Social Media for Lawyers: How to Boost Your Practice and Avoid Pitfalls. Presentation by David Harlow at Plenary Session of Massachusetts Bar Association Annual Conference March 2010

1. Marketing and BrandingYour Legal PracticeUsing Social Media Social Media for Lawyers: How to Boost Your Practice and Avoid Pitfalls Massachusetts Bar Association 2010 Annual Conference David Harlow JD MPH The Harlow Group LLC 1 March 11, 2010

2. Why Social Media? All the cool kids are doing it . . . Willie Sutton logic: it’s where the money is Remember: It’s one arrow in the quiver 2 The Harlow Group LLC

3. Uses of Social Media Preliminary questions: What are your strategic goals? How can social media help you achieve them? What resources will you devote to this effort? How will you structure this effort? Clear planning early on can help avoid retrenchment and/or errors later 3 The Harlow Group LLC

4. 4 The Harlow Group LLC

5. Four key social media tools Blog, or Blawg Twitter Linked In Facebook Remember, the medium is not the message Social media strategy must fit in with remainder of marketing strategy Depends on your target audience E.g., new media startups vs. insurance companies The Harlow Group LLC 5

6. Blawg What is it? Why do it? Legal web log = law blog = blawg Web 2.0 Online journal, posted in reverse chronological order Interactive Links Comments RSS: (“push”) PR/marketing for your practice and yourself Improved web presence (Google loves blogs) Networking Other bloggers Readers Referral sources Clients Marketing Higher Google profile more press calls 6 The Harlow Group LLC

7. How to blog Pick a niche and start writing Don’t stop . . . commitment matters You will find your voice . . . or several voices Don’t do this unless you really like writing and have something to say But don’t be put off by the fallacy: “If I’m thinking it, then everyone must be thinking it.” Begin publicizing after writing several posts Read voraciously Join the conversation Comment on, and link to, other blogs The Harlow Group LLC 7

8. Learning the ropes Read other blogs Find them via directories, e.g.: Blawg.com Justia.com ABA Journal myHq:blawgs Read Blawg Reviewand posts from other blog carnivals (definition) (examples) and follow the links Subscribe to blogs using a feed reader, e.g.: Bloglines Google Reader The Harlow Group LLC 8

9. Technical stuff The Harlow Group LLC Blogging infrastructure Choose a platform DIY Typepad Blogger Wordpress Posterous Others Hosted, designed, optimized Justia LexBlog 9

10. More technical stuff Syndication Tune into the magic of RSS – “really simple syndication” for your feed Register with Feedburner(RSS & email for the dinosaurs) Link love You must give in order to receive Track readership Track reactions and links with Google Alerts Freshness and authority count Track incoming traffic with StatCounterorSiteMeter SEO: Adjust writing based on this information The Harlow Group LLC 10

11. Blog carnivals (“traveling posts”) Participate in blog carnivals (definition) Submit posts Host carnivals General and specialized; legal and non-legal SeeBlogCarnival.com The Harlow Group LLC 11

12. Blog carnivals (cont’d) Blog carnivals I contribute to and/or host Blawg Review Health Wonk Review Grand Rounds Others: Carnival of the Capitalists Cavalcade of Risk The Harlow Group LLC 12

13. The Harlow Group LLC Google juice in action 13 OIG Health Blawg HFMA Ober Kutak

14. The Harlow Group LLC Google juice in action (cont’d) 14 Health Blawg Politico CNN ABC CBS The New Republic

15. From blogging to microblogging Twitter Microblogging platform -- 140 character limit per post Millions of registered users, including big business and lawyers from solos to Am Law 200 “Broadcast” vs. interactive Can be used for one-way communication More effective as medium for conversation Networking and communication tool 15 The Harlow Group LLC

16. Using Twitter effectively Need to establish tactics that further your marketing strategy, e.g.: Broadcast blog posts “Tweet” information/links not worth a whole blog post or that you have no time to blog about Follow other “tweeps” of interest Engage in dialogue – public or private – with other tweeps Follow hashtags of interest; post with hashtags Participate in tweetchats The Harlow Group LLC 16

17. The Harlow Group LLC Some Twitter tools To find other tweeps to follow: Twellow (index organized a la the original Yahoo!) Twubble, MrTweet (once you’re following some) JD Scoop list of 500+ twittering lawyers Legal Birds aggregator (Justia) LexTweet aggregator (LexBlog) To follow tweeps without being overwhelmed by the volume; lets you assign tweeps to groups TweetDeck or Seesmic Twitter on the go TwitterBerry, UberTwitter or iTweet 17

18. TweetDeck 18 The Harlow Group LLC

20. Facebook and Linked In The Harlow Group LLC Online networking communities Leverage your network to avoid cold calls Allow you to feed content to their sites, including RSS feeds of blogs Tweets Allow you to remain top-of-mind Need to use the right online tools to reach each of your target markets 20

21. Facebook The Harlow Group LLC Personal pages and business pages Personal pages – access may be limited to “friends” Business pages open to all Examples: David Harlow and The Harlow Group LLC Turned “friend” into a verb Useful platform for communication with defined groups and friends 21

22. Linked In The Harlow Group LLC Linked In – “Facebook for grownups” Allows for exploration of contacts’ networks Includes Q&A forums to demonstrate expertise Adding functionality mimicking Facebook Groups Feeds Slideshare Convergence of Linked In, Facebook, Twitter 22

24. Twitter for Lawyerson HealthBlawg

25. Darren Rowse’sTwiTips

26. My Web 2.0 sites:

27. HealthBlawg

28. HealthBlawg on Twitter

29. Linked In

30. FacebookThe Harlow Group LLC 23

31. Questions / Discussion The Harlow Group LLC David Harlow JD MPH The Harlow Group LLC harlowgroup.net healthblawg.typepad.com twitter.com/healthblawg david@harlowgroup.net 617.965.9732 for contact info in an sms, txt dharlow to 50500 24