Social media marketing isn’t the only way to market legal services

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When you read yesterday’s post about social media marketing, there’s a very good chance you had one of two reactions:

  1. Wow, this is amazing. I can’t wait to do this!
  2. Wow, this is amazing. But it’s not for me.

If you’re in the first group, you recognize that if a busy and successful trial lawyer can bring in lots of business through social media, you can too. You see how one article or update can be re-purposed for a variety of platforms, allowing you to attract prospective clients from a variety of directions.

You also understand the value of a good model, that is, you can see that by studying what Mr. Jackson does, you can emulate it.

You may have been a bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, but you realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day and you don’t have to do everything all at once. You can start with a few accounts and a few posts and work your way up.

Now, if you’re in the second group, if you read the post and immediately thought, “I’m not doing all that,” I understand.

I understand because that was my reaction.

Social media marketing aint my thang. I do it, but sparingly. I don’t doubt the power of social media, I just don’t like it. And if you don’t like something, forcing yourself to do it is unlikely to lead to good results. And, why make yourself miserable doing something you don’t enjoy?

Mitch said he gets the most engagement, traffic, shares, and so on, with his personal posts. That makes sense. But Mitch is an extrovert (or he does a very good impression of one) and I’m not. I’m not antisocial, but don’t invite me to your party, I’d rather stay home and read. (Wait, will there be food?)

What about the expurts and goo-roos who say you have to jump on board the social media train?

They’re wrong. Don’t listen to them.

You don’t have to do anything. Social media marketing isn’t the only way to market legal services, or anything else.

For the record, I do think every lawyer should have a website with a fair amount of content, to showcase their knowledge and expertise and help people get to know, like, and trust them. And that website should have social media integration so that your (extroverted) visitors can share your content through their social media channels.

But that’s easy. And not the same thing.

Of course there is a third group. You think social media is fine. You like it. You might not plan to go all out with it, but you would like to do more than you’re doing now.

I think that’s great.

There’s room for all us folk.

In my father’s day, some lawyers networked, some didn’t. Some did it a lot, some did it “whenever”. Now that we can network online, we have more options. But they are options, not laws, rules, or mandates.

To see  how I build my business online, go here

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10 Ways for Lawyers to Share and Re-purpose Firm News on Social Media

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DW: I invite you to read and study this comprehensive guest post by my friend, Mitch Jackson. Mitch is a successful trial lawyer who has used social media extensively to build his practice.

Social media is all about sharing good content and helping others. Results come from engaging, caring and providing value. My general rule is that only 20% of my posts on the various platforms are about me or my firm. The other 80% are focused on sharing tips and curating good third party content that helps others.

This article is about the 20%.

Overview

You’ve just settled an interesting case or obtained a favorable verdict. Maybe you’ve even made new case law. Here are 10 ways to share this news or update with your tribe (current and past clients, family, friends, and other followers on social media).

Before we get started, remember that in today’s digital world, we’re all media companies. Producing and sharing good content is now, in my humble opinion, mandatory. It’s also important to understand and appreciate the fact that while content is king, context is everything. Each platform is different (some more than others) so care must be taken to post to your tribe the right way on each platform.

Also make sure to start with a good profile on each social media platform. On the internet, you only have about the average attention span of a goldfish (9 seconds) to capture someone’s attention. Make sure to complete each profile with your picture (not a firm logo) and short interesting bio (not a boring lawyer bio).

Step #1: Website and Blog

Share your good news or update in a properly written blog post. Use effective headings and appropriate keywords. Use a story format and write in your own voice and in a non-legal way. Make the post interesting and easy to read. Increase interaction by always including a picture, graphic or video in your post.

If you’re writing your blog posts like all the other lawyers out there, then you’re probably doing things wrong. Be yourself and unique. Share your art.

If you don’t have a website or blog, this is your first high priority step. Everything is going mobile (smartphones and tablets) so make sure your site is mobile responsive (no exceptions). I’m a big fan of WordPress with Studio Press hosted on WPEngine.

Click here to see how we’ve setup our firm website and communication tips blog.

Step #2: Twitter

Share the catchy heading of your blog post, together with a short description sentence on Twitter. Include the link back to your post. Use a hashtag. Although Twitter allows for 140 characters, try and keep your post to about 120 characters to leave room for people to retweet with comments.

Because pictures attract more attention, add the picture you used in your post to your tweet. If you don’t have a picture, use one of the free or paid online services to grab an image that relates to your story (I like Fotolia). One of my favorite techniques is to download and use the free screenshot service called “Jing” by TechSmith to capture a picture of the top portion of my blog post to use later for posting on the other social platforms.

While you’re thinking of Twitter, take your blog post and break it down into 5-10 snapshots addressing key points and topics contained within your blog. Each snapshot or tweet is worded in its own unique and eye catching way. I use a Word or Google document and keep a list of these mini snapshot tweets for future use.

Sit down at night or early in the morning and use Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule these additional tweets once or twice a day, over the next 5-10 days. Each tweet links back to your original blog post.

Click here to see how I’m using Twitter.

Step #3: Linkedin

Take one or more of the tweets that you have listed in your Word document and share it on Linkedin, linking back to your blog post. Normally I do this in the above step by telling Hootsuite to send out the tweets I schedule to both Twitter and Linkedin.

Click here to see how I’m using Linkedin.

Step #4: Facebook

Again, I take one or more of the tweets I’ve listed in my Word or Google document and re-purpose the language for Facebook. Unlike Twitter, Facebook posts can be longer so I usually add a bit more information in Word before posting with the link back to my blog post.

Images are powerful attention grabbing magnets on Facebook and will result in more interaction, shares and comments. Because of this, make sure to include an image with your post. Rather than allowing the link to my blog post to automatically pull an image back into my Facebook feed, I prefer to upload my own image from the blog post. Doing this will display a larger image in your Facebook post.

I have a personal and business Facebook profile and depending on the nature of the content, I post to each once or twice a day.Click here to see how we’re using Facebook for the firm or here for my personal page.

Step #5: Pinterest

If you’re not using this platform then you’re missing out. Upload the picture or screen shot relating to your blog post and add it to one or more of your Pinterest Boards. Several boards you may want to set up include current news, verdicts and settlements, legal tips, testimonials, videos, photos, podcasts, newsletter, and community service, just to name a few.

After using the content in your Word document to complete the description in Pinterest, make sure to add 3-4 relevant hashtags at the end and also include your blog post link in the source link box. This way, when someone clicks on the picture they will be taken to your linked blog post.

I have both personal and law firm Pinterest sites. Feel free to click on the links to see how I’m using them.

Step #6: Youtube

Video is huge on social media. Within a year of posting our first video (it wasn’t very good but it was a start), we received hundreds of new client inquires and dozens of new cases. I was also featured in various high profile websites, blogs, and even the ABA Journal. Talk about good publicity!

If you haven’t already done so, setup your Youtube channel and start making and posting short 1-3 minute long videos. Also share other interesting videos about your activities and events on your channel. People will relate to you when they learn more about your interests, passions, and even your family.

You don’t need a fancy camera and the process is pretty simple. There are plenty of “how to” resources out there but I think you’ll figure things out once you complete and upload your first couple of videos. Using a lapel mic is key to getting good audio.

By far, the best videos we’ve shared are the ones that do not look like they are professionally shot. For example, one involved me stopping while riding my mountain bike and using my smartphone to shoot a selfie video about why staying healthy will help you be a better trial lawyer. It received a great deal of favorable traction and feedback once shared on all the platforms.

Putting the camera up on a tripod at the office and sharing my take on a breaking news event (called newsjacking) has also resulted in articles on Lawyers.com, national interviews, speaking engagements, and even being mentioned or profiled in more than one book. One bit of advice is to remember to pay attention to your background and how you look, and keep your video short and sweet.

Tip: Here’s a secret most people overlook. There are many services and programs that will allow you get the audio of your video transcribed so that you can use it for a future blog post. Others will allow you to rip the audio from the video which you can then use as a podcast more fully described below.

The key is to keep things interesting and snappy. Don’t be a boring lawyer. Don’t sit behind your desk and sound like bla, bla, bla. When I look back, I’m embarrassed to watch my first dozen videos. But guess what, it was a learning process and in the long run, it’s all good.

Here’s our Youtube channel if you’d like to see the bad and the good.

Step #7: SlideShare

This often overlooked platform is well respected and used successfully by marking pros around the globe. I’ve been neglecting this platform for far too long. This past weekend, I uploaded a new SlideShare about negotiation and within the first 24 hours it had more than 900 views and trended on Twitter and SlideShare. The response was so good that this presentation was then profiled on the SlideShare home page. Two days later, we’re over 2,000 views. The exposure for my firm was huge!

You can and should do the same thing. Think about this for a moment. Everything you do as a lawyer is based upon steps and checklists. Take the material you already have that can help consumers (“10 Things to Know and Do If You’re Arrested” or “6 Steps to a Successful Patent”), create compelling and easy to read PowerPoint slides and then upload them to SlideShare. Take the blog post we’ve been talking about and break it down to a 15-20 slide presentation. Link back to your original blog post.

Here’s how we’re using SlideShare.

Step #8: Podcasts

Podcasts are very popular because mobile technology now allows us to easily listen to podcasts anytime and anyplace. Take your blog post and turn the content into a short 10-20 minute podcast. Start with a snappy and attention grabbing intro and then share your information using your own voice. Use your post as an outline and just share your message from your heart. Close with a call to action referring back to your website or blog.

Interviews are also a great way to expand your sphere of influence. Once you’re up and running, reach out and interview other people who your listeners might find interesting. When you’re done, share the link with your interviewee and he or she will almost always share the interview with their audience. This is a great way to expand your sphere of influence and increase the number of eyeballs to your website, blog and podcasts platforms.

There are plenty of resources our there to help get you started but my one stop “how to” podcast site is Cliff Ravenscraft’s Podcast Answer Man.

Once we add and upload a podcast to our host (we use Libsysn), we share the podcast link back at our original post. We also upload and link to Stitcher, iTunes, and Soundcloud.

Note, once my podcasts are completed and uploaded, I share the unique links of these three platforms to most of the above-mentioned social platforms. The heading and short description is changed from the earlier descriptions and posts. Links are also shared on the original blog post or website page, just in case a visitor would rather listen to the material.

Step #9: Spreecast and Google Hangouts

These live video platforms allow you to have your own internet television station. For me, Spreecast has been an awesome platform that has connected me with interesting and well known people from all around the world. I even had the chance to chat with Katie Couric and later that day, we both made TMZ. How cool is that!

Some of the people I’ve interviewed are New York Times best selling authors and celebrities with 250,000 to 1,000,000 Twitter followers. What do you think happens when they tweet out that they’re going to be on my Spreecast?

You can use these platforms to interview guests about legal topics or approaches. I’d also recommend that you do what I do and, depending on your passion, reach out and interview people associated with your unique interest. Your show may not have anything to do with the law but it will highlight the real you to your audience. This allows people to connect with you and that’s a good thing!

Promote your show on all the platforms well before the event and also afterwards (they’re recorded). Share the event links and embed the video of your interview at your blog and platforms. Many of my Spreecasts will have 1,000 unique views within the first hour or so and several thousand in the first 24 hours. Lifelong friends have been made simply from using this single platform.

As I mentioned in the Youtube section, you may also want to have your interviews transcribed or audio ripped for future use on blogs and podcast. Rarely is there a need to duplicate your efforts!

Here’s my Spreecast page to give you an idea about what I’m talking about.

Step #10: Vine, Instagram and Snapchat

Whether you “get it” or not, young adults are using these platforms and they’re becoming more and more relevant in the business world. Several high profile marketing experts are very keen on the future of these platforms. This in and of itself is good reason to get involved on these channels. Setup accounts and start using these platforms to share legal tips in a fun way.

Take the screenshot image of the blog post and share it on Instagram with a link or reference back to your website or blog. Instagram will not allow you to hyperlink, so that’s why we setup a fun and easy to remember domain we direct viewers to. We tell viewers to visit MyLawyerRocks.com for more informaton 🙂

As an example, here is our Vine account  and you can view our Instagram here.  As of this post, Snapchat does not have a web based browser, so connect with me on the platform to see how we’re using it.

Final Thoughts

The above approach is working very well for me. A single blog post can be shared using the above method over several days or weeks. Whatever works for you is fine. Just take action and get started.

Keep in mind that what’s important on social is the 80% part of the equation. That is, engaging and helping others. However, when I do jump over to the 20% side of things, this is exactly how I do it.

Without a doubt, the best increase in influence and engagement I’ve experienced on the digital platforms have come from my efforts relating to other interests that complement the practice of law. When I blog about a legal theory or explain new statutes or case law, all I usually hear are digital crickets. But when I share a blog or social media post about my passions, family, youth sports, or family trips, the interaction and feedback explodes.

For example, I have a communication tips blog where I share a weekly communication tip. This blog is my passion and I enjoy providing useful ideas to help everyday people communicate more effectively. Over time, trust and rapport is established with people (my tribe) who share a common interest. When my tribe has a legal question or someone needs a lawyer, who do you think they call? Here’s my communication tips blog if you’d like to see what I’m talking about.

Along the same lines, I enjoy trying cases and sharing trial tips. My Google Plus Trial Lawyer Tips Community is one of the platforms I use to expand this interest. Over the past year, the community has grown to over 1,500 members (mostly lawyers) sharing hundreds of outstanding trial tips. Click here to visit or join this community.

Conclusion

Today, smart lawyers use social media to inspire, inform, educate and build new relationships. Hopefully you will use some or all of these ideas to do the same thing. I encourage you to use the different approaches in this article and start incorporating social media into your daily activity to expand your sphere of influence.

But remember one thing. Social is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Be patient and consistent in your efforts. Be transparent, share your unique art, and good things will happen.

I hope you found this article useful and I look forward to seeing you on the digital platforms!

——-
Mitch Jackson has been a trial lawyer for 28 years and is the 2013 California Litigation Lawyer of the Year (CLAY Award) and 2009 Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year. When he’s not trying cases, Mitch uses social media to help good attorneys become great trial lawyers and to show everyone (not just lawyers) how to communicate more effectively. His law firm website is JacksonandWilson.com and his communication tips blog is MitchJackson.com

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Make better decisions by making fewer decisions

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I’ve heard it said that successful people make decisions quickly and change their mind slowly, if at all. One advantage this confers is that it helps the decision-maker avoid “decision fatigue,” a phenomenon that refers to the “deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making.”

One study of judges reviewing parole applications found that judges were more lenient earlier in the day than they were after a long session of decision making:

What the researchers found was that at the beginning of the day, a judge was likely to give a favorable ruling about 65 percent of the time. However, as the morning wore on and the judge became drained from making more and more decisions, the likelihood of a criminal getting a favorable ruling steadily dropped to zero.

After taking a lunch break, however, the judge would return to the courtroom refreshed and the likelihood of a favorable ruling would immediately jump back up to 65 percent. And then, as the hours moved on, the percentage of favorable rulings would fall back down to zero by the end of the day.

Apparently, our willpower becomes weaker after we have made a lot of decisions or we are otherwise fatigued.

To make better decisions:

  • Make fewer decisions. Once you decide on something, stick with it, unless there is a very good reason to change your mind.
  • Make important decisions earlier in the day. Similarly, save less important decisions for later in the day, to avoid impulsive decisions.
  • If you have to make important decisions later in the day, eat something first.
  • Schedule important tasks for earlier in the day. When decisions come up, you will be more likely to make better ones.
  • Sleep on it. Before making important decisions, make sure you have had a good night’s sleep.
  • Take breaks throughout the day. Even a few minutes of rest can help you avoid making impulsive decisions.
  • When making important financial decisions, such as for a major purchase, decide as much as possible in advance. For example, when buying a car, decide on as many variables before going to the dealer and speaking to a sales person.
  • Turn off distractions (email, Internet, social media) when working. Constant decision making (e.g., should I check my email?) is wearing and inefficient.

Of the lot, making fewer decisions will probably give you the biggest bang for your decision-making buck. Lawyers have the most difficultly with this, don’t we, what with all that “one the one hand” and “one the other hand” conditioning? Life is easier, however, when you can get some things off your decision-making plate and be done with them.

For example, let’s say you are undecided about the use of social media in your marketing. You hear everyone and his brother saying “you must” and you hear me and a handful of others saying “not necessarily.” Then you hear about the different platforms you can use and how best to use them. Every day, you are bombarded with information and advice.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know what you will and won’t do?

Spend enough time researching the subject and make up your mind. Then, move on.

If you’re not going to do anything on Pinterest, you never have to read about Pinterest or think about it again. If you don’t like social media and don’t want to use it, don’t beat yourself up about it. Done. Next subject. If you are convinced that Facebook is essential for building traffic and engagement and meeting prospective clients and referral sources, then get busy with it.

The word “decide” comes from the Latin meaning “to kill the alternative”. Go forth and slay some alternative dragons, young warrior. You’ll sleep better knowing they are dead and buried.

How I use social media in my business. Click here.

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And another thing about social media marketing. . .

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I have an addendum to yesterday’s “enough-with-the-social-media-blitzkrieg” rant.

One of the keys to social media marketing, we are told, is engagement. “It’s a conversation, not a speech,” they say. We are told not to simply push out information, but to engage people, befriend them, earn their trust, and eventually invite them to see what we do.

But what if we don’t want to have a conversation? What if we don’t want to engage? What if we want to use social media to make a speech, for fun, or not at all?

Will we be visited by the social media police? Will our Facebook privileges be revoked? We we be remonstrated by a 26 year old billionaire and told we’re not worthy of being online?

The truth is, engaging on social media is only one way to bring clients to your tent. It’s not the only way.

I just hired a new accountant and a new dentist. Neither one engaged with me before I hired them, on social media or otherwise. One was a referral, the other was found through search. In both cases, I looked at online reviews posted by other clients and patients. It don’t think the CPA or the dentist engaged with them, either.

Could they bring in even more clients by engaging on social media? I’m sure they could. I know a lot of professionals who bring in a lot of traffic and clients with social media marketing. They chat and share throughout the day, and they love it. They are successful, no doubt, because they love it.

If I were to guess, I would say there are many more professionals who use social media sparingly, like I do, or don’t use it at all. Are we missing out on something big? My friends who bring in a lot of business through social would say absolutely, and urge us to get on the bandwagon. So, should we force ourselves to do something we don’t want to do? If we don’t love it, like they do, should we do it anyway?

No.

Don’t let anyone tell you how you must use social media in your practice, or that you must use it at all.

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Take your LinkedIn marketing webinar and shove it

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Enough already!

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest. . . it never stops. Every day I am inundated with invitations and solicitations to webinars, courses, videos, books, reports, plug-ins, consulting offers. I don’t even have time to read the emails or web pages, let alone watch the videos or read the pdfs, let alone buy anything, let alone implement any of the stuff I bought.

And I’m in the marketing business. How on earth are you supposed to keep up with this stuff and still have time to practice law?

(Do I get an amen?)

Look, I love the Internet. I must love it. I spend all day in front of it. I can’t begin to enumerate the ways it has enhanced my life and I would never want to go back to the days before you could carry the world in your pocket. But there are times when you have to step away, take a breath, and put things in perspective.

You know you cannot ignore Internet marketing (even if it’s not your favorite thing), but you can’t keep up with everything everyone tells you is a “must do”. To maintain your sanity (is that an oxymoron–I’m talking to lawyers, right?) you have to be selective.

You need your own website. Not a page on your firm’s site or on M-H or a legal directory, your own hosted website that you control. Yourname.com

You can put it up yourself (it’s not difficult) or you can hire someone to set it up for you and show you how to update it yourself. I suggest a self-hosted wordpress site (not wordpress.com). You could set this up in about an hour, and that includes watching a couple of youtube videos that show you how.

You need some content that shows visitors what you do and why they should choose you. Add some articles you’ve written, a list of your practice areas, and an “about” page.

And that’s it. You can start with that. This is the most important part.

Now, you have something to show people who want to know about what you do.

Traffic? Don’t worry about it right now. There are lots of ways to get it. You can start by contacting your clients and everyone you know and tell them to “come see my new website!” Okay, you can leave out the exclamation point. They’ll come, they’ll read, they’ll share.

What about social media? What about it? It’ll drive you crazy, if you let it. Don’t let it. Set up accounts with the majors (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and G+), tell your clients and contacts, and when you post new content on your site, post a link to that content on your accounts.

That’s pretty much all I do, when I’m not deleting emails about the latest Facebook or LinkedIn marketing webinar.

Okay, that’s enough marketing for the day. Get back to work.

Make the Phone Ring is the Internet marketing bible for attorneys. Check it out here.

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Social media marketing for lawyers: the truth shall set you free

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Uh oh, Facebook changed security settings again. Twitter has a new design. LinkedIn has a group you haven’t joined.

Does all the fuss and bother about social media drive you nuts? Me too.

You’ve got to update your page (again), you’ve got to hire a team, you’ve got to buy this tool and that course and have a master plan.

No, you don’t. You don’t have to do anything on social media if you don’t want to. So relax. Don’t buy all the hype. Or any software, courses, or services.

Let’s think this through.

There are three things you can do with social media: Network with prospective (existing, former) clients, Network with prospective (existing, former) referral sources, and advertising.

ADVERTISING

Let’s start with the easiest one: advertising. Either you do it or you don’t. If you don’t do it, move on. Nothing to see here. If you do advertise, or want to, hire a firm to design ads, make media buys, and manage your campaigns. Educate yourself, as time permits, so you know how to work with the pros. Nuff said.

NETWORKING WITH CLIENTS

If you have a consumer oriented practice, the odds are you’re not inclined to network with prospective clients. And let’s face it, most clients don’t want to network with you. Attorneys are, in their minds, a necessary evil, not bff’s. When and if they need us, they will either go to a search engine or ask their contacts for recommendations or referrals.

If you have a business oriented practice, networking with prospective clients is more likely to bear fruit. In this case, you would add prospective clients in your target market, promote their business interests, and share your content with them. This may or may not be worth the effort on your part. Your call.

If it’s all too much for you, if you’re worried about the implications of networking with your best client’s competition, or you simply don’t want to spend your valuable time online, don’t. The marketing gods absolve you. There are lots of other ways to bring in business.

NETWORKING WITH REFERRAL SOURCES

If you’re going to do anything with social media, this is your best bet. You can use social media to find professionals and other centers of influence (e.g., bloggers, etc.), and approach them, the same way you would offline.

But you don’t need much on your end to do this. A simple profile, so they can check you out. Go find their profile and start a conversation.

No matter what you decide to do with social media, make sure you have accounts with the major platforms so you can push out links to your content and so visitors to your website can share that content with their connections. But that’s a one time thing. Set it and forget it.

Social media marketing for lawyers can either be a big pain in the briefcase or something you never think about. If it’s the latter, if it’s not part of your marketing in a major way, just think about all the time you’ll save skipping over the countless daily articles and blog posts reminding you about the latest and greatest “must do’s” you’re not doing.

Internet marketing for attorneys that won’t drive you nuts: click here.

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Quick and painless blogging for lawyers

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One of the reasons lawyers often cite for not writing a blog is that it takes too much time. But it doesn’t have to.

This morning, I was reading, 12 Most Tedious Blogging Tasks You Can Outsource, and thought, “great topic for lawyers.” But as I went through the list of tasks, I thought, “I don’t do that”. In fact, I don’t do many of the things on the list, and the ones I do take me very little time.

Here’s the list of tasks, and what I do:

  1. Editing. I do my own. If I’m unsure about something, I run it by my wife.
  2. Finding photos. I used to add photos but I rarely do now, primarily because it takes too much time to find the right one and make sure I have the right to use it.
  3. Resizing and retitling photos. See above.
  4. Formatting. This takes seconds. I paste my text into the WordPress composition window, add bold or bullets or numbering, and done.
  5. Writing social media updates to promote the post. I paste the url of the post into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. If my title is well written, that’s usually enough. I could do more here, I admit, but social media isn’t a major focus for me, so I don’t.
  6. Posting multiple updates once the post is live. I don’t do this either, but if I did, I’d automate it, as the author suggests.
  7. Social media mentions for anyone referenced in the post. If I want to reach out to someone I’ve written about, I’ll send them an email, and this doesn’t happen too often.
  8. Monitoring blog comments. I don’t get a lot of comments (lawyers are busy, yo), so not a problem. If I did, and it took too much time, I would consider outsourcing this. Or, just turn off comments.
  9. Monitoring social media activity. Again, I don’t do much with social media, so I don’t have much to monitor.
  10. Handling guest contributions. To date, I have one guest post on my blog. If I was doing this regularly, I would turn this over to an assistant.
  11. Managing audio and video files and slideshows. Nope.
  12. Writing. I like to write and make time for it. If I was still practicing, I would probably post once or twice a week, instead of daily as I do now. If I still didn’t have enough time, I’d have an assistant help with ideas, research, rough drafts, editing, polishing, and so on.

Blogging for lawyers doesn’t have to be tedious, time consuming, or painful. For one thing, as I wrote in a previous post, having a blog doesn’t make you a blogger.

I see writing a blog as, (a) a strategy for generating traffic, mostly from search engines, and build my list, and (b) a way to show website visitors what I know and what I can do to help them. This doesn’t (have to) take a lot of time. You could write a weekly blog post in an hour or less.

I don’t do much with social media. Many experts say that blogging and social media are inexorably intertwined. That may be true for (some? most?) bloggers but not for me. If you’re not writing a blog because you don’t have time for social media, or don’t like social media, you could do what I do. Or you could get some help.

I wrote a course on getting traffic (and clients) online. Click here.

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Social media marketing for introverts

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I just took a CLE course about improving client communication. The instructor used the Meyers-Briggs assessment to explain how different people relate to the world. I’ve taken the Meyers-Briggs self-test several times in the past, but don’t always get the same results on all four of the functions or preferences.

One thing is clear, however. I am an introvert.

You might be, too. According to the instructor, while the general population (U.S.) is 49% Extroverts, 51% Introverts, among lawyers it is 43.6% Extroverts and 56.4% Introverts.

What does this mean? It means we process information differently from Extroverts. According to Wikipedia,

“People who prefer extraversion draw energy from action: they tend to act, then reflect, then act further. If they are inactive, their motivation tends to decline. To rebuild their energy, extraverts need breaks from time spent in reflection. Conversely, those who prefer introversion “expend” energy through action: they prefer to reflect, then act, then reflect again. To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet time alone, away from activity.”

I started thinking about this in the context of social media. I know many people draw energy from sharing and conversing on Facebook and the like, but I do not.

In a physical social setting, you will usually find me off to the side of the room, speaking to one or two people I know, rather than meeting new ones. I’ll be thinking, observing, and soaking it all in. I’m not shy. I do a lot of public speaking. But for me, social media isn’t energizing, it’s enervating.

If I understand it correctly, Extroversion and Introversion aren’t about personality. Introverts and extroverts are often very much alike in many respects, it’s just that we have a different process for digesting and utilizing information and relating to the world around us. So perhaps it is an oversimplification to say that Extroverts like social media and Introverts don’t. It’s entirely possible that the way I feel about social media has more to do with my being a private person (or overly cautious) than anything else.

But the question remains, how can people like (you and) me, utilize social media in our work, specifically, in marketing our services?

I don’t think there is a simple answer. Some of us are more open to sharing and engaging than others. We may not love it but neither do we hate it. So we do it, because we think it has to be done or because we want to learn and grow.

I use social media to share content. I use it for research and to find people I want to meet. I visit Facebook regularly, to see what others are up to, and to get ideas. I share quotes and links to stories. I comment occasionally and “like” cautiously. But mostly, I lurk. There I am, on the side of the room, observing, thinking, taking it all in.

If you enjoy social media, God bless you. Your challenge will be to not let it take up too much of your time.

If you don’t love social media, but want to make the effort to use it, you can get some help. No, you can’t delegate “relationship building,” meaning using social media to locate people in our niche and build relationships with them, and while that is arguably one of the best uses of social media, it’s certainly not the only one. You can have someone manage your firm’s Facebook page. You can automate posts and tweets.

Social media can be an excellent tool for marketing legal services, but it’s not the only tool. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. People did business, found clients, networked, made money, and had a life, long before social media, the Internet, and smartphones.

Social media marketing for introverts is very much possible. Even the most private of persons can find ways to utilize it in their work. But nobody should feel like it’s something we must do or that we’re missing out on if we don’t.

Now, if you’re an Extrovert, please share this with everyone you know. Like, Tweet, Post, and Pin. And leave a comment on the blog. I’d like you to do the same thing if you’re an Introvert, but if you don’t, I’ll certainly understand.

Internet marketing for attorneys made simple. With or without social media.

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Advertising for attorneys who don’t advertise

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It’s raining and there was a collision in front of my house this morning. Naturally, I grabbed some business cards and ran outside. Just kidding. I don’t do that anymore. Just kidding. I just put on my tee-shirt that says, “Auto accident lawyer” in big print and asked if everyone was okay. Just kidding. I don’t own that shirt anymore.

Yikes, I just remembered, when I passed the bar someone gave me a tee-shirt that said “Da Lawya” on it. For realz.

Anyway, it’s good to let people know what you do for a living. The more people who know, the more chances there are that someone will want to hire you or refer someone they know.

So let’s talk about attorney advertising.

Not the usual kind of advertising. Not the kind you may not like or may be forbidden from doing. Something different. Easy. And free.

There are two steps:

Step one: Contact two people today you don’t know, either online or in person, and ask them what they do for a living.

Step two: Repeat step one daily.

That’s it. Approach two people a day, introduce yourself, and ask what they do. They’ll answer. Then, they’ll ask you what you do. You tell them. Done.

After that, who knows. Someone might need you right away, but it doesn’t matter. There are lots of things you can do to continue the conversation and build a relationship.

So maybe that’s not really advertising, it’s networking. Whatever. It works. And it’s easy. And you don’t need a tee-shirt.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Start here.

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How to handle negative reviews and comments

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I just read a post on the subject of dealing with negative comments on sites like Yelp and social media. The author says, in a nutshell, that if the statement is factually untrue, and you can prove it, you can ask the site to remove it. If it is an opinion, the author says to, “add a comment to the post explaining your rational [sic] in a non-hostile way and how you plan on addressing the situation.”

I disagree. I would not respond to negative reviews in a public forum. Doing so only invites more negative comments, from the original poster or from others who side with him or see the need to defend him.

An opinion is an opinion. If they didn’t like something, they didn’t like it. Right or wrong, it’s their opinion. Any efforts to defend or explain yourself will only make you look bad. As much as it might hurt, it’s almost always best to ignore these comments, at least publicly.

If you can identify the client who made the post, reach out to them privately. See if you can resolve the issue. Apologize, make amends, offer satisfaction. Do what you can to win back the client, or at least make them see that their public comment was too harsh and retract or amend it.

The author recommends encouraging visitors to the site or thread to contact you privately by email, so you can respond to questions or comments. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You want people to communicate with you, of course, and that includes negative comments. But if you “make an appearance” on the forum or in the thread to extend this invitation, you leave readers wondering why you didn’t respond to the negative comment(s).

The better way to handle this is before it occurs. Make sure your clients and others who engage with you and your staff are openly and repeatedly encouraged to contact you if they have any questions or concerns. Let them know that if they are unhappy about anything, you want to hear about it. Set up mechanisms that make it easy for people to contact you, even anonymously. And remind them to do so. When people know they can blow off steam directly to you, they may be a little less likely to do it publicly.

One thing the author of this post and I agree on, if you do have negative comments, ask some of your happy clients to post positive comments. If you have enough positive comments, you can effectively bury the negative ones. People are smart. If you have twenty positive comments and one that is critical, most people will put things in context.

I know many attorneys resist getting involved with social media and review sites like Yelp because they don’t want to invite negative comments. But these will occur, if they occur, regardless of your involvement. The better course of action is to be proactive. Set up accounts and invite your clients to share their views. I suspect most will be positive. If an unhappy individual comes along, perhaps even the losing party in an acrimonious case, there will be no need for you to defend yourself, your other clients will do it for you.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to handle negative reviews. What do you do, or plan to do, about negative comments?

Make the Phone Ring is my course on Internet marketing for attorneys. Check it out here.

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