Not particularly relevant photo.

There really is no substitute for the energy generated when people come together LIVE!  Discuss, debate, share ideas, practices, and swap stories—yup, it can be done virtually, but that’s so two dimensional. It’s no substitute for a real handshake, a paper business card passed to a new “friend,” makin’ eye contact, and feeling the table vibe as notes are being frantically scribed on keyboards, iPads, and even the ever trusty pen and paper.

A couple weeks ago, a bunch of lawyers, marketers, vendors, and consultants met LIVE in NYC for a day of all things social media hosted by Hildebrandt Institute and WEST LegalEdCenter and the result was “ELECTRIFYING!”

That’s right. I love social media and how it connects people and content 24/7, but golly gee, a little old fashioned interaction is good for the soul. This LIVE event was no exception and reminded me why I urge the lawyers I consult with to add social media to their business plan but not to the exclusion of personal contact. Okay, ‘nuf said on that. Here’s some tid-bits from the day: Social Media for Law Firms LIVE!

Every Audience has an Audience.

There’s more engagement value when you can create or post content that your audience can readily distribute to their audience. Stop trying to push your lawyers to engage directly with others over the content they create. Instead, encourage them or help them produce or select something OTHERS want to talk about. It makes them look smart while positioning them and their content, exponentially, in the minds of a much larger audience. One that you could never before reach in the bricks and mortar world—including business lunches, newspapers (print) or email and telephone.

This tactic—building content with the intent of helping others engage with others—was a recurring theme among panelists including: attorney blogger Roy Ginsburg – Dorsey & Whitney LLP; CEO, Peter Ozolin – Manzama, Inc.; and CMO, Adam L. Stock – Allen Matkins, as well as among my own panel mates Adrian Lurssen – JDSupra, John Hellerman – Hellerman Baratz Communications, and attorney/blogger Brian Wassom – Honigman.

The desired outcome, i.e., exposure, thought leadership, or feeding the sales pipeline all comes about when we facilitate conversations among a broad audience. And we thought our only challenge was getting attorneys to respond to @ replies on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, or LinkedIn. Not so. Although valuable, no question, producing content that others like, share, download, and discuss makes one’s contribution even more relevant and important to ROI. Especially in light of the fact that search algorithms are now accounting for “likes” and “shares” with even greater emphasis when indexing content in search results. Google+ has truly impacted this new model. So, get out there, build or share valuable content, get noticed, and don’t forget to notice others’ content. It’s a WEB! (LIKE THIS POST? Share and Like above or below!)

From my Lawyers’ Guide to Social Media which was posted to the conference website:*

• It isn’t what you’re saying on Twitter that best connects you and your services with others: it’s what you can get others to say about you that has the most impact.
• Getting reTweets can do more for you at the “handshake” level than any other social site.
• Focus on top 20% of followers as they are your most valuable conduit.
• Show up often. Repetition matters.

Take Control of Your Footprint.

Whether you blog or maintain a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook, you MUST pay attention. Adrian Dayton and Amy Knapp gave attendees an excerpt of their eBook LinkedIn & Blogs for Lawyers:Building High Value Relationships in a Digital Age, emphasizing the POWER of these new tools—not to be taken lightly. Your mere presence on the Internet (i.e. social media) is not enough. You have to be present. Opening an account and ignoring the obvious tactics of optimizing your profiles and responding to connections is a recipe for getting ignored-globally across networks. Clients, prospects and referral sources are taking social media seriously and woe to the lawyer or law firm that isn’t mirroring that.

I add that it is way too easy to use social media—to ignore it is a crime! Social media provides FREE tools that enable more marketing opportunities for FREE! What’s not to like about FREE?

VIDEO 2011.

Are your law firm videos still talking about yourself and how wonderful your commitment to client service is? Or, how carefully you recruit associates, and how you “understand” your clients’ business? Guess what? One point for trying, 0 points for execution. You’re missing some fertile ground for communicating REAL value. Aden Dauchess, Director of Digital Marketing – Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC and Adam L. Stock, Director of Marketing & Business Development- Allen Matkins Leck Mallory & Natsis LLP had a few things to say about creating and posting video content that gets noticed, shared, and adds value. This session, I believe, was one of the most valuable of the whole conference. Aden’s diagram of the video process his law firm follows from start to finish was worth the price of admission.

What’s effective today? Videos that demonstrate thought leadership, news, industry events, education, and community involvement. Check out the Allen Matikins and Womble websites for a taste of how video is done right! You don’t need an expensive crew, charismatic talking head, or an elaborate setting. Just a credible topic, authentic delivery, and a modestly professional recording.

AND MORE….

Thanks to the lawyers who shared their stories—bloggers who found a way to stand out, lawyers using LinkedIn Groups effectively, and time saving tips for cross posting and distribution.

Bottom line…social media is no longer a fad. It is a VERY POWERFUL medium. But, I’ve been saying that for almost 4 years now. The Law Gravity vision celebrates it’s 4th anniversary January 1, 2012 and we’re looking ahead at 2012 with optimism; offering lawyers, law firms and marketers context, training, coaching, content, policy, and strategy for successful and rewarding social media participation.

Look for a west coast edition of Social Media For Law Firms LIVE! in the Spring of 2012. 

* If you’d like a copy of Lawyers’ Guide to Social Media, drop me a note and I’ll send it along to you in a PDF. It compares sites and services and suggests best uses for communication and engagement during the buyer/seller process.

Cheers! Stop by often and share the knowledge….

Where else on Earth would you find…

• A conga line of ranging 56,800 miles (90,900 km): Equal to 9.76 round trips on the road between San Francisco and New York City.
• 74 Elvis impersonators
• 1.3+ billion potential connections
• 1,091 Chocolatiers
• 79+ million job transitions/changes tracked
• 46 profiles with “beatboxer” listed as a position
• 428% year-over-year membership growth rate in Brazil.
• The most registered users named Lee, Smith and Kumar
• 951 years of back-to-back 5-minute phone calls made by 100 million professionals
• 50% year-over-year growth in iPhone skill index
• A dog or cat psychologist / psychiatrist  [4 listed as a position]
• Target industries with the fastest year-over-year new member growth rates in Education (175%), Facilities Services (121%), and Ranching (112%)
• 100% of Fortune 500 company executives
• A martini whisperer [listed as a position]

Congratulations, LinkedIn on your 100 million member mile marker!

Says Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn CEO,

LinkedIn is used in over 200 countries and territories around the world, with more than half of our users coming from outside of the U.S. You can now connect just as readily with someone in Sao Paulo or Singapore as you can with your colleagues in San Francisco, London or New York.  You no longer have to live in the same city — or even the same country — to build and strengthen relationships that can help you succeed and grow professionally and fundamentally transform the trajectory of your career path.

Impressive!

Fifteen Ways Lawyers Can Use LinkedIn:

1. Create a profile | add to your online footprint—very high page rank on search engines, almost guaranteed first page results for individual name.
2. Use keywords in your profile title, summary, and experience to help you get found in “on site” searches.
3. Prepare and post a well-groomed and complete profile to position your personal brand – people hire lawyers, not law firms!
4. Create a personalized summary that expands on the benefits you deliver, not just features found on firm website page. Attract others to your network.
5. Encourage your employees to maintain complete profiles to show off your solid team.
6. Make introductions and get introductions from others in network.
7. Join client industry related groups.
8. Engage prospects by answering industry related questions.
9. Network in groups with your peers.
10. Use as a contact management system for getting and staying in front of your network via inMail, event announcements and press releases. (Use this in addition to the database used by your law firm marketing department and firm branded email blasts–it’s personal!) Stay top of mind!
11. Add apps to your profile to post docs, publications, feed blog content, JD Supra articles, Twitter updates, and travel schedules on Trip-it. Your activity shows up in your network “stream” keeping you front and center.
12. Share your presentation decks using the Slideshare application.
13. Use sharing and favorite or recommend buttons: Improves on-site traffic generation.
14. Customize links to your individual website bio page, firm’s main page, and blog or other personal website on your profile.
15. Promote and recommend others – the Golden RULE of business relationships!

ENJOY!

Last week the National Labor Relations Board launched a legal case asserting that employees have a right to free speech on Facebook. It announced that it had filed a complaint against an ambulance service that fired an emergency medical technician, accusing her, among other things, of violating a policy that bars employees from depicting the company “in any way” on Facebook or other social media sites in which they post pictures of themselves.

According to the New York Times, Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”

That act gives workers a federally protected right to form unions, and it prohibits employers from punishing workers — whether union or nonunion — for discussing working conditions or unionization. The labor board said the company’s Facebook rule was “overly broad” and improperly limited employees’ rights to discuss working conditions among themselves.

Moreover, the board faulted another company policy, one prohibiting employees from making “disparaging” or “discriminatory” “comments when discussing the company or the employee’s superiors” and “co-workers.”

The board’s complaint prompted Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a law firm with a large labor and employment practice representing hundreds of companies, to send a “lawflash” advisory on Monday to its clients, saying, “All private sector employers should take note,” regardless “of whether their work force is represented by a union.”

The firm added, “Employers should review their Internet and social media policies to determine whether they are susceptible to an allegation that the policy would ‘reasonably tend to chill employees’ ” in the exercise of their rights to discuss wages, working conditions and unionization.

American Medical Response of Connecticut denied the labor board’s allegations, saying they were without merit. “The employee in question was discharged based on multiple, serious complaints about her behavior,” the company said in a statement. “The employee was also held accountable for negative personal attacks against a co-worker posted publicly on Facebook. The company believes that the offensive statements made against the co-workers were not concerted activity protected under federal law.”

Law Firm Social Media “Policy?”

So, folks, what does this mean for our law firm social media policies? It certainly raises some interesting questions. Is social media the watercooler or is it something else? And if so, what is it? A permanent record that has the potential to be scrutinized by millions? Is it publishing: Like old school media where libel is a real concern?

There are some typical conditions included in law firm social media policies that may be impacted by this case sending us all into a tizzy.

Will this send us back to GO?
Will we lock down all social media sites and services?
Ban Facebook?

If this case wins and even if it only directly affects union workplaces, I’m pretty sure law firms will also want to revisit several policy points — just to be on the safe side. As innocent and full of common sense as the following language may seem, I’ve used them or seen them in law firm social media policies. With this case, policy statements like these may tip the balance between protecting the law firm brand and permitting free speech.

1. Individuals are personally responsible for the content they publish. What is published will be public for a long time — protect the firm’s good reputation as well as your own.
2. If you choose to add your place of employment to any profile, you must use common sense in all postings and comply with our workplace policies, ethics, and other requirements.
3. Respect for others is mandatory. Do not use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in the workplace.
4. Show proper respect for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory. We take this very seriously and any act to the contrary will be subject to discipline or result in termination.
5. What you publish reflects not only on the law firm’s brand, but can also impact your professional advancement, the achievement of your goals and your success in the future.  Use common sense and judgment. Ask if you are uncertain.
6. For your protection, be aware that your associations with others in online social networks and other user generated content sites are a reflection on you. All is revealed in search results. How you represent yourself can be a slippery slope.
7. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of the firm. Speech that appears to represent the firm, even remotely, takes on the appearance of an official stance and is not permitted in any circumstance.

Lawyers Please Share Your Comments.

I’m not a human resource professional nor a risk manager so I don’t claim any authority on this, but I have been an employee. Policies, in my mind, mean that there are consequences to the employee when they are violated. Guidelines on the other hand are simply strong suggestions. Something to consider – are your social media do’s and don’ts policy or guidelines? If they are policy, are they overly broad? Do you need to be very specific and keep in mind the issues now being vetted by the NLRB?

At the end of the day, is firing someone over poor choices, bad judgment and such protected? I’d like to hear from an employment lawyer on this issue. I would think that any post that impedes the good will of the law firm or company could be considered bad judgment and cause for dismissal, but then I could be wrong on that.

I’ll be watching this closely. Meanwhile, please share your comments!

Something other than Autumn leaves is in the air. This week I’ve seen mentioned three high profile instances of individuals and institutions going on a social media blackout or brown-out and I admit my online activity has waned in the past few months — not because of choice but because I’ve got dozens of more immediate tasks (and relationships) to attend to. Anyway, here’s the rundown…

On Monday, it was Harrisburg University announcing an experiment to lock down access to social sites on all campus servers. According to Higher Ed;

On Tuesday, Chris Brogan posted this: Find Your Blinders:

Over time, I’ve been putting on very important blinders, one technology at a time. You see, our tools give us this “eyes wide open” blast-in-the-face exposure to information. We get text messages. We get tweets. We get email notifications. We get phone calls.

I have blinders on.

My phone doesn’t beep, buzz or blink when I get a SMS text message. I have to go find you when I’m ready to deal with you. My computer doesn’t ding or light things up when I get email. Not even my Twitter app.

I’m doing my best to direct my attention towards what matters: people, work, the future. Do I really want a tweet to draw me away from that?

On Wednesday, I opened the sports section of The Key West Citizen and found this:

NO TWEET ZONE – It’s a Twitter outage for Miami Football.

Miami’s football players just got the direct message: No more Twitter. The 17th ranked Hurricanes have been told to stop using accounts on the popular social network, the university’s athletic department said Tuesday making the announcement, yes, through it’s own Twitter feed. …. The goal is to limit distractions and focus..

The article by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press (Sun Sentinel version here) also reported that a random check of Miami player accounts showed no activity since the announcement and several players had deleted their accounts. I’m anxious to learn if the blackout will work and to what effect.

Are we getting burnt out? Anyone working on a social media diet?

The demise of social media and networking has been predicted by some for a while now, here and here, but still, online users are flooding the bandwidth and new sites are launched daily, while tried and true sites continue to tweak and improve their offerings. Just a few short months ago EVERYONE was jumping on board to try their hand at cruising the social scene online looking for both personal and business opportunities. Unfortunately, those with get-rich-quick business development hopes may be building a house of cards—burn-out is for real…if you’re not careful your intake becomes a slippery slope and before you know it you’re sitting in the mud puddle trying to figure out what to do next.

What can we learn from this?

I don’t know about you, but for me, I’ve always worn a media filter and social media is no different. I love the global access to ideas, people and conversations the Internet makes possible, but I have to keep it real. Any engagement with media, especially the user generated kind, is an add-on. As a business tool there are great advantages, but for me, these advantages only exist in the context of fundamental business principles, real people and real relationships.

I’ll go out on a ledge here to say that I think the generation growing up with the Web and all it’s social media accouterments is kind of making up the game as they go along. It is parallel in many ways to those fake reality TV shows. My kids will tell you — I banned them from watching. I’m sure they can still hear my nagging words: “Go out and live your own experiences.”

It may be time to take a step backwards and align online activity to supplement what was working before the social bandwagon rolled into town. Perhaps the bit of old-fashioned wisdom in the actions of Harrisburg U’s provost and UM’s football coach is the ticket? What do you think?

How are you managing your social media tether?  I try to take it one step at a time, manage my time, AND my expectations.

Cheers!

If you’re responsible for business development in your law firm or your own practice, whether a lawyer, managing partner, marketing or business development professional, attending the Raindance Conference should be on your to do list, in my opinion.

What is Raindance? It is an annual educational conference presented by the Legal Sales and Service Organization. It is exclusively dedicated to all things business development and process improvement. I attended the LSSO Raindance Conference for the first time in 2008 and believe that it was probably two of the most valuable days in my professional development over the course of 15 years in the legal marketing industry. This year I’ll be attending the conference and will cover the content here on VMO and on Twitter.  (Disclosure: LSSO has graciously given me press pass privileges to attend. I’m not being paid. I’m covering all travel expenses.)

Here are the top five reasons why Raindance was valuable to me and may be valuable to you:

1. FOCUSED–Raindance does not serve a broad group with many agendas. It is a focused immersion into the components that make business developers and business development projects successful. The sessions are designed to build upon each other leaving you with a cohesive knowledge base.
2. EDUCATION–Raindance is not about parties. It is not a boondoggle. It’s about the business of professional development and business education.  Every session is a priority. The presenters are selected according to their distinct and valuable knowledge base. The presenters know why they were there–to teach, not just “share.” Many of the sessions are interactive and make learning more tangible. (I was able to remember what I was learning in a practical context and apply it to my business with specificity.) All sessions were high quality. The presenters are typically readily available after the sessions and during the luncheons and breaks. It is a holistic educational experience.
3. PEOPLE–Networking at Raindance is very manageable because the intimacy of a smaller setting puts you among people with similar professional development goals. It’s a good example of old fashioned community. Getting face time with colleagues as well as introductions to new people allow you to form meaningful new relationships that become valuable resources. Conversations are about what your are learning.  The connections you make at Raindance will stay with you all year long.
4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT–This is a sophisticated group of thought leaders; typically senior level people with responsibility for delivering real results in biz dev. Both attendees and presenters are the kind of people you want to surround yourself with if you’re seeking serious professional development. The conference may be especially valuable for professionals, both marketers and lawyers, who are new or junior to law firm biz dev. I wish I would have had this resource as I was coming up the ranks.

If you do decided to attend, make sure to touch base with me! If you can’t attend, follow along here on the VMO and Twitter #LSSO10 or @legalsalesorg. The conference is June 9-10 in Chicago at the Mid-America Club at 200 E. Randolph Street. More information can be found on the Website at www.legalsales.org or you can register at West Legal Ed.

Political topics are not my focus, however, I recently read with great interest a op-ed piece, Winds of Change? by The New York Times Op-Ed Columnist THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN that drew me in and so I’m sharing it with my blog readers for better or worse. He wrote on June 13th, 2009 that “something is going on in the Middle East today that is very new.” And …”four historical forces have come together to crack open this ossified region.”

Mr. Friedman lists as the first force: the diffusion of technology.

The Internet, blogs, YouTube and text messaging via cell phones, particularly among the young — 70 percent of Iranians are under 30 — is giving Middle Easterners cheap tools to communicate horizontally, to mobilize politically and to criticize their leaders acerbically, outside of state control. It is also enabling them to monitor vote-rigging by posting observers with cell phone cameras.

I knew something had changed when I sat down for coffee on Hamra Street in Beirut last week with my 80-year-old friend and mentor, Kemal Salibi, one of Lebanon’s greatest historians, and he told me about his Facebook group!

The evening of Lebanon’s election, I went to the Beirut home of Saad Hariri, the leader of the March 14 coalition, to interview him. In a big living room, he had a gigantic wall-size television broadcasting the results. And alongside the main TV were 16 smaller flat-screen TVs with electronic maps of Lebanon. Hariri’s own election experts were working on laptops and breaking down every vote from every religious community, village by village, and projecting them on the screens.

Wow. That’s powerful.

Daily photos, like these, posted on WordPress blog Tehran 24 show life in Tehran up close. These are not your ordinary media photos. They tell a story that only the independent photo journalist can tell. And the Internet is making it possible.

In addition to what is happening in the Middle East, here are a few more examples that I know of  where technology and the Internet are changing our world. (of course there are dozens more….)

It’s a small world after all.

I was told by a friend of mine after he returned from a writing assignment in a rural village in India that the country has invested in wireless towers everywhere; even poor cotton farmers were carrying cell phones. I imagine this technology is improving their quality of life by giving them access to services that would not otherwise reach them. Mobile cell technology is one step from Internet access.

The Internet is enabling free speech for those who have none, and despite extreme consequences, bloggers continue to publish.  As of April 2009, there were 21 online journalists in jail in Cuba.  Independent journalists in Cuba (or dissidents as they are often referred to by the government) using the Internet to disseminate their communications are apparently scaring the hell out of the dictatorship.

I think back to how the first televised presidential debate changed forever the way Americans view and elect our presidents. More recently, the Obama campaign used social media to push its message.  Although it was more of a substitute for a direct mail campaign (with some exceptions), I believe politicians can no longer run a campaign without it, at least not until the next thing comes along. Hopefully the next presidential election will use social media for more dialogue and debate, rather than just a medium to push a message.

The expansion of online social tools here in America and around the world is facilitating the renewal and extension of friendships on Facebook, establishing boundary less business relationships on Linkedin, and getting first on the scene news from Twitterers. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that that the Internet is also enabling criminal activity and other dubious enterprises, but over all, I look forward to hearing more stories of how technology and the Internet is empowering and connecting our world for good.

What’s in a name? A lot.

At least on June 13th starting at 12:01 a.m. (EDT).  Why?  Facebook is hosting a name claim extravaganza. That’s right, no more url addresses with Facebook.com and a random series of numbers and digits.  You will be able to select a username at http://www.facebook.com/username for your Facebook account to easily direct friends, family, and coworkers to your profile.

Law firms and the companies they counsel who are interested in getting found on Facebook will also be able to stake a claim such as http://www.facebook.com/yourcompanynamehere.

With one caveat, no Pizza or Flowers yet. At this time, generic words are not available as usernames. Facebook encourages all users and Page administrators to create a username that closely matches the true identity of their name or business.

Companies can (and should) preemptively protect their rights to their trademarks and block cyber-squatting by registering their mark with Facebook.  All you need to do is visit here. Provide your company’s name, the trademark and the federal trademark registration number, and subject to their review, Facebook will reserve the trademark and not let anyone else use it.

According to Brian Fergemann, a partner and intellectual property attorney at Chicago’s Winston & Strawn, quoted today in the National Law Journal,

“This is really a way for someone who has a distinct or famous trademark to let Facebook know that others should not be allowed to register that page. They can just say, ‘Please don’t let anyone use my registered trademark.’ “

I agree, and even if your law firm or company is not yet on Facebook you should register your mark, NOW.  The good news is, that even if you are not registered but  find that someone’s username infringes your rights, you can fill out an automated IP infringement form.

Now for the fun stuff!

Hold the presses! Your username url can be used in your marketing communications, company website and business cards e.g. http://www.facebook.com/yourname. Consider including it or at least your linkedin public url on the front or back of your card.

Usernames will be available in basic text forms, and you can only choose a single username for your profile and for each of the Pages that you administer; e.g. fan pages. If you have just signed up for Facebook since May 31, 2009 you’ll have to wait to claim your name. This is one way Facebook is hoping to deter cyber-squatting.

If you are an administrator of a Facebook Page (fan page, company page), you will be able to choose your username just like a user selecting a username for their profile. However, your Facebook Page must meet two requirements: it must be live on Facebook prior to the May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have a minimum 1,000 fans as of May 31, 2009.

Caution!!

Once you have claimed a username by clicking the “Set Username” button, it is not possible to edit it, or to transfer your username to a different account on Facebook. So be selective and, as always, think before hitting save or send. Additionally, when an account is removed from the site, its username will not be made available to other users for security reasons.

That’s it!

John Doe, Robert Smith and Susan Jones…. I’ll see you at http://www.facebook.com/username at 12:01 a.m. EDT, on Saturday, June 13, 2009.  The early bird gets the worm, I mean username.  For the rest of us, see you at 10 a.m.

A few posts ago I asked you to imagine…… Today I learned about the following campaign which I am summarizing for my readers in anticipation that great ideas will start flowing.

Procter & Gamble Co. paired 40 digital media and agency executives with 100 of its North American marketing directors in a contest to sell Tide T-shirts for charity, “Digital Hack Night.” The notion that this would be a sort of baptism by immersion into how social media works would not be lost on the participants. It was a crash course. The participants themselves added “Hack” to the event title.

140 media and marketing people leaned heavily on their social-media friends and followers, used big-name incentives and spent a total of about $4,000 on digital media to sell more than 2,000 T-shirts at $20 a pop for charity.

The contest, a four-hour event, was Web-cast in reality show style. Their buzz online hit the top 10 trending topics on Twitter in the process.

I love the idea. The team experience probably did more to expose P&G marketing directors to  digital media than had they learned by stumbling through on their own. It really takes a team.

Among the social media used was a YouTube video of the Global Marketing Officer offering an hour of his services advising a non-profit on cause-related marketing in exchange for a 100 shirt purchase. They blogged it, and spread the word via Twitter.  They used a few conventional tools such as digital coupons and blast emails to a lesser effect.

The effort raised about $50,000 directly for the charity Feeding America and another $50,000 in a match from the Tide brand.