5 reasons your firm can't afford to ignore social media and how to get started

And How To Get Started

5 REASONS YOUR FIRM CAN’T AFFORD TO IGNORE SOCIAL

Tembow.com | AAJ July 29, 2012 1

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IS CHANGING

Given the choice , fewer than 2% of Amer icans wi l l request paper phone books.

1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IS CHANGING

Where do people typically look for local services and information?

79% use the Internet to find local businesses

92% use search engines

92% have email

This i s what many American fami l ies look l ike today.

Mobi le devices make i t poss ib le for a more d iverse group of consumers to access the Internet f rom almost anywhere, at any t ime.

65% of people use one or more soc ia l media s i tes.

16% of a l l onl ine t ime is spent on Facebook.

U.S. Share Of Time Spent Online

BUSINESSES ARE CATCHING ON2

2BUSINESSES ARE CATCHING ONThe stat i s t i cs on th is page show the percentage o f bus inesses that had profiles on Facebook, Twi t ter , B logger and YouTube in 2011.

Among act ive bus iness b loggers , 60% say they have acqui red a cus tomer v ia the i r b log .

Adopt ion by smal l and large bus inesses is on ly increas ing.

You don’ t need to be on every soc ia l network. The way people use soc ia l networks var ies depending on which network they are us ing.

This chart shows that posts are more widely d istr ibuted but forgotten faster on Twit ter and Facebook than on b logs and YouTube.

2BUSINESSES ARE CATCHING ON

The Average Lifespan Of 1,000 Popular Links By Channel

BUYING ADS IS NOT ENOUGH(SOCIAL MEDIA IS BETTER)3

Blogging can have a h igher ROI than advert is ing.

According to a recent Nei lson study, a company spent $54,000 to buy a ser ies o f local ads dur ing the Super Bowl . They reached 2.8 mi l l ion people . The TV ad campaign generated no leads.

3BUYING ADSIS NOT ENOUGH

You are more l ike ly to surv ive a plane crash than c l ick on a banner ad.

Among common sources, search engine-dr iven leads have the h ighest lead- to -c lose rate (15%). Paid ads average 7%, and direct mai l & te lemarket ing c lose at a rate of 2%.

Soc ia l media & b logs have d is t inct advantages over t rad i t iona l f o rms o f adver t i s ing .

D i rect emai l a l so has many o f these advantages .

When asked bus iness owners who b log to rank the impor tance o f market ing serv ices they use , 56% cons idered them important o r usefu l , and 25% ca l led them cr i t i ca l , fo r a to ta l o f 81%

Face-To-Face

Direct Mail

Broadcast (radio, TV & print)

Direct Email

Social Media & Blogs

Reach Anyone in earshot

Your existing network

As large an audience you’re willing to pay for

Your existing network

Potentially unlimited

Cost Free $2+ per impression

Depends on the medium

Free Free

Shareable No Only by handing off the printed materials

No Yes, with viral potential

Yes, with viral potential

Interactive

Yes No No Yes Yes

Speed Immediate

Weeks+ Weeks+ Immediate Immediate

FANS CANEASILY SPREAD THE WORD4

I f your content goes “v i ra l” on the Internet, i t means that i t reaches wel l beyond the or iginal target audience.

This i s accompl ished by your community shar ing the content wi th others in the ir networks .

Shar ing only takes a matter of seconds.

4FANS CAN EASILY SPREAD THE WORD

4FANS CAN EASILY SPREAD THE WORDAct ive b logger Zaz Lamarr let Zappos, a webs ite where you can buy shoes, know she would be returning some shoes late because her mother had passed away.

4FANS CAN EASILY SPREAD THE WORDZappos sent her a bouquet of flowers in condolence.

Zaz posted th is story on her b log. The story quickly made nat ional headl ines because so many people shared i t .

A customer captured v ideo of a FedEx employee throwing a new moni tor over a gate and posted the v ideo on YouTube.

FedEx quick ly resolved the issue wi th the customer. Addit ional ly , a h igh-ranking FedEx employee publ ic ly apologized v ia the company blog and on YouTube.

Other customers and employees responded onl ine, most c i t ing posi t ive stor ies about FedEx.

4FANS CAN EASILY SPREAD THE WORDNegat ive feedback is an opportuni ty for “c l ient ju j i tsu.” Show the wor ld you care and turn detractors in to your b iggest fans .

Address negat ive comments qu ick ly , po l i te ly and, i f appropr iate , publ ic ly. Let peop le know you are work ing on i t , showing them you care.

CREATIVITY REALLY PAYS OFF5

This man was issued a chal lenge by h is company to wr i te a tweet would be shared 1 ,000 t imes.

He sent a tweet promis ing to c l ip a c lothespin to h imsel f for every t ime his message was shared on Twit ter.

5CREATIVITY REALLY PAYS OFF

Within a few hours , 1 ,815 people had tweeted back.

Don is a partner at Mot ley Rice.

He issued a chal lenge to h is community: i f enough people donated to the firm's team for a breast cancer char i ty race, he would run the race in a tutu.

Don convinced over 175 donors to contr ibute near ly $26,000.

(BONUS REASON)BORDERS ARE BLURRING6

SEARCH SOCIALMEDIA

Google i s the most popu la r sea rch eng ine . They use new content that o ften comes f rom b logs and soc ia l networks to in fo rm the i r rank ings so that b reak ing news i s more l i ke ly to appear in search resu l ts .

They a lso use peop le ’s Goog le+ act iv i ty to ta i lo r the i r search resu l ts . Wh i le i t i s poss ib le to tu rn th is feature off , most peop le won ’ t .

6BORDERS ARE BLURRING

HOW TO GET STARTED

Start a blog.

Own your domain name and content .

Get technical he lp i f you need i t to create a profess ional look ing s i te .

LAY YOUR FOUNDATION

Create a Facebook page, Twi t ter account and L inkedIn page for your firm.

Even i f you do not use al l of these yet , make sure nobody e lse can take them.

ESTABLISH YOURSELF

Link your accounts so you do not need to repeat yourse l f on each network.

At a minimum, have your blog cross-post each new entry to your Facebook & Twitter accounts.

LINK UP EVERYTHING

You bui l t i t , but wi l l they come?

Send an emai l to a l l of your c l ients, former c l ients, and other contacts .

Col lect emai l addresses f rom al l new c l ients. Get permiss ion to send your c l ients promot ional mater ia ls .

Be shameless.

MAKE YOUR PRESENCE KNOWN

Tembow.com | AAJ July 29, 2012

You need to have a "voice" onl ine. That voice can be an expanded, l imited or authent ic vers ion of your se l f or brand. Are you a Republ ican or Democrat? Pro -union? What causes do you support?

Deve lop a loyal fo l lowing by establ ish ing a d ist inct ive voice and st ick ing to i t .

DECIDE WHO YOU WILL BE ONLINE

Respondents say that less than ha l f o f content i s usefu l , and b loggers who produce low va lue content as s ign ificant ly less l ike ly to convert .

Good content is concise , enterta in ing ( inc ludes stor ies) , i s more educat ional than promot ional , and is contextua l ly personal ized.

FOCUS ON GREAT CONTENT

TAKE A FEW RISKS

Get creat ive and have some fun generat ing ideas for posts that might go vi ra l .

Don’t be afra id to surpr ise your readers, as long as i t ’ s authent ic to you.

Discover ways to invo lve your community. Even i f they don ’t act ive ly part ic ipate, they’ l l see and apprec iate your efforts .

Set as ide a regular t ime each day or a few days a week to work on your soc ia l media presence.

Update your b log on the same day(s) each week.

BE CONSISTENT

Start ing to bui ld a community can fee l lonely at first , but you wi l l bui ld a loyal fo l lowing over t ime.

Consider th is essent ia l background market ing, l ike belonging to a local community group or volunteer ing for a char i ty.

STAY THE COURSE

You are a l l busy pro fess iona ls : your core competency is t ry ing and winn ing cases , o r , fo r a few o f you, running a law firm.

You may or may not be ab le to do everyth ing we have descr ibed .

Fo l low the l ink to the le ft to find out how much you can accompl i sh in just 20 minutes a day.

BE REALISTIC

http://bit.ly/SocialMediaInTwentyMinutes

Once you get star ted wi th soc ia l media , we th ink you wi l l understand why i t i s so popular and powerful .

You wi l l develop fans, who wi l l in turn te l l the people in thei r networks how great you are .

ENJOY YOURSELF

Tembow@TembowRocks

www.tembow.com

Jason Gelman@JasonLGelman

jason@tembow.com

Rachel Derkits-Gelman@rachelderkits

rachel@tembow.com

FOLLOW US TO LEARN MORE

SOURCES

Companies Quit Printing White-Pages Phone Books (http://usat.ly/zH0cj7)The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project tracking surveys, 2002-2011. (www.pewinternet.org) & How People Learn About Their Local Community (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide4)Facebook Sucks Up a Ridiculously Huge and Growing Share of Our Time Wasted Online (http://on.wsj.com/z8o4rG)The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide9)You just shared a link. How long will people pay attention? (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide10)Zappos Sends You Flowers (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide13)FedEx Apologizes for Monitor-Tossing Delivery Driver (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide15)Twitter Experiment Results in Half-Naked Japanese Man Covered in Clothespins (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide19)Breast Cancer Awareness: Motley Rice supports Team Elsner (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide21)You Are More Likely to Survive a Plane Crash than Click a Banner Ad (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide25)Blogging Trumps Traditional Advertising in ROI Head-to-Head (Case Study) (http://bit.ly/tembowAAJSlide27)Pinterest’s Rapid Rise Boosts Small Business Sales(http://www.cnbc.com/id/46594999/)

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ABOUT US

Jason Gelman

Jason has been involved at the intersection of technology and law for the past decade. He majored in computer science at Dartmouth College and, prior to attending law school, worked as an internet technology consultant, serving Fortune 500 companies. Jason received a J.D. from Duke University’s School of Law and has practiced commercial real estate law at two AmLaw 50 firms. Jason sits on the board of several organizations, including the Nancy R. Gelman Foundation and the 8 Webster Avenue Educational Foundation.Rachel Derkits Gelman

Rachel is a design anthropologist and brand strategist. She specializes in analyzing cultural landscapes and industry trends to identify new opportunities and develop growth strategies for her clients. She has experience in a broad range of industries and clients, from Fortune 500 companies to academic institutions. Rachel has worked on award winning designs at consultancies including Arnell Group, Nest: the Home Lab, and most recently IDEO (named one of the 10 most innovative companies in the world by Fast Company). Rachel holds an M.A. in Anthropology from Stanford and a B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology from Dartmouth College.

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