Online & More: Is Your Digital Footprint in the Digital Age? How

to Decipher Where You Stand

Denny McCorkle Professor of Marketing

Monfort College of Business University of Northern Colorado

Greeley, Colorado

© Copyright 2015 by Denny McCorkle

bit.ly/1OMSa3p #ROI2015

Prepare to be Googled when:

Someone has a legal need (keyword search).

Networking and you give out a business card.

An email is received with your name in the signature.

Someone mentions your name (referral).

The press/news mentions your name (publicity).

Someone mentions your name in the social media.

Your firm runs an ad (advertising).

Your online presence begins with Google.

What will potential clients, referral sources & networking connectors find from this organic search?

A consistent image across all owned media?

An informative and helpful website and blog?

Social media that is sociable (H2H)?

An optimized LinkedIn company page and individual profiles?

What does Google say about you?

DigitalSelfMarketingAdvantage.com | @DennyMcCorkle

Digital footprint – information left behind by a user about themselves (active) and by others (passive).

Brand image – how others see your firm & your lawyers (your reputation)

Brand identity – how you want others to see your firm & your lawyers (your managed reputation).

What they find is your digital footprint.

1. Optimize the search results for keywords & names for your firm & your lawyers (SEO).

2. Optimize your use of social media, blogging & web site to complement your other more successful communication strategies (SMO).

3. Develop an employee advocacy program to strengthen the local connection between social networking & physical networking (Networking Convergence).

How do you strengthen your digital footprint?

1. SEO.

Company SEO vs. Personal SEO

With a service business, the two are not easily separated.

With a legal business, the lawyer names are often in the law office name.

Three things to search for:

Keywords or keyword phrases (long-tail words)

Firm name

A specific lawyer’s name

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Keyword & keyword phrases optimization for paid and organic search

Digital footprint

Name SEO (for firm and individual lawyers)

Social media mixology

Inbound and outbound links

Quality content

Social signals or popularity of digital media

Mobile responsiveness of website and blog

For SEO, some things are more important than others.

Need to use the keywords that are important for others to find you on Google

Keyword optimization should naturally extend to your:

Web site

Blog

Social media profiles (for firm and lawyers)

Keyword optimization.

Google can help find keywords.

Google AdWords: Keyword Planner

https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

Name SEO is also important.

Keywords are not enough.

DigitalSelfMarketingAdvantage.com | @DennyMcCorkle

Name search is topped by company web site.

social media optimization, employee advocacy & networking convergence become important.

And, this is where . . .

2. SMO.

Where are you found online and in the social media? Social media mixology Website/Blog LinkedIn (for company/firm & individual lawyers) Twitter Facebook Page Pinterest YouTube Channel Google+ Page Other?

Social media mixology.

Make it easier for anyone to find you in search (expand your digital footprint).

Help you build relationships with referral sources & networking connectors.

Establish & amplify your brand identity among current & potential clients.

Distribute informative & helpful content to your target markets.

Direct traffic to your blog or web page. Serve as a personal learning network (PLN). Make you & your firm more sociable (human to human: H2H). Improve your physical networking.

Social media can:

Instead, it is more about:

brand awareness & building a reputation.

sharing helpful content & building a relationship.

establishing expertise, authority, and trust.

Social media is not selling.

Communications hierarchy.

Awareness

Interest/

Desire

Action

Reputation building: advertising, media publicity, referrals/word of mouth, online search, social media.

Relationship building: physical networking, website, collateral materials, blogs, newsletters, seminars/workshops.

Business building: Client development, meetings, service/retention, sales.

Instead, it is more about:

Two way communication, not one-way.

Being authentic, not automated.

Being helpful and informative (content marketing).

Being social or human (H2H)

Social media is not advertising.

needs local grounding or networking convergence.

However, social media . . .

3. Networking Convergence.

Emphasis on employee advocacy, personal branding & personal SEO.

Begins with a more personal use of physical networking rather than an impersonal keyword search on Google.

Connecting social with the physical: networking convergence.

The Networking Convergence Process

Connect

• Physical networking with business card exchange.

• Personalized invitation for a LinkedIn connection.

Reinforce

• Thanks for connecting (with subtle CTA).

• Tag relationship in LinkedIn CRM (& add to local Twitter List).

Engage

•Social share Updates on LI to amplify presence. •Congratulate & comment on others’ LI status updates.

LI CRM for tagging

Add Debra to Twitter List

1. Meet thru physical networking & share business cards.

2. Send personalized invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

3. Thank them for connecting & briefly mention your website, newsletter and/or blog for helpful information (subtle CTA).

4. Tag the relationship in LinkedIn CRM. Find them on Twitter, follow, then add them to a local list (such as Chamber of Commerce Friends or Business Club Connections).

5. Occasionally Update/share original or curated content to remind them of your presence & showcase your expertise & thought leadership on LinkedIn.

6. Congratulate or comment on others’ LinkedIn status updates when appropriate.

An explanation.

Optimizing your digital footprint across owned

media.

Target networking events to meet local referral sources, networking connectors & potential clients.

Add website & LinkedIn public profile vanity link to all employee business cards & email signatures.

Optimize your physical networking.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/DennyMcCorkle

Well developed LinkedIn Company Page with links to lawyers’ individual LinkedIn profiles.

Optimized lawyers’ profiles with links to LinkedIn Company Page & to Company web site (in employment section).

Optimize your LinkedIn.

LI Individual Profile connected to

LI Company Page

Keyword optimized Headlines, Summary, Education & Skills.

Call to Action in Summary section that includes individual email address so others can more easily connect.

Regular social sharing activity of helpful & informative content.

Employee advocacy to include social sharing of company blog posts & announcements.

Join & participate in groups (this will also appear in your status Updates).

Optimize your LinkedIn.

Headline

LI public profile vanity link for business card

keywords in a benefits headline

keywords specialties

CTA paragraph with email for easier connections from

a public profile

About Us should include:

photos, profiles of lawyers & their qualifications

Keywords for expertise

hobbies/personal interests (for H2H)

LinkedIn Public Profile vanity link

Provide helpful and informative content to showcase expertise, authority & trust from individual lawyers.

FAQs (perhaps using video)

Blog

Address & phone numbers as text, not within images (for Google maps).

Optimize your website.

Keyword optimized blog post titles, headers & image/file names.

Solicit blog post ideas & narrative from lawyers (using their name as bylines).

Written in first person (for H2H).

Open for comments and engagement.

Include social sharing buttons.

Include graphics & video.

Offer incentives of e-books & information seminars for added depth & a call to action (CTA).

Optimize your blog.

Keyword optimized profiles/bios for firm and individual lawyers.

Social sharing of helpful and informative content from others (curation) & company blog posts and announcements (employee advocacy).

Develop a personal learning network (PLN) of Twitter Lists:

Colleagues

Peers (other lawyers and law firms)

Competitors (perhaps make this a private list)

Local networking groups, such as Chamber, Business Association, etc. to match CRM tags in LinkedIn.

Engage with personalized thanks and helpful responses (for H2H).

Optimize your Twitter.

Create a board for your company blog posts (always include a graphic, a comment & a link back to blog post).

Create a board for your website’s FAQs or videos.

Create boards of company events, parties, or office staff/ environment, that demonstrate your human side (H2H).

Optimize your Pinterest.

Google Analytics for web site.

WordPress stats for blog.

WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin.

Google Alerts for online presence (firm name and lawyer names).

Klout for social influence and engagement.

Buffer or HootSuite for scheduling on Twitter & LinkedIn.

AllTop for finding others’ content to share (blogs).

Feedly to organize this content.

Optimize your use of tools for measurement & management.

Google is the new referral engine.

Keyword & social media optimization is important to strengthen your digital footprint.

Name SEO for company and individuals are also important.

Networking convergence provides a more personal way to connect with local referral sources & networking connectors.

Employee advocacy or cooperation from individual lawyers are needed & this requires training and guidance for optimizing their physical networking & social media networking.

In summary.

Connect with Denny McCorkle at:

Blog: DigitalSelfMarketingAdvantage.com

LinkedIn: Denny McCorkle

Twitter: @DennyMcCorkle

Google+: +DennyMcCorkle

Email: DennyMcCorkle@gmail.com

Download copy of slides at: http://bit.ly/1OMSa3p

Denny McCorkle | Digital Marketing Professor

at UNCo | Personal Branding & Social Media

Marketing Strategist | Blogger | Speaker |

Geek for Creativity & Ideation