You put up a Facebook Page for your law firm, and you busted your ass to get people to Like it. Now what?

Facebook is a funny little ecosystem. It’s the most-visited social network in the U.S. via PC (152.2 million visitors), mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors). In addition, approximately 17 percent of time spent online is on Facebook.

At the same time, only 16% of the people who Like your Facebook Page see your updates.

In other words, you’ve spent a ton of time and effort on building a Facebook Page only to see it get s fraction of the eyeballs you’d been hoping to get.

So you’ve got a bunch of Likes. Now, to paraphrase Seth Godin, whatcha gonna do with all them likes?
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You’re at a convention and there’s some guy talking about marketing. He spends an awful lot of time trying to sell you training programs. Now you can tell if he’s the real deal.

Fake Follower Check is a terrific (and free) online application that will show you how many of a person’s Twitter followers are spammers, bots and fake.

StatusPeople, the folks behind the app, is a company that makes “social media platforms for business.” Seems as if everyone does that these days, but these folks are proving their value in the marketplace.

Here’s how. [Read more...]

Pretty much everyone in the conference hall heard me yelp as Larry DePalma, a purported marketing expert, told 900 consumer bankruptcy lawyers that they should stay away from Twitter. “Not yet,” he said.

My response was purely involuntary, and I was glad that my friend Kurt O’Keefe was quick enough on his feet to cover by saying, “bless you,” as if I’d sneezed. Those in attendance who know me realized the ruse immediately.

My agony, however, was not at the fact that we were told to avoid Twitter. [Read more...]

In his post, 7 Local Business Blogging Tips, Stanford Smith talks about moving the needle locally rather than globally.  It’s an interesting read, worthy of any lawyer looking to increase his or her client base.

As lawyers most of us are working in local practices.  We serve the same town, city or state in which we practice with rare exceptions.  In spite of that, most of the time you’re probably not keeping that in mind when you’re marketing online.

You connect with people all over the country, reasoning that social media is free.  Sure, the platforms cost nothing in terms of dollars out of your pocket but there is a huge cost in terms of time and opportunity cost if you’re using them properly.

Think about it.   [Read more...]

Your judge issues a ruling that spells disaster – or a amounts to a blessing – for your clients.  You have two choices: tell them now or tell them later.  Which do you do?

The answer’s simple.  You want to tell everyone this very minute.  Get on the phone and have your staff do the same.  Get the word out right now, get the clients in the door and help either avoid peril or take advantage of a windfall.

Now.  Not later.  Not tomorrow.  Right. Now.

You could send a letter, but that’s going to take a few days.  If the impact is far-reaching, you could call the local paper but that means you’re going to need to sell a reporter on a story and hope that you make deadline.

There’s no time for that.

Now.

But what if there were a way to put the information out there right now without any fuss?

There is.  The over-hyped term is, “social media,” but that sounds like people talking about what they had for breakfast and playing Farmville.  All worthwhile pursuits, but not in the business context.

We have the power to communicate with people who care about what we have to say.  We hold in our hands the tools to speak with them right now.

Don’t pay attention to the tools.  Those are just things you can learn about.

Don’t think about the technology.  That’s just going to freak you out.

Think about the power of now.  And how it can help your clients, your practice, and your bottom line.

How do you feel about now – now?

Image credit:  mag3737/Flickr

There’s this thing on Twitter called Follow Friday; it developed as a way for people to find new people to connect with and follow on Twitter.  When I was starting out on Twitter I found it pretty useful.  Even now I find new and interesting folks each Friday.

The problem, however, is lack of context.   The typical Follow Friday tweet just lists names of users to follow; there’s no reason why you’d want to do so.  This means you’re taking someone’s word that the people they like will automatically be people you’re going to like as well.

It’s a crap shoot.  And when you’re a lawyer dipping a toe into the Twitter waters, that sort of thing doesn’t really help.

So in the spirit of helping lawyers use Twitter more effectively (or at least in a way that minimizes the potential waste of your time), I give you my version of Follow Friday – which I’m calling the FleischmanFollowFriday.

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