Marketing and Advertising: Social Media for Law Firms

Marketing and Advertising: Social Media for Law Firms

18th Annual Insurance Law InstituteThe University of Texas School of Law The

Insurance Law Section of the State Bar of TexasNov 7-8, 2013

Royal Sonesta Hotel, Houston, TX

STACEY E. BURKE ATTORNEY/OWNER

4615 SOUTHWEST FREEWAYSUITE 850HOUSTON, TEXAS 77027 MOBILE (713) 225-8621FAX (877) 314-9990

[email protected]

WWW.STACEYEBURKE.COM

Social Media Channels: Overview• FACEBOOK

– Facebook has over 1 billion users, 42 million pages, and over 15 million business pages.

– Facebook is the largest online social network, boasting 1.11 billion users. – Over half of the United States is on Facebook, 52.9% of Americans.

• GOOGLE PLUS

– G+ is Google’s own social media creation. – While Google Plus has only 343 million users, Google is not going anywhere, and

it gives credence to its own content• INSTAGRAM

– Instagram boasts over 150 million users and counting – An average of 40 million photos are uploaded to Instagram every day

www.staceyeburke.com


Social Media Channels: Overview• LINKEDIN

– Over 238 million users and 40% of them check LinkedIn daily– Maintaining professional relationships, an online resume

• TWITTER

– Only 7 years old and has 500 million users.– 32% of all Internet users use Twitter, and 175 million tweets were sent from Twitter

each day throughout 2012• YOUTUBE

– YouTube has over 1 billion total users with 4 billion video views each day– 500 years of YouTube video are watched each day on Facebook, and over 700 YouTube

videos are shared on Twitter each minute

Social Media Channels: Facebook• Customize your URL• Make sure your firm has a “Page” not a “Profile” or a

“Group”• Share your blog posts, press coverage, videos, and

relevant content from related professional associations and other law firms

• Facebook advertising• #Hashtags (#law #lawyers #oilgas #hounews)• Tag users and other Pages in your posts for increased

exposure


Social Media Channels: Google Plus• Google loves itself• If you are included in a large number of circles

on Google+, that will increase your AuthorRank and overall Google Authorship

• Google Hangouts• Even more #Hashtags• Tagging or +’ing other users


Social Media Channels: Instagram• Photo sharing social media• You can simultaneously and directly feed out Instagram

photos into your other social channels• Image based social sharing gets 94% more total views and

37% more user engagement because users prefer a quick look at something, rather than having to read – “instant gratification”

• Yet again use #Hashtags• Tag other users in posts• Facebook acquired Instagram for $1B in 2012.


Social Media Channels: LinkedIn• Online resume – the part of your LinkedIn profile that

is most important is your career, jobs, education, and other skills. Build it out with SEO-driven copywriting.

• Optimize the 120-character Headline to the right of your profile photo

• Customize your URL• Link up your Employment section to the appropriate

Company Page(s)• Build out your Company Page


Social Media Channels: Twitter• Brand your profile, including your handle• Link back to your law firm website• Follow back• Yes, #Hashtags again• @’s (mentions) and DM’s (direct messages)• Twitter Lists• Interacting with the media• If you are only self-promoting, you are doing it

wrong!


Social Media Channels: YouTube• Google owns YouTube and it is the second most used

search engine online• YouTube videos auto-populate your Google+ profile if

you set it up correctly• Transcribe the spoken words within your video content

for great SEO• YouTube isn’t just for video you make yourself – use your

channel to repurpose your television advertisements, speaking engagements, and news coverage

• YouTube advertising


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 Protocol• Use a professional voice and tone• Always be aware of client confidentiality and

inadvertently forming an attorney-client relationship

• How to respond to client communications• How to respond to new lead communications• How to respond to external lawyer communications• How to respond to media and press

communications


Lawyer Directory Listings: OverviewDigital Branding for the Individual Lawyer

• Avvo – PR6 • Best Lawyers – PR6• Chambers – PR6• Justia – PR7• Legal 500 – PR6

• Martindale – PR7• RocketLawyer – PR6 • State Bar of Texas – PR7 • Super Lawyers – PR7


Online Lawyer Directory Listings: Avvo

• How do I sign up? http://www.avvo.com/free-lawyer-advertising

• Avvo empowers consumers to rate lawyers • Member lawyers answer questions for free online• Avvo profiles contain helpful information including

experience, background, disciplinary history, and reviews from clients and peers.

• The Avvo algorithm• Avvo paid advertising


http://www.avvo.com/free-lawyer-advertising

Online Lawyer Directory Listings: Chambers

• Chambers is one of the most legitimate ratings and listings systems both on and offline.

• They have a team of over 140 full-time researchers who conduct thousands of interviews with lawyers and their clients worldwide.

• They publish “guides” internationally.• The value of this listing will depend greatly upon

your practice area and how much B2B marketing you do in your practice.


Online Lawyer Directory Listings: Justia• The Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII)

is a not-for-profit group that publishes law online for free on a highly-ranked website. Its site is directly associated with the Justia online lawyer directory.

• LII and Justia pass along “link juice” to each other. • All searchers on LII’s website looking for legal information and news

are offered the chance to find a lawyer for free. If you are not listed, your name isn’t an option for them to find.

• Justia and Cornell require a Letter of Good Standing or other applicable item to be listed.

• How do I get listed? Visit www.lawyers.justia.com/new-profile.


http://www.lawyers.justia.com/new-profile

Online Lawyer Directory Listings: Martindale-Hubbell

• Does the AV rating matter anymore? Do clients know what it means?

• The majority of the profiles on their website are not fully built out.

• While this was one of the first online lawyer directories, it has become a dinosaur.

• More appropriate for B2B than B2C marketing.


Online Lawyer Directory Listings: State Bar of Texas

• If you are licensed, you are on their website for free, so build out your profile and keep it current.

• You can include your website, the ability to contact you via email, information about your practice, and your social network profiles.


Online Lawyer Directory Listings: Super Lawyers

Basic Free Listing• If you win Rising Star or

Super Lawyers, you are automatically listed on the website for free, with a basic listing.

• Even if you claim and build the listing out behind the scenes, the data does not show up online unless you graduate to a paid listing.

Expanded or Premium Listing• Expanded – You should pay

for this. Super Lawyers listings show up on page one of organic search results.

• Premium – New listing to get lawyers to spend even more money basically on pie charts. For now, go with Expanded.


Super Lawyers Profile (FREE)• Michael Murray, a lawyer from Watts Guerra

does not have a paid listing. This is what his unpaid listing looks like.

Super Lawyers Expanded Profile (PAID)

• Mikal Watts has paid for his expanded listing

Inbound Traffic and BackLinks from Social Media and Directories

• Inbound traffic:– 2013 digital marketing surveys indicate that social

media and SEO efforts drive the majority of inbound website traffic.

– The top three traffic drivers are Facebook, LinkedIn, and a company blog.

• Backlinks:– Backlinks are high-ranking website links “back” to

your website– The lawyer directory listings mentioned herein (and

Google Places) are a great start.www.staceyeburke.com

Stacey E. Burke: Lawyer/Marketer

• You can find me on Social Media + Blogging:– http://

www.Facebook.com/MarketingLawyers – http://www.Twitter.com/StaceyEBurke– http://www.LinkedIn.com/In/StaceyEBurke– https://plus.google.com/109980758416052

073177/posts– http://www.slideshare.net/staceyburke/ – http://www.staceyeburke.com/blog/


http://www.slideshare.net/staceyburke/

http://www.Facebook.com/MarketingLawyers


http://www.Twitter.com/StaceyEBurke


http://www.LinkedIn.com/In/StaceyEBurke

https://plus.google.com/109980758416052073177/posts

https://plus.google.com/109980758416052073177/posts



http://www.staceyeburke.com/blog/

STACEY E. BURKE ATTORNEY/OWNER

4615 SOUTHWEST FREEWAY, SUITE 850HOUSTON, TEXAS 77027 OFFICE (713) 714-8446

FAX (877) 314-9990

[email protected]

WWW.STACEYEBURKE.COM

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Marketing and Advertising: Social Media for Law Firms