Practicing With Professionalism: Social Media and Marketing Strategy for New Lawyers

Social Media and Marketing StrategyFor New Lawyers

David W. White, Esq.Breakstone, White & Gluck, P.C.

Two Center PlazaBoston, MA 02108white@bwglaw.com

www.linkedin.com/in/davidwwhite

Marketing Goals Get more clients Find clients you like Do work you enjoy Earn a better living Maintain your work/life balance

Define Yourself Who are you (or who do you want

to be)? What’s your image? What’s your style? What’s your pitch? Become known

Define Your Brand Do you have a look?

Professional Designer? Decent Portrait?

Find: Themes that differentiate you Qualities that differentiate you Activities that differentiate you

Getting Known Website/Blog Social Networking Contact Management Keeping in Touch with Referring Attys Speaking/Teaching/Writing Advertising Sponsorships

Website VERY IMPORTANT even if it is not

full of content, yet Purpose:

Attract visitors Hold visitors Convert visitors to clients/contacts Hold yourself out as expert

Attracting Visitors Content is King/Queen

Regular content additions Cross-linking pages

Articles to demonstrate expertise Newsletters and other publications All of this = Search Engine

Optimization a.k.a. SEO

Holding Visitors Aesthetics

Should design for all platforms, including phones and tablets

Interesting, Genuine Content Video Free Goodies Testimonials

Converting Visitors “Calls to Action”

Warnings about statutes of limitations Easy fill-in forms Larger contact forms Toll free numbers Prominent contact information Live representative services

Demonstrating Your Expertise

Don’t be shy about your expertise Showcase your strengths and

successes Be seen as an expert

Introduce yourself to the media Reprint your news stories

Blogs Make time to write Do a blog

Newsletter can recycle the blog Blogs bring you SEO and media

attention Blogs are CHEAP (as little as $0)

Get Found!Directories and Social Media

Google+ Page Yahoo Bing Avvo.com Lawyers.com Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Get Found! Directories and Social Media

• Yelp• YouTube• Manta• Flikr• Myspace

• Hotfrog• Slideshare• About.Me• Better Business

Bureau

Consistency Exact spelling Branding across platforms Use pictures/videos everywhere Metatags/names

Google and Google+ Google dominates: ~70% of searches Google is getting smarter

Hates: Black hat techniques Keyword stuffing

Loves: Natural language Informative content

Google+/gmail are free

LinkedIn Claim and build your profile

completely Endorsements & Recommendations!

Build your contacts Join some groups Post your activities Build a firm LinkedIn page

AVVO.com Claim your profile (it’s free) Complete your profile Boost your rating Keep your profile up-to-date Answer questions to earn points

Facebook Check privacy settings for personal

page Create your firm page Link blogs, tweets, etc. Get some friends and some likes!

Twitter

Get a username Complete your profile Start following people Hope they follow you Tweet and re-tweet Don’t tweet tripe

Be Careful What You Tweet

Contact Management Bring back old clients Bring in new clients Bring back old referrers Bring in new referrers Stay in the front of everybody’s

brain

Contact Management System Could be your e-mail (Outlook,

e.g.) Could be on-line (Constant

Contact, e.g.) Could be third party data manager

(Blue Orchid, e.g.)

Keeping in Touch E-mail newsletters E-mail alerts Holiday cards Birthday cards The point is: MAKE IT A REGULAR

COMMUNICATION

Define Your Strategy Create an action plan Schedule marketing time Make your social media use

systematic Avoid distraction/addiction

Define Your Strategy If you are not marketing every

week you will fall behind Marketing is just as important as

paperwork Marketing is your meal next

week/year Marketing is your floor, could be

your skyscraper

Remember Your goals:

Competence Connectedness Autonomy

You can define your success

FIN