LinkedIn for Lawyers: How to Double Your Connections in No Time [INFOGRAPHIC]

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If you practice business law of any type, then you should know by now that you need to be on LinkedIn.

But just like being on a treadmill without turning on the power won’t budge your waistline, “being on” LinkedIn is not enough to get you any benefit from this fantastic social media platform for business.  You have to be active!

The infographic below from WhoIsHostingThis.com shows you how you can double your LinkedIn connections in just five minutes a day.  Specifically, you need to:

  • Send an invitation to at least one new connection a day
  • Participate in relevant LinkedIn discussion groups at least once a week
  • Ask people you know to endorse you
  • Share your blog content, an article, a video or a presentation
  • Add a link to your LinkedIn profile to your email signature and post on your social media profiles
  • Keep your profile updated

LinkedIn Connections

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Google+ Is (Walking) Dead? Or Simply Changing?

In response to the grievous reports of Google+’s death last week, a famous misquote from Mark Twain comes to mind: “It appears the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

In late April, a bold headline was turning heads: Google+ Is Walking Dead. The article made some pretty strong claims regarding Google’s struggling social network in response to Vic Gundotra’s announcement that he would be leaving the company. Mr. Gundotra was Google’s Vice President of Social and head of Google+.

This left online marketers with several questions: What will become of authorship? How will this affect Google search? Will this change Google+’s YouTube integration? What about the time and money we have put in to growing our Circles, engaging in Community discussions and posting content?

Once you delve a little deeper and look past the pessimistic headlines, things are not as grim as they appear. Apparently, Google+ is not dead (not even “walking dead”). However, there may be changes on the horizon—which should be nothing new for veteran Google+ users and online marketers.

How Does Google+ Fit In to the Google Brand?

Google+ has never truly competed with Facebook or Twitter. But look at it from a different angle. Google’s social network provided a way to tie together Google’s disparate services while establishing a clear identity of each user. This helps Google provide better search results and sell better targeted ads by better tracking and consolidating user data.

“Google+ is really two things: an identity layer that tracks and connects all of Google’s products and a social sharing app,” says JR Oakes, the Director of Search Marketing at Consultwebs. “I think we will see a movement towards individual teams (Android, Maps, Gmail) just leveraging the identity layer to add value to the products from the standpoint of what makes the product better instead of what makes G+ better.”

The Facts

Many Google employees have taken to Google+ to address these rumors and provide facts.

Yonatan Zunger, Google+ Chief Architect, denied the death of Google+, saying that “this entire TechCrunch article is bollocks.” He also confirmed that Dave Desbris will be the new head of Google+, which suggests the company currently has no plans for dismantling the social network.

In response to a Google+ post, Chris Lang asked Moritz Tolxdorff, Google’s Consumer Operations and Community Manager, to confirm if anyone on the Google+ team had been moved to Android. Tolxdorff responded, “No one is moving anywhere. Everything will stay as it is.”

In light of these public responses, marketers can breathe a sigh of relief—at least for the moment.

Responding to Possible Changes

Even though powerful voices of Google have spoken on this issue, online marketers know that anything can change in the blink of an eye. With a new head of Google+ on the way, we can likely expect to see some changes, even if minor.

Let’s take a look at a timeline of major changes and gradual integration that has occurred through the years:

Google+ is heavily integrated into several of Google’s most popular products: Local, YouTube, Gmail and last but definitely not least, search. The slightest change could create a ripple that affects all of these. I think that is what scared marketers the most.

google plusThe best way to respond to situations like this is logically and in the best interest of your business and clients. This is not the first time rumors have panicked the online marketing world. Does anyone remember when the buzz was that Facebook would soon be a paid service? This eventually led to the company’s slogan, “It’s free and always will be.”

It is crucial to respond quickly to changes, but only changes that are validated. Responding too quickly to false claims can result in missed opportunities and wasted time and money. It is best to relax, keep your eyes open for confirmed changes and respond accordingly.

Online marketing best practices are going to change. That is something we have to accept. What makes our jobs challenging (and interesting!) is keeping up with these changes, adapting new best practices and staying ahead of the curve. Whether it is a Google algorithm update, changes to Social Media sites or a change in popular tech devices, we must be vigilant and respond accordingly.

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SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Guidance on the Testimonial Rule and Social Media

Godfrey Kahn

In March 2014, through question and answer format, the Division of Investment Management issued an Investment Management Guidance Update on an adviser’s or investment advisory representative’s (IAR) ability to use social media and to promote client reviews of their services that appear on independent, third-party social media sites.

Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-1(a)(1) (the testimonial rule) prohibit investment advisers or IARs from publishing, circulating, or distributing any advertisement that refers to any testimonial concerning the investment adviser or any advice, analysis, report, or other service rendered by such investment adviser. While the rule does not define “testimonial,” the staff previously has interpreted it to mean a “statement of a client’s experience with, or endorsement of, an investment adviser.”

Third Party Commentary. The guidance clarifies that in certain circumstances, an investment adviser or IAR may publish public commentary from an independent social media site if (i) the social media site’s content is independent of the investment adviser or IAR, (ii) there is no material connection between the social media site and the investment adviser or IAR that would call the site’s or the commentary’s independence into question, and (iii) the investment adviser or IAR publishes all of the unedited comments appearing on the independent social media site. The staff explained that publishing commentary that met these three criteria would not implicate the concerns of the testimonial rule and, therefore, an investment adviser or IAR could include such commentary in an advertisement.

Inclusion of Investment Adviser Advertisements on Independent Sites. The guidance also addresses the existence of an investment adviser’s or IAR’s advertisement on an independent site and notes that such presence would not result in a prohibited testimonial provided that (i) it is readily apparent to the reader that the advertisement is separate from the public commentary and (ii) advertising revenue does not influence, in any way, the determination of which public commentary is included or excluded from the independent site.

Reference by Investment Adviser to Independent Social Media Site Commentary in a Non-Social Media Advertisement (e.g., radio or newspaper). In the guidance, the staff explained that investment advisers or IARs could reference, in a non-social media advertisement, an independent social media site. For example, an adviser could state in its newspaper ad “see us on Facebook or LinkedIn” to signal to clients and prospective clients that they can research public commentary about the investment adviser on an independent social media site. In contrast, however, the investment adviser or IAR may not publish any testimonials from an independent social media site in a newspaper, for example, without implicating the testimonial rule.

Client Lists. The guidance also addressed posting of “contacts” or “friends” on the investment adviser’s or IAR’s social media site. Such use is not prohibited, provided that those contacts or friends are not grouped or listed in a way that identifies them as current or former clients. The staff carefully noted, however, any attempts by an investment adviser or IAR to imply that those contacts or friends have received favorable results from the advisory services would implicate the testimonial rule.

Fan/Community Pages. The guidance stated that a third-party site operating as a fan or community page where the public may comment ordinarily would not implicate the testimonial rule. However, the guidance cautioned investment advisers or IARs to consider the material connection and independence rules discussed above prior to driving user traffic to such a site, including through the publication of a hyperlink.

Sources: Investment Management Guidance Update, No. 2014-4, Guidance on the Testimonial Rule and Social Media (March 2014); Investment Company Institute Memorandum Regarding the Advisers Act Testimonial Rule and Social Media Guidance (April 1, 2014).

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Facebook Post Breaches Confidentiality Provision of Settlement Agreement

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A Florida appellate court has ruled that a teenaged daughter’s post on Facebookmentioning her father’s confidential settlement of an age discrimination claim breached a confidentiality provision in the settlement agreement, barring the father from collecting an $80,000 settlement. Gulliver Schools, Inc. v. Snay, No. 3D13-1952 (Fla 3d DCA Feb. 26, 2014).

The plaintiff, Patrick Snay, was a headmaster of Gulliver, a private school in the Miami area. After his contract was not renewed, he sued for age discrimination. The parties reached a settlement pursuant to a written agreement, which included a detailed confidentiality provision. The provision stated in part:

13. Confidentiality . . . [T]he plaintiff shall not either directly or indirectly, disclose, discuss or communicate to any entity or person, except his attorneys or other professional advisors or spouse any information whatsoever regarding the existence or terms of this Agreement. . . A breach . . . will result in disgorgement of the Plaintiff’s portion of the Settlement Payments.

A couple of days after the agreement was signed, Snay’s daughter, who had recently been a student at Gulliver, posted the following on her Facebook page:

Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.

Snay’s daughter had about 1,200 Facebook friends, many of whom were current or former Gulliver students. Gulliver notified Snay of the breach and refused to tender the $80,000 to Snay under the terms of the settlement. (Snay’s attorneys received their portion). Snay moved to enforce the agreement. Limited discovery revealed that Snay and his wife notified their daughter “that the case was settled and they were happy with the result.” Snay denied ever discussing a trip to Europe. The district court held that Snay’s actions did not violate the terms of the agreement, but the appellate court reversed, noting that Snay was prohibited from “directly or indirectly” disclosing even the “existence” of the settlement.

The decision offers lessons for counsel, litigants, and parents. Counsel and litigants need to remember that these types of confidentiality provisions with disgorgement penalties are taken seriously by the courts and can be enforced. Parents need to remind their children to be mindful of what they post on social media, because it might have adult consequences.

Article by:

V. John Ella

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Jackson Lewis P.C.

New Social Network for Attorneys Now Online

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A new social network for attorneys – Foxwordy – has now launched and is offering any lawyer who is “an innovator and influencer in the legal industry” a free three-month membership to what its founder is calling an “invitation-only private social-networking platform brings together relevant top-tier legal colleagues to efficiently collaborate in real-time.”

Lawyer Attorney Social Media

It appears that this new site is aimed at creating a new attorney-to-attorney referral platform.  Foxwordy founder Monica Zent said that the site provides a way for attorneys to gain a peer validated reputation and encourages collaborations that would normally happen via the phone, in person or by email.

Some of the site’s features include:

  • Real-time collaboration with other lawyers working on common issues
  • Ability for attorneys to share best practices and language for legal documents
  • Listing of job opportunities similar to LinkedIn

Zent says there are currently 1,000 members on the website that is now out of beta.  The network will not be available to the public; it is designed solely as a website for attorneys to share information and collaborate, and membership is by invitation only.  You provide your name and email address on the home page to request an invitation.

It was unclear on the site how you are vetted for membership; since the site’s revenue model is based on subscriptions alone ($10 per month), I was guessing that the bar isn’t set too high.  And I was proven right after I had one of my non-attorney staff members enter her name and Gmail address, and she received a congratulatory email minutes later on her acceptance.

I’d be interested to hear from attorneys who sign up and participate on this new social network for lawyers – what are you finding of most value for your practice from this new social media tool?

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

3 Ways for Law Firms to Advance Their Brands In a Post-Recession Environment

 

The post-recession state of professional services branding is like living in a bland, empty room. Wherever we look, we see reduced brand activity and sameness. Once creative and compelling, professional service brands (via websites, advertising and other channels) now seem less visible. Sadly, it appears to us that both the quality and quantity of firm branding efforts are regressing.

Are past failed efforts to blame? Is the stumbling economy a disincentive to act? Or is it the pendulum swing to business development, the tremendous pressure on CMOs to drive revenue? Has anyone else noticed the fall off in brand awareness and memorability? Do we still believe brand is critical to creating preference?

Good questions, we thought. So we polled CMOs and CEOs at law, accounting and consulting firms around the world for their opinions. Respondents included leaders of local, regional, national and international firms with an average size of 382 professionals (full survey results at http://www.greenfieldbelser.com/research-page/brand-regression#).

Questions, answers and insights

Here, we’ve summarized four of the most important findings, including the questions asked, the answers received and the top line takeaways.

1. Brand Health. We asked how important is brand to the success of your firm, how helpful is your brand in achieving that success, and is your brand understood by key audiences?

  • 95% of CMOs and 92% of CEOs/managing partners believe their brand is moderately or extremely important to success
  • But only 26% find their brand “very helpful”
  • On understanding, only 21% replied that their brands were well or perfectly understood by prospects.

The takeaway? Yikes! How can something perceived to be so important yield such poor scores in helpfulness and understanding? In live presentations of these findings, some of our CMO friends suggest that the answer lies in the degree of difficulty of executing branding efforts properly in any professional services firm.

One respondent shared this comment, “These days if you wish to undertake any sort of brand exercise, it must be titled ‘Strategic Positioning Initiative’ to avoid the factious response that sometimes arrives as talk turns to brand.”

Whatever you call it, our view is that pioneering brand efforts among professional service firms have given way to safer, less expensive efforts that suffer from unoriginality and are easy to ignore. Conventional wisdom suggests that in times of recession it’s better to tighten the belt and cut marketing and branding expenditures to focus on sales. However, when firms stop investing in the brand and marketing, they have fewer opportunities to sell. Healthy firms require strong commitment to both brand/marketing and business development—they go hand in hand.

2. Brand Distinction. Is your brand promise—the value proposition—unique? Is your brand expression (look, feel and voice) unique? Do you consider your brand to be innovative?

  • Only 20%say their brands are “very” or “extremely innovative.”
  • 66% respond that their promise of value is “marginally” or “moderately unique.”
  • 54% say their brand identity or expression is “marginally” or “moderately unique.”

The takeaway? Unicorns and innovative brands are as rare as hens’ teeth. Again, responding CMOs and CEOs believe brands are important to success but say uniqueness is hard to come by in the professional services space. Perhaps this relates to the fact that lawyers and law firms typically follow precedent (and one another). Meanwhile, marketers toil in the business of  awareness building and differentiation.

That’s the rub. The most innovative firms and best marketers have the courage to take risks, break with convention, and inspire interest in the brand among their audience.

3. Brand Quality. How do you rate the quality of your firm’s brand communication tools (things like websites, advertising, content marketing, etc.)?

On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) CEOs and CMOs graded their own efforts:

  • they gave websites a mean rating of 3.6 on the five point scale
  • core identity (logo and such) scored 3.5
  •  proposal and pitch materials were 3.5
  • videos, 3.1
  • thought leadership and content marketing, 2.8
  • advertising, 2.8
  • social media, 2.5

The takeaway? On average, brand communications quality is, well, average. Given the Type-A personalities in leading professional services firms—those accustomed to performing at the head of their class and fields—the low scores might be hard to figure. But the effect of the economy sheds light on the tough grading. During the great recession, we saw marketing attention focused heavily on business development. And why wouldn’t we? During that time, sales were hard to come by as firms hunkered down among bleak predictions. We saw marketing communication investment devalued and more do-it-yourself branding within firms. Yes, that led to savings, but at what cost to quality, awareness, memorability and preference for firms?

Previous research shows that professional services firm clients and prospects have preconceived and immediate feelings about the quality of a firm solely based on the quality of brand communications. This, in turn, can have a noticeable impact on opportunities and on revenue.

4. Brand channels and investments. Which communication channels are most important and where do the greatest investments go?

  • 85% believe firm websites are the most important channel; 92% say it is the greatest area of investment.
  • 67% rate proposals and pitch material as the second most important channel; but only 30% say it is an area of greatest investment.
  • 59% say substantive alerts, speaking and thought leadership are very important; 32% indicate investments here are highest.
  • 35% viewed firm and practice advertising as most important; 45% reported it as an area of greatest investment.

The takeaway? Tuning the channels for the clearest return is a challenge. Website investment matches its perceived importance (shocker) but other communications are either overfunded or underfunded relative to perceived importance. Major events are viewed as much less important but still command a disproportionate financial commitment (boondoggle, anyone?). Pitch materials are not getting the love CMOs and CEOs feel they deserve and blue sky thought leadership is short-changed, as well.

What to do about brand progression?

While our study and data does not prove that branding in the business-to-business services sector has regressed following the recession, it does confirm that there is significant room for improvement for professional services firms.

Firms can advance their branding by considering these three tips:

1. Increase investments in marketing and business development simultaneously:We should start by mentioning that, increasing investments does not always demand higher dollar figure. It could (and often should) be a reallocation of funds from unimportant or ineffective programs to the ones that have the most impact. Think of it as finding couch money; the dollars and cents may be rattling around your firm, but you  need to collect them from underneath the cushions and spend them wisely. This often requires doing less and doing it better.

2. Have the courage to do memorable, engaging and high quality brand communications. The great ad man, David Ogilvy, said, “You can’t bore people into buying your product or service.” Firms need to take greater creative risks in order to achieve differentiation. For those of you who see branding as lipstick or worse, take the words of another “counsel.” Andy Warhol commented, “I may be superficial, but I’m deeply superficial.”

3. Demand that the investments made in marketing and business development yield measurable results:   When better branding initiatives are carried out, leads increase and create an improved conversion ratio.   Our study looked at brand tracking and found that the bottom line is that few in the professional services have the patience or budgets to do tracking research well(link to the study is below).

For brand skeptics, keep this in mind—following the U.S. Stock Market crash of 1987, Nike tripled its marketing spend and emerged from the recession with profits nine times higher than before the recession started. Yes, we know Nike is not a legal, accounting or consulting firm, but they are great at executing groundbreaking marketing plans—.And you have to admit a 9x increase in profits is a compelling argument to “just do it.”

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Greenfield/Belser Ltd.

How a Lawyer can Start a Successful LinkedIn Group for Business Development (Part 2 of 3)

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In my previous post, we looked at some preliminary steps attorneys can take to plan a LinkedIn Group. Once you’ve laid this foundation, it’s time ask yourself three questions:

LinkedIn

  • Has the niche you seek to fill with your group been addressed by existing, active groups?
  • Is the focus of your group going to be broad enough to attract a reasonable amount of participants, while being narrow enough to attract your target audience?
  • Are you able to commit to starting meaningful discussions on a daily or weekly basis, encouraging group members to participate in the conversation and removing posts that are spammy or overtly sales-oriented? (This is your last chance to back out!)

Now that you are ready to take the plunge, you’ve got some housekeeping items to attend to:

1. Develop a Strategy

Draft a brief outline of your group’s focus, target audience and goals (both for the group and for yourself). State some objectives for the group, such as, “Inform members of timely news and events” or “Enhance the interaction among professionals in this industry.” Your outline should include a content plan that identifies, for example, the types of timely issues and events your group will track. Identify how you will track this information. Put as much detail into your group plan as you can prior to launching it, to ensure that you have a clear roadmap to guide your efforts.

2. Name Your Group

LinkedIn Groups are used to attract and coalesce like-minded people, so the group name should reflect the interest area. The name is also important as a search term – what words will your target audience type to find your group? Spend some time searching LinkedIn Groups to see what is already being used and what would work best for your group. Also, keep it under 54 characters – if it’s any longer, the title will get cut-off in a search.

3. Get a Logo

A logo is a key element in presenting your group as a professional entity. If you have an in-house designer, talk with him about your group and share your strategy so he can design something appropriate. If you don’t have an in-house designer, ask around for a freelancer. This process shouldn’t take long, but it will go a long way toward giving your group an identity.

4. Create Your Group

When you create your group on LinkedIn, you’ll not only want to have your logo ready to upload, but you’ll also want to post a group summary and a list of group rules for members to refer to.

5. Finally – Invite Contacts to Join!

  • Use your existing network to build an initial membership base. Invite coworkers, past colleagues, and clients (who fit the group’s profile) to join the group. LinkedIn will allow you to send out up to 50 announcements per day to your connections.
  • As manager of the group, regularly support group members who start, and contribute to, discussions. Do this by commenting, liking and sharing their posts.
  • It is permissible to visit similar groups of which you’re a member and mention your group. Politely compliment the group and then mention that you’ve got another group that members in your group’s niche may want to consider joining.

This is the second post in a three-part series detailing how lawyers can start successful LinkedIn Groups to foster their business development efforts. For Part one, click here.

Article by:

Aileen M. Hinsch

Of:

Knapp Marketing

How a Lawyer can Start a Successful LinkedIn Group (Part 1 of 3)

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Enter LinkedIn Groups.

I recently worked with an attorney who had identified a missing opportunity in his market. He was a member of real estate-related LinkedIn Groups, and he actively participated in these groups, but the groups weren’t focused on his local market. Knowing that his hometown had a thriving real estate community and its own specific issues (it’s a well-known tourist destination), he started planning his own group for local real estate professionals. With careful planning and maintenance, he saw his group grow to over 150 professionals in just 30 days, and he even picked up a new matter from a group member during this time. Cha-ching – SUCCESS!

So what did this attorney do to lay the foundation for a thriving group?

1. Research

This attorney researched the current LinkedIn groups for real estate as well as professionals of all industries within his local market. He made sure that his group would fill a void in the market, and he also reviewed the membership of other groups to confirm that his target audience was participating in these other LinkedIn groups – hoping to eventually lure them to his by providing a valuable network.

2. Planning

He understood that he would need to invite his own contacts to get the group up and running. Months before launching the group, he began building and categorizing his LinkedIn contacts by region and industry. He set aside time to do this every day for several months so he would have the quantity of contacts needed to start the group as well as having earmarked the appropriate contacts to invite. Put simply, he identified his target audience.

3. Participation

You know the saying, you need to walk before you can run? It’s true for starting a LinkedIn Group, too. Our attorney set aside an hour each Friday to post articles to groups he had already joined, as well as to his entire network. He also participated in discussions within these groups. This helped him to get used to the ongoing commitment required of managing a LinkedIn group, and it also educated him as to what works best in terms of providing quality content that spurs group conversations.

4. Enthusiasm

As I worked with the attorney on these initial steps, he reminded me of something that we all need to remember. Active, ongoing participation in anything – whether for business or pleasure – requires that you enjoy it. If you dread logging in to LinkedIn, then starting a group isn’t for you. But if you think this may start to “get a little bit fun,” as he did, then you know you are on the right path.

Article by:

Aileen M. Hinsch

Of:

Knapp Marketing

Google Sticks a Fork in Guest Blogging for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

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Last month, Google’s Matt Cutts, who heads up the search engine giant’s webspam team, wrote this on the Google Webmaster blog:

So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy. In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well. Likewise, I wouldn’t recommend relying on guest posting, guest blogging sites, or guest blogging SEO as a link building strategy.

So should you halt your guest blogging efforts?  Well, in a word, no.  Because SEO is not the only reason you guest blog – either on other blogs, or hosting guests on your own blog.  Which is why Cutts later updated his original post to say this:

Google SEO Search Engine Optimization

It seems like most people are getting the spirit of what I was trying to say, but I’ll add a bit more context. I’m not trying to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future.

Guest blogging used to be ONE way to develop quality links back to your own website or blog. Unfortunately, those trying to game the system with low quality content have made it – as Cutts says – a spammy practice.  Those that use guest blogging as their sole source of link building will now be out of luck and may even be penalized.

But I would still recommend guest blogging as a way for attorneys to spread their authority to other audiences that may not have otherwise been engaged by your own blog or website.  It can also still be a great way for you to improve the visibility of your firm and, when shared on social media, can help your SEO efforts from that standpoint.

As this blog post and other recent developments at Google demonstrate, you can’t go wrong when it comes to SEO if you pay attention to these 3 things:

1.  Designing a website that provides users with a superb experience – from the way they navigate the site to the information they find there.

2.  Developing high quality, relevant content for your area of practice that people want to read to help them solve the problems they would hire you for, populated with relevant keywords.

3.  Being an active participant on social media networks that your prospects and clients frequent, sharing all that great content you’ve developed for your website and your blog and engaging online with your target market.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

What Impacts Google Search Results

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Infographic about things that improve a person’s Google Ranking like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and WordPress Blogs.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute