The presentation discusses the importance of social media marketing for lawyers as an effective alternative to traditional marketing, enabling them to build reputation and connections at a lower cost. It outlines key strategies for successful engagement, including creating relevant content, utilizing various platforms like blogs, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and the need for consistent participation. The speaker emphasizes that while social media can be time-consuming, it is essential for establishing a personal brand and growing an online presence in a competitive legal market.

1. Taking the Lead in Social Media Marketing for Lawyers or “Social Media Marketing for Dummies” Presentation before GAWL Leadership Committee March 10, 2009 Jackie Hutter, MS, JD Chief IP Strategist The Hutter Group LLC & Patent Matchmaker Website 1: www.JackieHutter.com Website 2: www.PatentMatchMaker.com Blog: www.ipAssetMaximizer.com Follow me on Twitter: @ipStrategist Blip.fm DJ JackieHutter

2. Why Social Media Marketing (SM) for Lawyers? Alternative to traditional law firm marketing People send business to lawyers they trust and/or know through reputation Web marketing is no different Can make significant and valuable connections with potential clients and referral sources from comfort of own home Far lower cost to potentially reach many people Small firms/solos can develop significant presence on web without much investment Many large firms are late adopters As law firms increasingly fail and downsize, important to build own brand Reputation is portable 25% of Americans today go online for legal information Likely to grow significantly If you post relevant information, people will seek you out

3. Quote from Vickie Pynchon, Esq. about SM Marketing “ Blogging has raised my profile locally, nationally and internationally. I have been retained to mediate cases pending in foreign countries; have been hired to provide training to Fortune 500 companies out of state; and, have been quoted in national news outlets solely as a result of the reputation I’ve developed as a negotiation and IP ADR blogger. I have also made friends and gathered legal blogging colleagues around me who have become a vital part of my work, my life, and my business network. I frankly cannot imagine how impoverished my life and my ADR practice would be without the benefits of blogging and other social networking activities, including twitter and social network sites like ning. Professional networking on the internet is collaborative, reciprocal and deeply rewarding.”

4. My Journey into SM Marketing

5. Key Takeaway from My SM Marketing Journey Success in Social Media marketing is a process not an event But this is true for all legal marketing efforts Not enough to just show up, you have to participate More is more My journey continues Wherever I am, I am not yet there

6. First Step to Any SM Marketing Program Decide whether you would rather hire someone to design and implement your SM program for you Huge number of SM marketing experts Many legally focused Even if someone assists, you still will have to provide content Significant commitment required

7. Second Step to Any SM Marketing Program Set up a Google Alerts for your name & your law firm What and who is talking about you http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&gl=us Also good for monitoring blogs that discuss subjects in which you are developing expert status Ex: My Alerts 1x’s a day Patent Strategy Intellectual Property Strategy Jackie Hutter My blog: ipAssetMaximizer.com

8. Elements of a SM Marketing Program Blogs Blog comments LinkedIn Twitter Content Marketing JD Supra Ezine articles Facebook Others

9. Why So Many Options? The key to success in Web 2.0 world is getting your name out there in your chosen niche SEO Page ranks in your niche Jackie Hutter “IP Strategy” http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=jackie+hutter&aq=0&oq=jackie+hutt Jessica Harper “lawyer” http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=jessica+harper+lawyer+atlanta Use same content over and over in different locations to boost visibility Tweak for use in various contexts

10. Blogs Millions of blogs in the world Not as many legal blogs because lawyers tend to be late adopters of new technology Great opportunity to establish a presence on the web with premium content Become a recognized expert in legal niche Distinguish from advertising Like being published in bar magazine on a regular basis

11. Blogs My story: www.ipAssetMaximizer.com Truly niche area of IP business strategy “ Expert” blog Takes me about 4 hours for each post Sometimes more Ranked in searches as more substantive because I have original content As opposed to aggregation Not large readership, but high influence Looking to hire blog marketing organization www.lexblog.com Biggest challenge with blog is time takes to write Can collaborate to lessen commitment Note: found easier to start because I have been reading blogs for several years

12. Blog Comments Commenting can be great way to enhance web presence Indexed on web and attributable to you if under your own name (or traceable alias) Crowdsourcing for journalists Comments have to be substantive and relevant to your expertise Can gain significant credibility as expert in chosen subject Ex: I was recently contacted by Business Week about a comment I made Will appear on BusinessWeek.com soon which will be highly ranked on “importance” Perpetuates my Web-based reputation

13. LinkedIn www.LinkedIn.com Over 8 million members Over 200K lawyers as of November 2008 Conservative estimate Many people not on at all or have only a couple of connections Provides single source of online visibility Continuous source of connection Independent of current job Resume/cv checker More reliable when public? Everything you wanted to know about using LinkedIn as a lawyer http://linkedinlawyer.blogspot.com/

14. +/- of LinkedIn (IMHO) What I Like What I Don’t Like Can find people easily Central place to put info about me Business information Resume Automatically posts blog updates Can enhance reputation Answer questions Presentations “ What am I doing” Can find collaborators for projects “ Everyone is a free agent” Emerging high level jobs board Low cost source of employees more likely to move or work virtually Has become crowded Specialness hard to extract Lots of foreign users, especially in networks No peer review Not reputation based, promotion based Answers often wrong, but no way to call out Increasingly requires substantial effort to extract value Hearing that lawyers have admins to mine for info and keep updated Better for those with marketing professionals?

15. Twitter “ Microblog” All entries in 140 characters or less More personal form of SM Requires continuous updating Once a day at a minimum Multiple times a day better Develop relationships with people based upon Tweets Many applications to make easier and more valuable to use

16. Twitter Value Proposition for Lawyers Can gain immediate expertise by asking a general question or sending a direct message People very happy to give info Focused niche information Find content aggregators Learn about issues your clients may be facing by tracking linked urls Clients get better served by immediately connecting the client's lawyer with a needed lawyer in unfamiliar jurisdiction almost immediately Great source of reciprocal referrals Meet business associates and prospective clients on Twitter who arguably are in a higher demographic group and more innovative than the general business population. Early adopters more likely to respond to new marketing techniques like Twitter Greater interaction likely leads to greater enjoyment of legal practice

17. Twitter Can be confusing when starting Think of as “virtual watercooler” IMO numbers not as important as content My “Twitter grade” very high even though I don’t have huge # of “followers” Fact that people select you effectively makes Twitter peer reviewed Keys to success Get Retweets Gain followers Make personal contacts

18. Twitter IMHO Twitter is the greatest source of personal marketing today “ Networking on steroids” People hire and recommend those whose name they recognize and trust as expert @Labor_Lawyer posts news and views on employment law Followed by HR people at Fortune 500 companies Relatively few lawyers on Twitter as compared to other professions Still time to stake a claim, especially in niche area Auxiliary benefits “ Tweetups” Drive traffic to your blog Publicize news Learn about new tools to make work and life easier and less expensive Find like-minded people in far-flung places

19. Twitter Sources of information Lextweet http://www.lextweet.com/tweeters Legal Index Justia Legal Birds http://legalbirds.justia.com/ Legal Rankings Basic guides http://www.legalmarketingblawg.com/2009/02/to-twitter-or-not-to-twitter-t.html http://www.10e20.com/blog/2009/02/06/twitter-for-lawyers-legal-professionals/

20. Facebook Place for people to Communicate Update Collaborate via groups Still evolving into a product Likely to be very different product in a year IMO, I look at as place to engage socially Wish to keep personal friends separate from business friends Ways do exist to wall off personal from business Might want to investigate because good for search engine rankings

21. Content Marketing JD Supra http://www.jdsupra.com/ “ Give content, get noticed” Legally focus and directed toward consumer of legal services Place to post content to boost search engine rankings as legal expert Ex: court filings, articles, memos etc. Free and paid options Founded by former Yahoo folks, so know how to get SEO and page ranks I create documents from blog posts and load as JD Supra content RSS to Twitter Great customer service Communicate with founder on Twitter

22. Content Marketing Ezine Articles http://www.ezinearticles.com/ Less legally focused, more toward general audience But does boost SEO and page ranks Free and paid Repackage my blog posts RSS to Twitter

23. Other Emerging SM Marketing Sources for Lawyers and Others Law Marketing Groups http://lawmarketing.ning.com/ Professional Women’s Groups http://pwnscal.ning.com/ We need one in Atlanta! LinkedIn Groups Specialty expert and niche sites Forbes.com Toolbox.com Friendfeed.com http://friendfeed.com/ Helps you discover and discuss interesting stuff that your friends and family find on the web Slideshare http://slideshare.com Music social sites Blip.fm http://blip.fm/

24. Parting Thought Yes, the Web 2.0 world is confusing and time consuming! Don’t assume that tools you use today will be there in future Web is continually evolving But if you don’t jump in, you can never be part of this world Increasingly important if law firms not dominant form of legal service provider in future Your reputation belongs to you, so best not to rely on others solely to develop and maintain your online reputation Ok, to hire a Web 2.0 marketer to assist you