Digital Marketing for Social Security Disability Cases

Ethical Digital Marketing for Social Security Disability

AAJ Social Security Success Seminar

January 29-30, 2015Miami, Florida

Stacey Burke Attorney/Owner

415 Westheimer, Suite 209A

Houston, Texas 77006

Office (713) 714-8446

Fax (877) 314-9990

[email protected]

www.staceyeburke.com

Ethical Methods of Digital Acquisition for Social Security Disability

• Digital Content Marketing

• Email Marketing

• Paid Search Advertising

• Social Media Marketing

• Video Marketing


Start with your law firm website


Website Design: Most Important Factors• Analytics• Architecture and content management system• Clear, easy-to-use navigation• Compatibility across browsers, devices, and platforms (go responsive!)• Color scheme

– Color communicates the temperament of your brand

• Establish your digital identity• Ethics• Format content for easy scanning (bullet points, headers) • Go visual, use images and video• Page load time

– 40% of website visitors leave pages that take more than 3 seconds to load

• Page layout– Web users read left to right and in an F shaped pattern


F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Website Content


Law Firm Website Traffic: The Basics1. Drive traffic to your

website via a variety of methods mapped out in a comprehensive marketing strategy.

2. Add content to your website on a regular basis, including news, case results, speaking engagements, whitepapers, awards, etc.


Digital Content Marketing


Blogs Should Not Be Self-Promotional• If all you do with your blogging

is focus on being self-promotional, don’t do it

• Be helpful – provide useful information and it will be read and shared

• Not all blogs should end with the same CTA of call us, we are the best. Some CTAs can be contact your congressman, watch for these side effects if you are on this medication, etc.


Editorial Calendars Organize Your Content

• What is an editorial calendar and why should you use one?

– Ensures you touch on all important topics regularly

– Includes holidays, seasons, and events

– Allows an organized shuffle of authorship across the firm by date so everyone has a defined time to contribute and a topic

• How to get started – blog 2x/week, define your target audience, select keywords for optimization, set word count, and determine how you will promote the piece.


Email Marketing and CRM


Email Marketing Quick Facts• 50 million people will check email at least 5 times

today• Email reaches 93% of internet users• Response rates to email are 10x greater than

direct mail• Adults account for at least 87% of all U.S. email

users• There are at least 216.6 million U.S. email users• Two out of three people in the U.S. use email• Use an ESP for its greater deliverability and

“white list” status


Email Marketing/CRMEmail Marketing• Make your existing contacts work for you

– database mining. • If you don’t tell your contacts what you

are working on, who will?• Announce firm news• Instantly blast your entire hit list• Throw parties and host events• Judicial and political fundraising

Customer Relationship Management• A CRM system allows businesses to

manage business relationships and the data and information associated with them

• Reporting and analysis are centralized and streamlined

• All data is captured in a singular clearinghouse for both conflicts checking and remarketing


The CAN-SPAM Act: Overview• Governs “any electronic mail message the primary

purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service”

• Do not use false or misleading header information or deceptive subject lines

• Identify your messages as advertisements

• Give recipients the ability to OPT-OUT

• Each separate email violation is subject to penalties of $16,000


Paid Search Advertising


Google Pay Per Click Advertising


Paid Search Advertising Process


Social Media for Law Firms


Social Media & Your Law Firm Website

• Include social sharing functionality on your blog and throughout your website

• Include links to all of your social media channels in the footer of your website and/or in another design element such as a right column


Social Media Marketing: Which Channels are Most Important

• Facebook

– 829 million people log onto Facebook each day

– Highest traffic occurs midweek between 1-3pm

– Engagement is 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays

• Twitter

– 100 million daily active users of 1 billion registered users, but only 550 million of those have ever sent a tweet

• LinkedIn

– 100 million American users, 40% check in daily

– Your profile is 11x more likely to be viewed if you include a photograph

– Maintaining professional relationships, an online resume

• YouTube

– More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month

– 323 days of YouTube video are watched every hour on Facebook

– Advertisers spent $5.6 billion on YouTube in one year

Social Media “Set it and Forget it”• DESIGN/BRANDING

– You are, at least in a digital consumer’s eyes, what they see online

• ETHICS– Failure to timely respond to client communications

• MISSED OPPORTUNITIES– Missing referrals

– Missed media inquiries

• REPUTATION MANAGEMENT– Bad feedback left unaddressed in public

• BASIC MANNERS– Connection requests left unanswered can be perceived as rude


Social Media: Monitoring and Metrics• Law firms should track metrics for social media just as they would for any

other marketing expenditure. • Social media metrics can include:

– Audience Growth/Overall Reach– Engagement– Visits to Websites– Conversions– Influence


Video Marketing


Why Video?• Video highlights the attorney, not just the brand.

• Video delivers ideas and positions with more authority and emotional impact.

• Videos explain complex information simply.

• Video distribution is mostly free.

• Video is in high demand, and others will recommend and share it.

• Video is accessible to lawyers (inexpensive to make) and users (hearing and visually impaired, etc.)


How to Do Video• Include lawyers from your firm and testimonials from clients and/or others.

• If you have a solo or small practice, you will be the featured “talking head” of your firm in online video.

• If you are part of a larger firm, I recommend shooting for diversity within your video subjects. You should include racial, gender, age, and ethnic diversity whenever possible amongst your lawyers so that you relate to a broader audience online.

• Research and prepare a script in advance based upon your website site map and Google Analytics data.

• The main video on a website should not last longer than two to three minutes.

• The interior page videos should last 60-90 seconds.

• You should lead in with slides including the firm logo and/or contact details

• Break up the talking head content with photos, animation, or slides with relevant data points.

• Always be sure to use “supers” to announce who is speaking and what their position is, along with the law firm name (in the law firm’s logo colors of course).


Analytics, Metrics, ROI: How Do I Know What’s Working?


Monitor Your Metrics and Return on Investment

• All of your websites must have active, current Google Analytics code and be linked to Google Webmaster Tools

• You should track social media Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• You should continually assess and track your acquisition costs

• You must conduct monthly, quarterly, and/or yearly reviews of your marketing metrics to adjust expenditures


Closing Considerations


Digital is the Future for Social Security Disability

• Be proactive to counter eventual governmental technological improvements – don’t get automated out of your practice area

• The disabled community is very active online, as it is easy for them to access from home, from a medical facility, or on a mobile device. It is important to be present in a meaningful way.

• My PowerPoint presentations:SlideShare.net/StaceyBurke


Stacey E. Burke Attorney/Owner

415 Westheimer Road, Suite 209A

Houston, Texas 77006

Office (713) 714-8446

Fax (877) 314-9990

[email protected]
