How are you preparing to take your law firm into the “Social Business” era?  Perhaps this is the first time you’ve heard the term used?  Here’s a definition:

Social Businesses combine fully integrated sets of tools, channels, and processes with people that embrace and cultivate a spirit of collaboration and community throughout the organization—both internally and externally. It’s not B2C or B2B, it’s P2P – that’s People-to-People or Peer to Peer.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could fluently and seamlessly communicate and collaborate with people both inside and outside the law firm on your most important matters? Wouldn’t it be great to deliver such value to clients and in turn build even stronger internal relationships between every department, from HR to marketing, to time and billing and information technology? Then become a social business!

While you may already be accessing some of the more popular social media channels to reach out to the marketplace—maybe you’re using Facebook for employee and attorney recruiting, or you’re proactively managing your LinkedIn Company Page, have a “push” presence on Twitter and posted some educational videos on You Tube—there’s more involved in becoming a “social business.” You’re not a Social Business until all the moving parts integrate people, communications and work product to deliver a meaningful outcome. This is the one thing that truly distinguishes a social business model from a traditional business model—social integration for results.

Now, before you say “our law firm will never be a social business,” or start worrying that you’re already behind the curve, take a deep breath, relax, open your mind, and learn how you can become a social business.

Corporations Take the Lead.

As is usually the case, law firms aren’t going to be first. Corporations have already taken the lead in becoming social businesses—many have been in the social media space long before law firms even knew social media existed. They are integrating their social channels and moving human capital into place, getting closer to the mark. Granted, it’s a work in progress, or so it seems, as I’ve heard no report of anyone having perfected a formula yet, but they are getting close. And, I predict that it will be sooner rather than later that savvy clients will look for their service providers to join the revolution and become social businesses. Here are some case studies of social businesses from the IBM website.

Attributes of a Social Business

What are the attributes of a social business? An early adopter, IBM, weighs in about this topic on their website:

• A Social Business is engaged—deeply connecting people, including customers, employees, and partners, to be involved in productive, efficient ways.
• A Social Business is transparent—removing boundaries to information, experts and assets, helping people align every action to drive business results.
• A Social Business is nimble—speeding up business with information and insight to anticipate and address evolving opportunities.

I see glimpses of start-up law firms becoming social businesses. But wow! Can an established law firm become a social business? Maybe a better question is: What happens if they don’t? What happens when their best clients become social businesses and they are focused elsewhere?

Transitioning to Social Business

Michael Brito, Vice President of Social Media at Edelman Digital, believes that “…organizations cannot have effective, external conversations with consumers, unless they can have effective internal conversations first.” He prescribes “the three pillars of social business as the process and foundation with which businesses will transition into social businesses: People, Governance and Technology.

• Organizations begin humanizing business operations.
• Organizational models are formed to include social media.
• Organizational silos are torn down between internal teams.
• Governance models and social media policies are created.
• Social becomes an essential attribute of organizational cultural.”

More ideas from Michael’s forthcoming book, The Evolution of Social Business, can be found here. I especially like his diagram on slide #2.

Social Business Tool Box

Everything a social business does is focused on helping team members; business partners, colleagues and customers, solve business problems and be most effective. To do this, social businesses need tools that allow people to easily find and collaborate with colleagues, customers and partners, essentially increasing efficiency and efficacy. Those tools need to store, manage and deliver in real time all resources, people, information and channels so that work product can be easily accessed and shared from anywhere. [Hello cloud!]

To save you time, I did a little digging around to identify a few items a social [law firm] business might consider in setting up their social business toolbox.  Here are my top four.

1. Social CRM
2. White label, private social network (collaboration software or cloud computing)
3. Listening tool(s)
4. Web channels for distribution and brand exposure

Social CRM:

Traditional CRMs (Customer Relationship Management software) typically manage client details such as contact and marketing information.  For example, they track what newsletters and invitations go to whom, who knows who, and so forth. Much of what a social business does has a marketing play too—building the right human resources, gaining exposure for offerings, anticipating client needs, attending to important client details. But, a traditional CRM is not enough for a social business–they need social CRM. Social CRM moves beyond the straightforward, strategic tactics used to organize, automate and synchronize.  A social CRM provides innovative ways to interact with their customers and prospects by taking into account the new ways people communicate and interact via cloud, social media and social networking sites. Google+ is one new tool that is aiming for this market in a big way. Salesforce.com bought the social media monitoring service Radian6 last spring and is leaping ahead in social CRM strategy. Of course there are others. Read more here.

White Label Network:

A white label network is essentially an enterprise collaboration solution enabling personal and organizational effectiveness. One component of enterprise collaboration invokes social networking technology. This technology gives fast access to everyone in an individual’s professional network, including colleagues, clients and partners, enabling them to access and interact with the people, information and project materials they need to get their work done. These private networks facilitate communications among teams helping them work together and build stronger relationships across organizations. I’ve long been a proponent of private social networking technology for the law firm environment and do not believe enough firms are taking advantage of it.

No matter the size of your budget or size of the network you wish to create, there is something for everyone. If you’re looking for a software solution you might consider Microsoft Sharepoint or IBM Sametime.  For a more economical, web-based solution, one of my favorites right now is BloomFire. Follow this link to a description of nine other white label social networking solutions tested by TechCrunch. Or, for small firm or individual needs, check out Google’s Cloud Apps. It may be just the right fit when it comes to cloud collaboration. You might even opt to create a small, private discussion group on Facebook, which would meet the needs of certain lawyers who already have a presence and network on the site.

Listening Tools.

There is no substitution for a face-to-face client interview and I’m not even suggesting that social comes close to that kind of listening, however, social listening can provide insight into customer needs, competitive intelligence, and identification of prospective clients who have problems you can solve. Social listening will help you find and engage with customers. It will help you anticipate and meet their needs in ways that should differentiate you from the competition. At the very least, a simple social listening tool like Google Alerts can be used to track primary client names, companies, and issues. If you have a lot of listening to do and are willing to pay for this information, you could deploy a solution like Manzama. Manzama was created specifically for the listening needs of law firms. There are of course many others. Here is a wiki of 201 social media monitoring solutions.

Distribution and Exposure.

A social business needs a social public face. Luckily, we are in an era where content marketing is valued. There is no end to the types content law firms can create. But writing and distributing educational content to gain exposure is just one part of the equation. Social businesses go beyond pushing out press releases, white papers, and articles—they engage in the public dialogue. Dialogue in the social marketplace can build presence and alignment with valuable constituencies, including clients, prospects, referral sources, the media, politicians, and others—worldwide. Engagement in the social marketplace typically leads to greater business development opportunities and stronger relationships. Therefore, a social business will have a thoughtful and professional presence on websites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It will post useful content on blogs, SlideShare, and You Tube. And, I repeat, it will engage in the marketplace dialogue. This of course is the most time consuming and perhaps difficult piece of the social business model to integrate, but also the most necessary for proper exposure and positioning.

Social Media Integration.

There is no magic to setting up a social business system. There is, however, some magic involved in successfully removing organizational silos between internal teams and creating permission based governance models and policies that everyone can agree upon and live with. Ultimately, shifting the organizational culture to a distinctly social culture requires not only a bit of magic, but also leadership, consistency and an unwavering desire to use technology to create a stronger law firm.

Your turn; what do you think? Are we ready? How soon do you think we’ll see the first truly “social law firm”? Who will be first?  Is anyone even talking about social business in your firm? Is it too soon? Are any of your clients asking for a more social work model? If so, what are you going to do to make it happen?

I found this news alert from the Wall Street Journal fascinating on a couple of accounts:

“Interest in shares of Facebook is so strong that Goldman Sachs plans to stop soliciting interest from potential investors on Thursday, after the securities firm received orders worth several billion dollars.” (Link to article -subscription may be required – unlike Facebook they have to cover the overhead of producing professional content!)

I don’t know about you, but, I love the service Facebook provides and I’m glad they are doing well. It is probably the most powerful media holding on the Net – much to the surprise of many – and it may eventually become the NET – well, it is sure to be headed somewhere big with this new round of capital. The communities on Facebook are strong. There’s a lot to like about that for advertisers. And, obviously that’s not being missed by the  gold-rush investors. So I’m wondering, how are law firm marketers seeing it? Are they ready to invest boldly? Here’s how I see it.

What Make Facebook Valuable?

What makes Facebook extremely valuable is not that 500 million (or whatever the new number is) people gather there, but that those people share their information freely allowing Facebook to give advertisers the data they want and need to target their audiences. Never before has it been so easy (and so profitable) for a media company to do this.

(As an aside, in the early days of Facebook I was often unhappy about how they used my personal data without telling me, but these days anyone who uses an application within the service or shares information with EVERYONE has fair warning that their data is working in the background for Facebook’s commercial gain. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, right? We have fun sharing pics of the kids and Facebook makes boatloads of money.)

Advertising and Media.

Advertising has always paid for media —the whole kit and kaboodle; content, production, distribution, overhead and profit, for TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, etc.. But, Facebook doesn’t have content production costs; users do it for them, leaving only hard costs in making sure the “press,” so to speak, keeps running smoothly. It’s very attractive and it must be awfully lucrative for investors. What to do with all this profit –or am I missing something?

For advertisers it’s both a blessing and a curse. Sure they have access to amazing user data, sliced and diced digitally, but they now have to create the ad AND the content. That’s time intensive and expensive to do it right. (see chart below)  It takes bodies to produce and maintain quality content (reference old media) and bodies cost money. The new media, such as Facebook, is now passing along content creation costs to the advertiser leaving more profit for them. Hmmm. Very attractive for investors and advertisers don’t seem to mind as the data from Altimeter Group shows in this chart of projected corporate spend on new media in 2011. Staff and ad spend take the two top spots. Are law firms prepared to jump in?

Law Firms’ Facebook Pages.

More law firms are setting up Facebook pages – it’s tough going, right? A lot goes into creating the content and few lawyers are willing to pitch in. The burden right now is squarely on the shoulders of the marketers – many find it to be just another underfunded challenge. Worse, law firm management gives it little or no strategic value.

So, they assign the task to a marketing coordinator (Thinking….they’re Net natives, right, they know all about cool Facebook content. Hmmm… jump below***), throw up some press releases, and get employees, partners and families to “like” the firm page. Ho hum. Is that what it’s really all about? I say no. Legal marketers need to be preparing their next steps now.

I want to hear from lawyers, law firms and marketers who are taking Facebook seriously. How are you leveraging the demographic data available from FB?  Would you share with us how it is going? And, what about content creation? I’ve heard a few very large firms have added staff. What are your plans for 2011? Do you have any secret plan of attack – not asking you to share what that is, just curious to know if we’re getting closer to a truly strategic mentality about Facebook in the legal marketing profession.

Thanks in advance for your contributions to this stream of thought.

Content production and the staffing conundrum.

***I’m not implying here that entry level marketers of the Net generation aren’t entirely capable of producing good content, however, this will only happen when the law firm and the CMO empower the content builders. That takes an awful lot of trust, not to mention training so that the content builders understand and apply professional ethics and confidentiality where it is needed. The content builders must also understand the law firm’s market (whoa – big job) and what is at stake for the entity, as well as what measurements will float the boat. This, in my opinion, needs leadership. Senior leadership. Trouble is, leadership doesn’t have time to devote to something that is not directly tied to business results – generating real revenue. So, it gets pushed down. This, I think, may be where we need to rethink what we’re doing. I think the benefit of early adoption in leveraging new media, specifically Facebook, is potentially huge. What do you think?

There are several things law firms can learn from the recent publicity of the JetBlue incident, particularly in the context of the social Web and reputation management, but three stand out.

1. Your stakeholders want you to succeed. They want to believe that you, their law firm, do the right thing; that you’re a valuable asset to their team and that others believe as they do.
2. Align your law firm with stakeholders, via engagement on the social Web, BEFORE a crisis strikes to give you access to, and credibility with, your stakeholders if and when an incident needs to be addressed.
3. Transparency on the social web is critical for law firms, especially in times of high media interest, and so it must be handled with care, for both the law firm and all involved parties.

Address crisis or rumor with effectiveness and style via the social Web

The recent Steven Slater/Jet Blue “Beer Slide” saga has had everyone in a tizzy lately; especially the media, JetBlue fans, executives at JetBlue who are normally quite chatty on the social Web, and their lawyers.  It appears that their legal counsel prompted Jet Blue’s silence in the early aftermath of the incident. Three cheers for the step-away-from-the-microphone advice during the initial brouhaha. In this case it turned out to be great advice.

Despite the negative squawking that penetrated the net – Where are they? Why aren’t they telling us what’s going on? – JetBlue pulled away from business as usual on the social Web until they gathered the essence and then posted a brief, but highly effective, entry on their corporate blog, BlueTales. They presented a side of the story with a compassionate, yet lighthearted, persona addressing the issues they were facing. They asked their online stakeholders to hold on.

What JetBlue did right.

In a simple blog post, they covered the issue with transparency –at least as much as legal considerations would allow at this early stage of the investigation— and the blog tool was the perfect delivery channel. (Note: they had already established a loyal following – see Lesson Two)

Lesson One: We love you!

In response to the blog post (193 comments so far), here’s what a few readers had to say

• …i love you jet blue
• …this is your chance to rise above all the nasty comments left online, by being gracious and forgiving. Offer his job back; don’t worry, he won’t take it; give him a stern lecture; and remind all passengers they MUST obey, by federal law, the orders of flight attendents, who are NOT just glorified waitresses and waiters. Here’s your chance: don’t blow it!
• Thank you for acknowledging your fine employees at this time. My family and I have always been very true, loyal customers of JetBlue.
• I think JetBlue should show the world, yes the world, that there is a lot of abuse in the service industry. Please show the world that there is a company that has empathy for their loyal employees. I feel your company is in the best position to teach the world it needs to be polite to people in the service industry and people in general. The world needs this lesson. Show us your empathy.
• This is a goldmine opportunity. You should definitely hire this guy, and have him make a bunch of funny YouTube videos about the dos and don’ts of carryon luggage. Have him try to shove a size 10 carry-on into a size 9 over-head, sideways. At the end he could have a little sign off (think Dan Rather’s “Courage!”) and then take the chute out of the plane, like Batman. If you don’t somebody else will, why not get the credit for being fair to someone who is viewed by many as a hero, and at the same time turn some lemon-like bad publicity into some earned advertising lemonade.
• I’ve flown with Jet Blue and I have nothing but good stuff to say! I don’t think this story will tarnish ur reputation. Your a great little airline keep doing what your doing it works I really like that Google maps thing that says where the plane is that is so cool!
• Jet Blue…..the most polite officers and crew. I only fly Jet Blue. Only had one tiny set back on Blue….No TV for 3 hours of my flight. But I lived. Thank you Jet Blue for being the best Airline to fly with…

Okay, okay, so we don’t expect law firm clients to be in love with their law firms in the same way they might love their preferred airline. BUT, take for example today’s headline story on the National Law Journal site.

Hunton & Williams has been hit with a $150 million lawsuit in Wisconsin claiming that the law firm maliciously squeezed a broker out of a contract and should pay up for the company’s losses.

The Richmond, Va.-based law firm issued a statement through a spokeswoman in response to the action. “This suit was filed by an adversary of one of our clients,” it said. “These allegations have no merit, and we plan to vigorously defend against them.” [Emphasis added]

What if, in a circumstance like this, there was a social channel (blog, website, discussion board, Facebook page, whatever) where the law firm laid out, after careful examination and with some transparency, the situation to the extent allowed by ethics and privilege? What if loyal clients added their comments? How would that impact the reputation of the law firm? How would that impact the clients’ perception that their voices mattered? How would it give readers what they wanted to hear and give them understanding?

Before you say, “noooo way would we open up the pipes and let people trash us,” I say, why is that? Why do you think you’d get trashed? Don’t you know you have clients who really do depend on you? Sure there might be people who would use the opportunity to grind an ax, but I’m going to take a guess that, over all, sophisticated readers would see right through that. Especially if you were being transparent, i.e. human, rational, reasonable business professionals who practice law and deliver value to clients.

Lesson Two: Align with stakeholders before the crisis hits.

For JetBlue, their social Web presence started long before Steven Slater, a veteran flight attendant, had maxed out on his tolerance for rude passengers, chugged a few beers, opened the evacuation slide, exited his job in dramatic fashion and entered the Internet media spotlight. They were there, amidst their stakeholders before the crisis hit. They were active on Twitter, Facebook, and their blogs. They were not only posting news releases and canned messages, they were engaging.  They had positioned themselves positively in the minds of their stakeholders. They were a “human” entity. (Which is also why there was shock when they didn’t give an early response. A two edged sword that had a happy ending.)

Law firms that are still on the ledge or are not taking the social Web seriously may be in for a surprise the next time they need to communicate with a broad base of share stakeholders. (See also Toyota Recall) Best to be proactive and get a social media presence now.

Lesson three: Be transparent, but handle with care.

I am not suggesting that law firms or anyone should try cases in the media. We all know that strategy. Sometimes it works and other times it hurts. However, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared and the social Web needs your attention.

When something dramatic happens, the media is looking for a story. They’ll get it where ever and however they can. In the pre-Internet days they would pull quotes and sentiment from passersby. That hasn’t changed, only now they have access to those sources 24/7 without leaving their desks, thanks to user generated content. To make matters more intense, passersby are telling their stories without the filter of the media.

Prepared statements from public relations departments and executives are becoming passé where the social Web is involved. Canned statements are ineffective unless they are handled with transparency and human perspective. The social Web demands it. Woe to the law firm who ignores it. Eventually it WILL catch up to you. On the flip side, speaking too early or too loudly may come back to haunt you. It’s a new PR approach, best to be prepared to handle it carefully.

Bottom Line:

Maybe if we–law firms–were more transparent, within ethical boundaries, people could be educated in the subtleties of the profession and attitudes would shift. After all, aren’t most civil disputes and legal actions the result of misunderstandings? The law is immense and difficult to interpret. What is your law firm doing to engage with their constituencies on the social Web so that you will have ready access to manage your reputation proactively?

Where does your law firm stack up? Are you creating experiences or are you delivering “business as usual?”

I wish I had some really good excuse for not publishing to my blog in over a week; like I tripped, fell and broke both my hands. But I don’t. Fact is, I’m still in the belly of the beast finishing up my manuscript for social.lawyer due to my publisher Thomson/West this week! Yikes!

Even if I had an a good excuse for my readers or my publishers, I’d be falling beneath the Amazon standard of Disney delivery,  the very thing I strive for in every business encounter and encourage my law firm clients to do: deliver Amazon or  Walt Disney to your clients.

Every time I order from Amazon (or Zappos – thanks for your support of professional tennis – love ya!), it amazes me. I get the feeling I’m a kid at Disney World.  It starts with the appeal: millions of choices, millions of visuals, with hundreds of people standing beside me saying I liked that and you might too.

From start to finish it’s an experience, not just a purchase. It’s so easy to use their one click button and buy with confidence knowing they they back up everything they distribute. (True for me in over eight years and counting.) But the crème de la crème is the delivery…it is an experience like no other online vendor. It is so efficient and they always seem to exceed my expectation even though they clearly state when the delivery will be made. As they say, they are in the business of delivering happiness.

What I don’t understand is why other online vendors can’t or don’t have the same standards of service? Why can’t they deliver happiness?

Amazon isn’t instant gratification; it’s better. Schlepping to a store and buying something that I immediately take home and use isn’t nearly as gratifying as shopping (with my unknown friends who review products and give objective advice) and getting that package in the mail a day or two later. For a few dollars more per year I sign up for Prime Shipping on Amazon, which means I get most items virtually overnight or second day delivery. Whether or not they beat their deadlines it always feels like it. It’s VIP treatment and it works. (Shouldn’t your law firm be doing this?)

It’s the Disney formula: book the trip, anticipate the day, then have it delivered perfectly exceeding expectations and leaving the client with good memories to share with others (or at least the perception thereof). Disney doesn’t sell rides and Amazon doesn’t sell products; they sell experiences. (And shouldn’t your law firm be doing this, too?)

No offense to the “other” online stores I’ve made purchases with over the last few weeks while I’ve been locked down to my computer drafting my book, taking only a few minutes to contemplate the things I need and steal a minute to order them online—yes, I have the iPad in my shopping cart on Apple.com but have yet hit the purchase button. I still have the capacity to see the difference between needs and wants. Quite unfortunate for my bank charge accounts.

Sorry but, Nordstrom and Gap you just aren’t cutting it. If the only time I have to shop online is on a Saturday morning and you tell me that it will take five to seven business days to arrive (excluding Sat and Sunday when your offline stores are open) after the order is acknowledged (Monday) you are NOT delivering a happiness experience.  You’re not making me mad and it doesn’t stop me from buying your stuff- yet-you are just not making me happy. I recently purchased from both vendors and waited and waited and waited, till it was so anti-climactic that when I got the box my feeling was “Finally! I thought you had forgotten about me.”

Maybe most people are used to that lag time; it’s business as usual. Maybe I’m just spoiled because Amazon rocks and I use them religiously. Still, when it all comes down to where I’m going to purchase something, I’ll choose happy—the one that ensures my experience always exceeds my expectations—over one that is doing business as usual. Better still for those who exceed my happiness quotient, I’ll tell my friends and my blog readers. How’s that figure into your business model…pretty solid I’d say.

There’s a lesson in this for me and for you. Is your law firm creating a Disney experience or is it business as usual? What do you think? Can law firms deliver a Disney or Amazon experience to their clients? Or are some law firms delivering the experience but aren’t doing enough to brand it so we’d know about it?

If you’re a lawyer or other legal industry professional engaging on the social web I’d love to hear about your social web strategy for engagement. Why? Because next month I’ll be speaking at the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference in Denver along with  Progressive Marketing Blog author, Russell Lawson of Sands Anderson and Legal Watercooler Blogger Heather Milligan of Barger Wolen and we think your experience will be valuable to attendees. Our presentation is focused on building social media strategy for small and mid-size law firms.

It’s been my observation that lawyers in smaller firms, smaller markets or larger regional law firms have a lot to gain from getting their social media game on (that also holds true for lawyers in a large law firm but located in a smaller city or remote area). There are tons of reasons why, the least of which is how quickly engaging on the social Web can enlarge your circle of influence opening up new markets for your services.

But, I’ve also observed that as the social Web evolves, lawyer involvement can be a bit scatter shot. And like everything in life, there’s always room for improvement. That’s why having a plan can help. The best marketing doesn’t just happen; behind it are objectives, strategies, goals and measurement.

I’ve dumped what I’ve learned from the past three years on the social Web into the simple outline that follows.  I’m sharing it with my readers in the hope that they can help. So, readers, what have I missed? What would you add?

Strategic Planning for the Social Web

The Social Media/Networking strategy has three primary categories: Design, Develop and Assess and one ancillary category: Innovate. Your online plan works best if you can align the key objectives of your current off-line marketing or business development activities with your key objectives for your online activity. Be specific, but keep in mind that nothing is necessarily exclusive and that the best plan may be pretty inclusive, and of course, flexible.

Design

• Who –do you want to attract or connect with, i.e., clients, referral sources, general counsel, other lawyers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, finance professionals, doctors, alums, politicos, journalists, current friends, family, etc?
• What –is your point of view, i.e., broad, narrow, specialty, niche or general?
• What –is your persona, i.e., expert, collaborator, influencer, leader, or learner?
• What –is your content, i.e. pure information, opinion, education, how-to, analysis, current events, commentary, etc.?
• Where –do you want to be seen, i.e. community, industry, government, private, public, search engines, blogsphere, legal circles, etc.?
• When –will you need to see mini-milestones? When will you surpass your benchmarks, i.e. three months, six months, 2 years? (It takes time!)
• Why –will specific tools be helpful to you or your team in reaching benchmarks, objectives, and goals? Tools are not exclusive.
• How –will you have them all in play at once?
• How –will they build on each other?
• How –much time are you willing to commit? How will you do it? Will you need a team, outside support, in-house support, clerical support, an editorial calendar, or other infrastructure accommodation?

Develop

• Systems –budget, office network permissions, hardware, e.g., laptop, mobile devices, net-book, etc. Define distribution channels such as CMS, CRM, paid/unpaid services, email accounts, password storage, joint accounts, home network access, and etc.
• Tools and techniques –browsers, software downloads, cloud-ware,  services, aggregators, networks, platforms, memberships, and monitoring tools (paid or free?).
• Services –content, publishing, blogging, conversation, photo sharing, video, podcasting, micro-blogging, aggregators, and management tools.
• Roles and responsibilities –content, editorial processes and procedures, co-bloggers, guest bloggers, publishing calendar, time management, commitment, vacation coverage, ethics considerations, collaboration, clerical support, cross-platform promotions and policies.
• Positioning –placement, audience social-technographics, your persona, profiles, key words, size and type of networks that might work best, tone, communication style, topics, conversation and commenting strategy.

Assess

• Metrics –search engine results, subscribers, readers, link stats, number of qualified sources in your network, clicks on your video, or downloads of an article/presentation/document/PDF/podcast.
• Milestones –increased touch-points, online to offline conversations, qualified comments on your blog, group activity converted to new network contacts, getting contacted as a result of a keyword search or answer to a question, getting contacted by a journalist, or being named to a list, high ratings on a list, being added to another bloggers blog roll—all pertinent to being seen as an influencer.
• Benchmarks –relationships converted to new business, relationships converted to new referral sources, new audiences, wider dissemination of content, number of reblogs or links from influential media or others.
• Review and Revise.
  

Allow time for innovation

• Uncover new milestones
• Find the gaps, fill the needs
• Discover new tools -experiment –trial and error
• Reach out to your networks in new ways
• Listen to other innovators, your clients, your readers
• Listen to instincts
• Assess your organization
• Refine design, redevelop

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

It’s time to reassess Twitter. Is it a conversation or just another channel in the communications tool box? What’s the value proposition today? Has it evolved for the better or what? I’m looking for your help in answering those questions.

For those of us in the trenches; e.g. conveying to busy (or non-busy for that matter) clients that the value of Twitter is found in having conversations on topics that interest mutual parties, the real test is in not simply “suggesting” that there IS value, but rather being able to help them make that happen. And, before that can happen they want to know what kind of return on their investment they can expect. That’s a little more challenging to explain, especially when there are so few examples and my own numbers don’t really add up.

Twitter By the Numbers

Indulge me in more personal terms. I am turning the corner on my second anniversary of participating on Twitter (20 months).  I have 473 followers; I follow 437 people, 14 listed. (I could have more, but I have plenty of excuses why I do not.)  I have 650 Tweets and 140 direct messages. There are pages of retweets of my stuff by others but to get that number I’d have to count the @jaynenavarre Tweets and that’s tedious.  I’m lousy at math so I won’t even attempt to calculate the numbers specifically. But, generally speaking, considering the number of Tweets and DM’s over 20 months, my exposure has been 39.5 times a month. Multiply that by the 473 followers and the number of times my Tweets have been retweeted by them to their networks that expand beyond my own tiny one and that’s significant exposure; certainly more than I could ever hope for in the bricks and mortar world. What’s not to like?

Exposure vs. Conversations

Well, taking all that exposure into consideration, the only “conversations” I’ve had on Twitter can be counted on my fingers and toes.  Except for the DM’s that are primarily between people I have met personally and have their email address where Twitter just adds another layer in those conversations, my live conversations on Twitter are RARE.

With one caveat. Twice in those two years I have had “rock star” contact. Once with Shel Israel talking about his book Twitterville and once with Jason Calacanis. Both are now following me (and thousands of others) But they never talk to me anymore.

Calacanis, being the most coveted follower, elicited this “email” to my friend (Heather Milligan of the Legal Watercooler) about the big day….

WaHOO! I’m in the big leagues now, baby…JC is following me on Twitter. Note below he has 77694 followers and is only following 1757! Them are some sweet odds. I sent a Tweet @jason about the Murdock may kill Google thing. It caught his attention. Waiting for his reply/discussion. 

I’m still waiting. (No disrespect to Jason he has added a significant dimension to my perspectives via his email blasts on various issues and he’s a busy guy.)

Through Twitter I have met a half dozen very interesting attorneys and a few new marketing professionals that have taken the time to have a non-DM conversation once or twice. Socially and professionally speaking those contacts are worth the 9100 characters I’ve typed over the last 20 months. From a business development perspective, I have no idea what my followers think of me, but I can assure you that I cannot directly link my Twitter investment to the growth of my business. And that’s where I need your help!!!!! No more soft stuff. I need the FACTS. Are you having conversations on Twitter? Where are they going? What is your time worth? Is it okay just to be social for social sake? Is that the value prop?

The Evolution of Twitter

In the beginning it really was a potential conversation, but currently, at least for me, my Twitter stream has evolved into an article-sharing database, a customer service outlet (I go there first when I need help with Comcast, Wachovia, Best Buy, or Apple) and a way to keep up with the news. As an article-sharing database it sort of, but not really, replaces Delicious, the social bookmarking site that I use to search for recommended web reading. As a customer service call to Comcast, it really rocks! You wouldn’t believe it. They are all over it when you Tweet something serious about their performance. (Reputation management!)

In my view, beyond the touchy feely—let’s get engaged, be transparent and collaborate rationale (Don’t get me wrong, I love social media and think Twitter is valuable subject to individual interpretation) Twitter has two aspects that dominate and make it hard to pin down.

1. It is very serendipitous. I can’t read every tweet and I can’t keep up with the public time line. So, it’s kind of like closing your eyes and pinning the tail on the donkey. When I go to Twitter, I open my eyes and see what I’ve pinned. E.g. I browse the latest Tweets in my stream and happen upon random information, but rarely conversation. Sometimes I comment. (Lists are an improvement but they’re still a bit awkward.)
2. Got conversation? (Granted, this may be my fault as I struggle with work and social balance.)  I see a lot of pushing articles, pushing blog posts, products, giveaways, and news. (This is not a bad thing, just another channel and may be where it’s evolving.)  Recently I re-tweeted a provocative post by John Cass, a blogger whom I do not know. Apparently he’s a really popular bloger and has thousands of followers. He direct messaged me asking me to add any thoughts as a response. That’s the right spirit and I’d certainly be smart to engage in that conversation, but at the time I found it I was swamped with work. Going back in to find it and connect my thoughts may be a bit of work. (He is a new follower of my Tweets though so who knows?) Ergo, you get back what you put in.

How can I, in all honesty, recommend to a client something that I can’t do myself? There’s probably a simple answer to that, only I’m too nearsighted. I need your help.

When is the last time you had a beneficial discussion/conversation on Twitter? I’m sure you have. If you can share some tips or stats on your actual experiences that would be helpful for me. Or, are you just using it to PUSH information? That’s not a bad thing, per se. But, is the purpose of Twitter changing? What is Twitter, really?

Law firms may need to play catch up if they don’t start integrating social technologies into their marketing, client service and business development mix in 2010.

In the late 90’s, the word “touch-point” was frequently heard in legal marketing conversations. There was even a session on it at the LMA annual conference. No longer a trendy buzzword, touch-points are the essence of how lawyers develop relationships and new business. A lawyer should count on needing seven to nine touch points in order to win a relationship. To win business, it may take many more.

Traditional series of touch points.

1. Meet at a social event- exchanging business cards
2. Follow up with a personal phone call or email
3. Extend an invitation to a business lunch or breakfast
4. Pass along an article or send a relevant firm newsletter
5. Follow up, again, with a personal phone call or email
6. Place an advert or a press release in a mainstream publication that your contact is likely to see and raise your visibility.
7. Send an invitation to a charity event, sporting event, or other party – whether or not they accept, the invitation is a touch point.
8. Add the person to the firm mailing list for the annual report or new partner announcements. Send a holiday card.
9. Learn something new about the person’s business interests and call them with a helpful tidbit of information.

Social Buzz

Today’s buzz word is “social.” Social technologies are replacing some of the ways lawyers make contact in building relationships and business. Social technology is changing our touch points. I think you’ll agree, chief marketers need to be on top of this shift.

Jeremiah Owyang in a recent post on Web-strategist.com says it best:

Social Technologies are a Horizontal –Not A Vertical Approach
It continues to amaze the market that such simple social technologies can impact the entire organization.  In fact, social technologies, at the core, allow people to connect to each other without a middle person in the way.  As a result, expect social technologies to impact every employee and customer touchpoint.   CMOs must prepare in their 2010 planning how to leverage social, not as a skunkworks but as a strategic shift in all communications.

What this means for law firms and their chief marketers.

I find Owyang’s Web Strategy Matrix (found on the post referenced above) to be an extremely valuable illustration of what’s happening now. [Thanks, Jeremiah, for sharing and allowing me to share via a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License]

I’ve taken the liberty to add a 5^th column, for the purpose of this blog post, to expand the implications for law firms and lawyers.

(This matrix, created by Jeremiah Owyang, first published on web-strategist.com is being shared here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.)

What have I missed here? Are you willing to share any of your social initiatives for 2010? What challenges or obstacles are you facing that we might be able to help you think through here in the comments section?

The social Web has revolutionized the way consumers are learning about their health related issues and choosing professionals. There is a strong correlation for law firms. It’s all about the GLUE.

As Heather Milligan writes on the legal watercooler; the web enables Clients to get to know you before they ever meet you. The way in which people [companies] are learning about their legal issues and choosing legal counsel is often being vetting, first, via the search results from major Web engines. [Big Law is no exception!]

Health care.

While the corporate web site continues to be the center of attention for every “brand,” when it comes to health care, most people still prefer to get their health care information from a neutral third party, a trend that will only continue in the future, according to blogger Jonathan Richman in an article published on AdAge in the DigitalNext (August 3rd). As Richman looks at Pharma’s digital social future, he believes that to better enable the “neutral third party” concept, at least one pharma company will take a leap and completely eliminate its site and instead syndicate all of its content to a handful of the health-care-related sites that create personalization through aggregation.

The Practice of Law.

Finding lawyers on the web is EASY, but getting the right information to choose a lawyer takes a little more work. Smart lawyers are building their brand via a social footprint on the web giving many more people than they could ever hope to speak to in a life time a 360 degree look at what they do, how they think, write, interact, who they know, and what others think about them.  Before you even speak on the phone, your social footprint can help clients choose you.

You don’t want to get left behind. Start building your brand now. It takes a while, and you have to know the ropes, but it will set you up for success in the near future – I can promise you that!

Pharma

Like the legal industry, currently the pharmaceutical industry is sorting through some restrictive regulations. Once we get past all that, we’ll see how the interactive web, especially the next generation of the web, will open up many layers of information, some that already resides on the web, to give patients, clients, corporate or individual, a better opportunity to make informed choices when hiring legal counsel or purchasing medicines. A real good reason to take a hold of your individual online brand, now.

Your online brand.

The web presents more opportunities for companies and individuals to learn about who they need to represent them via a simple Google search.

And lawyers have more opportunities to make sure they are everywhere, demonstrating their substantive knowledge, contributing to discussions and showing savvy about the social web.

In two years -probably less, it will not matter whether or not a law firm chooses to engage in social media. The semantic web and decision engines will make you irrelevant if you don’t have a credible, professional footprint. Think I’m crazy? I could give you at least a dozen examples of how it works, but I’ll stick with one sort of “out there” example that I predict will be the next must have. [It may not be this one, but there will be one!]

Glue.

To see how this might work in action, check out GLUE.

Think of Glue as a portable version of your social network AND a decision engine.  As you navigate around online, Glue automatically displays reviews and recommendations from your group of trusted friends based on where you are right now.

In the health care or legal environment, eventually, patients or clients can take their social networks, and their opinions with them because every site becomes a social media experience yes, even your corporate site. People will share their comments about your services and discuss them with others — all without your involvement.

Another good reason not to ignore online social strategy. Start now to engage with your clients, keep them close. Meanwhile,  join me on GLUE.

2010 Marketing Plan for My Law Firm

Goal – Own the first 3 Google results for my law firm; important practice keywords and individual attorneys

Objectives – Fill the first 3 pages of any related search engine results with relevant “all about me” stuff.

Tactics – Social media, social networking, search optimization

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.3509953&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

In my last post I offered my ideas on how a law firm might approach a sustainable social media program. I suggested that you not start with the tools, but rather start with the client. Build a strategy around how prospects move through the purchase process and then choose the best tools that will help you help them through the decision making process. In this post I’ll talk about programs and the tools–traditional, digital and social–that I think marketers can use to meet their goals.

Programs.

Although the legal industry as a whole has been reticent to embrace the social aspects of the Web due to potential liabilities and ethics concerns, as well as lack of precedent, i.e. “Is anybody seeing any tangible value to this LinkedIn thing?” “Twitter seems like a waste of time. Can you prove it isn’t,” I think it’s time to accept the fact that the social Web is here to stay and get on with it. If you want to get on with it in any meaningful or measurable way, you will want to consider setting up a formal, integrated program.

Here’s a recent podcast interview with Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research.  He sees many people putting the cart before the horse, or tools before programs; e.g. we want a Twitter strategy, a Facebook strategy, or a blog strategy. [I hear this from law firm marketers, too.] But, to build a sustainable social media program, he suggests using the 80/20 rule. 80% should be about about putting the program in place – strategy, process, roles, measurements, and budget –leaving 20% of the focus for specific technologies or tools.

So, to review, unless you develop code there’s little value in the tools themselves except as a means to an end.  The value of the social Web lies in how it allows you to provide your prospects–and clients—a path to your services. Relationships build over time.  If your social media approach is built around tools, and executed in a one-off fashion, it is less likely to be measurable and sustainable. No one wants to invest time in something that has little value.

Tools.

Assuming the goal of your overall marketing program is to connect people to your services, there are probably 6 stages that would typically drive your strategies: exposure, knowledge, consideration, selection, purchase/delivery, and satisfaction. (See Part I for break down.)

Now, in each of those stages, what tools—traditional, digital and social—will help you engage with your prospects (or clients)? Here are few off the top of my head.

• Print ads, broadcast, sponsor ads, pay-per-click, Adwords, or contextual ads. (Exposure)
• Inbound marketing and landing pages, white paper downloads. (Exposure, Knowledge)
• E-newsletters, topical articles for online journals, and linking. (Exposure, Knowledge, Satisfaction)
• Online or offline social, political or community involvement and networking. (Exposure, Knowledge, Consideration)
• Speaking engagements—off line and online—Powerpoint, Prezi, YouTube, video, podcast, Webcasts, Webinars. (Exposure, Knowledge)
• Blogs, micro-blogging, professional discussions on media sites or social networks. (Exposure, Knowledge, maybe consideration if the discussion goes off line, Satisfaction)
• Web sites, search optimization. (Exposure)
• Personal interactions such as phone calls, emails, meet-ups, entertainments. (Knowledge, Consideration, Selection, Satisfaction)
• Presentations, or proposals. (Exposure, Knowledge)
• Videos and podcasts THAT ADD VALUE; e.g. that simplify a legal issue or process, not just a talking head on the firm web site talking about their greatness or practice groups. (Exposure, Knowledge, Satisfaction)
• Facebook Fan Page, one THAT ADDS VALUE, not just press releases about me, me, me. (Exposure, Knowledge, Satisfaction)
• Mobilize community members and seek recommendations and referrals–online and offline. (Knowledge, Consideration, Selection.)
• Online or offline focus groups. Lead a Linkedin group or peer to peer network. (Exposure, Knowledge, Consideration, Satisfaction)
• Publicity. Build good will. Earn recognition for excellent work. Get customers talking about you. (Exposure, Knowledge, Consideration, Selection, Purchase, Satisfaction)
• ADD OTHERS HERE….

With this rough sketch, you can quickly see that most social Web tools might fall into the wide end of the funnel-exposure and knowledge. They can also be very useful for many businesses during the satisfaction and service stage. This may take a while for the legal industry to synchronize that aspect, but some forward looking firms are experimenting with white-label, or private networks for clients.

A few final thoughts;

1. Remember that success may have to be measured by blades of grass not yardage. Your law firm’s culture will factor in to your ability to move the ball forward.
2. Digital and social tools require trial and error–experiment.
3. It’s not about the tools; it’s about the experience the tools allow you to create for your prospects, friends of the firm and clients.
4. Try to clearly demonstrate the value social tools add to the client experience in order to gain buy in by the firm AND the client!

My questions for you….these are not meant to be rhetorical questions. I’d really like to hear from you. Is your firm building a program (80%) or are you just focusing on the tools (20%)? If so, how is culture factoring into your success? Is your strategy integrated into your global marketing plan or is it just an add on? Are you ready to embrace a culture of conversation and if not, why not?

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