Epic States

The power of stories

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:16:28 +0000

Sometimes the obvious hits in waves. Several smart and experienced people have been challenging the benefits of social media, with the underlying theme that in order to “succeed” with this form of communication, you don’t need the latest technology, you need to be able to tell stories.

With the increasing use of social media platforms as a main form of communication, we have seen a return to written communication (at the expense of oral stories). Much of the content generated is poor in quality leading to complaints of a high “noise” to valuable content ratio. One thing is however clear, the social media that breaks out and goes “viral” is based on a well structured and engaging story. The successful individuals and companies that they work for are embracing and leveraging their love and skill of stories to capture and direct the attention of consumers, clients and partners. This can be seen especially in the form of cause marketing (see Pepsi Refresh) , celebrity blogs (see Perez Hilton). Taking a look at the major forms of social media we see

Linkedin – Personal brand and story via selection of groups, answers to questions, personal updates, link to blog and description of experience in life. The well written profiles are not a list, they are a story about the person that stops the reader and engages their interest.

Blogs – Stories from start to finish, with the added element of side notes, comments, footnotes etc

YouTube – Stories in video form. Those that hit big are funny, sad, scary – Emotional and with a story line that we can engage with in a short ADD timespan

Twitter – ultra condensed “Haiku” , mini episodes, headlines to the story within

Facebook – Personal soap operas, teasers to the next episode

This also ties into the strong conviction that people make social media work, not brands. Get personal, tell your story, give a damn and other will listen. If the story is entertaining, they will make it their own.

New Tools For Getting Your Client’s Message Directly to the Public During a Crisis

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:00:22 +0000

Up until recently, developing a “crisis management strategy” for an automaker facing a product recall, or an oil company handling an oil spill, largely meant developing a plan for working with reporters to tell the corporation’s side of the story through traditional media. Now, the tools of social media allow a corporate client to gets its message directly to the public through websites, blogs, twitter and other platforms. Lawyers must understand the potential benefits and the risks of social media in order to help clients decide how to manage the challenge of telling its side of the story, without giving opposing litigants material that can be used against a company in court.

New Sources of Data and Evidence for Litigators

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:45:09 +0000

The use of social media is now ubiquitous and is fast becoming a prime source of data for your firm and for your clients.

3 out of 4 Americans use social media
4,000,000,000 photos on Flickr (1 for every 2 people on the planet)
410,000,000 members of Facebook (700 status updates per second)
100,000,000 YouTube videos viewed every day
100,000,000 blogs updated and commented upon across all subjects areas
70,000,000 members of MySpace
65,000,000 members of Linkedin
50,000,000 tweets per day (600 per second)
15,000,000 Wikipedia articles

These social networks, and the information posted on them, are already altering the course of litigation.

Earlier this year, the defendant in a products liability action was able to force the plaintiff to dismiss his claim alleging “severe disability” after the defendants found photos posted on Facebook that showed the plaintiff engaged in strenuous high-speed powerboat racing (n re: Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation [Ernest Ray, No. 04-18252], MDL 1535, No. 03-17000, N.D. Ohio.). More recently, plaintiffs’ attorneys brought a purported products liability class action against Procter & Gamble after parents used Facebook to share complaints about allegedly defective diapers. (See Clark, et al. v. Procter & Gamble Co., No. 10-301 (S.D. Ohio, 5/11/10)).

New Tools to Build Relationships with In-House Counsel

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:30:34 +0000

For decades, lawyers have been writing articles in trade publications and giving speeches and seminars to reach new clients. Sharing information and starting conversations is nothing new for the legal world. But the scope, universal accessibility and power of Social Media tools is exerting powerful influence on the way your customers are accessing information, and making decisions. Along with the risks inherent in new technologies come huge opportunities for those who know how to use them.

The job of in-house counsel has never been harder. At the same time their budgets are being slashed, they are being asked to handle and ever more complex legal and regulatory environment and the challenges of a global economy. So they are reaching out on the web eager for information. A typical remark taken from a recent survey of in-house counsel[1]: “I use the Internet 100 percent of the time for my research and communication needs. Google and Yahoo are usually my first stops.”

In another recent survey[2] of in-house counsel, 53 percent said that they expect that their consumption of industry news and information via new media platforms will increase over the next six months to a year. They also said they are eager for law firms to start using new media.

The majority of in-house counsels aren’t currently accessing content from their law firms via new media tools (Twitter feeds, blogs, Facebook pages, LinkedIn discussion groups, etc.), because law firms are not providing enough useful content. Over half said that they would engage these channels to receive relevant information from their firms.

[1] Hubbard One: 2009 whitepaper “General Counsel: Using Law Firm Web Sites”

[2] Greentarget’s 2010 Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey

How You Can Use Social Media and How We Can Help

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:01:24 +0000

Social media provides a set of platforms and tools that we can train your team to use. For example, we can show you how to search all the data posted on social networks to help you:

Find evidence or admissions to undermine an opposing party’s factual claims;
Investigate the relevant background and prior testimony and experience of opposing expert witnesses; or
Find potential witnesses to support your client’s case

We can also help you to use these tools to connect with in-house counsel by developing and distributing targeted content to them that demonstrates your firm’s leadership and expertise. For example:

Blog posts laying out strategy for complying with the new legal requirements (active blogs are increasingly the first results delivered by a search on Google or Yahoo);
Videos of seminars put on by partners that demonstrate sector and subject expertise and provide an opportunity to invite potential clients to upcoming webinars; or

Publication of a series of subject matter specific articles along with an invitation to a roundtable you are holding on the topic

What is Social Media and Why Is It Important to Your Practice?

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:00:31 +0000

The term “social media” is used by different people to mean many different things. For our purposes social media means a group of web-based tools and communities where people are holding conversations that matter to you, to your firm, and to your clients and prospective clients.

In the 2010 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report: Web and Communication Technology, 56% of respondents answered that they personally maintain a presence in an online community/social network such as Facebook, LinkedIn, LawLink, or Legal OnRamp, compared with 43% in the 2009 survey and 15% in the 2008 survey. Ten percent of respondents reported that they have had a client retain their legal services as a result of use of online communities/social networking.

You and your partners can use social media to share information, and to find information that is helpful to your clients. Examples:

Guiding clients facing publicly sensitive cases (such as an oil spill or product safety recall) to leverage social media for reputation management, within guidelines that protect from litigation exposure.
Conducting live background checks on prospective jurors will in selection phase.
Winning on a summary judgment motion, or a class certification motion with evidence gathered from information that opposing parties or class members have posted on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Helping a client to evaluate a potential joint venture partner by conducting due diligence on the other party and its management team’s presence online.
Connect with in-house counsel through a social media community such as LinkedIn;
Posting articles and client alerts on your website and inviting readers to subscribe to your email list or RSS feed.
Writing about the business impact of newly decided cases and reacting to comments and questions through a blog.
Posting a video of a recent seminar you’ve given and inviting viewers to sign up for an upcoming webinar.

Two threads run through all of these examples: Access to data, and Conversations.

Social Media and Sports

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:00:05 +0000

With the rise of televised sport and internet access to live game updates, fans are not short of activities that compete for their free time. Mandalay Sports has requested a proposal to develop initiatives through social media which will augment current marketing efforts and develop new, targeted channels for engaging and communicating with sponsors, fans and the local business community.

Social media generated by fans and attendees at the game serves as a direct and authentic word-of-mouth testimonial of the excitement and entertainment provided by the in-game experience. The following table illustrates that the strongest sports Baseball teams are at the center of strong social communities, and are leveraging these to maintain their brand leadership (see leagues and other sports in appendix)

Baseball teams and Social Media ranking

Social Media Metrics

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:42:40 +0000

One common mistake made by many people as they enter the world of social media is to assume that social media cannot be aligned with previously existing business objectives. On the contrary, in order for a social media campaign to be effective, it must first be targeted to achieve specific business objectives. In the following post we begin to outline several quantifiable objectives and metrics that social media efforts can be measured against.

Revenue and Business Development

Length of sales cycle
Repeat customers
Customer retention rate
New leads
Referrals
Transaction value
Customer lifetime value
Conversions (subscribers to sales)
Website purchases
Organic Search to sales
% of converted leads (offline vs online)

Cost Savings

Shorter issue resolution time
% of issues resolved (offline vs online)
decrease in support calls
recruiting costs
training costs
% account turnover
Overhead costs of communication
Viable community driven innovation
Concept to development cycle

Value awareness and Influence

Brand loyalty
Sentiment
Share of conversation
Frequency of mentions
Net promoter score
Subscribers
Engagement
Number of inbound links
Votes , tags, bookmarks
Fans, followers, group members

Social Media Tools

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:21:32 +0000

Every day there are new tools developed to help track and improve upon one’s social media presence. In this post we begin outlining several of the more useful tools that we have come across, and some of the ones that we ourselves use in our daily work. As social media tools continue to develop and evolve, we will periodically revisit and update this list as necessary.

Brand Overviews

socialmention - A social media search engine offering searches across individual platforms (eg blogs, microblogs) or all, rates stength, sentiment, passion and reach, lists top authors

Blog Search Tools

TECHNORATI Advanced – Technorati’s advanced search page allows you to search for blogs (rather than posts) based on tags.
Google Blog Search – Google’s index of blog posts. The advanced search tab allows you to search based on additional criteria. Very good for searching between specific dates.
BlogPulse – Search for blog posts by keyword. Developed by Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Buzz Tracking

Google Trends – shows amount of searches and google news stories

Message Board Search Tools

BoardTracker – tracks words in forums
BoardReader – Search multiple message boards and forums.
Google Groups – Searches usenet groups.
Yahoo! Groups – Searches all Yahoo! Groups.
Samepoint – Search Real-Time, Discussion Points, Bookmarks, Wikis, Q&A, Networks, and more

Blogroll

Chris Brogan – Community and Social Media
Forrester’s Marketing Blog – A leading research company
Get Elastic – The Ecommerce Blog
Groundswell – Winning by social technologies
Mashable – The Social Media Guide
Moses Wolff – Comedian, Artist and Friend
ReadWriteWeb – Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking
RichardAlois Photography – Richard Buettner Photoblog
Social Media Today – Best Thinkers on Social Media and Web 2.0
Web Strategy – by Jeremiah Owyang

Travis Rodgers Now

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:04:53 +0000

We recently launched a new venture on the sports side of the business, and are really happy to see Travis Rodgers voice, writing (and soon videos) online and rocketing up in traffic. The speed that a good story travels at is amazingly fast and the power and simplicity of blogging makes it accessible for a fraction of traditional media’s costs. Add an amazing talent like Travis and the recipe is a Social Media dream.