Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

When it comes to the latest developments in social media usage, Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog is one of the best resources around.  Go to his blog and subcribe to his feed!  Just this weekend, he added two posts that are must-reads for anyone in the legal marketing profession.

And he's not afraid to evolve with the times and trends.  Last year, O'Keefe advised his lawyer/clients to stick with the "big three" of blogging, Twitter and LinkedIn.  On Saturday, based on the latest stats on the meteoric growth of Facebook, he noted that "more people are hanging out on Facebook than any other place on the net" and added Facebook to this list.  "With the world going to Facebook, how can I ignore it and survive as a successul business leader?"

Today, O'Keefe reported on a recently released social media study from the Nielsen Company, which states that the time spent by Americans on social media sites increased 210 percent in 2009 (the increase was 82 percent for global users).  The top U.S. social media sites are Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Classmates and LinkedIn.

O'Keefe concludes his post by questioning the fact that -- in spite of these statistics -- 45 percent of US law firms continue to block the use of social media and social networking sites.

I agree completely.  Law firms need to trust their lawyers to act appropriately in "public."  You don't ask them to stay home from "real world" business networking opportunities on the off chance that they'll say something inappropriate.  Social networking sites are no different.

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According to a post by Larry Bodine, an overwhelming majority of reporters and editors now depend on social media sources when researching their stories.  Larry gets his data from a national survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of George Washington University.

89 percent use blogs for story research

65 percent use social networks for story research

61 percent use Wikipedia for story research

52 percent use microblogs like Twitter for story research

Mainstream media have clearly hit a tipping point in their reliance on social media for research and reporting.  What do reporters and editors find out about you when they search these sources while researching and writing an article?

Have you populated blogs, social networks, content sites, Wikis and Twitter with the kind of informative, useful content that positions you as a reputable source for a reporter or editor?

Create good content.  Post it on sites that accept user-generated content.

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Thanks to the Internet, the line between print, radio and television news has become increasingly blurred.

Print publications host audio and video on their Web sites -- some of it generated by professionals and some of it by "citizen journalists."  Radio and television station Web sites include not only audio and video podcasts, but also text and photographs.

All of these sites host blogs by their reporters, which can include links to audio and video.  All of them offer versions for mobile devices.  All of them offer subscriptions via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, RSS, email or text message.  All of them accept user contributions.

Any lawyer, law firm or professional service provider can get into the broadcast game, publishing original audio and video content on their own Web sittes or on a wide variety of user-populated "content" sites like YouTube.  To see the entire article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast journalism in the Internet age

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Although the number of lawyers on LinkedIn is steadily increasing, very few of them are taking full advantage of the site's potential as an inexpensive thought-leadership and business development tool.  This article is a synopsis of a presentation on LinkedIn and other social networks made by John Reed of Jaffe Associates and Laura Hazen of Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pasco.

LinkedIn:  Lawyers and law firms can use social networks to develop new business

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Reporters, editors and publishers from the mainstream media now rely on social media to learn about breaking news -- and to locate resources for the stories they write and publish.  In this Sept. 24 Webinar, Kevin O'Keefe of Lexblog discusses how lawyers and law firms can use social media to create and nurture relationships with mainstream media. 

In this Webinar, O'Keefe discusses how to use social media to listen -- to clients, prospective clients, referral sources and influencers (reporters, bloggers, associations and publishers).

Once you have listened carefully and know what interests these parties, you can use social media to create a relationship and give reporters, editors and publishers the information they need to know in order to do their jobs.  If you've done your homework, they will appreciate your input.

In addition, O'Keefe discusses the correct way to cite and build upon the work of others in your own blog and in social networks -- and let them know how your efforts have increased their circulation.  He also discusses the role played by Twitter in "getting out the news" about your practice or firm.

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When it comes to blogs and other social media for lawyers and law firms, Kevin O'Keefe and his team at LexBlog are recognized as the industry experts.  Because LexBlog designed and hosts my Constant Content Blog, I am invited to participate in LexBlog's regular online Webinars.

Over the years, we've all been snookered into worthless Webinars -- where presenters drone on endlessly about concepts that are obvious to 95 percent of the audience.  Or simply read their slides.  Not so with the LexBlog series.  I consider myself pretty "cutting edge" when it comes to social media, but I always come away from these sessions with a number of good ideas that I can easily put into action myself.  Each one is an hour well spent.

The June 28 LexBlog Webinar was Creating effective blog posts and engaging in online discussions to enhance your online reputation. 

The month before, the subject was Twitter:  What is it?  Why should I use it?  How do I use it?

And there are many more.  A recording of each Webinar is posted online.  Try them.  You'll like them.

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Twitter is one of the latest social networking tools.  A user can use Twitter to create a free account, follow others, develop a list of followers and send 140 character messages -- called Tweets -- to the desktops or phones of others.  I opened up a Twitter account (@jeraasch) about six months ago, which so far I use primarily to send out links to new articles that I've published on this blog.  Apparently, there are many more ways to take advantage of this useful new tool!

Yesterday, I learned some new ways to use Twitter for business development in a Webinar presented by Lexblog.  To view the Webinar, click here.

I learned how to use a program called TweetDeck to impose order on what can be a daunting number of incoming Tweets.  You can use Tweetdeck to create up to ten sorting categories.  Some of these can be groups of people you especially want to follow, like individuals invited to an upcoming event (you can also Tweet with them during and after the event).  Others can be "saved searches" on useful terms -- like your name or the name of your law firm.

Twitter can be used actively to enhance your reputation as a thought leader.  Kevin O'Keefe at Lexblog recommends Tweeting links to useful content that you've found elsewhere.  (Sometimes, you will need to shorten the URL to fit into the 140-character limit.)  Also, Twitterers can "retweet" a message on their own account to all of their followers.  Retweeting is like an endorsement of someone else's Tweet.  It is a good way to enhance your relationship with the original Twitterer.

Twitter can also be used for search.  As I mentioned above, you can search for your name or firm name to monitor what people are saying about you on Twitter.  You can search by keywords to find out what people are saying about a current issue -- and respond with your own comments.  You can search by your area of practice and city to find the Tweets of potential clients who are asking for advice on legal services.  If you are attending an event, you can search by the event name, find other Twitterers who will be attending, and make plans to meet them in person at the event. 

In fact, many reporters are using Twitter this way to find good sources to quote in their articles.  O'Keefe mentioned that when a bomb went off in Gaza, he was able to Tweet in real time with a person on the ground at the bomb site.  He mentioned that he was able to use a link to listen to the flight recorder from the Buffalo commuter plane crash before the recording appeared in the maintsteam media -- via Twitter.

O'Keefe also recommended that your Twitter "opus" should be 90 percent "business" and 10 percent "personal."  Relationships are often based on shared personal interests -- a point that I've often made in my posts regarding online biographies and profiles.

Like so many other social media, Twitter is just a tool.  If you create an account but just let it sit "on a shelf" and never use it, Twitter will be a waste of your time.  If you use to position yourself as a thought leader and meet new people, it can be a good use of your time.

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The blogosphere is currently abuzz with an object lesson in how NOT to use Twitter (or any other social medium, for that matter) for business development purposes.

An account executive from a large PR firm in Atlanta flew to Memphis to make a presentation to his big client -- FedEx.  Upon landing at the Memphis airport, he made the following Tweet:  "True confession but I'm in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say, 'I would die if I had to live here.'"

The Tweet was instantly picked up and circulated by a senior executive at FedEx, who was also using Twitter.  Turns out, the people at FedEx are quite fond of their home town.  The consultant's Tweet was immediately and publicly denounced as "inappropriate" by the FedEx corporate communications team -- before he had even arrived at the front door of this very important client.  Just try to imagine the reception!  And it is now all over the Internet.  Apologies have been issued.

What is the lesson here for lawyers and other professional services providers?  Social media are great tools -- but never, never, never post anything on a social network or other social media site that you would not want a client, a potential client or a reporter to read.  Social media are instantaneous and, because of the viral nature of the Internet, can rarely be completely recalled.  Think twice before you Tweet.

For more details about this incident, see David Henderson's blog.

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The world of journalism has been revitalized by the input of enthusiatic citizen journalists writing for new online media.  This world will never be the same.  However, there are a few "tricks of the traditional trade" that would help these writers improve their posts.  One of these is headline-writing.

Back in the day (I taught journalism for ten years), "how to write a good headline" was part of the curriculum at any j-school.  Headline writers were the poets of the journalism world.  It was their job to condense the gist of of story into a certain number of characters that would fit meaningfully into an allotted amount of print space -- in a way that would attract the attention of the reader. 

The same rules apply to the headlines we write for blog posts and online articles (usually 160 characters) -- and especially posts on Twitter (140 characters)!  Many of these headlines appear in aggregators -- where they are skimmed by readers who make an instantaneous judgment about whether or not to open the headline and read further.  I have more than 100 blogs in my Bloglines aggregator -- which I use as a daily "newspaper" for my work-related news.  I can't tell you how many headlines I skim over each day (rather than opening and reading them) because the headline does not catch my attention as "something I need to know in order to do business."

Generic writing does not work in a headline -- in print or online.  Good headlines should let the reader know why they need to read further.  What is the news or value proposition you are offering in exchange for their time?  Use important nouns (keywords) and active verbs.

Bad:  New law takes effect in 2009

Good:  ADAAA takes effect Jan. 1:  Employers with disabled workers must make changes

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