There was no doubt, the new process was clearly more efficient and would make firms more money. To help spread this innovation to the factories in Pakistan, the researchers provided very specific instructions on this simple change that would make factories more money. Over 100 factories were given the new design and information. A year later, only six had actually implemented the change. Why was the number so low?

Compensation.

The factories were all in favor of this clear improvement in the process, but the factory workers were highly resistant. Factory workers in Siakot, Pakistan are paid for each piece they cut out, and learning a new process meant that they would have to slow down in the short term and so they resisted the decrease in pay. It seems very shortsighted by the factory workers, but the truth is that the goals of the bosses weren’t in line with the workers. The six firms that were successful in making the switch were willing to give bonuses to the workers willing to learn the new process or had some other incentive that made this a win-win situation.

What does this have to do with lawyers and law firms? For over two decades law firms have had major innovations available to the firms in the form of systems for project management that would drastically reduce the cost of litigation and increase the effectiveness, yet the majority of law firms still haven’t adopted these practices. In more recent years, new customer relationships management (CRM) software exponentially increases the value of the combined networks of law firms, yet most lawyers either don’t share their contacts or are unwilling to take the time to learn the power of the tool. Take a look at Linkedin and other social media. These tools were thought to be a game-changer for law firms, finally, every member of the firm could do something to advance business development, but at most firms, the true participation of lawyers actively sharing using social media is less than 5%.

What do all three of these examples have in common? Most firms are preaching the benefits of these practices, but almost none are tying compensation to their use.

The message from law firms to lawyers sounds a little like this:

“Please use all these new innovations, but we will only reward you for doing things the old way.”

Law firms are filled with factory workers that instead of getting paid by the piece are getting paid by the hour. Where is the motivation to provide better service, more efficiently, at a lower cost? It isn’t there, and until firms provide a carrot in the form of compensation, lawyers will keep cranking out the hours. Innovation isn’t easy, but law firms the make it a priority can find a way to make more money and provide superior service to their clients. That should be all the incentive firms need.

Here is a Youtube video explaining the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHgY9YGicz8

Adrian Dayton is an internationally recognized speaker on Linkedin and social media for the legal profession. He is also the founder of the software company Clearview Social that helps firms amplify their influence through Linkedin. You can find out more at http://Clearviewsocial.com

The post Overcoming resistance to process improvement by lawyers first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

I’d like to believe we live on a planet where reason dictates the choices we make as well as the policies of law firms. As numerous Above the Law articles and personal experience has demonstrated to me, this isn’t always the case- and nowhere is this irrationality more perplexing than firm policies towards Linkedin recommendations. Linkedin has a feature that allows lawyers and clients to write recommendations to each other. For a recommendation to be published online, it has to “accepted” by the person being recommended. The problem is, major law firms are prohibiting the use of Linkedin recommendations by their attorneys (both inbound and outbound). Referrals and peer-to-peer recommendations are the lifeblood of most practices. So, why are so many firms prohibiting their use?

“We take a very conservative approach,” explained Melanie Daniels, Director of Marketing at Indiana-based firm of Baker & Daniels that prohibits their attorneys from using Linkedin recommendations. Our professional ethics counsel isn’t going to take any risks and their interpretation of the Indiana rules is that recommendations are not allowed.” Indiana has among the most strict regulations in the nation when it comes to recommendations. According to Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

7.2(d): “A lawyer shall not, on behalf of himself, his partner or associate, or any other lawyer affiliated with him or his firm, use or participate in the use of any form of public communication which: (3) contains a testimonial about or endorsement of a lawyer;

When I asked Andy Perlman, Legal Ethics Professor at Suffolk University Law School, what he thought of the Indiana Rule, he had this to say, “I’m not familiar with how that rule has been interpreted in Indiana, so I can’t say if it was intended to prohibit the types of endorsements that are common on Linkedin. If it covered Linkedin endorsements, however, I think there is a non-frivolous argument that the provision is unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment.” First Amendment aside, there are other more practical arguments in favor of Linkedin recommendations.

“Any restrictions regarding online peer endorsements are short-sighted and not dealing with reality,” according to Mark Britton, Attorney, and CEO of Avvo.com. Although Mark certainly has a horse in the race as the CEO of a company that relies on peer recommendations by lawyers, he makes some compelling arguments. “Martindale’s AV Rating and Superlawyers ratings are almost entirely the results of peer endorsements. The fact that these ratings are offline shouldn’t make any difference.” Mark also points out that “most states appear not to have an issue with it, including the usually conservative Florida, (Florida Bar Guidelines for Networking Sites) and South Carolina has a non-binding Ethics Opinion expressly prohibiting ‘client’ reviews on online profiles, holding that some peer endorsements may be OK, provided they comply with the advertising rules.”

Law firms don’t want to go to work or the headache of having to determine which endorsements are ok and which aren’t- and so they simply throw the baby out with the bathwater and prohibit the use of Linkedin recommendations altogether. This would be like telling attorneys they could leave the firm at night, but they weren’t allowed to open their mouths for fear they might say something stupid. If recommendations are so important to referral sources- wouldn’t it make sense to find a way to provide some guidance for the use of recommendations rather than simply prohibiting the practice altogether? This debate is fueled by fear- take this ABA article “Navigating the Ethical Pitfalls of Online Networking” which explains the following about online recommendations:

Be very careful here. Some states prohibit attorneys from using any testimonials in their advertising materials. If you are licensed in one these jurisdictions, you cannot display any “Recommendations” or similar testimonials in your online profiles.

Does your Linkedin profile fit the definition of “advertising material?” Or was the rule referring to law firm website profiles? Did the rules ever anticipate the type of online networks that we participate in now? In Linkedin, recommendations are written by a 3rd party and posted on a website that is not under the control of the law firm. As long as the recommendations don’t contain factually incorrect material, unverifiable claims, or promises of certain outcomes- then what is the issue? Keep in mind, most of these rules came about to limit ambulance-chasing by attorneys- not to prohibit peers of a learned profession from recommending one another.

“As a practical solution, lawyers can simply review the Linkedin recommendations that they get in order to make sure the post complies with attorney advertising rules,” according to David Barrett, who has been referred to as the “Linkedin Lawyer” with over 10,000 connections on the site. “Firms should likely run these ‘firm publications’ through a review board like they would any newsletter, website or other materials.”

It comes down to firms wanting to control their brand, and provide proper supervision of their lawyers. “One individual attorney’s missteps could cost the entire firm an ethical problem with bar overseers,” according to Mr. Barrett. “With a well written social media policy, as well as training, law firms will be able to take next the step, explore the positive aspects . . . show off the amazing intellectual capital and talent that law firms employ. Simply prohibiting such publications is likely unsupportive of the firm’s overall marketing, public relations, and business development objectives.”

Or in other words, prohibiting Linkedin recommendations for fear of lawyer missteps is tantamount to prohibiting attorneys from opening their mouths in public for fear of them saying something stupid. Your best and brightest attorneys deserve to be recognized for who they are, stop making it harder than it should be for them to be recognized.

The post Recommendations on Linkedin first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

So how are attorneys doing it?  By personally maintaining a presence online.  56% of attorneys reported having a presence in 2010, up from just 43% in 2009 and 15% in 2008.  These are major shifts.  Take a look at the classic innovation curve:

For those unfamiliar with the Rogers Innovation Curve, think of the first group of innovators as those who stood in line for the first iPhone, the second group of early adopters are those who did their research and jumped on for the second version of the iPhone.  The early majority represents widespread acceptance of the technology and the late majority is when people like my father (who just recently stopped dictating emails to his secretary) buy iPhones.  The laggards are those who have not yet figured out how to turn on their computers.

Participating in social networks is no longer a fringe activity enjoyed by techies and gamers.  Social networks have hit the mainstream for lawyers and since lawyers tend to lag behind the rest of the population I suspect there is even great penetration among businesses and among decision-makers within companies.

The survey identified 83% of attorneys using Linkedin, 68% using Facebook and 18% using the scarcely talked about Plaxo (perhaps because it sounds more like medication than a social network.)  It is interesting to contrast these numbers to those of the Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey by Greentarget earlier this year that asked in-house counsel which social networks they had used in the past 24 hours.  For attorneys 30-39, a whopping 68% had used Facebook in the last 24 hours for personal reasons while only 47% has used Linkedin for professional reasons in the last 24 hours.  The bottom line, significantly more time is spent on Facebook than Linkedin and savvy lawyers will likely realize they need to go where their best chances at winning new business are.

Have social networks

The post 10% of lawyers report being retained via social networks first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

I made a very different observation about the average Australian as I walked through the city or rode on the train. So many of them were constantly staring at their iPhones, Blackberry’s, or mobile devices. Australians love their technology so much that, according to a recent study, they lead the globe in the use of social media. You can read more details here, in Ross Dawson’s article, “Australian’s are #1 Globally in Social Media Use.” So if the Australian people are using social media, how about the lawyers? It may come as no surprise to you that Australian lawyers are not as linked in to social media as their non-solicitor counterparts. From interviews with many of the largest firms in Australia I have learned that outside of the marketing department, most attorneys aren’t using social media at all except for purely personal reasons. This creates a great opportunity for those lawyers willing to jump in.

Lawyers that use social media for business development won’t be competing with many others for attention. Have you seen the percentage of the Yellow Pages that are taken up by lawyer advertisements? It is huge, even in Australia. As a business with a finite advertising budget, you can choose to advertise where all of your competitors are advertising- or do what Stephen Fairley calls contrarian marketing. “Find out what the crowd is doing and do the opposite.” There is a giant market out there, and the first movers will position themselves like the unusual company that started using the internet to sell books online.

Australia is fairly conservative from a legal marketing standpoint. They are early adopters of technology, but social media seems like a different creature altogether. Australian law firms are careful, just like those in the US. They are dealing with questions like, whose job is it to handle social media within the firm? What should their policy be? Major firms in Australia are putting a toe in the water by starting a firm Twitter page. Norton Rose (formerly Deacons in Australia), Blake Dawson, and even Baker & Mckenzie are all trying Twitter out as an experiment- as a firm- but not yet as individual attorneys. A good start, but not quite on target until they involve the actual attorneys and practice groups.

View from Baker & McKenzie Office in AMP Building

The message I shared with firms here in Australia last month is the same message I have been sharing for the last year in the US. Social media is all about building relationships and creating conversations. Marketing folks can’t build relationships for your lawyers. The lawyers themselves, or “solicitors” as they call them in the UK and Australia, need to participate. They call it social media for a reason. I had the pleasure of meeting so many outstanding lawyers and marketing and business development individuals while here in Australia. Such a friendly group of people. For Australians in the legal world, using social media effectively won’t be a challenge- the challenge as always is to decide social media is worth your time, and dedicate the time to make it pay off. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is not yet an iPhone app for that.

Adrian Dayton is a New York attorney and author of the book Social Media for Lawyers: Twitter Edition. He spent the month of March 2010 in Australia speaking about social media for lawyers. To learn more about how social media can be can become part of your overall marketing plan, join Adrian Dayton and Concep CEO Anthony Green for a free conference call on Friday, April 23rd at 9:00 AM EST. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP for the free conference call.

The post Social Media Can’t Be Created by Committee first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

As case studies to guide us, I have used a number of stories from Influencer: The Power to Change Anything As well as other case studies from my own experience that may be helpful.  There is a limited amount of data available on large law firms implementing successful widespread social media practices, so I will add my experiences along with cues from a few other industries.

The book Influencer focuses on the vital behaviors that lead to behavioral changes for individuals and groups. The book takes a look at very basic issues within the influence field, from trying to help an overweight person get in shape- to the much more complex issues of tackling the spread of parasitic worms among African tribes.

In these situations and many others, the authors have identified 6 sources of influence that need to be addressed to create lasting change.  We are going to take a look at how these 6 sources of influence can be directed towards bringing about social media implementation within a system as complex as a global law firm.  The 6 sources are personal motivation, personal ability, peer pressure, strength in numbers, structural motivation, and structural ability.

1. Personal motivation

As I drive through certain parts of the city of Buffalo, there is a lot of trash in the streets and on the sidewalks.  Seeing people just throw their wrappers over their shoulders or out the window- is sadly all too common a sight.  The worst event I witnessed was in a McDonald’s parking lot.  An individual had finished eating their food and was sitting in their parked car.  They opened the door, placed the value meal wrappers under their car (expecting that nobody was watching), and drove away leaving the mess for someone else to clean it up.  Why on earth would someone leave their garbage for someone else to pick it up?  Selfishness obviously, but it is more than that- it is a lack of connectedness to the community as a whole.  This is a failure of the community just as much as it is a failure of the individuals.  In law firms, the problem isn’t with trash- but it IS with a failure to feel connected, and this affects motivation.

Lawyers at big firms make good salaries, and often this salary comes with the expectation that attorneys will do it all.  Hit your billable hours, go to networking events, find time for pro-bono work, and be good citizens in your community at large.  For lawyers to add one more task like social media to their already full plate, they need to personally value the new task.  Every law firm has an older attorney that still refuses to use email.  Why doesn’t he or she use email?  It is likely because he doesn’t appreciate the time he could save and other efficiency gains.  Attorneys taking this first step need to find a purpose behind this new activity.  Without the properly aligned values, and personal motivation- any firm initiatives into the arena of social media will be as effective as yelling to those who litter to “pick up your trash!”

Another approach by law firms is to simply say, “you will do it because you are getting paid to.”  This may work to motivate people to arrive on time, but will most likely not work for a vital behavior like business development that is far more intangible.

“What works?”

A system that will convey the benefits and value of social networking.

2. Personal ability

Have you ever seen a little kid trying to dance to music for the first time?  It is hilarious.  They jump, they twist, they spin- and they make it obvious that they have no idea what they are doing.  They aren’t afraid to move their body and just have a good time.  They learn how to dance eventually, but they started out looking foolish until they learn by watching others- or until they teach themselves.  Attorneys are very different from the little kid dancing for the first time.  When it comes to social media, they are afraid to make a misstep- so they would rather just sit it out.  Even those with the desire- that see the value- aren’t sure where to start.

In addition, there is a misconception out there that everybody born after 1975 is social media savvy.  For practical purposes that is like saying that someone that knows how to operate a telephone is good at making sales calls.  There is a big difference between sharing pictures from last night’s party on Facebook- and developing important business relationships online.  Even young attorneys need direction and guidance when it comes to engaging online.  To illustrate this point, a large group of professionals was recently asked, “how many of you are on Linkedin?”

Almost every hand went up.  In a follow-up question, the audience was asked- “how many of you have done more than create a profile, and invite a few of your business contacts to connect on Linkedin?”

Not a single person raised their hand.  In fact, one person raised their hand and asked, “Is there MORE you can do on Linkedin than that?”

Joining groups, asking questions, answering questions, recommending people, asking for recommendations- these are all POWERFUL tools within Linkedin, but attorneys need to understand how to use them before they can move past the second step in working to change.  Law firms can help facilitate the training and conversations that will help attorneys acquire the ability and overcome the initial impulse of sitting on the sidelines.

3. Peer pressure

There is a great sense of inertia within large law firms, and the prevailing wisdom says to go with the flow. Even if an attorney makes it through hurdle 1 and 2, peer pressure within a firm will often keep them from really diving into social media for fear of rocking the boat (dual pun metaphor was not intended, but will be left in for effect). Are firms unintentionally creating this hyper-cautious peer pressure?  Has the firm put in place policies that hinder social media use rather than directing it?  This needs to be dealt with before effective adoption of social media can really occur within a firm.

When I brought in my first legal client through Twitter, I was congratulated for bringing in a new client- but then immediately cautioned against continual use of social media.  Changing this stigma within a firm has to come from two places: from the top, but also from the bottom.  Influencer: The Power to Change Anything tells a story about a scientist that had designed a bio-engineered seed strain that would create a huge increase in the farmer’s crop yield, but NO farmer would try it out.  They didn’t trust the scientist, and they weren’t willing to risk the next year’s crop on a strain that was unproven in their minds.

Then the scientist stumbled upon an innovative farmer that wore Hawaiian shirts and always had on shades.  He was willing to try out these new seeds- and he had an outstanding crop.  But guess what- farmers weren’t convinced.  The other farmers trusted the guy in the Hawaiian shirtless than they trusted the scientist.  What the scientist finally found was that by getting a couple of farmers that were well-liked to become champions of the new strain, and simply try it out on a portion of their field- he was able to produce credible success stories.  These success stories helped to sway popular opinion enough to influence others to use these new and improved seeds.

When picking champions within a law firm, the obvious choice is often the techie that plays World of Warcraft and invented his own iPod app.  This might be the wrong strategy if that individual is viewed like the farmer in the Hawaiian Shirt.  The best champions for social media within a firm will be those who are well-liked and successful.  Otherwise, influencing the firm as a whole is far less likely.  Pick carefully champions that other lawyers can relate to and that other lawyers will look up to.

4. Strength in Numbers

Nothing demonstrates the power of strength in numbers any better than the Grameen Bank.  Also known as “Micro-credit” this is a process where very small loans are made to impoverished individuals.  Influencer: The Power to Change Anything tells the story of a group of five women who come together to qualify for their first micro-credit loan.  Each of the five will start their own business, but only one at a time will receive funding.  The ability of the group to qualify for a loan is dependent on each venture having success.  This produces a sense of personal investment within the group.  One story tells of a group that meets together and through a mastermind group of 5 highly impoverished individuals comes up with a revolutionary business idea.  Tanika, one of the members of the group has an idea to sell hair that can be made into wigs.  Another member of the group suggests that perhaps children could be enticed to collect the hair from their parent’s wigs, in exchange for plastic toys.  With an initial investment of $20, this group comes up with an idea that eventually creates jobs for hundreds of people.  The secret?  Strength in numbers.  As my mentor, Paul Brown says, “No one of us has it all together, but together we have it all.”

One of my largest clients holds brief weekly meetings to discuss how the firm is using social media.  Drawing from the collective wisdom of the group, this firm has created almost a dozen separate blogs, a mini film set for short YouTube videos, and a social media strategy that is constantly improving and evolving with the technology.  Many law firms have one or two individuals using social media effectively, but they function like independent rogue agents.  Imagine what types of success could occur with group brainstorming and combing various strengths.  Ideas would flow for blog posts or white papers – this way firms could take advantage of the collective wisdom of the crowd.

Step 5: Structural Motivation: Design and Demand Accountability

How do you motivate a large group of lawyers?  Is there a good incentive?  Is there an appropriate punishment for failure to act?  In Influencers, the book takes a look at motivating children.  Offering a reward for good behavior will often have a reverse effect.  Children suddenly start expecting a reward for good behavior and no longer enjoy the satisfaction that it brings.  In a sense, the reward ruins future behavior.

So how do you motivate employees to use social media, and to use it properly?  One example comes from a global law firm that I have been working with for months.  They realized that they didn’t want to bribe anybody to use social media- and they certainly couldn’t force anybody, so they looked for individuals that had the potential to be champions within the organization.  As was outlined earlier- identifying these champions is important, but providing them with sufficient resources is even more important.

Your champions will need two things to succeed: proper access to social media platforms, and a professional web/blog presence to create their platform.  For companies that pick champions, but don’t give the champions the proper tools is like giving away a racecar minus the keys.  So what are the “keys” to the car in this case?

1.  Let them blog

There are tons of free or inexpensive blogging platforms out there- major organizations need to be a step above, but a professionally designed WordPress blog is both cost-effective and powerful.  Letting your employees use social media but prohibiting blogs (part of many irrational company policies) keeps employees from really maximizing their potential.

2. Unlock Your Computers

I’m not saying banks should ease off on their security level, but for social media to work effectively- professionals need the ability to download software to their machines.  One large client I was working with was hoping to gain efficiency by using Google Wave with a large group for a marketing initiative, unfortunately, half of the employees could not access Google Wave because Chrome couldn’t be added to their locked machines.  There are a lot of great free applications online (Tweetdeck being a prime example).  These tools make social media use MUCH more efficient- so don’t make your employees engage with one hand tied around their back.

3. Teach Proper Principles and Let Them Self Govern

“No social media use at work.” “No Internet access at work.”  These are very common components of the social media policies of many Fortune 500 Companies, and it doesn’t make sense.  If you build a wall around your company this encourages employees to use aliases, find workarounds, and basically waste much more time than if they just had access.  An employee with an alias is far more dangerous than the employee allowed to blog in the open because the company has no idea what the individual with the alias is talking about- but can easily monitor company employees with free tools like Google Alerts.

4. Direct the Power

“So should we just let the employees do whatever they want online?”  This is the question I often get.  The answer?  “Yes, you trusted them when you hired them, and you should trust them now.”  Direct them, give them metrics and sales goals that work together with their social media efforts.  One white-shoe firm in New York has a policy “NO SOCIAL MEDIA USE.”  Not only is this policy unwise, but it may also lead to additional liability for the firm because some employees will find a way to interact through social channels whether it is by using their phones or while they are at home.

Step 6: Structural Ability

It isn’t hard to convince professionals that using social media is a great idea.  They get it.  I have presented to attorneys all over the country, and I imagine that as they watch me shoot out messages on Twitter and engage users across the world- they feel a certain confidence that they can get home and do the same thing.  Then they return to their busy lives, they start a Twitter account or a new blog, and they are confronted by something as terrifying as the first day at Jr. High- a blank screen.

New users aren’t following anybody, nobody is following them, and more importantly, they have no clue what to write and how to get started.  This really isn’t too different from your first day at a new school, with no friends and no idea where to get started – new social media users can’t help but feel completely alone, and this awkwardness usually extinguishes any enthusiasm they originally had to get started using social media.

at the Managing Partner Forum in Palm Beach, Florida where Dennis Snow, an ex- Disney World Exec turned consultant and author spoke about the challenges of implementing new initiatives within an organization.  Mr. Snow broke it down into 3 stages that occur over time: acceptance is the easy part, then comes a certain awkwardness that prevents many from actually succeeding and implementing, and finally, with enough effort, a certain percentage will assimilate the new process.  It struck me as a fitting analogy for developing good social media habits.

Stage I: Acceptance

It is the prevailing wisdom that the use of social media and networking through platforms like Linkedin or Martindale Hubble Connected is a GOOD thing.  We have seen tremendous growth with millions of new users joining these platforms.  One challenge the owners of social media sites face is that only a small percentage of users are engaging, really using the site.  A recent statistic showed that only 10% of Twitter users post on a regular basis.  This is no surprise- in fact, it is human nature.  How many people raise their hands to ask questions in large lectures?  How many people call in to radio shows?  It is a very small percentage of the total group.  The larger group also referred to as “lurkers” online, can’t seem to get past the proverbial first base online.  There is a certain shyness or awkwardness that inhibits engagement.

Stage II: Overcoming Awkward

How many of you have been in an awkward situation before? Whether it is starting at a new school, working out a gym for the first time, or even working in a new office- we all can relate to these awkward situations.  It just isn’t easy starting a new habit or a new process.

This is the same trial faced by those trying to start out in social media communities.  Whether they have a goal to write a blog, engage potential clients on Twitter, or even just identify prospects on Linkedin- it takes time, and most are so discouraged by their first bad experience that they never make it back for a second try.

So how can you get past this awkward phase?  Here are 3 easy steps:

1. Set measurable social media goals- groups joined, contacts added, phone conversations created.  These can serve as benchmarks that will keep you motivated.

2. Make it a habit.  Schedule time for social media each week.  Schedule just a couple of days a week at first, then ramp it up as you feel more comfortable.  Social media has become part of the minutiae of my life.  I check Twitter and blog posts like others check voice mail and email.  As you set aside time each week or each day to do SOMETHING online- it becomes part of your routine.  The more you do, the more comfortable you will feel.

3. Move conversations offline.  I can’t emphasize this enough.  Finding a new contact or client through social media is such a great feeling- and once you actually speak and create a real offline relationship, it gives you the feeling that you are making progress.  This single item will, more than anything, help you feel like you are getting past the awkward phase.

Stage III: Assimilation

Stage three is a great feeling.  For some people this happens after the first weeks of using social media, for others it takes months.  The important thing is that it happens, that these social networks become a part of your routine.

I shared this idea with a Chief Marketing Officer this past week, and she asked me a very important question.  “Why?” Why would she want her attorneys making social networking part of their lives?

The answer is simple; if they don’t, they are going to miss opportunities.  Decision-makers often go with the professional that is at the top of their mind- and social media provides an easy way to gain that status.  The secret is “touch touch touch” as Allen Fuqua said this past week as part of the Social Media panel at the Marketing Partner Forum.  Lawyers are too busy to make it to every dinner and cocktail party their contacts attend- but they can find time to engage a few minutes online each day.  Your competitors are most likely already online, and if they aren’t- don’t you think YOU should be?

Conclusion

There isn’t a silver bullet that will help influence your organization one way or another, only developing a continual process will get you there.  When designing a strategy, make sure you hit each six steps, or your efforts are unlikely to be successful.

The post 6 Steps to Large Firm Social Media Implementation first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

“In all my years as an attorney, I have never seen a marketing initiative as well received as Adrian Dayton’s Social Media Ramp-Up. -Former Watergate Prosecutor and Dorsey & Whitney Partner Nick Akerman, Esq.

There will be 2 full-day Social Media sessions first in Sydney on the 23rd of March and the second on the 25th of March in Melbourne.  The first half of the day will be social media basics, with the second half saved for more advanced techniques.

Who should attend? Managing partners; Marketing partners; Rainmakers; Chief Marketing Officers; Firm administrators; Lawyers interested in building their businesses.

Agenda & Booking Details: https://adriandayton.com/australia Apply now, the early bird special ends March 9th, 2010

Adrian is also the author of Social Media for Lawyers: Twitter Edition.

Social Media for Lawyers: Twitter Edition is a “must-read” for all law firms. Indeed, it should be studied avidly, not only by lawyers but also by any professional service firm that wants to grow its business fast using Web 2.0 techniques.

-UK Partner Chris J. Sherliker, esq.

Sponsored by Martindale-Hubbell Connected

The post Connected Text first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

I found my true passion in entrepreneurship.  There was nothing as exciting to me as sitting down across the table to a supplier in Thailand or a distributor in China and negotiating a mutually beneficial deal.  I had found my dream business- or so I thought.  Unfortunately, as the import industry, I was in changed, it suddenly became much harder to make the income I was hoping for.  Then it hit me one day out of the blue- I needed to go to law school.  Not to be an attorney, but to enhance my skills as a business person.

All through law school people asked me, “what type of an attorney are you going to be?”  To which I responded,

“I really just want to be an entrepreneur.”

Things went very well for me in law school, I got good grades, was elected Class Director two years in a row, and my resume was so unique that I kept getting interviews for law jobs.  Two years into law school, my wife gave birth to a son- and so I did what most people would do in my position- I took a summer position as a Law Clerk, and later accepted the firm’s offer to join the firm’s corporate department.  I justified this to myself by thinking, hey I loved negotiating deals for my business- maybe I would enjoy doing the same for other companies.

As I finished my last few months of law school, I kept waiting for the right opportunity to start a business- but I just wasn’t finding it.  Fortunately, I had a job lined up, so I decided I would give it a go.  I realized the error of my ways very early on.  Being a young corporate associate doesn’t involve deal-making at all.  Ever.  It mostly involves sitting around, waiting for research assignments, and trying to keep busy.  You are judged by your billable hours, but you have no control over the amount of work that comes your way.  This is very frustrating for an entrepreneur.

Opportunities often come when you least expect them.  Since graduating from law school I had written a manuscript for a book entitled “The Year of 12 Virtues” which I was trying to get published.  My friend, Brian Watkins, that handles social media strategy for Omniture and Adobe recommended,

“Jump on Twitter, start a blog that should help you get published.”

I did just as he recommended.  Started a blog all about my book, and started to build a following about it.  Then the unexpected happened, one of the writers I was following asked one day in a tweet,

“Can anybody recommend a contract lawyer?”

After exchanging email addresses, and talking on the phone, our firm had suddenly retained our first client through Twitter.  Bringing in one client was obviously no big deal, but it opened my eyes to untapped potential in social media that most attorneys were completely unaware of.  I started sketching out the beginnings of a business plan and fortunately, I was helped along the way.  In the second round of layoffs at my firm, my number was called.

This turned out to be very fortunate.  With a small severance package, I was on my way.  The perfect series of events to get me out of the law firm, and into the business world.

I never imagined staying in the legal industry, but you can’t really choose the opportunities that come your way.  I am so glad to have gone to law school, become a lawyer, and learned so much about this industry- but in the end, I am very glad that I am building a business where I’m traveling the country, helping open people’s eyes to new technologies.  For my personality, it sure beats sitting behind a desk.

Before I decided to go to law school, everyone asked me, “why do you want to be a lawyer?”  My answer was always the same- to be a better businessman.  I’m finally getting my wish.

The post Should I Go to Law School? first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

Law firm management is faced with a similarly dangerous situation that requires decisive action. According to Altman Weil’s Law Firms in Transition survey,

• 88% of law firms’ leaders reported they have “chronically underperforming lawyers”
• 52% said their equity partners are not sufficiently busy
• 89% reported weak business development skills as the problem
• 59% blamed the problem on declining market demand

Bottom line: law firms are suffering from a major oversupply problem. 

Perhaps even more insidious, according to Debra Weiss writing for the American Bar Association, is the inability of law firms to change. In 2015 only 44 percent of lawyers resisted change, now that number has risen to 65 percent. In the moment when firms most need to evolve to survive, partners are digging in their heels at an alarming rate.

How can law firms correct the oversupply problem? 

1. Require all partners with excess capacity to supplement missing billable hours with marketing and business development activities

I’ve spoken to legal marketers from more than 400 firms in the past three years and, in nearly every conversation someone says, “our lawyers are too busy to write/market/bring in business.”

What this recent survey shows is that many lawyers may be unwilling to market, but they clearly have the time. Firms are businesses and, in any other business when numbers are down, efforts to sell and market must increase. Law firms are no different, but until firms require business development from underperforming partners, nothing will change.

Great business-development activities for partners going through a slow period include:

• listing their twenty most influential contacts and meeting with each one
• interviewing current and potential clients for blog posts
• writing and blogging content that supports company goals
• building out your social media profile

There are many other activities, but you get the idea.

2. Increase investment in business development training

In the Weil study,  89% of the firms reported “weak business development skills” as a major problem. Anecdotally, in talking to hundreds of firms, I’ve found that nearly half of them never invest in outside business development training. This is a missed opportunity. It’s clearly time for law firms to upgrade these skills.

There are outstanding business development training programs offered by third parties in the legal industry, including The Ackert Advisory, Akina (A GrowthPlay Company), Knapp Marketing, LawVision and many others. Don’t make the mistake of decreased expenditures in business development training because numbers are down. The opposite reaction—investing in business development training—is the rational choice.

3. Adopt new key performance indicators (KPI’s)

Most firms have a laser focus on billable hours. Billable hours are the outputs. However, firms need to focus on the inputs, or “leading indicators,” as well. One example of a leading indicator is the number of meetings with potential clients. A business mentor taught me that, “a metric measured is a metric improved.” If law firms treated leading indicators with the same respect they treated their beloved billable hour, the result would be that both would increase.

4. Stop punishing successful business developers 

The 80/20 rule predicts quite accurately that more than 80% of business in a law firms is generally brought in by fewer than 20% of the partners. If a lawyer is a member of the 20%  club, they are still “feeding the firm” and should never be dinged for barely missing a billable hour target.

I heard a disturbing story of a bright young attorney that brought in more than a million dollars of business to his firm in a year but missed his billable hour target by 50 hours, therefore not making his bonus. This doesn’t seem logical. Stop making poor decisions regarding compensation and acknowledge business-development wins.

5. Use competitions to motivate business development

Earlier this year, I spoke on a panel with the CMO’s of three major law firms. Each had run competitions with extra incentives for the partners to increase their business development efforts. In every case, the competitions led to large increases—often six or seven figures worth—of new business.

You would think that these firms would repeat these contests yearly, right? Sadly, no. Even though these competitions were wildly successful, many were discontinued by the firms because they didn’t seem fair to those not part of the competition.

Firms need to get creative if they want to change the behavior of their lawyers, and there isn’t a quick fix. Changing behavior requires consistent, long-term commitments to innovation. Then, law firms need to stick out the process in order to continuously improve.

6. Make client visits mandatory

One CMO I spoke with told me that they have a goal to visit 1,000 clients by the end of the year. Their lawyers are incentivized with small prizes and the results have been unbelievable. They’ve found that, when lawyers visit their clients, they generally bring in new matters, meaning increased business. In fact, one new matter came in before the visiting lawyer even exited the client’s building. I’d say that’s time well spent!

Econssultancy.com’s research shows that there is a 60-70% probability of success when selling to an existing customer as opposed to 5-20% chance when selling to a non-customer. Lawyers, visit your clients. Your existing clients know you, your firm, and your skill set. You have already established a trusted lawyer-client relationship. Build on that.

Conclusion

For my Dad driving the van, indecision would have been fatal. Law firms face a similar situation. If law firms want to see different results, they need to change the inputs.

Any other ideas for dealing with the oversupply problem? Feel free to share them in the comments or email me adrian@clearviewsocial.com.

Adrian Dayton is the Founder of Clearview Social, the easiest way to get professionals sharing to social media. He is an internationally recognized speaker on business development through social media, and he has trained more than 15,000 people worldwide. You can learn more at http://clearviewsocial.com or by connecting with him on Linkedin.com/in/AdrianDayton or on Twitter @adriandayton.

The post Six ways firms can fix their oversupply problem first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

1. I’m better in person

When people avoid social media because they feel they are better in person, I compare this to people who don’t fly to Hawaii because they prefer swimming. Technology allows us to communicate to a massive audience in ways that aren’t possible in person. If you are great in person, be great in person, but don’t exclude yourself from benefiting from social media because you happen to be great in social situations. Most people that are great in person leverage personality and intelligence to their advantage in the world of social media. The medium may be different, but those same skills will help you stand out and be successful.

2. I’m too busy to use social media

To continue with the analogies, saying you’re too busy for social media is like saying you have too much work to hire a second employee. Social media has a multiplicative effect. Something you write or post to social media can be passed on and shared over and over. Many people worry about the negative side of this, but professionals can leverage this to their advantage. Linkedin has a new feature that shows you how many of your contacts have viewed something you have shared and then how many second-degree contacts have viewed what you posted. A recent post I made to Linkedin received over 3,200 views. Notice, most of them didn’t even come from my network, they came from friends-of-friends or second-degree connections. The power of social media is the networks’ effects—your messages can reach far beyond you. 

3. People will think I don’t have work if I am posting to social media 

Have you ever heard the saying, “all publicity is good publicity?” That saying is derived from the fact that it is nearly impossible to get people to pay attention to something other than their own lives and problems. The key here is that people need to think of you to hire you, and it is far more likely you are being forgotten than that you are being noticed. Social media gives people a natural way to express who you are and what you do. According to Linkedin, fewer than 3% of users post on a weekly basis, so it’s not hard to stand out by sharing. If what you post is great information, people will be appreciative of the effort you put into sharing. Stop worrying about what people will think of you, and start working harder at getting them to think of you at all.

4. I’m a very private person

A great job for a private person is an analyst, a researcher, or maybe a mountaineer. If you have chosen to be a professional that derives your income from relationships to bring in business, you can’t have the luxury of being completely private. One lawyer I’ve known for years shared with me, “I don’t want to put a picture of myself on Linkedin.” He explained that he was a very private person. This same lawyer wanted to be interviewed on CNN. See the disconnect? You can’t be both private and want to build a public reputation? You can absolutely set boundaries though. You will never see my posting pictures of my family to Twitter or Linkedin, but on Facebook where I have my privacy settings turned on, I’ll share more of my private life. You can’t have it both ways though, if you want to build your reputation, social media is key in 2017 and will mostly likely continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Conclusion

Jeremy Lin almost lost his chance to be an NBA start because of biases that were simply false. Don’t miss the opportunity to hit your full potential by refusing to participate in social media.

The post 4 Idiotic Excuses Professionals Make to Dismiss Social Media first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

This past week at LSSO Raindance in Dallas I learned that among the AmLaw 100, (the top 100 firms according to revenue in the United States) only twenty-five percent have a CMO that serves on the Executive Committee (according to LexisNexis). When I shared this fact with a large legal marketing Facebook group I’m part of, most marketers excused it by saying, “Our firm’s organizational structure doesn’t allow it” or “We do participate in the Marketing Committee meetings.” But think about it this way, seventy-five percent of these massive organizations with thousands of employees and over one hundred million a year in revenue are being led with no participation at the top from experienced marketing professionals. That’s like running a massive business without a CFO. That isn’t even the most concerning revelation coming out of the event in Dallas. I also learned that most large law firms spend less than two percent per year on marketing. I’m not talking about billboards and websites either. I’m talking about two percent total for the payroll of the marketing team, website, and all other marketing expenditures. To put this in perspective, most businesses spend 10.2% or more on marketing (according to Gartner Research). Salesforce spent over fifty-three percent on marketing last year. Per lawyer, the average spends by a law firm is a meager $4,000 per attorney.

“But law firms aren’t like other companies.”

I don’t buy the excuse that law firms are different. Law firms are now competing with regular companies every day and those companies are cutting into the traditional law firm market share in ways most firms aren’t even noticing. Here are just three traditional businesses that didn’t exist ten years ago, but now have become billion-dollar industries that could have belonged to law firms:

(1) The Legal Process Outsourcing business crossed one billion in annual sales back in 2012 (The LPO Program 2012) and has experienced an average of over thirty percent annual growth. Does anybody think for a second they are investing two percent or less in marketing? (2) document automation services companies like

(2) Document automation services companies like LegalZoom (valued at over $425 Million in the most recent round) will continue to hack away at more and more complex work that lawyers felt they would keep. LegalZoom may be the biggest, but there are now hundreds of companies offering automation services that almost completely cut out the traditional law firm market.

(3) Perhaps the biggest threat law firms face comes from a less likely source—the accounting industry. More specifically the big four. PWC now has over nine hundred lawyers handling work that would have been traditionally sent to large law firms. How much did they grow last year? Twenty-four percent (statistic shared by Rick Davis of RSM at LSSO). I can guarantee that PWC spent more than two percent on marketing to achieve a twenty-four percent growth rate.

Law firms need to start thinking and acting like companies, not law firms. For the past fifty years, they had the luxury of only having to compete with other law firms. Some may argue this made them complacent, but I don’t think complacency is the real story. I think wealth has been the bigger issue. Richard Susskind famously stated, “It’s tough to walk into a room full of millionaires and convince them they are doing it wrong.” As Kodak learned a few years back, it is possible to be rich and wrong.

“Our firm is just a couple of funerals away from real change.”

This was a quote shared with me at LSSO that I absolutely loved. It’s really kind of sad, isn’t it? Why does seniority matter so much in these large firms? Why do firms need to wait for the old guard to die off to think strategically? I heard about one firm where a senior partner, with no training or experience in marketing, named themselves CMO. What? Could they have named themselves CFO without any experience in accounting? Or maybe call themselves a doctor without going to medical school? The reason marketing spend is so low at law firms is because most lawyers don’t truly understand business. They think there are only two ways to grow (1) hire more lawyers and (2) raise rates. As long as firms are stuck in this mode of thinking, there isn’t much hope. The biggest threat facing law firms is ignorance. They are so extremely bright, but they don’t know what they don’t know. Every few years there is a massive branding craze among these big firms and they may spend two hundred thousand or more to “reinvent themselves” with one of the same branding agencies that help all law firms reinvent themselves in a similar way. The only problem? By the time they are done “rebranding,” not only have they spent their entire marketing budget for the year, but all of their marketing and business development folks have been so focused on rebranding that they haven’t been able to get any other work done.

“Of course you think firms should spend more on marketing, you have a marketing software company.”

Fair point. It doesn’t mean I’m wrong. Marketing is fundamental to growing a business. Don’t take my word for it, just look at every single other business that is successfully growing. Look at every single Fortune 500 company and Forbes 5000. They all are investing heavily in marketing. This is not a carefully guarded secret. 

There was a moment during our time in the escape room when the six of us had broken up into three different groups and we were frantically solving three different problems because we only had nine minutes left to “escape.” Almost simultaneously, the three different puzzles came together, we found the last three clues, and we escaped at the last minute. If we hadn’t trusted each other and really collaborated as a team, I’d still be stuck in that escape room. (Full disclosure: they make you leave after your sixty minutes are up, even if you don’t solve the clues.) What will it take for law firms to learn the same lesson? They need collaboration from CFO’s and CMO’s that fill in the gaps for what they don’t know. They need real investment in growth and marketing.  They need to learn from other industries or they will stop growing. Once firms or companies stop growing, it’s the beginning of the end. In the escape room, if you get stuck on a single puzzle for too long, the operator will sometimes slip a “clue” under the door to help you. I’ve got one final clue for law firms, “To escape the coming storms of competition from outsiders, you must quickly learn to run your firm like a real business.”

Adrian Dayton is the author of two books on business development for law firms through social media. He has consulted with and spoken to over one hundred firms and more than thirty AmLaw 100 firms. He has trained over fifteen thousand professionals on the effective use of social media to bring in business. He is also the Founder of Clearview Social, and recently it was announced that this October, the College of Law Practice Management will induct him as a Fellow. 

The post Escape Rooms and Law Firm Disfunctionality first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

1. Blogging helps you upgrade your skills and knowledge

From a purely academic standpoint, when you start reading articles and researching for a blog post, you put yourself in a position to learn and improve your skills as a professional. By writing a blog post and diving into an issue, the author of the post will always learn far more than the people reading the post. It gives you an opportunity to learn and study what you want at your own pace.

2. Blogging gets you noticed (and not just by potential clients)

Blogging done right provides practical solutions and answers to pressing questions for potential clients, but this is only one of many ways your blog gets you noticed. Each time you blog and share your blog post to your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook network, you refresh existing relationships and remind your peers of who you are, what you do, and how you can help them and their friends. It amps up your potential for referrals. Finally, blogging helps you brand yourself internally within your own firm or company. Many of your peers many know generally what you do, but your blog gives them an opportunity to learn about what you know and gives them a ready vehicle to pass on for purposes of cross-selling.

3. Blogging gives you a 10X return on your time

Professionals often complain, “there is no ROI to writing” or “I can’t imagine ever getting business from a blog post.” Let me start by stating the obvious, there is a clear ROI to writing compelling blog content and it is dramatically larger than sitting reading the daily news on your computer. When you write content, it can market for you while you sleep. Each hour you bill, you can only charge for a single hour, but your content lives on and continues to be found through Google searches and social media shares for years to come.

4. Blogging regularly has a cumulative effect

Have you ever made a snowman? Remember how with each revolution the snowball you are rolling gets exponentially larger? Blogging is kind of like that. Your first blog post is unlikely to make an impact on your reputation or on your book of business, but as you continue to blog regularly you not only start to attract regular readers but your blog posts begin to be indexed for more and more search terms. In practical terms, this means that there are more and more paths that potential clients can follow to find you. I’ve met a number of bloggers who have brought in large seven-figure matters through blogging, but I’ve never met someone who landed business of that nature in their first week or month. It takes time. So get started now.

5. Blogging keeps you in the game

Sharks are interesting creatures. Did you know that if they stop swimming, they sink? (Please forgive the shark analogy.) Lawyers and other professionals need to keep moving to stay relevant. Even if you aren’t working a major deal right now, you can still be visible and gain recognition for your insights so that when the time comes, you are top of mind with your potential clients and referrals sources. Will people think work is slow for you if you start blogging? NO! They have to think of you at all first. Most professionals don’t have a problem that people think poorly of them. The far bigger problem is that you aren’t top-of-mind in the first place. Blogging can help you get there and stay there.

For me, blogging helped me bring in my first client as a lawyer. Your results may vary, but if you’ve never blogged before, take a chance. What do you have to lose? If you don’t have your own blog, write up an article using LinkedIn publishing. Writing your first article is as simple as going to the homepage of LinkedIn, and in the top middle box click on “Write a Post.” It’s that easy. Just because work is slow, doesn’t mean you need to waste your days. You may be just a few posts away from your next big break, so get out there and start writing.

The post Low on billable hours? 5 reasons blogging may be the answer. first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

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There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the world of blogging, content, and social media was like the Wild West. Lack of real data allowed any crazy person with a Macbook and a hotspot claim to be an enlightened teacher of blogging and content creation to drive traffic and bring in business. In one sense, this unnaturally high number of social media evangelists was beneficial because it helped bring about the Web 2.0 revolution and helped convince skeptics to give social media a try. On the other hand, many of their bad guesses have persisted and even become accepted as truth. Here are just three of the blogging falsehoods that continue to parade as truths.

1. Short digestible blog posts are better. 

This tip is downright seductive. You don’t need to write anything long to be successful! It’s so convenient, right? Your public doesn’t want to read anything long, and you don’t want to write anything long. Done. The only problem? It’s not true. According to Google, long-form content always performs better in search than short-form content. How long is long? Over 3,000 words.

Shorter articles may be more “digestible,” whatever that means, but they are less authoritative, less likely to remain evergreen, and less likely to challenge the assumptions of your readers in a way that they lead to the conversion of readers to customers. Think of short-form content—500 words or less—like a big-budget action movie. It gets your attention, makes an impression, and then is forgotten as soon as the final credits roll. Longer articles will perform better. No surprise, just like everything in life, working harder and smarter will pay off for your content strategy.

See more here: Why 3,000+ Word Blog Posts Get More Traffic (A Data-Driven Answer)

2. Keeping Corporate Social Media Accounts Updated Is Important

How many small businesses are paying $100 a month to have a marketing company keep their corporate social media accounts updated? How many are paying $1,000 or more? I wouldn’t be surprised to find that $100 million dollars or more was beings spent to have employees and outside marketing consultants update corporate social media accounts on a daily or weekly basis. It’s important to keep these accounts updated, right?

Wrong. In most cases, it’s completely irrelevant. The average piece of content shared on a corporate Linkedin account, according to our internal data (we have over ten thousand users at Clearview Social and have processed over a million shares) receives fewer than 2 clicks. So basically, if you are paying $100 a month to have your company Linkedin page updated once each week, you are literally paying $12.50 per click. The problem isn’t the execution either, the problem is the strategy. Unless your company is Apple, BMW, or Harley-Davidson, nobody in the world wakes up in the morning and wonders what your company logo is tweeting about. There may be other exceptions as well, but the vast majority of corporate social media accounts would have a hard time making a business case justifying their existence if all the data was out on the table.

I’m not saying cancel all corporate accounts, but you must understand their limited power to bring your firm results. According to our research, most corporate accounts perform on par with the average employee at the same firm. So essential, ten employees sharing the same content may be 10X as effective as the corporate share.

You need to make sure you are getting value for your efforts.

How many clicks is the content we are sharing getting per share?

How many qualified potential clients or referral sources have started following our Twitter account or Facebook page?

Have we seen traffic to our site or conversions from that traffic increase since we started sharing regularly?

But we have one hundred new Twitter followers? Isn’t that progress? Smoke and mirrors. One hundred Twitter followers may be a basic result of having a Twitter account and following other accounts.

See more here: When Social Media is a Waste of Time

In my experience, most companies aren’t asking these questions and maybe wasting their time and money blindly updating corporate social media accounts.

3. If you don’t blog regularly, don’t blog at all

One of the most common falsehoods taught as truth is this one: “If you aren’t blogging regularly, it’s better to shut your blog down.” This seems true, right? A “stale” blog will make you look bad, right? Wrong. Writing regularly is a terrific idea, and I highly recommend it. But if you have a major project you get stuck in or if you’re writing a book, it’s ok to take a break from blogging.

Never shut down a blog, just because it hasn’t been active lately. 

If you only write one post a year but that post is awesome, it will continue to be read. It lives forever, so why on earth would you delete it and shut down the blog? Seven years ago, I wrote a post about Michael Jordan and how to run law firms as Phil Jackson would. The post was simple and made a fairly obvious point. To this day, it generates over two thousand clicks a year for me. The success of that article is in no way impacted by my continuing to blog regularly. I mean, I might get more clicks to that article if I blogged even more, but it doesn’t diminish the existing articles if you haven’t blogged in a few months.

Writing good content is difficult but once that work is done, the cost of keeping up a blog is minimal or free in many cases. If you never plan to write for the blog again, it may make sense to move the content over to a different page, like your permanent website, but you should never delete posts just because the blog hasn’t been updated lately.

Conclusion

Don’t be lazy when it comes to validating the benefits of social media. Use the same methodology you would use for any business decision. Do you know of any other social media or blogging falsehoods that are taught as truths? Let me know in the comments section.

Adrian Dayton is the founder of Clearview Social and author of two books, Social Media for Lawyers: Twitter Edition and Linkedin & Blogs for Lawyers: Building High-Value Relationships in a Digital Age. You can learn more about how he is helping professionals bring in more business with social media at http://Clearviewsocial.com

The post These Common Blogging Truths are False first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

Let me preface this post by stating that I am a huge fan of Twitter and social media in general for business development. In fact, that may be an understatement. I wrote the book on Twitter for lawyers, literally. Way back in 2009. So, yes, I am biased towards social media. That said, one of the major lessons I’ve learned is not to oversell Twitter. Many times I’ve said, “It’s not like a single tweet is going to win you business.”

I have now been proven wrong. Dead wrong. And I’m thrilled.

“It all came down to timing,” shared the VC partner. “I had just gotten a quote on a specific piece of work I needed to be done from a national law firm and, frankly, I wasn’t happy about the price tag. That same day, coincidentally, I saw this local firm, which I’ve done work within the past, tweet about very similar work that they do. So I responded to their tweet and, not only did they win the business, but they are charging almost half of what the national firm charges for the same work.”

Serendipity obviously played a role, but doesn’t it always in business development?

“You’ve got to play in traffic if you want to be hit by a car” is one of my favorite business development quotes by Jim Durham (Previously CMO to McGuire Woods and Ropes & Gray and now Managing Director at GrowthPlay). Meaning: you’ve got to be seen by clients and potential clients, and Twitter is just another great way to gain visibility and be in the right place at the right time.

Will a single tweet win business for you and your firm? Maybe not, but decision-makers are out there and they are reading tweets. Those who are tweeting, sharing articles on Linkedin and even Facebook are staying top-of-mind. In a moment referred to by branding and marketing experts as “the moment of truth,” buyers of all products and services are extremely susceptible to messaging. The right tweet at the right time can make the difference between your firm getting hired and losing out to the local firm right down the street.

Adrian Dayton is an attorney, author of Social Media for Lawyers: Twitter Edition, and founder of Clearview Social, a software solution that makes it easy for firms to get busy partners sharing firm-generated content to Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook. To learn more go to http://ClearviewSocial.com

The post Single Tweet Wins Business for Regional Law Firm first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

Richard Susskind once said, “It’s tough to walk into a room full of millionaires and tell them they are doing it wrong.” Just look at Kodak, one of the most profitable companies in the world for a time. Or consider the biggest companies in the world sixteen years ago. Only one was a technology company. Now, every single one is a tech company. What does this mean for the most reputable firms? Not only do they need to innovate to stay on top, but they also need to innovate to survive. So what are the five most common ways firms fail the innovation test?

1. Productizing offerings

There have been countless articles, multiple books, and far too many meandering panel discussions overpricing, alternative pricing, success-based pricing, and the death of the billable hour. Most of these come at the problem from the wrong direction. They ask, “How can we increase our return per hour on our work?” Instead, the question firms should be asking is, how can we create a legal product bundle that will solve our clients’ problems, reduce risk, and makes it more attractive for companies to purchase legal solutions? Many have argued that clients aren’t asking for alternative pricing, but Kodak’s clients weren’t asking for digital cameras, and as Henry Ford famously said, “If I had asked the people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.'” Truly innovative firms understand that the product itself must evolve.

2. Project management

In the software world, there are two ways to manage large projects: the waterfall method and the scrum method. In the waterfall method, the entire project is scoped out, every task detailed in a massive Gantt-chart-style way. This is how a software product like Word Perfect is built. It’s extremely expensive and, at this point in time, considered antiquated. The second method is called scrum or agile software development. A great book on the topic, Scrum: Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, explains how agile software development uses weekly sprints, or periods of focused work with daily stand-ups (meetings to evaluate progress), to not only save huge amounts of money but also for faster and better results. Can we agree that software companies have learned how to make money? Take notice that the waterfall method is practically extinct in software development. So why is it that every major deal and piece of litigation in law firms follows a process more similar to the waterfall method than scrum? Innovative firms will abandon neolithic forms of project management in search of a better way.

3. Knowledge management

Large law firms have actually made great strides when it comes to knowledge management. Innovation in knowledge management takes various forms now, from virtual deal rooms to cloud-based software to manage everything from litigation to cap tables. What is standing in the way of greater innovation? Fear of change and fear of sharing non-proprietary data. If firms are truly driven by greater client success, then sharing contract language, pleadings, and other legal writing between allied firms should be the norm. Unfortunately, it is all very siloed, which becomes a huge advantage for the very large firms and a liability to the small and medium-sized firms that aren’t willing to collaborate.

4. Leveraging data

Last night North Carolina beat Gonzaga in the national championships men’s basketball game. Every minute of the game, I could view the statistical odds of Gonzaga losing or winning the game. In sports, we have such amazing data and it makes the game far more enjoyable. Why don’t we have similar data in law firms? When a case is brought to a firm, why can’t they tell the client or potential client the odds? I know that every case is different, but how is that different than the saying “any given Sunday?” Knowing the odds could help or hurt your chances of bringing in a new matter—but those are numbers that should be far more visible than they currently are. There has been some talk in legal about big data, but we aren’t even talking about big data here, we are talking about statistical odds on certain types of matters in certain jurisdictions. This is just one example of data that should be present in making business decisions but isn’t.

5. Marketing

Look at some of the most innovative companies in the world, like Tesla, Airbnb, and Uber. Can you separate the product from the branding? Impossible. Can you imagine AirBnB emailing out PDFs to sell their services? Can you imagine Uber drivers handing out folders filled with articles about their services? Or even Tesla having a car commercial during the Superbowl? These brands are winning because they are breaking the marketing rules. I love seeing the early days of Twitter when a law firm would put out a press release, “We now have a Twitter account!” or “We have an iPhone app!” Those are mere novelties. Is Uber so successful because they have a cool app? NO! They are successful because their product/marketing/geo-locating/customer service/communication and logistics are all wrapped into one extremely powerful piece of technology that fundamentally needs to be delivered through a mobile app. Law firms that want to be innovative in marketing need to realize that true innovation is not one Twitter account or twenty Twitter accounts, but a fundamental shift in how the firm uses technology to not only get their message and brand out there but to deliver value to their clients.

In Conclusion

I spoke to a firm in Las Vegas last week at the Legal Marketing Association and the firm’s Marketing Director said to me, “We are very interested in what you are doing because innovation is one of our firm’s goals this year.” That’s an extremely lofty goal for a twelve-month period. I applaud the decision to add it to your list. The challenge is that innovation is not a task, it is a method of doing business. Truly innovative organizations are never truly done evolving. Does your firm pass the innovation test?

Adrian Dayton is the founder of Clearview Social, a software solution that turns all professionals in a firm into advocates. Adrian has spoken on Innovation to GlobalLaw groups in Davos, Switzerland, and Taipei, Taiwan. Before law school, he worked for Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christen’s (author of The Innovator’s Dilemma) consulting firm Innosight. Adrian is also the author of two books and more than one hundred articles on social media for the legal profession.

The post The Innovation Test first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

These results are substantial.

So why are companies having such a hard time persuading professionals to use social media? Where is the disconnect?

“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate,” as said by the warden to Paul Newman’s character, Luke, in the 1967 classic, Cool Hand Luke.

image from IMDb

Let’s look at the steps on the social media usage ladder and address some potential solutions to help move your professionals up this ladder, one step at a time.

THE COMPLETELY IGNORANT PROFESSIONAL

We assume that some professionals are skeptical of social media and need to be convinced. This is imprecise at best and completely inaccurate at worst. Skepticism is not the biggest problem. In fact, if people are skeptical it means at the very least they’ve recognized that social media exists. The bottom run of the social media ladder isn’t skepticism, it is complete ignorance.

You know this type…The professional who is just completely oblivious to the social media world around them. Admittedly, my own father was one of these. Up until about eight years ago, my dad would have his secretary print out all his emails and then dictate responses for her to type up. Other professionals are just so buried in their work, that they never consider marketing (and they certainly never consider social media as a corollary of marketing!).

So how do we remedy this?

Solution: Start with where they are and move up in baby steps. Do they understand the fundamentals of the internet like how Google works, how search drives help people find information?  If not, start with building basic internet knowledge before diving into social media. Get them comfortable with the digital world and then build on that. Eventually, they’ll be ready for business development using social media…but not yet. We’ll get there.

THE DENIER

I remember working with a highly influential partner, let’s call her Carol, who completely refused to create a social media profile.

“Anybody that needs to know me can look up my law firm bio. I used to be the President of the State Bar…I don’t need social media.”

The denier is the well-established professionals who know social media is out there, but they deny that it will have any influence on their professional career. Many deniers think social media is just for social/personal use. In fact, they may even keep in touch with friends and family on social media. The disconnect, however, is that they do not see how social media can be used to strengthen their professional, work world. Not yet anyway. 

Solution: Use their own ego to make your case. With Carol, the professional mentioned above, we ran a Google search of her name and quickly identified that she did have a Linkedin profile, but it was completely bare with a total of 10–TEN!–connections. She had completely forgotten she even had a Linkedin account. Right then and there, we logged into her account and discovered there were more than 300 connection requests waiting for her.

“That is an incredible number of connection requests,” I told her. “I think you have the record for the most I have ever seen.” After that, she was convinced that maybe there was something to this social media mumbo jumbo.

After that, she was convinced that maybe–just maybe–there was something to this social media mumbo jumbo.

THE SKEPTIC

Skeptics are perhaps the most likely professional to leverage. Skeptics are often the ones who ask the questions and make the statements that all the other teammates thinking. Skeptics have learned about social media, they’ve heard about the benefits and they want to believe, but they’re still not quite sold. They’re at the tipping point. Be grateful they’re engaged. You can work with a skeptic.

Solution: Often what skeptics need to cross over into believer status are knowledge and expert insight. Sometimes, success with a skeptic means convincing them to read a few articles you send their way with an open mind. Provide the skeptic with external sources they trust who can make the case for you. Harvard Business Review, Fortune Magazine, the Wall Street Journal–one of these is bound to be credible to the skeptic. You can also look for industry-specific white papers or reputable blogs to share with them. Show the skeptic which of their peers–or better yet, their fiercest competitor–are actively using social media for professional gain. Skeptics may be closer than you think to becoming your next internal ally.

THE RELUCTANT PROFESSIONAL

“I’ve had a Linkedin account for years, but it hasn’t brought me any business.”

I’ve heard this quote many times from professionals that fall into this category. These people are willing to have an online presence because they know there is something there, but they don’t do anything to build on it and to leverage it to bring in more business. I call this “the magic bean strategy of social media.”

image from bestcustomerconnection.com

Solution: For reluctant participants, start with their online profiles. Look at their Linkedin bio, in particular, and make sure it is strategically aligned with their professional goals. Work with them to simplify and clarify their message so that people finding them online will know specifically what they and what type of work to refer to them. Reluctant professionals need a little help for their social media use to pay off, but your time with them will likely be worthwhile.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERT

For these individuals, the light bulb has just come on. They get it. Maybe they have brought in a new client, or landed a speaking engagement randomly through a new connection on Linkedin or a conversation with Twitter led to a new client. They are enthusiastic about the potential of social media, at least for the moment.

Solutions: Social media converts need to see results from their efforts. Show them data, provide feedback and give them continual encouragement. The first social media win can sometimes come in a fashion that seems fairly easy and straightforward, the second win might take more work. Make sure they have all the ammunition they need to continue to grow in their social media use.

SOCIAL MEDIA POWER USER

Every firm loves its power users and wishes they could duplicate these individuals. Power users write articles and/or blogs constantly, actively share great articles and content to their Linkedin page and other social networks, and have seen new clients, new strategic relationships, and other positive results of social media.

Solution: Your firm will benefit by having a handful of these types–work to cultivate a few social media power users. Give your power users all the tools they need to be successful. Your social media power users can be your greatest asset in helping to convert reluctant professionals and the social media converts further up the ladder. Make sure the wins of these power users are broadcast far and wide to your organization.

CONCLUSION

Almost every firm I speak to wants to gain more traction from social media in 2017, but many of them don’t know where to start. Start by knowing where your professionals stand on the social media ladder and work from there to move them up to the next wrung. It won’t happen overnight, but you will see progress. Be patient. Take baby steps. And let us show you how Clearview Social can help every step of the way. You’ve got this!

The post Moving Social Media Skeptics Up the Ladder first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

This year will be different. Except it won’t. This year you hope to do the thing, write the book, lose the weight, go on the trip, and maybe even leave your job to follow your dream. Then reality hits and nothing changes. Here are five obstacles dragging you down and keeping you from breaking through to reach your potential in 2017.

1. You are stuck in the same self-destructive routines.

“Inertia: An object at rest remains at rest.” – Newton’s first law of motion

As humans, we are creatures of habit, and years and years of hitting the snooze button, making unhealthy choices about our diet, and staying up late binging on Netflix can result in lowered willpower. We all want to hit the reset button in 2017, but this will require making new sacrifices. It isn’t enough to start your year with a written goal, you need to make at least one major change in your daily processes. For some this means waking up 30 minutes earlier, for others, this means deleting Netflix or unplugging the TV in your bedroom. Here are 18 reasons this one choice could impact your life for the better.

2. You don’t know yourself.

“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

What motivates you? If you can’t understand what personally lights a fire under you and triggers action, your goals are dead before they even get started.

Six years ago, I was in terrible shape. Getting laid off as an attorney and spending the next two years writing a couple of books and launching my first consulting business had been a great thing for my family and my career but had taken a terrible toll on my health. After having back surgery and gaining a bunch of weight, one day a text message arrived from my father-in-law: “How would you like to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with me next Spring?” My response was immediate, “Yes.” I found my motivation. Get in shape, lose weight, or die freezing on top of the highest peak in Africa. I call this my Kilimanjaro moment. I learned a lot about myself from this experience, I now know that I make far better progress with my goals when I have an event with a fixed date staring me in the face. Look back at your life. What has been your Kilimanjaro moment? When have you had great success breaking through and how can you replicate that?

3. You lack accountability.

“When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.”
– David Brin

Growing up, my family set goals once a year. We wrote them on a lined piece of paper, placed them in a folder, and then didn’t look at them until the next year when we repeated the process all over again. This was a great tradition and one that I’ve continued with my own young family, but it lacks real ongoing accountability.  In software development, accountability has been perfected almost to an art form through a process called scrum. In scrum, teams set weekly goals: to build entire features or portions of the software. These are called sprints and each day the team has a daily stand-up to hold everybody accountable for their work and to remove any obstacles keeping them from completing the sprint in the designated one-week timeframe. Almost every piece of software you use, including the software, used to help you find this blog post was developed using scrum. We use a version of a scrum at Clearview Social for our developers, but we also use it for our sales team and our client success team. It works. Check out Scrum: Doing twice to work in half the time to learn more

What if you don’t have a team? You still need an accountability partner, someone to keep you honest. Here are a few different types of accountability partners for hire: personal trainer, executive coach, life coach, and business coach. Can’t afford to hire an accountability partner? Find a friend that is willing to be your accountability partner and hold a weekly or daily phone call with this person. You need accountability or your chances of changing in 2017 will take a major hit.

4. You lack purpose.

“People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.” – John C. Maxwell

If you can’t articulate a clear and compelling purpose behind your goals, you will lack the motivation to achieve them. In Simon Sinek’s viral TED talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” he talks about getting to “why.” I’m not going to re-hash his message, but I want to invite everyone who has set big goals in 2017 to ask three questions: How will my life change in twelve months if I achieve this goal? How will my family be impacted for the better if I achieve this goal? How will I feel twelve months from now if I achieve this goal? If your answers to these questions inspire you, you may be on to something. If they don’t, not only are your chances of achieving them less, but they might not be the right goals.

5. You lack process.

“The step that we are on is only a step to the next place, and no step regardless of how massive is ever a destination.” – Craig D. Lounsbrough

What is the next step?  Break down your goals into an action plan. The next step may as simple as calling a personal trainer or buying good running shoes. Write out the steps, create a checklist, and start knocking them out one-by-one. “I want to go to the gym three days a week this year” is not a plan! Break it down. What are you going to do each day? 60 minutes of cardio? 9360 minutes of cardio in 2017? That’s a terrible plan. It’s too boring! You need a plan that changes the way you think about going to the gym and provides benchmarks along the way. Get your Vo2 max tested or body fat percentage. Find a new benchmark and a new way to think about your goal this year.

Your 2017 goals will fail unless you find new ways to break through.

I’ll leave you with the words of Bruce Lee:

“If you always put a limit on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

The post 5 Reasons Your 2017 Goals Will Fail first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

Is Linkedin a waste of time? Is there really any point to sharing articles or thought leadership on Linkedin? Sharing articles is a powerful marketing tool, and here are ten reasons why:

1. 1. In-house counsel (“IHC”) are increasingly going to Linkedin for news and information. “I get all my legal updates from Twitter and Linkedin,” Dennis Garcia, Associate General Counsel of Microsoft recently shared at LMA Tech Midwest, “by the time I get emailed the same information, it is old news.” This isn’t an isolated incident either. In the 2015 Green Target/Zeighauser Group study, it was found that 68% of IHC used Linkedin in the past week for professional purposes, 67% used Linkedin to connect with outside counsel, and 51% used Linkedin as a platform to receive new and information.
2. 2. Sharing articles keep you top-of-mind with clients, potential clients, and referral sources. Most people have many lawyers to choose from and rising to the top of the list requires effort. Sharing is a simple way to accomplish this.
3. 3. Finding intelligent articles takes far less time than writing articles and blog posts, but still demonstrates your knowledge and intelligence.
4. 4. By constantly sharing relevant articles to your industry, you show that you are on top of the latest trends and that your experience and skill sets are up to date.
5. 5. Sharing is passive. This is a big plus because you aren’t bugging anybody or filling up their inbox, you are merely sharing content that you find to be valuable. What if nobody reads it? It’s ok, they will still see it and will think of you. Think of this as a Christmas card sent weekly. Staying top of mind without annoying people can be tricky, but passive sharing is a great way.
6. 6. Sharing allows you to provide value to current clients off the balance sheet. When clients pick up the phone to call you, they know the meter is running. When you share great articles or information, they get great tips and insights from you without having to pay for it.
7. 7. Sharing positions you as a thought leader. I know this term has been overused, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. There are too many generalists out there, far too many that are good enough to handle certain types of work. Sharing highly targeted content shows the world that you are not just one of many but at the very top. One secret of thought leaders? They have the courage to share content even when it wasn’t written by them. They understand that true thought leaders share the best information regardless of the source.
8. 8. Sharing makes you better. It keeps you informed of your marketplace. When you are constantly finding the best news and information, you will be a more effective professional because of all you learn from the content you find.
9. 9. Sharing multiplies your time and effort. You can only bill one hour for every 60-minute increment, but marketing can work for you while you sleep. Every time you share an article, it goes to work for you. Some articles will be shared hundreds of times until thousands of people have read them. One share has the potential to make a 100x impact and return on your time invested.
10. 10. Share because the marketplace is changing. Younger and younger buyers of all professional services are emerging and they use Linkedin to find information. They don’t do this because it’s trendy, they do this because social media tools are far more efficient. When they turn to social media to find information, you want to make sure that you have a chance to be their source.

Does sharing take time? Absolutely, but if done correctly, this is some of the best-spent time you can imagine. Sharing doesn’t bring success overnight, but for professionals that are committed to regularly sharing great content—it can make the difference between standing out and being overlooked.

The post 10 Reasons To Share Articles to Linkedin first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

But won’t it annoy people if you post the same thing three times?

Almost certainly not. Let’s look at this two ways. If one of your followers loves what you post, they don’t mind seeing it three times, especially if they missed it the first two times. Looking at it another way, if your follower hates the article you post, and his anger just grows each time he sees the article, he is likely to unfollow you. Is there really any value to having a follower that isn’t really into what you are posting? People that love you will want more of you, people that aren’t as committed—good riddance.

Will it look weird on your personal Twitter page that you posted the same article three times?

No. Think about it, do you have time to analyze someone’s Twitter page for duplicate posts? Me neither. Nobody notices, and if they do, at worst they will be curious as to why you posted the same thing multiple times. If they ask, maybe share this post with them?

Does this apply to Facebook and Linkedin?

No. Facebook and Linkedin are both very different networks because of their nature. Facebook is highly social, and posts are meant to be engaged with, not just read. You will annoy people by posting the same articles multiple times to either of these networks.

Conclusion.

Online people vote with their mouse. They click on the content they love and ignore the content they don’t. If you are sharing great content that is of value to your network, post it multiple times. The hardest part is creating or finding great content, the easier part is getting visibility from it. You just gotta get it out there.

Happy sharing.

Adrian Dayton is the author of two books on social media for professionals and the Founder of Clearview Social, the leading social sharing tool for the legal industry, with clients in accounting, recruiting, insurance as well as publishing. You can learn more at http://clearviewsocial.com

The post Why do I share posts to Twitter three times? first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

Level 5: General Corporate accounts—lights are on, but nobody is home.

“We share to all the social networks.”

This phrase makes my skin crawl just a little. Firms think that by blasting every piece of news, charity, thought leadership or award received to the firm’s Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, (and heck let’s blast it to Instagram and Snapchat while we are at it) they’ve checked off the social media boxes of their marketing plan and believe the delusion that “we are being social!”

Problem: Most of these accounts have no real audience. They’re being followed only by current members of the firm, students looking for jobs, and, if they are lucky, one or two local reporters. The real issue? Nobody wakes up in the morning and asks “I wonder what Firm X is sharing on their company Facebook page today?”

Level 4: Specialized Corporate Accounts

Firms that understand social media’s use for a strategic purpose will focus the right social media accounts on the right industries. Let’s take a new hot topic like blockchain as an example. (Blockchain is the system of shared ledgers that make bitcoin possible, and it’s a very hot topic in legal tech right now.) Blockchain is being discussed everywhere, and sites like Twitter are blockchain central with dozens of new articles being shared hourly about this new phenomenon that has the potential to threaten our existing monetary system.

Level 4 firms might create a Twitter account called “@blockchaintrain” that covers all the latest news and legal impact of blockchain. This would be a highly specialized account that would attract all parties interested in blockchain and help build a firm’s reputation in this area.

Problem: Corporate accounts don’t help build personal relationships. Nobody wants to chat with a corporate blockchain account, so firms are missing the chance to bring in business through their account.

Level 3: Specialized Lawyer Accounts

Level 3 firms skip right over the specialized corporate accounts and instead create law firm ambassadors in the form of attorneys who will be the face of blockchain news. These Twitter accounts are professionals profiles of the lawyer or lawyers that seek to be recognized as industry experts in the blockchain. The Twitter account is just one small piece of their strategy. In addition to tweeting about important news regarding blockchain, they will also create a blog, attend conferences about blockchain, speak at events about blockchain, and seek to make the shortlist of national experts on the topic.

Level 2: Specialized Lawyer Accounts Combined with Firm Web Strategy

Level 2 firms have not only developed specialized lawyer accounts, but they have also built out all of the digital marketing infrastructure necessary to support them. They will specifically build landing pages onto their website to deliver white papers or drive sign-ups for webinars on the topic. Their Twitter use will drive traffic to the landing pages, the landing pages will drive sign-ups for their email list, and the email marketing will be used to grow deeper relationships with those on the list. As members of that list convert into paying customers, the firm will be able to identify a clear ROI from their social media efforts.

Level 1: All Hands On Deck

Level 1 firms recognize that social media isn’t just for those two tech-savvy lawyers, it’s necessary for the entire team. If the firm has three or four strategic areas for growth in the next year, they will enlist the help of every lawyer in the organization to share the content that has been created out to each lawyer’s individual social networks. They will use tools like Clearview Social (or some other employee advocacy tool) to prompt this internal sharing, and they will reward those who participate. In my experience, fewer than five percent of all law firms have arrived at Level 1.

Now that we’ve laid out the five levels of social media use, let me ask: if you were a potential blockchain client, would a firm using social media at Level 5 ever get your attention? Never. You wouldn’t even know they existed. So why are the vast majority of law firms still using social media at Level 5? Their claim to using social media falls as flat as the $14.99 drone ten minutes into its first flight. Social media can be as powerful as the F/A-18 fighter jet, so let’s stop going through the motions and add jet fuel needed by our firms to really make social take flight.

The post Five Levels of Social Media Effectiveness first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.

via GIPHY

There are many reasons people won’t share on social media. One of them is obvious, but the other four may surprise you.

1. Fear of technology. This is the obvious one. I’ve spoken to lawyers that literally had to be taught how to copy and paste a link. “What do you mean by ‘link?'” Or, seriously, one of them said, “oh, THAT’S what copy and paste means.” While a lack of technical ability is holding professionals up, it is a very small hurdle to overcome compared to the others.

2. Fear of looking like a salesman. This is probably the most powerful barrier keeping professionals from sharing with their networks. They don’t want to look like a used car salesman shilling their wares. Most people with this fear don’t appreciate that good engagement on Linkedin and Twitter will always add value to your network by helping people, not by promoting yourself.

3. Fear of saying something stupid. This is a huge one for extremely conservative professionals. There is an old saying that “you can’t unring a bell.” The fear of saying something stupid forever paralyzes many first-time users of social media because they don’t want to say the wrong thing. The permanence of social media is a double-edged sword. You realize that the same power social media has to disgrace, can also build you up with a date and time-stamped record of all the insightful and useful information you have shared over time. Be careful, but don’t let your fears keep you from taking advantage of the permanence of social media.

4. Fear of worlds colliding. We all have personal and professionals friends connected to each of our social networks. “What if my uncle sees me posting about tax law? Won’t that be annoying to him?” No. He wants you to be successful right? Besides, if he doesn’t see your posts, how will he be reminded to refer his friends to his favorite nephew?  Your personal contacts are the most understanding of occasional posts about your business.

5. Fear of losing. What if they unfriend me? What if they unfollow me? What if they block my posts? What if nobody likes me? There comes a time in everybody’s life when they need to decide to take a chance. Be yourself on social media, share the best of what you have to offer. The people that love you and that “get” you will follow you and re-post and comment on what you share. The people that unfollow you or unfriend you, you don’t need them. The whole idea of social media is finding like-minded people that want more of you, not less.

Are these fears keeping your firm from having success on social media? Flip the switch. Join us tomorrow afternoon (October 11th, 2016) at 2 pm EST for a free webinar with Adrian Dayton, to learn How to Turn Reluctant Professionals into Marketing Machines on Social Media. Click here to sign up now.

The post The Five Fears of Social Media first appeared on Legal Marketing: Social Media Edition.