Last week on VirtualMarketingOfficer.com I wrote about How To Promote Your Law Blog and it turned out to be a pretty popular post, so I figured there are enough readers who are looking for ideas in this regard—thanks to all who re-tweeted the post; Twitter was driving a lot of the traffic according to my WordPress Stats. Over the weekend, I thought, hey, I wonder how many blogger/readers are using Alexa? (I have no business interest or other connection to Alexa, except being a registered user.) Then I thought, why not ask? Are you using Alexa to monitor the health of your blog, understand your audience, and build a more strategic approach?

If the purpose of your blog or website is to gain exposure and influence readers to pick up the phone and hire you, you should know about Alexa and add it to your blog or website tool kit. What is Alexa?

Alexa is “The Web Information Company.” It provides (free) information about all websites including data about; Top Sites, Internet Traffic Stats and Metrics, Related Links, Site Reviews, Site Ownership contact information, and a few other really valuable paid services. They’ve been pursuing their vision of intelligent Web navigation since 1996. Alexa is one of the largest Web crawls with an infrastructure that can process and serve massive amounts of data.

Okay, so what does this mean for you? Read on…

Web Intelligence

To promote your blog or law firm website (Going forward in this post I use these two types of sites interchangeably.) and to develop the right audience (the one most likely to engage your services), knowing how these sites are performing in search results across the web will be an important component of your strategy. With Alexa tools you can do that.  Further, you can see how you compare with your competitors’ websites. This type of competitive intelligence should allow you to make some informed choices that will make your site a better tool for revenue generation and not just a millstone around your neck.  

Install the Alexa Toolbar

There are two choices. You can install the toolbar up top in your browser menu or install it as a status bar at the bottom. Either works. I use the status bar.  Open your site (or any site) in a browser window and then right click the little icon in the status bar and you’ll get an expanded menu of options.

Select Traffic Stats. A window will open and give you all the traffic stats about the open site in your browser. Other choices include:  Search Analytics, Audience, Reviews, Related Links, Clickstream, or Wayback Machine to see earlier versions of the website or blog.

Traffic Statistics

Before I started using Alexa I relied solely on my WordPress Stats and Google Analytics (all good). I’d learn which posts were most popular, how many visitors a day, where they were coming from and what search queries they used, but with Alexa I can uncover a whole lot more to help me gain clearer focus.

The Traffic Rank shows me what percent of total visits to the site are referred by search engines. Approximately 12% of all visits to my blog site are referred by search engines.

Alexa tells me that: 32% of visits to my blog site are bounces (one page view only), but two thirds stay approximately seven minutes, spending 60 seconds on each page view.

In plain English, this data allows me to make some assumptions:  My search optimization is working but I’d like that 12% to become 20% as readers who reach my blog via search are likely brand new prospects. A third of my visitors hit the home page, read the current post and leave. But, at least two thirds read more than one post! Keeping an audience for seven minutes tells me that readers are getting a deeper picture of my knowledge base and expertise.

It also tells me that because visitors are spending a minute on each page view a lot of my content can be skimmed or read in a minute—this has always been one of my goals—making content easy to skim—I write to reach busy professionals. I want them to be able to quickly assess my value, how that might help their law firm, then pick up the phone and hire me to fill in any “specialty marketing” gaps.

Alexa tells me that 73% of visits come from the US where it has attained a traffic rank of 274,702 (not bad considering my niche focus but certainly can be improved) and my audience, based on Internet averages, is comprised more frequently of females who are in the age range 45-54, have no children and are graduate school educated. (Perfect! Leaders and decision makers!)

Search Analytics

The most recent top search queries sending visitors to my blog are “virtual marketing,” “proskauer rose” (I did a post about their iPad purchases), “jayne Navarre,” “alternative fee agreement,” “marketing officer,” “law firm business card,” “where do CMO’s get their ideas from,” “marketing partner forum,” and “social media secrets.”

Alexa also told me that this month the search query “corporate counsel social media” is driving traffic to the site at an increased rate of 1.30%, while “law firm business card” has declined by 1.22%.  With this information, a strategic choice would be to write a new blog post about “corporate counsel and social media,” “social media secrets” or “iPads in AmLaw firms.”

If you’re working a Search Engine Marketing campaign, Alexa will give you a run down on the most apparent opportunities for you based on Query Popularity scores and Query Competition Index (QCI). A topic for another day….

Reputation Score 

The Alexa Reputation Score is based on how many “incoming links” a site has. Links coming into a website are important because they indicate to search engines a measure of authority and popularity of site content.

Click on the Reputation Score for your site (or any site) you’ll get a list of the top sites that have added an inbound link to the content.

Then, make a few assumptions.  Based upon “who” is linking in to your site and “what” content on your site has been attracting inbound links you could create more content like that to attract more links.  Or, use the information to uncover the types of bloggers or sites interested in your content and then search for and reach out to similar bloggers (use the Alexa Top Site Category Search) or site owners by email with an excerpt of a relevant post and a link to it; just in case they are so inclined to one day use it for an outbound link. Though this takes more work than writing a check to a Link Building agency, the links will be authentic, valuable, meaningful, and ethical (and make you a richer blogger as you drive new revenue through the threshold of your blog).

Don’t neglect to link your blog or website from your profile on directory sites. While not of the same quality as being linked to from a top blog or news site, these do count as inbound links and grows your Reputation Score. ** see note below

As your reputation grows, it can open up doors that didn’t exist before. For example, I’ve been contacted by a publicist to review several very high profile business books, which I assume was in part based upon my ability to drive inbound links—it’s a web! (The more links you attract, the more authoritative you become.)  Although I primarily review books to alert my readers to great resources, as an added bonus the inbound links they create builds my web credibility!

If the purpose of your blog or website is to market your law practice, and your site doesn’t have any incoming links, there’s a problem. Either your content isn’t getting found or isn’t being read by other bloggers, news sites, or those who could link in to your content. In this case, you’ll need to work a little harder at creating some connections and build strategic content that will attract inbound links. Go to other similar sites such as yours that have high reputation scores and study their Alexa data to see what they are doing and what you might replicate.

Claim your site

Don’t forget to claim your site with Alexa. With a free registration, you can “Claim Your Site” and update site title, description and contact information which is all effective for making sure the search engines know what your blog or site is about.

Paid Services

For a small fee, via Alexa paid services, you can optimize your site, grow your traffic, and improve user experience without a long-term contract. The Alexa Site Audit performs a deep analysis of your site to reveal potential problems and provides recommendations to help you improve your site. You can get the one time audit or sign up for the monthly plan. Learn more…

Alexa Search

I’m going to leave this for another post because there is so much you can do with an Alexa Search,  but meanwhile, when you’re on the site, try it out, play around in there. You can learn a lot by looking at Top Sites in specific categories to see how you measure up and what you could do to improve.

Conclusion

If you or your law firm use Alexa, tell us about your experience in the comments; love it, like it, lukewarm? If you’re not using Alexa, check it out and remember to come back and tell us about your experience. Thanks!

**Note on Inbound Links from profiles on social networking sites like LinkedIn. Alexa only counts the first inbound link from any site. Therefore, if all the attorneys in your firm have the law firm website link in their LinkedIn profile, it only counts as one inbound link. No big deal, but just wanted to clarify that. Still, any lawyer in your firm with a blog site should definitely include that link in their profile to generate a separate inbound link to their blog site.

Now that your blog is “LIVE,” you need to do some basic things to help others find you. Or give your established blog a little shove and see if traffic doesn’t improve.

Submit to Giant Search Engines

Even though you’ve optimized the general metadata on your blog, as well as each post, you may still want to hand submit your blog to some key search engines.

1. Google. Google will eventually pick up your page but it doesn’t hurt to submit it via Google Webmaster Tools. You can also check there to see how it is performing. Make sure your metadata accurately describes what your blog is about. Submit to Google here.
2. Yahoo! Blog Directory
3. DMOZ.  This is a human-reviewed directory of the web. The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as Dmoz (from directory.mozilla.org, its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links. Netscape owns it, but it is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. When you submit to DMOZ, make sure to follow their instructions for categorizing your blog VERY CAREFULLY.
4. Bing.  Learn more here.
5. Aol.  In partnership with DMOZ.
6. ASK.com. Add your URL to Ask.com

Submit to legal content centric directories

Some legal blog directories have grown quite large and may not be of immediate help to your blog, but try submitting to the narrowest category possible and see if it doesn’t help.

1. Blawgsearch.com
2. Justia,com
3. Blogged.com
4. Blawg.com
5. USLaw.com
6. BlawgRepublic,com
7. ABAJournal.com Blawg Directory
8. AllTop.com/law

Submit to General Blog Directories and Aggregators

1. Alltop.com. Try submitting your (non-legal) industry focused blog to a more general category here.
2. BlogCatalog.  www.blogcatalog.com/
3. BlogPulse.  submit link here: http://www.blogpulse.com/submit.html
4. Best of the Web Blogs.  http://blogs.botw.org/
5. FeedAgg.  Aggregates your blog feed by category http://www.feedagg.com/
6. Technorati
7. Bloglines.  Now being run by Merchant’s Circle, this site reaches out to retail consumers rather than corporate types, but great for personal services practices.
8. Zemanta. Valuable blog tool that feeds bloggers link suggestions to use within their content—submit your blog as a content provider.  http://www.zemanta.com/
9. Newsgator.  More of an enterprise social networking tool, but you can build a Newsgator widget to distribute your content via mobile. (MS Sharepoint partner)
10. Techmeme.  The web’s technology news site of record, Techmeme spotlights the hottest tech stories from all around the web on a single page. Meeting very specific criteria will get your post featured on Techmeme. Not easy but check out this out. http://news.techmeme.com/
11. StumbleUpon. Paid Discovery on StumbleUpon can be effective if you have a specific target audience you are trying to reach. https://www.stumbleupon.com/pd/  OR, simply submit your site for free here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/help/how-to-submit-a-site/
12. FeedShark. Free online tool that easily promotes your blog or website – with the simple push of a button! http://feedshark.brainbliss.com/

 Social promotion

1. Twitter.  Use FeedBurner or FeedBlitz to auto post new content to your Twitter account. Then, for extra measure, write a Tweet that highlights content, asks a question or encourages discussion and send another link.
2. LinkedIn.  Include your blog website URL on your profile using the “custom” box and type in the name of the blog.  Using the (easy) widget on LI, set up the feed of your blog content to appear on your profile page and news stream. Add Twitter to your LinkedIN profile and your Tweets about your blog will show up in your status update.
3. Facebook.  Add your blog posts to your firm’s Facebook page and your individual page. You can link your FB account to automatically grab your new posts.
4. Reciprocal links.  In addition to links within your content to others’ blog content, which can create a pingback or a reciprocal mention, make sure to include a well thought-out, strategic Blog Roll to your blog.  Give your readers similar or complimentary content in your blog roll and ask those bloggers to include your blog in their roll. Build a valuable “blogger community” and incoming links as a result.
5. FeedBlitz.  http://www.feedblitz.com/  Alternative to Google’s Feedburner. Sends email notification to visitors who sign up to receive your latest posts.
6. Scoop.it.com.  Curate your favorite posts, news articles, web pages, as well as your own new posts or favorite evergreen posts, and send your scoop to social networks.
7. Paper.Li  (http://paper.li/) Similar to Scoop.it, publish and share your own-online newspaper on Twitter and other networks—include your most recent post.
8. Repurpose. Set up your blog on Martindale Connected, social networking site for the legal profession, or other industry focused social networking sites. Some will even let you set up a feed so you’re not doing double duty.
9. LinkedIn Groups. This can be fertile territory for specific posts, relevant to specific Groups. Excerpt some of your post to create a discussion and link to your full post. This may take a little more work, but I’ve heard from more than one attorney that this is a very effective tactic.

Miscellaneous

1. Guest blog
2. Add your blog address to your business card and email signature.
3. Include a post teaser and blog URL on the firm’s eNewsletter when content is relevant.
4. Include your blog URL in every media by-line when possible. (Rather than, or in addition to,  your law firm website!)
5. Send a personal email note with a link to a relevant post to a special client or others in your contact list.

Hope this is a helpful resource for you. This list isn’t comprehensive, nor do I personally endorse any of these sites or services and I am in no way connected to any. It is simply a random list of ideas that have worked for my clients and me in the past. If you have some favs to add, please drop us your suggestions in the comments! Would love to hear from you. Thanks!

Created by: Online Schools

WHAT’S IN YOUR DIGITAL LIFE?

Me. Well, I recently moved and do not have an extra outlet at my bedside so I’ve been recharging my iPhone at night beside my desk–in another room. The difference is noticeable. Before I used to wake up in the middle of the night and look at the email.  Then before I got out of bed in the morning I’d check my email and chat. Now, I open my eyes, step out of bed, open my curtains and greet the morning sky (and usually sun) with a big stretch and thanks to the heavens for giving me another day. I put on the coffee and then….I go to the door to pick up the morning paper from the stoop. I breath the fresh air deeply. With my cafe con leche in hand, I move slowly to the desk, unplug the phone and check the email, but rarely respond unless there is an emergency. (Is there ever really a marketing emergency that can’t wait till I get to the office at 8AM?) Then I move outdoors to read the paper and laugh at page 2 of The Key West Citizen. The Citizen’s Voice is a barometer of the tribe–these days it consists of those of us strong enough to weather the summer in Key West. Late this winter it’ll document the 2 cents of the snow birds (as if we really care, right?). But besides being informative it can be amusing! You probably aren’t up to speed on the impact that cruise ships, ghost tours, street musicians, and the chronically homeless have on a small island community such as ours–it’s just outrageous! (tongue- in-cheek). If only the world had such troubles. And, I often LOL at the ever humorous page 2 Crime Report–stupid is as stupid does.

After indulging in this “real time” experience, I awaken and go to my office refreshed and connected for another day! Then I fire up the Mac, the apps and the mail and wonder….what did I ever do without technology?

How does your day begin? With a smart phone or a sun rise?  With a café con leche and a laugh? I hope so!

The jury is (almost) in. We do not, thankfully, anticipate a Casey-Anthony-super-sized-post-verdict outrage when the American Bar Association codifies its Commission on Ethics 20/20 proposed amendments to the Model Rules in 2012. According to the Commission’s recent proposal and report, lawyers are almost certain to avoid any new draconian restrictions on social media activity as were feared by some. We do, however, expect to see some clarifications that should make ethical conduct for lawyers using social media a bit more predictable.

BIG shout-out to the ABA Commission and it’s Co-Chairs, Jamie S. Gorelick and Michael Traynor for their hard work in sorting through the collective knowledge submitted in response to the September 2010, “Issues Paper Concerning Lawyers’ Use of Internet Based Client Development Tools.”  Their initial draft proposals in the “Lawyer’s Use of Technology and Client Development” discussion, released on June 29^th, appears to be spot on: “No new restrictions are necessary in this area.” Just clarifications.

“Technology has enabled lawyers to communicate about themselves and their services more easily and efficiently, and it has enabled the public to learn necessary information about lawyers, their credentials, and the particular legal services those lawyers provide as well as the cost of those services.”

“Lawyers, however, need to ensure that these communications satisfy existing ethical obligations. The Commission’s proposals are designed to give lawyers more guidance regarding these obligations in the context of various new client development tools.”

Clarifications.

The clarifications offered by the Commission will undoubtedly help lawyers and marketers to proceed without fear of the unknown—sort of. They’re not going to stymie your participation, but it’s still up to the individual to exercise judgment. Check out what a few bloggers have say here and here.  For readers who want a quick run down in layman’s terms, read on…Note: it took this seasoned marketing professional several readings—think double speak—to get to the practical implications, so, feel free to leave a comment if you have something to add or if you think I’ve got something wrong here. I hope this helps…

A prospective client, a potential client, and a solicitation

The distinction between communications with a “prospective client” was found needing clarification (Rule 1.18). A prospective client is one in which communications give rise to a client-lawyer relationship.

In short, the Commission identifies several precautions that lawyers should take to prevent the inadvertent creation of a “prospective” relationship and to ensure that the public does not misunderstand the consequences of communicating electronically with a lawyer.

Translation: This boils down to the what, where, when, and how disclaimers are used, for example, on a law firm’s website, email messages, blog site, or etc.  Also, a lawyer is advised to gauge their risk tolerance for being conflicted out of representing an adverse party of the “prospective” client should they chose to decline representation of the prospect–but this holds true for offline conversations as well, so nothing really earth shattering here, except that it brings the following into play….

Clarification of “prospective client” in advertising Rule 7.3

Advertising and other forms of marketing by definition are targeted to future clients—clients with whom the lawyer has had no prior contact and therefore are not technically “prospective clients.”

To avoid confusion, the Commission proposes to replace the use of “prospective” in Rule 7.3 with “potential;” a new term not yet clearly defined, but is understood to imply the universe of public persons—all possible future clients. Again, the distinction being that a “potential” client has not previously made contact with a lawyer but a “prospective” client has.

Translation: It’s okay to use social media and Internet advertisements to promote your services to future (“potential”) clients. Keeping in mind that compliance with all current aspects of advertising found in Rule 7.3 is necessary.

I have a website with a live chat line. Is that okay?

Rule 7.3 also addresses, and prohibits, most kinds of in-person, live telephone, and real time electronic solicitations, but permits other forms such as direct mail and email with a disclaimer such as “Advertising Material” clearly displayed.

Today, however, lawyers can post information on their social or professional networking pages (which function like websites) and can enter into conversations via those pages (like email) with “potential clients,” sometimes in “real-time” and sometimes not.  Ah… the complexity! To clear up the ambiguity, the Commission proposes that:

 “…a lawyer’s communications constitute a solicitation when the lawyer offers to provide, or can be reasonably understood to be offering to provide, legal services to a specific potential client.” (Emphasis added)

How this might play out: Let’s say you have a live chat option on your law firm website, the kind that pops up and asks the visitor if they have questions or would like assistance. If the visitor chooses to use the chat screen, that visitor is initiating contact with the lawyer or their agent. This may also be analogous to a “contact us” form.

It is important to note that the prohibition in Rule 7.3(a) applies only to lawyer-initiated contact. Rule 7.3 does not prohibit real-time electronic contact that is initiated by a potential client. In the instance described above, the website visitor has made the initial contact with the firm. The visitor has chosen to visit the law firm’s website, indicating that they have some interest in the website’s content. It is appropriate at this juncture for the law firm to offer the website visitor live assistance.

Practical pointer:

Of course, once assistance is offered and a conversation ensues, the potential client becomes a prospective client and all the conditions of the prospective client relationship apply, i.e. you may set yourself up to be conflicted out of working for the other party. That adverse party may, in fact, be a current client! You will need to develop a conflict check process before discussing a case with any contact that comes over the transom via your website, electronic communication, or any social media outlet—something many law firms have yet to address but would be advised to do so.

Translation: It is okay to communicate in real-time about your services with “potential” clients via social media and the Internet.  This clearly does not violate rules pertaining to solicitation: Responses to requests for information or advertisements that are not directed to specific people are not “solicitations.”

Another example found in the Commission’s report includes advertisements that are automatically generated in response to an Internet search. The Commission wishes to clarify that these are not solicitations because the “advertisements are generated in response to Internet research.” These responses are more analogous to a lawyer’s response to a request for information initiated by a potential client than an unsolicited and targeted letter to a potential client who is known to be in need of a particular legal service—which is a solicitation.

Translation:  It is okay to buy ads on search engines—it is not solicitation.

Will you recommend me?

Things get a little murky when the Commission tackles “recommendations.” Model Rule 7.2(b) essentially prohibits a lawyer from giving anything of value for recommending the lawyer’s services. While this Rule is clearly written to prohibit a lawyer to pay “runners” to engage in in-person solicitations, i.e. ambulance chasers, the commission recognizes that “a number of new forms of lead generation such as pay-per-click and pay-per-lead services have surfaced with the rise of the Internet.” Although these Internet “referrals” do not “typically use in-person solicitation or employ false or misleading communications” they do involve payment for what might be considered a recommendation. Therefore, the Commission says this Rule needs clarification because “in a limited context some fees should be permissible.”

Truly, Internet “referrals” via search engine ads, Facebook ads, or even Sponsored Twitter Search Results are not all that different than paying for the ads you run in the local press, or a magazine publication. In each of those traditional examples, paying your advertising, PR or Internet marketing agency folks to create and place those ads fall into the same bucket—and are allowed under 7.2.

Translation: It’s okay to pay for sponsored ads, Facebook campaigns and search engine key words. Unfortunately, this clarification does not resolve the most frequent question I am asked: “Can I accept recommendations on LinkedIn?” Seems that since this is not a paid referral, recommendation, or solicitation, it’s okay? Check with your State Bar for any prohibitions on client testimonials for the answer that is specific to you.

Is my Facebook promotional give-away a “recommendation” under 7.2(b)?

In regard to Rule 7.2(b), the Commission’s report included a case study of a law firm offering free branded t-shirts to Facebook Fans who would subsequently send in a photo of them wearing the shirt and that would be posted to the firm’s Facebook Company Page. In the strictest sense, the wearing of this t-shirt this may be perceived as a “recommendation.” Further, the gifting of the t-shirt compensation. Hmm. Interesting, right?

Well, the Commission smartly suggests that clarification be made to Rule 7.2(b) along the lines that the gifting of a t-shirt and a subsequent photo of a person wearing it is not inherently a recommendation of their legal services.

Translation:  Go forth and Facebook your t-shirts—well, maybe after the proposed Comments and Amendments are codified in late 2012.

Don’t make false or misleading communications on social media.

Finally, an easy one. The Commission decided that there would be no further need to develop new or different restrictions to the prohibition against false and misleading communications found in Advertising Rule 7.1.

“This Rule is readily applicable to online advertising and other forms of e-communications used to attract new clients.”

However, smart firms will include a reminder in their law firm policy to the effect that: In every thing you do or say on the Internet, by all means, do not spread false or misleading information about you or your services. For more ideas on constructing a social media policy for law firms, read this previous Virtual Marketing Officer post.

What’s ahead?

The Commission plans to release proposals with regard to other issues on its agenda no later than September 2011. The Commission will submit to the ABA House of Delegates final versions of all of the Commission’s proposals in May 2012, for the House of Delegates’ deliberation at the August 2012 ABA Annual Meeting. In the meantime, the Commission seeks and welcomes feedback on its proposals and reports to date.

Comments in response to the Initial Draft Proposals on Lawyers’ Use of Technology and Client Development are due August 31, 2011. Comments may be submitted to Senior Research Paralegal, Natalia Vera at natalia.vera@americanbar.org.

Go forth, ethically, and prosper!

Virtual Marketing Officer

The other day, I added a “new” Friend to my Facebook network, someone I see maybe once a year at a professional gathering. I thought: This is great. Can it get any easier to stay in touch and up to speed on what’s going on in her life so that the next time we meet we can immediately ease into a relevant conversation? No, it can’t. I love what Facebook brings to the flow of my professional (and personal) life.

Does anyone still use a Rolodex?

Then I thought, how much better than the previous, one-dimensional Rolodex era! As a marketing director in the era of the ROLODEX, I would sometimes suggest to lawyers that they go through their Rolodex contacts once a week and choose someone to call up just to say,

“Hello, how are you doing? I was thinking about you and thought to give you a call.”

This suggestion was more often than not met with three objections: (1) I don’t have time (2) I don’t feel comfortable doing that, and (3) what would I say after hello?

My counter objection went like this:

“But, you have to stay in touch with people who have engaged you or who can refer business your way. How else do you expect them to think of you when they DO need your services again or have been asked to recommend an attorney? Using your Rolodex to prompt a touch point is a simple method; please just try it.”

While a few adventurous souls would give my advice the old college try, most would soon revert back to opting for the chance meeting at a lunch spot or charity event. Oh well. Can’t say I didn’t try, right?

Client Relationship Management?

Then came CRM (Client Relationship Management). It promised to change the amount of work involved in keeping tabs on our contacts. It’s easy; you put contact information into the database, you time and date stamp every touch point, newsletter, or event invitation for that contact and mark it for a follow up reminder. An excellent system, only one problem, some systems are less than user friendly, adding an extra step to the attorney’s workflow. (I’m not gong to suggest a law firm doesn’t need a CRM – they do – but for other reasons, not personal networking.)

FACEBOOK for Lawyers?

Fast forward to social networking. When I first suggested that lawyers try moving their business network online to Facebook (not LinkedIn—the safe choice), I was met with three objections: (1) I don’t have time (2) I don’t feel comfortable doing that, and (3) what would I say? (Funny, same objections – what’s the pattern here?)  For most, the idea of a LinkedIn presence seemed respectable, but Facebook—isn’t that for college kids? Well, yeah, it can be for young adults with wide social circles, but that’s the beauty of it. The technology is place for developing and maintaining wide social networks and it is available for anyone to leverage!

With a little common sense, and little effort, you can post one to many communications, saving steps, letting your network know what you’re up to—and it’s totally acceptable.

PRACTICE POINTER: No one will think less of you because you are using Facebook! IN FACT, it may soon be just the opposite –

“Why aren’t you my “Friend” on Facebook yet? Why don’t we connect on Facebook? I’d love to keep in touch more frequently and since you’re a thousand miles away, this is the next best thing!”

Genius! You can hone in on the people in your network, that are otherwise so easily neglected, by commenting on one of their posts. A simple “like” is all it takes sometimes.  And, you can easily step it up to the next level with a one-to-one conversation via chat or onsite email when someone appears in your news stream that presents an opportunity to get more personal. All without leaving the site and fuddling with extra steps. (Note #1: Facebook is not the place to give legal advice – or anything resembling it. This is not the place to discuss a client’s case or a judge’s ruling – even in a private Facebook email or chat. This is strictly social!) (Note #2: Some CRM’s are integrating your social networks now, and if so, you may do well to investigate and learn how to use them.)

Privacy Settings.

Facebook is not the scary place that it was once thought to be—though there are some safe guards you MUST not ignore. By all means, don’t act like a stooge on Facebook: Only share G rated photos and don’t allow others to tag you in their photos that you do not believe represent your interests well. (If someone in your network does tag you—make sure your My Account/ Notifications settings are set to alert you to when you are tagged in a photo (see illustration)—simply go to the offending photo and remove the tag. They will not be able to add it back in even if they try.)

Also, don’t share your birth DATE (your month and day is okay if you don’t mind getting swamped with well wishes on your birthday!), lock down your profile and privacy settings to Only Friends, and don’t post controversial links to polarizing articles that may compromise future business opportunities. Be wary of third-party applications and games –you really don’t need them. AND, don’t friend judges, or others who may come back to haunt you merely by association. (More Facebook tips here.)

Bottom Line:

Treat your engagement with others on Facebook a little like you would the people you interact with socially at the country club, neighborhood, church, synagogue, or your kids’ school. Be reserved, but be personable. Otherwise, go for it! The results can be significant. I recently heard yet another story of a lawyer who picked up a VERY, VERY significant matter as a result of their activity on Facebook.

Facebook is a multidimensional Rolodex that you can fill with all the people you’ve encountered at various points and intersections of your life—you seldom know exactly where your next piece of business might come from. Make sure that your Facebook Friends are aware of your knowledge base, your accomplishments, interests, and yes, even what you were cooking on the barbeque at your Memorial Day picnic! It’s okay. People like to do business with people they know and trust.  Today, more of those relationships are budding on Facebook. What are you waiting for?

If you need help navigating social networks, drop me a note.

David Fraser (@privacylawyer) is not just a lawyer online; he’s a Canadian privacy lawyer—online.  Participating on a panel with David last Friday, it was immediately obvious that he “gets social media” when he flat out told a Canadian Bar Association group of Intellectual Property lawyers that …being a lawyer online does nothing for you. Being anything too broad; and you’re going to get lost.

I couldn’t agree more: It’s getting noisy out there—to think that only three years ago plenty of lawyers had only two things to say about social media: Me? Why? Well, the crowd has arrived.

So, what should you be doing to be present and counted for in social media today?

David had some sage words of advice that echo my own experience in coaching lawyers and share them below, paraphrased from my notes.

• Listen, listen, and listen. If you listen, you have a better opportunity to distinguish yourself from the crowd.
• Don’t dilute the message. David is a Canadian privacy lawyer and he only tweets and blogs about privacy. He doesn’t dilute his message. People who follow him are people who want to know about privacy-simple, right? The dividend is significant; it gives him quality followers and qualified leads. [Note from VMO: you may have a fairly broad practice, but you should pick the most interesting and profitable part of it to emphasize for your online practice.]
• It’s about people. People want to network (converse) with people. Following law firms is not generally helpful. (Well, maybe you should follow your own firm to get the latest news first!). Follow people. Follow the right people; those who want to talk about your subject—which by the way should be very specific….
• Be a part of the community. Once you’re online, by default you’re part of that community. Living your practice online, you have a responsibility to be a contributing member of that community. While David has gotten to know other competitors pretty well using social media, he warns about getting into battles with your competitors—it never looks good.
• Be clear about your message. You need to be clear about what you’re putting out there—it becomes part of your online presence. Know what “it’s” about before you get into anything online. Checking into a client’s office on Foursquare is a bad idea; it can breach confidentiality.
• Watch out for chilling effects. There is a LOT of user-generated content posted to social media sites receiving legal attention these days. It is never wise to enter social media without a comprehensive understanding of the liabilities—both professional and personal.  Facebook alone reported to Newsweek in January 2011 that it receives 10 to 20 requests for user account information per day or approximately 5000 email subpoenas per year. (You can view some of them at ChillingEffects.org, a watchdog, non-profit organization that catalogs lawyers’ cease and desist letters.) Canadian litigants with claims of assets-at-risk or reputations-at-risk are more likely to receive attention from social media services because there is more liability placed on the publisher in Canada. However, in the U.S., the Communications Decency Act squarely places the liability on users for what they post, not the publisher of the social media site. It’s important for everyone (not just lawyers) to know their rights and responsibilities, terms of service and conditions, and live within the boundaries.
• There is no anonymity. Everywhere you go on the Internet you leave a trail. (Dare I risk saying the obvious?) Whatever you wouldn’t do in public, you shouldn’t do online. Hot issues like John Doe Anonymity (fake profiles), protest, parody and criticism, copyright and DMCA, linking, patent and trademark/trade secret are all being vetted in consideration of new legislation specific to new media channels both in the U.S and Canada. If you are hiding behind an avatar,  a stage name handle and a disposable email address, don’t think they can’t find you if they want to.

Of course, if you’re not living your practice online, you’re less likely to be impacted by any negatives but also less likely to benefit from the positives. If you are living your practice online, you may need to do some housekeeping and tidy up your message. You can start by asking, “What does my professional title on LinkedIn say about me?” Are you Jane Smith, Attorney, Smith, Jones & Brown? Or, are you Jane Smith, Miami-based, Bi-lingual Import/Export Attorney Serving U.S and Latin American Markets?

Listen first; then post. Don’t dilute the message.  It’s about people, not push messages: Be community minded. Know your rights, responsibilities and liabilities; there is no anonymity. What else would you add to this list?

The AmLaw Daily reports that Proskauer Rose announced on Wednesday that the firm plans to supply the bulk of its 700-plus lawyers with iPad 2′s.

I’m a straying out of my comfort zone in this post today—I am not a hardwired techie—but I am all for technologies that enrich our lives and improve the way in which we do our work, whatever that may be.  So, I found it interesting, in fact, exciting that a large international law firm was ready to make a serious investment in the iPad, ultimately the Apple iOS 4 mobile operating system. I know plenty of individual lawyers that own them for personal use, and some that use them for their legal practices, but this is a whole ‘nuther thing—close to a 1/2 Million dollar investment in hardware (500 x $829 top of the line), and I’m guessing another $200,000.00 or more in soft costs of applications (apps), support and training. I might add, for something that not everyone needs nor will they adapt to easily. I hope I am wrong because; it’s A REALLY NICE TOOL AND I’M SURE THE LAWYERS WILL LOOK SMART WORKING ON THESE SLEEK NEW DEVICES.

Coming from an industry that is deeply entrenched in Microsoft hardware, software and gadgetry; in my mind this is a remarkable development. Maybe even a tipping point. But hey, change is good. I see more lawyers using iPhones these days. (Hmm…and many carrying their Blackberry AND an iPhone! Huh?)

Here’s the rationale behind the purchase, according to The Am Law Daily blog post:

Steven Kayman, a securities litigation partner and chair of the firm’s technology committee, says that roughly 500 lawyers have requested iPads that will come preinstalled with a collection of business applications like DocsToGo and Goodreader. The firm will also offer training videos and sessions for the new hardware.

“My hope is that people will feel very comfortable loading the iPad up with all of the key documents from their transactions and from their cases,” says Kayman. The offering is part of a long-term commitment by the firm to technological advancement, he adds. Earlier steps included a new data center in New Jersey and increased bandwidth for offices to connect to that location. [end]

[At this point it's important to note that my office is fully equipped with Macs  - they're responsive, reliable, and friendly— they look and feel nice, they get the job done. But, I don't own an iPad (yet). Just seemed like an extra gadget to carry around. I do however own (and use extensively) a Macbook Air 11"— a fantastic workhorse and so easy to carry in my purse!]

If I’m not mistaken, it sounds like Mr. Kayman is a little tentative…

“My hope is that people will feel very comfortable loading the iPad up with all of the key documents from their transactions and from their cases,” says Kayman.

Yeah, I’m not sure they will… so, let’s look closer….

How do I do that?

I work with attorneys every day; helping them navigate social media and integrate the web into their business and practice development. At least once a week a conversation goes like this:

Me: “Yes, just open up a new tab and type into the address bar.”

Them: “How do I do that?”

(I’m not joking about this, if a lawyer has been using an earlier version of Internet Explorer and gets upgraded to IE7, they just don’t know.)

I could give you a dozen more examples of lawyers who do not know their way around the lap top they’ve been using for years. And, it’s not a big thing. It’s just not an immediate need for them. So, my question is: Will this new “toy” hold their interest? Will it inspire them to learn to swipe, download apps from iTunes, plug-into the dock connector port, conference call with Facetime, or will it simply become another log jam for the IT department’s help desk? “How will they do that?”

Comfort?

“My hope is that people will feel very comfortable…” Well, I’ve never seen an iPad user look comfortable when typing (even with the tiny fold up exterior keyboard which dilutes the beauty of a lightweight mobile device, IMHO).  For a few changes to a document it’s probably okay. But, what if you have big fingers?

Cloud Storage

Feel comfortable “…loading the iPad up with all of the key documents from their transactions and from their cases?” I’m not so sure about that one either. (Are clients comfortable with that?)

Using the iPad, lawyers will have to learn to use the cloud (i.e. Dropbox or similar) or at the very least some sort of enterprise syncing services. There’s not a lot of built in storage for the iPad. It is designed to be a light weight device using chip technology (solid state drive – SSD) instead of an electro-mechanical hard disc drive found in those heavy lap tops I still see people lugging around airports and conference rooms. And, despite layers of security measures implemented by savvy IT professionals, there is still the larger issue of whether the cloud is appropriate for confidential documents. (I use cloud storage space and feel quite comfortable, but I’m not transacting billion dollar deals! Except in my dreams!)

[ADDED to post 4/22/11, jln]  A widespread failure in Amazon.com’s Web services business was still affecting many Internet sites on Friday morning, highlighting the risks involved when companies rely on so-called cloud computing according to the New York Times. Some quotes from the article:

“We don’t think the cloud is enterprise-ready,” said Jimmy Tam, general manager of Peer Software, which provides data backup for businesses. “Are you really going to trust your corporate jewels to these cloud providers?”

“Clearly you’re not in control of your data, your information,” said Campbell McKellar, founder of Loosecubes, a Web site for finding temporary workspace that was not available Thursday. “It’s a major business interruption. I’m getting business interruption insurance tomorrow, believe me, and maybe we get a different cloud provider as a backup.”

Software

“My hope is that people will feel very comfortable..” Let’s be real, learning new software is rarely comfortable. The iPad comes loaded with the native Mac office suite of Pages, Keynote and Numbers. These are great native programs, but it’s still a dot doc world in the law biz. Who wants to take the time to learn a whole new program that doesn’t play well with Microsoft. (I use MS Office for Mac because law firms only want to read MS docs! It’s just easier.)

Proskauer intends to use DocsToGo, an app that allows you to work in Microsoft Office, and syncs your work via wifi or 3G to the cloud and/or your desktop. I can’t speak directly to the usefulness (or security) of this application, but it is available for my iPhone 4 and I looked into buying it a while back. Then I hesitated. It’s only $17 but the user reviews of DocsToGo are real mixed: out of 127 reviews – 52 are positive and 58 highly negative, 17 were neutral. The negative reviews ranged from limited capabilities, to unstable, to don’t waste your money. The positive reviews were however glowing, but if I was going to be the one answering all those help desk calls I’d be concerned.

Road warriors

“My hope is that people will feel very comfortable…” There are several nice new features on the iPad 2 for reading, sharing your screen via a large presentation monitor, and video conferencing with Facetime, not to mention all the available apps that make the iPad useful for heavy travelers. But, and that’s a big BUT, aren’t working lawyers still going to want (and need) to carry their laptop too? And their smart phone? IMHO, that’s a lot of baggage to lug around, uncomfortably.

Lost or Stolen?

“…loading the iPad up with all of the key documents from their transactions and from their cases?” What happens when an iPad is lost or even stolen? They’re small enough to steal kind of quickly. Most IT professionals that have launched iPhones for their lawyers have covered the security and administrative capabilities such as installing security certifications for a second layer of password authentication and executing a remote data wipe for lost phones. This may make it easier for firms to accept the iPad, which uses the same operating system as Apple’s smartphone, but it’s up to the owner to act on the first level of security—password lock. I still see lawyers using smart phones that are not set to require a password to open them for use. Most think that it’s a layer that gets in the way, but I don’t leave home without one! Password lock is critical for any smart phone. It will block or certainly delay any criminal person from accessing data on the phone.This is an easy yet critical step for anyone using an iPad; not to be overlooked.

Speaking of passwords; it’s been preached over and over but many lawyers still use the same simple passwords everywhere. And, they store those passwords on the device. Anyone who wants to steal your iPad will know exactly where to go and what to get.  TIP: consider purchasing “ONE PASSWORD.” Great tool for mac users. You can have complex passwords for every site you visit but need only one master password. You can change that one master password every week, and add another layer of security to all your browsing history.

Alternatives

The iPad is a very nice device and one that offers a number of great Apps that aren’t available for laptops, but if I were a law firm, large, medium or small, looking to move into the Apple OS, I’d get everyone a MacBook Air 11″ (entry price-all you need-only $100 more than the top of the line iPad 2). It is slim, trim, solid state, starts quick, lasts long, can run Microsoft Mac programs and it is a work horse. I love mine. I bought it instead of iPad and so glad I did. Okay, so it doesn’t have the touch screen or a zillion apps, and swiping your fingers across a screen does look high tech space age modern, but those are low priorities. Especially when great alternatives exist.

Bottom line

Between you an me, I’m going to be watching for the fire sale of lightly used iPad 2′s early next year. Meanwhile, follows are some blogs by some seasoned attorney iPad users.

I welcome comments and push back: Tell me why the iPad is going to revolutionize our industry or how owning one has made your work life more productive. Thanks!

Wise County & City of Norton Digital Office Blog

Computer World : iPad Lures Business Users

The Mac Lawyer Blog

Apple Briefs

Mac Litigator

Everyone seems to be asking, what’s next for social media — we’ve got our LinkedIn profiles in place, we’re blogging, we’re posting on Facebook, we’ve got YouTube videos, podcast syndication, and we send out Tweets from both individual and law firm accounts, now what?

Try Community.

It’s time to trade the “casting-your-giant-net-hoping-something-will-swim-in-to–it” only approach to social media for an eco-system that nurtures, serves and replenishes.  Sound sort of fishy? It isn’t. And, there’s a great new book available that will give you plenty of reasons to do so, then walks you through some best practices:

Social Nation by Barry Libert.

Libert is the founder and CEO of Mzinga, a company that provides social software that manages two billion conversations a month for 15,000 communities on behalf of 300 well-known companies. He is a cutting edge thinker and doer that credits his success to the communities that he’s been so successful in building. [Note: The VMO was given a complimentary copy of Social Nation to review. It did not disappoint!]

“The online social movement is taking the business world by storm. Customers, employees and onlookers are making connections with one another and your brand in new uncharted ways. Social Nation will show you just how important those connections are and how fostering them can help you build a more successful, profitable business.” from www.socialnationbook.com

Top Take Aways:

• Libert provides a lot of white space for you to move around in. He acknowledges that change is not easy, and that “building social leadership skills” is a journey.  He suggests that the more you practice community, the easier it becomes and the more rewards it delivers. There’s even a companion “test” you can complete online to assess your Social Quotient.

• He defines four driving forces in the shift toward a more social business world and explains them in detail:

• Today’s changing workforce
• Open business models
• Emerging technologies
• Social monitoring and measuring tools.

• He confirms that Community minded companies are creating extra-ordinary value, revealing findings from a study by Wetpaint and Altimeter Group, “The World’s Most Valuable Brands. Who’s Most Engaged?” The study shows that financial performance increased by as much as 18 percent on average in one year for those companies most engaged in social media. By comparison, those companies least engaged saw an average decline of 6 percent in revenues during the same period.
• Socializing requires more than just being there — you have to interact with others, instigate discussions, and respond during conversations. Noting that:

“In the past companies and institutions have traditionally focused exclusively on the bottom line while disregarding the people and the processes by which they got there. In today’s social world, the collective voice is driving business, leading to the conclusion that to reach that bottom line successfully, businesses must understand and embrace these social models, sensibilities and processes.”

Chapter after chapter, the jewels in this book are dripping.

Culture is the Company’s DNA

Letting culture lead the way means allowing your core values to become integral to every piece of your social nation building process.

Clients want more than transactions. They want connections.

The business world is changing. The more we listen and the more we understand someone else’s needs, the more successful we can be in today’s socially connected world. The less we listen, or try to pretend we’re listening (i.e. without authenticity) the more irritated and turned off other people will become.

Technologies connect people in faster more transparent ways.

Very few people can be successful in a vacuum. When we interact with each other we have a better chance of being successful.

The insight we receive from social interactions and communications that take place among and between our customers, employees, investors and partners can be turned into action-able activities –new service ideas, better customer support, improved marketing communications, enhanced community activity, involvement, and positive sentiment.

Social Intelligence is valuable for remaining competitive.

There is the potential to gain intelligence from every communication and interaction – to improve what the firm does, sells and how it responds in real time to community requirements. Learn from your engagement with others. Use the information to do what you do better. Help you make decisions. Insights you can gather from your current clients as well as those you don’t have yet. Which new services should we offer?

Empower your clients.

The most cost effective way to stay competitive is to retain existing clients. One way to achieve this is to anticipate and understand the needs of existing clients so that you can reach them before they even realize they have an “unfulfilled need.”

“Social intelligence offers business the means to proactively seek and act: To address problems and remain competitive. It can act as a bridge between what you can do and what others can do for you. It’s a tool that links a company willing to listen with the customers who want to share and innovate.”

The bottom Line

Using Internet technology to deliver real value, increase productivity and enable interaction can give law firms, businesses, non-profits, and other professionals an edge over the competition [while its still available].  So, stop adding to the noise and start making a difference.

Read this book and learn how. Then, come back and leave a comment about what you found most helpful for building your social nation…

Thanks for stopping by!

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?

Looking back – Looking forward.

Social media and social networking platforms open up doors to new relationships and often work well as tools for marketing – broad distribution, top of mind impact, and exposure for expertise.

However, looking back on my social media involvement during 2010, these two uses actually had the least impact on my business goals.

Interestingly, social media was most helpful to me in 2010 when I was engaging with colleagues and friends with whom I already had an off line relationship at one point or other in time.  This didn’t mean that I ONLY interacted with people I knew in the bricks and mortar world; in fact, I made several significant new connections in 2010 with people I’d only met via social media who became new clients, valuable resources, and generally great people to know. But overall, this was the exception not the rule. I received more new business from mining my known network and from using social media tools to deepen relationships with those in my network who are geographically distant.  Realizing this is helping me focus my social media activity in 2011.

Focus on content and community.

Based on my experimentation with open networking in the very large marketplace of the social web, I’ve learned that the best use of social networks, and even my blog, is to “get together” online with people I already know using smaller communities; so I intend to do more of that in 2011.

Essentially my community interaction revolves around content, i.e. status updates, reviews, ideas, suggestions, quotes, links to what’s being read, and notes about what’s going on in lives, both personal and professional.  For the most part, I care about what my established communities are talking about because I already have a sense of who they are and where they fit into my life. It gives our interactions focus. It allows me to contribute in a meaningful way. The content we share creates a sort of bond. Within this type of community we are all free to do business with one another and indeed we do. What really makes focused communities helpful to me is in knowing that being social online becomes something I want to do and not just another “marketing” chore. It’s authentic. And, when you’re doing something you like to do, the enthusiasm is noted by others and often translates to new business.

This is really important, I think, for law firms who are trying to make sense of how they can leverage social tools for the entity. Casting a wide net may have a place in the marketing mix, but finding or creating smaller communities to engage in is where they will begin to see the most meaningful activity and new business prospects.

Chris Brogan recently blogged about the importance of building your social media activity around an object of focus to stimulate content and community:

You need a campfire…you need that social setting that consists of: object of focus, group experience of that object, and then creative expression thereafter. In literal terms, the party is around a campfire. In more stretched out thinking, the party is around the creative content. It’s content, community, and marketplace, said another way.

Community intersects with business.

As more law firms (and individual lawyers) will be entering the age of social media this year they will be looking for beneficial ways to engage. I suggest you do yourself a favor, skip a couple steps and take note; human behavior doesn’t change: Humans seek connection – in both their personal and professional lives.  Whatever community you want to penetrate, reach, influence, or start, the secret to successful social media engagement is to study human behavior. Humans connect around commonalities, interests, issues, industries, questions, answers, topics, opinion, politics; you name it. Study the behavior of your clients, “friends of the firm,” referral sources, and even partners and employees in far flung offices, whoever you wish reach, because the more aware you are of the fundamental human behavior at work, the more likely your online activity or social media strategies will feel natural and be valuable on numerous levels.

A community within the very large online social marketplace is the most viable source for doing business. The best way to create business opportunities using social media is to be a member of a community where you can engage others, enable relationships, and create trust. How do you do that? I’ve said it before and will say it again…in using social media tools we’re not doing anything different, we’re just doing it differently. In life, we chose our friends based on synergies – we share a love of conversation, family, sports, literature, politics, movies, travel, wine, etc. And, we gravitate toward certain people in our workplace based on like passions for the work and other commonalities like schools, neighborhoods, or even the charities we support.

Whether you are a law firm marketer building a social media strategy or a lawyer executing on tactics, devote your premium time to interacting with people you know and converse about what it is that they, and you, care about most; if you try to force interaction or push content that is not relevant, it just won’t happen. Think about your object of focus, build on the experience of the group, and your social media activity will become meaningful, natural and beneficial no matter what the topic or focus. It’s really quite basic.  Oh, and lest I forget to mention….it’s been my experience in 2010 that engagement that leads to new business does not happen without consistent participation, i.e. work! Those who are new to social media, looking for a short cut or quick fix will be disappointed. Here’s to a great new year with social media!

And, here’s an excerpt from my recently published book, social.lawyers | Transforming Business Development, West, (2010 ed.), that tells the story of how community creates business.