ways you can use video to get your firm's message to the masses.
1. Promote your brand.
Create a short, 60-second snapshot using something as simple as a Flip video camera and begin capturing the essence of your firm. Make sure visitors come away from your site with a main message about the company. Also, be sure to supplement the video with written content throughout the site that supports that message. Case studies, photos, and graphics are a nice touch too.
2. Showcase your lawyers.
Clients don't want to hire law firms, they want talented attorneys.
Showcase the legal talent in your firm with videos of the attorneys themselves. They can discuss their niche practices, important cases they've handled, or their approach to client satisfaction.
Videos allow clients to begin building relationships with lawyers even before they meet face-to-face.
3. Share experiences.
When your lawyers give lectures or participate in roundtable discussions, why not share those experiences through video? This can be a great way to show that your firm is connected to the community. It also shows that your attorneys are extremely knowledgeable on industry-specific topics.
4. Try video blogging.
Video has the power to enhance a blogger's personality as it tells visitors much more about YOU than plain text. Instead of writing a standard blog post, consider video blogging, or vlogging. It can be less time-consuming and it allows you to get more information out to your followers - without writer's block.
5. Include your clients.
Reach out to your clients and ask if they would be willing to record a short video about their experiences with your firm or a certain lawyer. Have them talk about their working relationship with the firm, the trust they place in you, and the loyalty they have received in return. You can also create a montage of several clients discussing the firm’s accolades, or one with a client and a lawyer talking about their working relationship.
With video, your marketing opportunities are limitless!
And, once you've started using video on your Website - you'll be ready for the next step: learning how to brand yourself on YouTube.
Adapted from article Five Ways to Use Video on Your Firm's Website by Terry Isner.
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Blogging Demands Creativity and Consistency.
Have you launched a law blog yet?
If not, then it's time to join the fray.
According to the ABA Journal, there are more than 3,000 legal blogs out there in cyberspace. Some are good enough for a mention in the ABA Blawg 100, others are not.
If you're struggling with your own legal blog, consider this: just like traditional legal writing, blogging demands creativity and consistency.
Here are five tips for a successful legal blog.
1. Be realistic.
Generally, bloggers start out with high hopes of generating a lot of new business. But the truth is, it takes hard work to make a blog stand out among thousands. Getting new business and promoting a practice are good reasons to start, but successful blogging sustained over a period of time requires another reason
Lawyers should blog because they want to do it. Blog to write! Think about it. Spending 10 minutes writing a blog post about a recent case may be quite pleasant - even therapeutic - after spending hours on a brief or contract.
2. Be consistent.
Once the blog is launched, lawyers need to post REGULARLY - almost daily! Consistent posting will help bloggers develop a following. When a blog goes idle, it slips from readers' mind almost overnight.
3. Pinpoint your target audience.
Legal bloggers tend to gear their content to specific reader groups. They identify these groups by tuning into their reader comments and analyzing their site traffic. Comments and inbound links generally reflect a blog's audience, giving the author a sense of who is reading the posts.
Keep in mind that once the blog has a following, many readers will syndicate the blog posts -- receive them by e-mail -- rather than visit the site. Consistent posting keeps syndicated readers interested, preventing them from unsubscribing from the syndication feed.
Learn how to review the site's statistics: hits, page views, syndication reads and so on. This information shows the size of the audience and the most popular posts on the blog. The author can use this information to tailor future posts to match readers' interests.
4. Advertise.
Get the name of the blog out there. If your firm or company allows you to do so, put a link to your blog on its main Web site. Find blogs on similar topics or blogs by colleagues and acquaintances, then offer to exchange links. Embed a link to the blog in the signature block of your e-mail messages.
5. Be personable.
Blog posts should be easy to read and personable. Legal blog writers should ditch their traditional lawyer voice for an informal one. Keep sentences and paragraphs short, and consider writing in the first person. And do not use typical legal phrases like "pursuant to" or "whereas." A blog should show the personality of the lawyer - so, it's also okay to be funny.
Just like any social media marketing campaign, blogging success won't happen overnight. It takes hard work and diligence to make a blog connect with readers.
And remember, blogging should be a pleasure - not a pain.
A happy blogger is a successful blogger!
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Since two Facebook privacy applications were released a few weeks ago, the social networking site has once again revamped its privacy policy.
Unlike the last, this new version is simpler and extremely easy to use.
Now, with one click, Facebook users can select if they want to share their information with everyone, friends of friends, or friends only. The option to drill down - or customize - privacy settings is also still available.
Facebook has also pledged to make less information publicly available. From now on, people whom you are not friends with on Facebook will only be able to see your name, profile picture, gender, and networks - if you choose.
Facebook Fan Pages also have privacy controls now. For instance, you can block people from seeing what Pages you have "liked" and also prevent yourself from showing up in the "People who like this" box on the actual Page. While this is not optimal for businesses, it does give Facebook users an added sense of security.
Third-party apps will also have to ask for permission to access any Pages that are not visible to everyone.
Want the complete lowdown on the new Facebook privacy policy? Read Kristen Burnham's Facebook Privacy Changes: 5 Can't Miss Facts. The article gives tremendous insight on which buttons to press for those security conscious Facebook users.
Keeping your personal data under wraps on Facebook is now easier than ever.
Be proactive. Protect your information.
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Guest post by Donna Seyle
I recently came across a post by 16-year-old Nigerian entrepreneur named Onibalusi Bamidele called Blogging with Influence in 5 Steps. Besides being so moved by the fact that such a young man has been able to comprehend and distill the elements of a good blog, I was left with a bigger question: how do lawyers combine information with compassion?
These are the 5 steps Onibalusi includes:
- Content: “Your content is you; you are your content. The power your content can hold, the influence it can add to you should not be underestimated.”
- Passion: “Your passion is a building block for your content. If you seriously have passion for what you do, it will definitely reflect in what you write.. . . Your passion has a lot to do with your content (which is a building block to your influence).”
- Care: “Do you care for your readers? Caring for your readers is a great element that should not be neglected if truly you want to have great influence on them.”
- Authority: “Let people know you are an authority. You don’t need to be subjective but let there be sounds of authority, assurance, and affirmation in anything you write.”
- Distinction: “The final step to influential blogging is distinction. You should be able to distinguish yourself from other bloggers. You should be different.”
Any good blog coach will tell you that your blog must reflect who you are so your readers can begin to know and trust you. It must show that you care about your audience, that you’re passionate about your subject matter, that you know what you’re talking about, and, as if that weren’t enough, you must do it differently. When you’re talking about law blogging, that is not an easy task.
Grant Griffiths at Blawging Lawyers puts it this way:
Blogs build trust and reputation “organically” by allowing potential clients to see the people behind the law practice in action, not mediated by slick marketing. Ironically, this is the most powerful form of marketing there is.
By providing information to the public, you become a trusted and reputable resource. Trusted and reputable resources get clients, period. . . It is well-known in marketing and consumer psychology circles that people prefer to do business with other people they like and who are like them. People cannot like you if they don’t know you, and a normal Web site doesn’t give them a chance to know you and like you.
But we’re talking law, here. We’re talking about an intellectual exercise that requires considering permutations of thought that challenge the best of minds. How do you present this kind of information in a blog post that will reach out and touch someone and invite them to rely on you?
Here’s some ideas that will help you create a blogging perspective that combines substance with style:
- Have a conversation with your best friend. You are not interacting with your monitor, or even the (hopefully) masses of people that will read your post. You’re talking to your best non-lawyer friend, chatting about an interesting situation he/she encountered and wondered how that would be viewed from a legal perspective. It’s a conversation at the end of a golf game over a good, cold beer on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Enjoy yourself.
- Assume your friend knows you and trusts you. You’ve been friends for 15 years. There’s a reason for that. You’re likable, reasonable and you know your stuff. You know you are held in some esteem by your friend, so there is no reason to shy away from asserting your knowledge with confidence.
- Use a “How to” approach. The majority (I don’t know the exact statistics) of online searches start with the phrase “How to. . .” Now, your friend has presented you with this dilemma or desire. Approach your response from a practical point of view. What can/should one do in that situation to resolve the dilemma, or what steps should he/she take to achieve the desired result? You can use some limited legal analysis to give credibility to your advice, but only for that reason. Your friend won’t benefit from a full-blow diatribe on how the courts have viewed the subject, and doesn’t really care.
- Embellish the topic with an example. Giving examples of similar situations and their outcomes shows you are really relating to the topic and feel strongly about it, so much so that you remember once about 10 years ago when. . . Just remember it MUST BE FICTIONAL. An amalgamation, perhaps, of several different scenarios. But you must respect your ethical obligations to your clients and your attorney/client privilege, and write accordingly.
- Speak from a preventative point of view. No one wants to get entangled in a lawsuit anymore, it’s just no fun, it costs too much money and you hardly ever get what you want, anyway. Give your friend advice about how to be sure to avoid the dilemma in the future, or the most important things he/she must do to prevent the lawsuit monster from visiting when he/she has achieved the desired result.
You can decide to blog because someone told you to, and hate it. Or you can embrace it as an opportunity to help someone, to use your specialized knowledge to advise someone on how to stay out of trouble. The former will never turn into a success story, but the latter surely will. Play with it, have fun with it. No one will laugh (unless you tell jokes) and if they do, you won’t know it!
About the author:
Donna Seyle is the founder of the Freelance Law Firm, a resource for lawyers and law firms who find themselves without the resources to take on new business or respond to matters needing immediate attention, and to in-house counsel faced with a temporary overload of projects. The firm provides real estate and business firms or practitioners and in-house counsel with cost-effective, time-saving, high quality legal services so they can increase their billings without increasing their overhead.
Did you know that there are literally thousands of conversations happening right now on Twitter?
These are real-time discussions about all sorts of topics. And, if you're not part of the conversations - YOU ARE MISSING OUT!
Joining conversations that are relevant to your industry can be a great way to build a brand, add new Twitter followers, and connect with influencers.
Here's the best - and most authentic - way to start participating in relevant Twitter conversations.
1. Don't just post, ENGAGE!
Retweet good content, follow interesting people, reply to questions and post more than just links to your brand content. Give the Twitter community a chance to RECOGNIZE YOU and VALUE YOUR CONTRIBUTION.
2. Anticipate conversations.
One way to participate in Twitter conversations is to anticipate which trending topics are coming down the pike.
Think about which events or news items have a relevant tie-in to your interests or industry, and BE READY TO PARTICIPATE.
3. You snooze, you lose.
You can prep all you want for upcoming events, but you must be ready to take advantage of unexpected conversations.
MOVE QUICKLY because the conversation might not last more than a day or two. Be ready to generate content - like a blog post or video - that will give you entry into the discussion.
4. Be relevant.
The most important thing to remember is that your contribution should ADD VALUE to the conversation. Pass along information that you think your followers will enjoy reading - or watching.
And, remember to be yourself. People like tweets that show personality and character.
Twitter can be a tremendous vehicle for your brand.
Tap into those real-time streams and start social networking the right way.
Adapted from article 4 Tips for Tapping into Twitter Conversations by Leyl Master Black
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So you've set up a Facebook Fan page for your practice, now what?
Take a step back and really look at the page.
Does it engage your Facebook fans?
Does it really showcase your expertise?
If not, then your Facebook page needs some new features - pronto!
Since Facebook pages are modular, you have the ability to mix and match applications that work best for your brand.
And, the best part?
You don't need a lot of technical know-how to create a customized Fan page!
Here are four essential and easy-to-install Facebook apps to help you showcase your content and get more information to potential clients.
1. RSS feeds.
Chances are you're already producing great content for your firm's Website or blog. Why not feature that content on your Facebook Fan page?
Social RSS will help you get the job done.
You can configure the app to automatically pull in updates from any RSS or ATOM feed and display them as posts on your Fan Page, either on a dedicated tab, a wall tab (on the left side) or as part of your core news feed. It's a useful way to automate your content and eliminate the need to republish things manually to your Facebook Page.
WARNING: Fans on social networks are much more responsive to curated content. If your core clients are already subscribed to your blog and other social accounts, a double-dose of the same exact content may trigger some to hide your updates or "un-fan" you. Consider relegating your Social RSS feed to a tab if this is the case.
2. Get feedback with polls.
Social engagement doesn't get any simpler than with the Poll app.
A poll can be a casual way to get a read from your client fans about a new service, a new page design, or your practice in general.
There's no account to sign up for. Once you connect it to your Page, all the setup and data lives right in your settings panel.
In the poll settings, simply name your burning question, list your choices and select your publishing options.
Polls can be published to your Page wall/feed, live on a custom tab, or be popped into your left-hand navigation where visitors can click anytime they come to your Page. You can invite your client friends to take a poll, and they can easily share it out as they would any other post or app. Both you and your visitors can see the poll results without leaving Facebook.
3. YouTube for pages.
If you're dabbling in online video marketing, you'll want to check out the YouTube application.
To activate the app, you'll have to set up a free account at the developer website. Once it's connected to your Fan Page, simply input the YouTube channel you'd like to pull videos from (it could be your own, or anyone else's), pick a few more settings, and you're all set.
The app "features" your most recent upload or favorite, and displays thumbnails for previous videos on a simple, clean interface. The videos play directly on Facebook of course, so fans can watch without ever leaving your Fan Page. Just be sure to add the tab in the page's "Application Settings."
4. Static FBML.
You'll need to know basic HTML to work with the the Static FBML app. But once it's up and running, the app can turn your Fan Page into a unique and interactive destination.
First, add the app to your Fan Page and make sure it's functioning as a "Box" rather than a "Tab." Add content to your box using standard HTML. Graphics cannot be uploaded to Facebook here, so you must reference them from a URL -- likely, one on your own hosted website or blog.
For a sidebar, think about adding some clean graphic buttons or icons that link out to other destinations your fans would be interested in, such as your company website, blog, or Twitter account. This sidebar will be visible no matter what Fan Page tab your visitors are on, so consider using graphic elements that coincide with your existing logo and color scheme.
Once your content is added and saved, it will appear as a box on the "Boxes" tab. Head over there to ensure that your HTML has rendered properly. If so, click the "Pencil" in the top-right corner of the box and select "Move To Wall Tab." This will display your content in the left-hand navigation of your page.
Your Facebook Fan page should not be stale.
Make a point to utilize these business applications for your Facebook page and watch your online brand soar!
Adapted from article 5 Essential Apps for Your Business's Facebook Fan Page by Matt Silverman.
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2 Applications to Help You Reset Your Privacy Settings
If you thought you had your privacy settings squared away on Facebook, think again. Throw the settings that you approved a year ago out the window. They mean something totally different now.
Facebook has, once again, made some modifications that make a huge chunk of profile content public by default.
The reason for this change?
Simple. Facebook wants to expand its brand across the the Web. By doing this, Facebook brings users' Facebook friends lists to external sites and shows them their friends' activity. A news site, for example, could show which stories your Facebook contacts have been recommending and commenting on.
While you may be okay with this, others are not.
Thankfully there are two new applications just for people who want their privacy back. These are tools that make it easy to understand and fix Facebook privacy settings.
The first is called SaveFace.
A firewall and spam filter company called Untangle launched SaveFace this week. It takes the form of a browser bookmark utility and sets as many Facebook profile elements as it can--contact information, friend lists and connections, wall posts--to "friends only."
The second application is called ReclaimPrivacy. Just as its name suggests, this tool allows users to take back their Facebook privacy by scanning account settings and flagging elements that may be unexpectedly public. And, like SaveFace, ReclaimPrivacy can restore settings.
Both applications are easy to use, take seconds to run, and will give you some peace of mind.
Remember, though, as with any social networking site... always BE MINDFUL of your profile content. Facebook mistakes can doom your career, even with privacy settings intact.
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First Impressions Count - Even on Twitter and Facebook!
When it comes to marketing and building a brand - IMAGE IS EVERYTHING.
And guess what?
First impressions are almost always VISUAL.
Sure, it's important - from a social media marketing standpoint - to pass along quality information on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But, honestly, the first thing people see when they check out your social media profile is not what you wrote, but how you look.
That said, you want to make sure your profile picture is professional and illustrative of your personal brand.
Here are four ways to make a positive first impression with your profile picture.
1. Use a quality photo.
This may seem obvious, but we've all come across countless social profiles with blurry, dark, or low-resolution images. When your initial photo is inadequate, there's no amount of post production or digital magic that can bring it up to snuff.
Consider having your photo taken professionally, or invest a good camera with high-quality lenses. Use a tripod to avoid camera shake.
2. Be consistent.
If you find a photo that works, stick with it.
Don't change it every few days, or even months. Remember, you only have a split second to make an impression and forge a connection. Consistency makes that easier. This may be especially true for Twitter, where networks tend to go beyond personal friends and family.
3. Be aware of formats and dimensions.
Believe it or not, social networks have different technical requirements for profile pictures.
For example, on Twitter's profile pages, the standard size is 73 by 73 pixels, while on Digg, profile picture sizes are 120 by 120 pixels.
To maintain consistent images across all social media sites, consider using a graphics editor like Photoshop or GIMP. If you upload an image that is too big, or too small, the site might render your image in an unflattering light.
Want a trick for discovering image dimensions on any given profile picture? Simply right-click on the picture and choose "View Image Info," which will display details about that image, including the dimensions of it.
4. Get creative.
You don't have to be a design wiz to spruce up a dull profile picture. Photoshop basics make it easy to be creative - but not too creative!
For instance, the lomographic effect in Photoshop produces an authentic, colorful and vibrant look that can help you create an unique image. The "sketch" look is also a fun, creative, and professional-looking feature that gives any image a style similar to something hand-drawn.
Whichever direction you choose to go when creating your profile picture, remember that you're also establishing a brand.
Keep is simple. Keep it professional. Keep it consistent.
Adapted from article 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Profile Pic by Matt Silverman.
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