April 4-6, 2013 PRESENTED BY THE April 4-6, 2013 PRESENTED BY THE Ramping Up Mainstream Social Media Presenters Allison

April 4-6, 2013www.techshow.com

PRESENTED BY THE


PRESENTED BY THE

Ramping Up Mainstream Social Media

Presenters

Allison C. ShieldsSamantha Meinke


IntroductionIn this session, we’ll talk about how to use social media – beyond Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to generate word-of-mouth referrals online.

We’ll cover tools in these categories:

• Blogging Tools• Google+• Image-based Tools• Location-based Apps• Music-based Sites


Blogging


• Inexpensive• Easy to update• Variety of themes - free or low cost• Supported by almost all web hosts• Simple SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools • Multiple levels of contributor access• Spam protection built in• Many Plug-ins• Mobile-friendly


• Access your site/blog from anywhere• Schedule posts in advance• Automatically integrate with social

media• Images, audio and video are

easy to add to the site or to a post• (Moderated) comments provide

interaction


• Microblogging platform with social features (‘reblog’)• Share “text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos

from your browser, phone, desktop, email or wherever you happen to be.”

• Follow other Tumblr blogs right within Tumblr• Best suited for use with photos and videos as

opposed to text • Easy to share with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

and even other blogging platforms• Apps available for mobile devices• Bookmarklet allows easy posting from your browser


Blogging Business Development Tips

• Post headline and link on Twitter• Post an Update to LinkedIn with your post title and

link• Start a discussion in a LinkedIn Group and post a

link to the post• Post photograph from blog post on Pinterest• Comment on others’ blog posts• Link to others’ content on your blog• Speak your clients’ language• Provide answers to questions clients pose


• Form a personal profile

• Form a business profile

• Make connections with others

• Share links, photos, videos

• Group message with your peers

• Hangout video conferences are free


• Family members• Firm contacts• Bar association contacts• Law school buddies• Book club members

Circles

Categorize contacts in circles


• Share photos of your new nephew only with family members

• Share tips on e-discovery only with your law firm contacts

• Share posts about the book your reading only with your book club

Circles

Tailor information to each circle


Business Pages


Join communities for professional networking


• Link other social media profiles plus your blog and website to your Google+ profile

• Google+ easily integrates into Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, YouTube, Google Places, Google Events, and improves your click-through rate on Google Ads

• Google+ Hangouts: Free videoconferencing

Advantages


• Google+ only has 235 million active users (Facebook has 845 million)

• A recent study says those users only spend an average of three minutes on the site monthly, as compared to Facebook’s users, who spend 400 minutes a month on their site

Downsides


• Set up complete Google+ business and personal profiles to help boost your visibility on search engines

• Because your audience on Google+ is so much smaller than those on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, for now use it a bit more passively than those other sites.

Tips


Image-Based Tools


• Goal: connect users through what they find interesting

• Online virtual pinboard for “collecting and organizing things you love”

• Upload images or pin things you find on the web• Share, comment, repin• Collaborate with others on boards• Can create business boards • Visual social network – light on text


A ‘Virtual Pinboard’

Goal: Share things you find interesting


Follow other users or individual boards


Create boards around different themes

Use keywords to name boards and pins


One theme per board


Make your content visual

• Charts• Graphs• Photos• Infographics• Video• Slideshows


Include links back to the source content in pin descriptions and embedded in the pin image

Pin images from your website/blogs


Pin content from others

Use hashtags (#)

Use the @ feature


“A fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends and family”

Free photo-sharing site: Take a photo, apply a filter to change the look and feel, post it to Instagram and share it with other social media sites, including Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter.


• Photo sharing app (owned by Yahoo!)• Upload and store photos • Fewer social features than Instagram, but

more flexible privacy controls• Filter to find creative commons licensed

images • Share with multiple social media platforms• Display photos on your website or create

slideshows


Other Image-Based Tools


Image-Based Tools – Business Development Tips

Pinterest: Curate content interesting to your audience; Expand the reach of existing content by pinning images from other content (including video)

Instagram: More personal, but can be used to create ‘brand images’ for business or document firm events

Flickr: Best for finding images for other use (blogs, website, etc.)

Cross-post to and from other social media


Location-Based Apps


• Social tool to help people find businesses based on online reviews

• Search for businesses by price, location (down to the neighborhood), and hours of operation

• Allows businesses, including law firms, to promote themselves with business pages


• Whether you know it or not, you’re probably already on Yelp

• Any one of your clients – satisfied or not could have already reviewed your work

• So you need to keep track of what people are saying about your firm

• Automatically integrated with Facebook• Just make sure you follow the ethical rules in

your jurisdiction

Why lawyers should use


• Create a Yelp business account so you can curate your firm’s page

• This takes less than five minutes• Fill out all of your firm’s information

completely• Leaving your information incomplete

makes your firm look unprofessional and may lose you clients

How to get started on


Do’s

• Always be honest

• Dishonesty will ruin your reputation

• Post Yelp badges on your website, blogs and social media profiles

• Make regular announcements about your firm on Yelp

• Respond positively to all reviews – both good and bad


Don’ts

• Don’t ever post bad reviews on your competitors’ firm profiles

• Don’t file lawsuits based on bad reviews

• Don’t focus on the negative. Remember that one bad review makes you human and makes the good reviews look more genuine


• Once you’ve used it for a while, you can purchase Yelp advertising

• It costs $300 - $1,000 a month• It will boost your firm to the top of the list

whenever someone looks for a lawyer in your practice area

• Allows you to feature one good review at the top of your review list

PaidOption


• Online attorney directory• Sorts attorneys by location and using a

ranking system• Claims to contain information on 90

percent of U.S. attorneys – with information gleaned from public records

• Has an online Q & A forum


• Social game lets users “check-in” at locations and earn points, badges and titles

• To attract new clients, your firm could create a special badge

• Your firm could offer a “special” to users who visit in person

• Create a geotagging marketing campaign• Can be automatically set up to integrate with

Facebook and Twitter


• Social-driven GPS navigation app• Find new destinations• Make your daily commute easier• Share your firm’s location• Share your drive with others via text

message, e-mail, or on Facebook• Check-in on FourSquare from Waze• Never be late again


Location-based Apps – Business Development Tips

Yelp: Represent yourself at your best by filling out your profile completely and interacting respectfully and honestly with your audience

Avvo: Answer questions in the online Q & A to boost your clout and develop new business

Foursquare: Create a badge or offer specials to attract business

Waze: Share your drive with clients and coworkers so they know when to expect your arrival


Music Based Sites


Questions?


Allison C. ShieldsLegal Ease Consulting, [email protected](631-642-0221www.LawyerMeltdown.comwww.LegalEaseConsulting.com (blog)

Samantha MeinkeCommunications SpecialistState Bar of Michigan(517) [email protected] www.michbar.org

Thank You!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.lawyermeltdown.com/

http://www.legaleaseconsulting.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.michbar.org/


Documents

April 4-6, 2013 PRESENTED BY THE April 4-6, 2013 PRESENTED BY THE Ramping Up Mainstream Social Media Presenters Allison