leveraging social & digital media for business development
TRANSCRIPT
Leveraging Social & Digital Media for Business DevelopmentPeter Shankman – HARO - @petershankman
Adam Stock – Allen & Matkins - @adamlstock
Jasmine Trillos-Decarie – Foley Hoag LLP - @jasminedecarie
April 28, 2011
Agenda• Audience poll - Silvia
• What social media is and what it is not - Jasmine
• Social media may be cool but it must bring in business – Peter
• How law firms can leverage social media for business development – Adam & Jasmine
• Overarching digital media strategy and why it is important – Adam & Jasmine
• Q&A
Audience Poll• How many of your firms are currently utilizing social media?
• If your firm is, what are you using?– Twitter
– Video
– Other
• What is the one thing you would like to learn today?
What social media is & what it is not
What Social Media is
• Long-term strategic communication & business development tool
• Tool that allows you to disseminate your message to the broadest possible audience
• Tool that allows consumers to acquire information in the manner that they choose
What Social Media is not• A shiny new tech tool that you give to the most junior member of your
team to run with because” “they are just out of college so must know all about this stuff”
• Something you embark on without a strategy
• Something you release to all your attorneys regardless of personality and communication skills
• A tool that will bring in a hundreds of thousands of dollars in business over night When you find that tool, please call us!
“These truths we hold to be self-evident”
• Marketers who embrace social media will out-distance the competition, build community following and boost loyalty
• People buy from people who they have relationships with and social media fosters relationships
• Most lawyers are introverts by nature and social media can be the holy grail of business development tools for the truly introverted
Why you must approach social media with business development in mindPeter Shankman – Founder of HARO, first profitable company based on social media platform. Entrepreneur, Skydiver and IronMan. Why? Because the idea was there, the plane was there and the challenge was there.
The new world of developing business & communicating Jasmine Trillos-Decarie - Director of Marketing & Business Development at Foley Hoag LLP. Mom to son, Ian, and two cats, Kona & Pinot. I swim-ride-run so I can enjoy fine food, wine and coffee.
Source: Fred Cavazza.net
The Buying Cycle
Awareness
Interest
Desire
Hire
MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTSOCIAL MEDIA
Read a printed newsletter
Call a
colleague
Go to a seminar
Look in
MartindaleLaywers R Us
Old Paradigm
Follow an online banner ad
Web site
PrintCommunications
(brochures, stationery, invitations,
holiday cards)
Lawyers R Us
Call a colleague
Do a Google search
Attend a Webinar, speech,
tradeshow
Read about the firm on Connect, Legal OnRamp,
Get 16 e-alerts on the topic
Read a blog
See aTwitter post
Listen to a YouTube video
New Paradigm
Statistics from 2010 American Lawyer Survey• 96 of AmLaw 100 blogging
– 297 blogs total with 245 firm branded
• All AmLaw 100 = LinkedIn pages– 1.5 million lawyers on LinkedIn
• 31 of AmLaw 100 on FaceBook
• 76 AmLaw 100 on Twitter but less than half have ever tweeted
• If you analyze the AmLaw 200, almost guarantee that these numbers increase in all categories
Law firm’s approach to social media stages• Most law firms are either ignoring social media or using it
solely to tell stories
• Firms tend to talk “at” instead of engaging
• Firms generally do not ask our clients where they go for their information or how they like to receive it
• Firms talk about using social media the same way they talk about conducting client interviews– Lot’s of talk but little action
Five stages of social media• Ignoring
– Head in sand…it’s not going away, I promise
• Listening– “Let’s collect data” “what are our peers doing?”
• Responding– Can we say, “Nixon Peabody” If done with no strategy?
• Participating– Now we are starting to communicate
• Storytelling– Ideally this means telling our story in a manner our audience
wants to hear and on the topics that they are interested in. Now we get it!
Substance Trumps Cool• In-house counsel is looking for substance
• Social media, is our new delivery mechanism but we must deliver both quality and regular quantity– 51% of in-house counsel surveyed by The American Lawyer
indicate that they would engage Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn to receive RELEVANT information from their firms
• Relevant = Timely
• Substance trumps cool but we must leverage “cool” to communicate the substance or no one will hear
Social Media Tools – VideoThe least known but most powerful legal social media tool
Adam L. Stock - Director of Marketing & Business Development at Allen Matkins. Techie turned law firm marketer. I’m not only a law firm marketer, I’m also a customer. Really!
Why video can be an effective medium for law firms
Highlights the lawyerClients ultimately hire the lawyer not the firm
Complex information can be explained simplyWe can communicate our expertise simply
Distribution is freeBecause it is in demand, and it’s social
Internet video is the fastest growing part of the web
36%2010
57%2014
Thought
LeadershipClient
Success
Recruiting CommunityInvolvement
Online video shares many attributes with blogs
• Social media – Easily shared and forwarded (buzz)
• It has a long shelf life
• It is more easily found than other media
• The press will follow it
• Others will redistribute it if it good
Video will be distributed to social media sites
Social Media Tools – LinkedIn, FaceBook & Twitter
• Strategy – Engage clients, prospects and referral sources
– Share content and expertise (link JD Supra and others)
• Challenges– Creating information that is of interest to your Fans?
– Walking the fine “specialist” line
– Learning how to communicate within this medium
• Tactics– Define and manage the voice
– Monitor for comments and respond
– Repurpose content
• Strategy – Engage clients, prospects and referral sources
– Engage Alumni and potential recruits
• Challenges– Balancing information that is of interest to clients with information
of interest to alumni and potential recruits
– Broadcasting your brand message while also participating in discussions consistently
• Tactics– Define the voice
– Monitor for comments and respond
– Strategy and content development
– Reputation management
• Strategy– Create recurring opportunities to engage stakeholders & recruit
new followers– Using Twitter account to push out content via links– Creating a firm brand while supporting attorney brands
• Challenges– Keep Twitter feed current with links to fresh content– Maintain balance between broadcasting brand messaging and
interacting within the community
• Tactics– Defining the voice of the company– Monitoring for negative comments, trends, insights– Strategy, content development and 3rd party application integration– Reputation management– Time!
• Strategy– Create fresh content that engages readers
• Challenges– Creating content of interest without crossing the line– mediating interaction
• TacticsDefine the voice of the company
– Monitor comments, trends, insights
– Strategy and editorial schedule
– Analytics– Reputation management
Blogs
Keith Bishop Blog
Blogs get higher search rankings so they can be found faster
Keith Bishop Blog
Interesting contentis easily shared with others
Keith Bishop Blog
Distribution channels thatneed content will send distribute/ traffic to our site vs. paying for distribution
Keith Bishop Blog• TRAFFIC: 15% of traffic to firm website
• PR: Over a dozen interviews with journalists
• BUSINESS: Unsolicited contacts by new clients
• DISTRUBUTION: Others will redistribute
Digital Media StrategyA firm’s web site is critical source for the selection of outside counsel
People by from people – What do your firm’s bios look like?
300,000,000 web sites
200,000,000,000 searches/year
How can a web site stand out?
Integration is Essential• Would you ever have completely different branded ads talking
about your IP practice?
• Without integration your message will lack consistency & followers will not overlap cross-platform
• Virtually no law firms integrate social media platforms with web
• No law firms currently tailor user experience the way corporate sites can and do
Measuring Online Visibility
Content = Traffic & Media Coverage
“Every company needs to be a media company”
590
2010.
Social Media Drives Traffic