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Technology, Marketing, Messaging

Slappers Only: Automated Responses Require Some Tact, and At Least Some Personalized Followup

Back in college, I used to play this great game for Nintendo 64, called ‘Goldeneye’.  It was a James Bond game, and the object was to shoot people with a variety of guns.

Until it wasn’t.  The game had a delightful feature, called ‘Slappers Only!’.  Basically, nobody had weapons.  So, everybody went around just slapping the shit out of each other.  That was awesome if you were the slapper, not so much if you were the slappee.

And, I kind of feel like I’m the slappee on social media services when I get automated messages from new connections.  You know, I’m just minding my own business on LinkedIn, I connect with someone new who has invited me to make our online business friendship official – and, immediately, I receive a breathless message about how their business could REVOLUTIONIZE MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE, in all caps, of course.

So, if I shook your hand at a networking event, you wouldn’t yell this at me, right – which begs the question: What effect does this tactic have online, other than to make me hate you?

The moral of the story, of course, is: if you’re going to use automated messages, just access some chill.  Use that to warm up a new connection, rather than flying them on a rocket ship ride to the sun.

Also, after you send that very introspective and relaxed introductory email, maybe followup with a more personalized one later.

Or, just do that instead.

Marketing, Analytics, Technology

Page Turner: How to Take Advantage of Google Search Without Paying Anything

Law firms that market most effectively diversify their tactics.  A little bit of paid advertising, a little bit of building organic search results.  Sprinkle in some review management, and engagement tools.  It’s like a recipe – maybe it looks weird all mixed together in the bowl; but, it all comes together beautifully in the end.

Of course, it does help to squeeze every advantage that you can out of your marketing, like each advertising endeavor was a toothpaste tube with only a little bit left to give.  So, if you’re going to pay to advertise your law firm (which you should), do as much as you can, at no cost, to make that paid advertising even more effective.  This is not about being cheap; it’s about being dominant.

But, even if you’re not yet paying for advertising, you can influence your results, using a simple tactic.

You know potential clients who have been referred to you are not just taking their referral source’s word for it.  Trust but verify is the byword of Google search.  So, when referrals are looking you up online, what do they see?

Most lawyers don’t actually know, because they don’t Google their own names, like those referrals are doing.

But, if lawyers did run vanity searches on Google more regularly, what they would find is that many of the page one results tend to be social media (LinkedIn, Instagram) and directory (Avvo, Yelp) profiles.

So, the very first step to better managing your search results as a lawyer, is to understand what comes up on page one of Google for a search of your name.

Then, the fun starts: Claim the profiles you don’t own.  Build up those you do.  Get reviews.

Your clients are looking a gift horse in the mouth; make sure they like what they see.

And, doing so won’t cost you a thing.

Analytics, Marketing, Messaging, Technology

.Org: How to Use Scheduling Tools So Your Content Marketing Efforts Don’t Kill You

The hardest thing about developing a great content marketing program isn’t even writing the content — it’s about publishing the content.  It’s not super difficult to add a new blog post to your website, sure . . . But what about adding your content to various social media channels?  Writing something, especially recording something, is easy — the challenge is then going ahead and posting it your YouTube channels (personal and professional), your Facebook pages (personal and professional), your Twitter accounts (personal and professional), your LinkedIn accounts (personal and professional) . . . Heck, maybe you’ve even got an Instagram account — or, maybe you call it ‘Insta’, like I think the cool kids do.  In any event, it’s a lot to navigate, and a lot of time to spend, especially when the payoff is not immediate, but builds up only over time.

Saving yourself from social media hell, while still effectively managing your law practice is not easy.  But, like many things in life, it comes down to one thing: organization.

There are at least a few things you can do to make sure that your marketing game is strong on social media and that won’t break the bank, or your soul.  (The assumption here is that you’re already competent in creating the content.)

Firstly, choose and use a social media marketing management platform.  You want to use one software through which you can access and post to all your accounts on a schedule.  Free or near-free systems like Hootsuite, Buffer, RavenTools and Tweetdeck will allow you to publish and schedule social media posts across different platforms automatically — even when (actually, especially when) you’re not around to do it.  This means that you can post to social media without falling down some ill-defined social media rabbit hole that you spend two hours with.  And, most of these systems track links and can provide basic post analytics.

Secondly, decide upon a publication schedule.  We all know that the more you can publish, the more traction you’ll get online.  But, It helps to maintain a regular schedule for doing so.  That not only means that you will be more likely to post on a recurring basis, but it also means that you can do it in the same time frame, all the time.  If you started posting your new blog or podcast at 2 pm every Thursday afternoon,  people will begin to expect that, and to look forward to it.  Just don’t stop doing it . . .

Finally, choose a time for when you schedule all your social media posting.  I’m a Sunday night guy myself.  That means you can schedule your entire slate of social media posts for the whole week while watching Game or Thrones.  Then, your only obligation, if you choose to accept it, is to check in here and there throughout the week, in order to engage with your followers.

There’s nothing quite like talking to someone, and having them ask: ‘Wait, did you just tweet something?  How??’

It’s breathtaking.

Analytics, Marketing, Messaging, Technology

Gateway: How You Can Build a More Diversified Marketing Program

Trying something new is not easy.  Ever since cave people started becoming cave people by moving into caves, humans and pre-humans have sought comfort.  And, it’s the same thing with running a business.  Once you get into a groove (which an outsider might call a ‘rut’), it’s difficult to pull yourself out of it, and experiment.  Experimentation is the province of the bold; and boldness is certainly informed by desperation, in many cases.

But, you can also start going down a new path by taking the first step.  You’ve heard the term ‘gateway drug’ — well, in business, there’s a gateway drug for any business improvement tactic.  For example, lawyers love Microsoft Office, but fear the cloud.  Enter Microsoft Office 365.  Buy it, use it, see how similar it is to what you’ve used before, and get comfortable with cloud-based technology, in a familiar environment  Then, buy another cloud software product.  Then, do it again.  Pretty soon, you’re throwing your server out the window.

It’s the same with marketing. If you’re uncomfortable using social media, think of it as a global networking event instead of a web platform.  LinkedIn, in the main, features all the same people you’d meet at bar association or lawyers’ events; but, it’s even easier to get someone’s attention.  Just request a connection; no more awkward interruptions of ongoing conversations.  After a while, you’ll become a sought after connection yourself, as you watch your profile and post views rise.

But, this isn’t just a vanity play; the more people who see what you’re doing, the further your brand reaches, the more you increase the likelihood of additional targeted referrals and new client inquiries.  Modern marketing is more about breadth than depth.  The wider your profile extends, the more opportunities you have to make money.  The key to extending your online profile is to increase the number of platforms you use in as inexpensive a manner as possible.  That’s why free social media services and directory profiles are so essential to a cost-effective law firm marketing strategy.

The time to experiment is ongoing.  In business, stagnation is loss.  So, don’t wait for your practice to start flailing before you switch things up.  Try something new, experiment.  Become the first mover, for once, and reap the benefits.

Your gateway awaits you.

Analytics, Marketing

Stitches: Time Management Tools for Social Media

Everybody wants to do social media marketing.  Many small business owners view it as a panacea for their marketing woes:  It’s free, and it’s easy.  Of course, that’s not entirely true.  It’s not free — because anything that you spend your time on involves at least an opportunity cost.  And, it ain’t easy: I mean, nothing worth doing ever is.  That all being said, social media marketing is effective, if you make the time, and take the effort, to do it right.

The biggest problem with social media marketing is time management.  The point of using social media to build out your law practice is to reach new audiences, at the streams they care about.  Maybe someone prefers Facebook, as a method to search for professional services; or, maybe they like LinkedIn.  The more places you can cover, the more likely you are to convert clients, because the expansion of your market is essentially limitless.  So, social media Increases your opportunities to be where they are.

Now, that all sounds good in the abstract.  But, when you consider that being present in all those places involves the management of a number of different platforms and passwords, your head may start to spin.  And, if social media marketing involves creating and managing personal and professional Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media accounts, most lawyers would probably elect not to start at all — either because they don’t want to do it themselves, or because they feel that their staff should be doing higher leverage work, and they don’t want to hire consultants or vendors to manage it for them.

Of course, it’s difficult to argue with the thesis.  Social media marketing is a pain in the ass.  But, if you could eliminate managing each portal separately, it would be a lot easier, right?  Well, the good news is that you can do exactly that.  There are a number of tools available that will allow you to manage various social media platforms across one dashboard, with a single sign-in.  These software, some of which have free versions, like Hootsuite and Buffer, integrate with social media providers, to allow you to manage your accounts at their interface.  You simply add the accounts you want, and create content streams.  This helps you to view content and to post content easily.  The ability to create and view multiple streams across social media platforms means that you can easily repost content that you like, thereby interspersing your own content with others’, which is a way to establish your expertise without coming off as entirely self-promotional.  Perhaps the best feature of these systems is the ability to schedule posts for later release.  Because one of the biggest issues with social media is that it’s so easy to fall down a rabbit hole and lose hours at a time, scheduling posts allows you to get in and get out more quickly, and with a purpose.  If you’re clever, you can even schedule a post for a week or more at a time, and make it your practice to engage with your connections on your time.  The ability to parachute in and parachute out makes you a much more efficient marketing tactician on social media.  And, if you’re not continually frustrated about what would otherwise appear to be a waste of time, then you’re more likely to keep at it, and that’s a recipe for winning the long game of law firm social media marketing.

Besides, it’s kind of cool to have someone you’re in conversation with ask you whether you just sent out a post on LinkedIn.  Then, it’s up to you whether you want to reveal your secret, or not.  

I’ll never tell.