The Listening Power

of Social Media

Roy Ginsburg – Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Peter Ozolin – Manzama, Inc.

Adam L. Stock – Allen Matkins

Traditional Social

“Every audience has an audience”

Levels of social media engagement

Like I like your message

Friend/Subscribe I’d like to join your community

Share/TweetI’d like others that I know

to know about you

Comment/GiveI’d like to engage with you

How do you listen?

How do you:

• know what people care about?

• know what the trends are?

• use this information to develop

relationships?

• use this information to develop business?

Origins

• Client Questions > Seminar

• Quarterly Breakfast Briefings

• Quirky Questions – Most Popular

Breakfast Briefing

– 8th Annual, September 14, 2011

Started Blog (October 2007)

• Goal: Post one question each week/ post

analysis, and a new question, the following week

• Sources for Posted Questions:

– Client inquiries

– Reader questions (disclaimers/attorney-client

privilege issues)

– Cases we’re handling

– Decisions from around the U.S.

– News articles

Not a true Blog

• Spam, “You’re brilliant . . .go to my XXX

Website”

• Venting by discharged employees

• I must approve for “feedback” to be

displayed on the Website

Blog Today

• Blog Posts (approximately 250 posts)

• Category Index

• Word Searchable

• West Coast Quirky Questions (4 West

Coast offices)

• Case Analysis (U.S. Supreme Court

decisions)

• Guest Writers

• Content Rich

Interactive

• Questions Themselves

• Employment Trivia Questions

• Leadership Series

• (Other Series Coming)

• Polling Questions

• Resources (e.g., Blog Roll; other

Websites)

Uses

• Drive Traffic to Firm’s Website (distinct from the

Blog)

• Collateral Publicity

– Minnesota Lawyer, selected QQ Blog as one of top

20 Blogs in MN

– Lexology, publishes every article on Blog

• Selected as “2010 Author of the Year, Overall”

• Selected as “2010 Author of the Year, Employment Law”

• Provides “Read Report” for every article published

(number/company/location)

• Recently started, “Author Page” (article compilation)

Uses

• Collateral Publicity (cont’d)

– Announcements

• Chambers Results

• Lateral Hires

• Various awards/accolades

• Develop Content for Various Purposes– Client Pitches (articles of relevance)

– Seminars (e.g., Review/Preview; Restrictive

Covenants)

– Value-add for clients

– Web Presence

– Client Interaction (questions, leadership series, trivia,

etc.)

Business Development

• Seed planting

• Specific examples

– Trivia Game: Adeptyx Consulting (Restrictive

Covenant Preliminary Injunction hearing in federal

court in Boston)

– Leadership Series: Sequential litigation for

Restaurant Technologies, Inc.

– Seminar: Litigation for UnitedHealth Group

– Questions: Representing CFO and Group VP

following provision of articles on “for cause” discharge

constituting defamation (Atlanta)