1. Social Media Marketing for Law Firms
October 27th, 2011
Mike Rabinovici, LL.B Contact Information:rmation:
michael@ar-com.com
VP, Web & Social Media Marketing www.ar-com.com/blog
AR Communications Inc. Twitter.com/mikerabinovici
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/mikerabinovici
www.ar-com.com
2. Say Goodbye to the Information Age
• Over the last 5 years the Internet and information delivery have
fundamentally changed
• Information is being produced faster than we can absorb
• In 2009 – 12000 new URLs each day, in 2011 - 150,000
• By 2011, 20 typical households will generate more traffic then the
entire Internet did in 2008 – the last full year of information looked
in version 1.0 of this presentation
• Growth of knowledge is being matched by the growth of ignorance
3. Say Hello to the Attention Age
The Attention Age Doctrine – Rich Schefren
4. This is Not your Daddy’s Internet
• Exponential data growth
dramatically affects traditional
marketing channels on the
Internet
• The sense of information
overload has created a shift in
client behavior
• They are all reaching for and
craving one thing:
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6. What is Social Media?
• The term Social Media refers to the use of web-
based and mobile technologies to turn
communication into an interactive dialogue
• “Social Media tools introduce substantial and
pervasive changes to communication between
organizations, communities, and individuals”
Kietzmann, Jan H.; Kris Hermkens, Ian P. McCarthy, and Bruno S. Silvestre (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building
blocks of social media".
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8. Social Networks
• LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com
• Facebook – www.facebook.com
• Foursquare – www.foursquare.com
And so many more…
9. Which Social Media Tools Can Law Firms Use to
Make the Greatest Impact?
• Blogs
• Podcasts
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Twitter
10. Blogs
• A blog (a contraction of the term
weblog) is a website, usually
maintained by an individual or company
with regular entries of commentary,
descriptions of events, or other
material such as graphics or video.
Entries are commonly displayed in
reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can
also be used as a verb, meaning to
maintain or add content to a blog.
source – Wikipedia
• Key Stat: B2B companies that blog
generate 67% more leads per month
than those who do not. Source:
Hubspot, State of Inbound Marketing
Lead Generation Report, 2011
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11. Social Media Best Practices for Blogs
• Relevant, timely content
• Updated regularly
• Once or twice a week unless a special event is taking place
• This type of content does not come naturally so you have to
practice saying more with less words
• Repurpose existing content from commentaries, white papers
or other content you’ve developed
• Consider outsourcing
• Expert positioning and SEO benefits
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12. Podcasts
• A podcast is a series of audio or
video digital media files which are
distributed over the Internet by
syndicated download, through
Web feeds, to portable media
players and personal computers.
Though the same content may
also be made available by direct
download or streaming, a podcast
is distinguished from most other
digital media formats by its ability
to be syndicated, subscribed to,
and downloaded automatically
when new content is added
• Awareness of podcasting has
doubled since 2006
Source: Wikipedia
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13. The Power of Podcasting
• Device shifting - Listen on any device
• Time shifting: Listen anywhere at any time
• Fireside chats
• A 15 -20 minute conversation
• Focus on a relevant timely topic
• Upload to iTunes
• Approx. 100-200 million podcast listeners
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14. Social Media Best Practices for Podcasts
• Content should focus on educating, not selling
• The podcast should sound like a “fireside chat”, not an
infomercial
• Interview formats work well
Podcasts can be divided into three categories:
• Educating about the service or field of expertise with a lawyer
being the interviewee
• Interviewing a client – the social proof aspect
• Interview with a third party expert – a combination of
education and social proof
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15. – Great For Business
• Web’s largest professional network with over 120 million
members in 200 countries. Canada has over 4 million
members
• The average profile age on LinkedIn is 40 years
• More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages
• As of June 30, 2011 (the end of the second quarter), LinkedIn
counts executives from all 2011 Fortune 500 companies as
members; its corporate hiring solutions are used by 75 of the
Fortune 100 companies.
• App. 2% of LinkedIn user are in the legal profession
16. Facebook
• 800 Million users
• If Facebook were a country is would be the world’s third
largest, after China and India
• Facebook's biggest age group of followers is now in the 35-54
range
• 62 percent of Facebook users between 35-54 years of age
have liked a brand (eMarketer)
• 61 percent of Facebook users who have liked a brand note
that they are more likely to purchase from that brand
(AllFacebook)
17. Twitter
• Over 200 million accounts
• 1 billion tweets per week
• 460,000 new accounts per day as of March, 2011
• A great tool for providing customer services and
delivering important information in real time
• Monitoring your firm’s reputation and keeping an
eye on the competition
• Increasingly used by law firms
18. Next Steps
Begin with a Social Media assessment:
• What has your law firm done with social media to
date?
• Was it done in accordance with a plan or ad hoc
• Are there any analytics for current social media
activities – you must establish a baseline
• Is there an employee social media policy in place?
• What are your competitors doing?
19. Key Elements of a Social Media Strategic
Plan
• Determine the audience you will focus on and where it
spends most of it’s time
• Set your goals – these can include number of visits, leads
generated, sales completed, etc., ROI expected
• Focus on the areas where we already know social media
has the greatest impact
• Set aside a budget that is reasonable in terms of the
goals you set
• Make sure to have a social media policy in place for
employees
• Deploy social media analysis tools to measure progress
20. The Fundamentals Still Apply
• Forget about the technology
• Focus on the trend
• Leverage the tools technology
is making available
Use it to:
Position yourself or your firm as
the thought leader or expert in
your field
Strengthen relationships
and build trust
Stay front of mind
21. Contact Information
Mike Rabinovici, LL.B
VP, Web & Social Media Marketing
AR Communications Inc.
www.ar-com.com
michael@ar-com.com
www.ar-com.com/blog
Twitter.com/mikerabinovici
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/mikerabinovici
416-720-5485
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