The very essence of law firms is the business of providing highly valuable and specialized advice, guidance and information to our clients that is specific to their particular needs. 

Law firms are in the business of service. 

As law firms are in the business of service, it is important for entrepreneurial lawyers to realize that business is the result of relationships.   People buy from those they know, like and trust.   Business relationships can be iniatiated in many ways that range from personal interaction to articles to public speaking.   Social Media is a powerful medium that supports both small and large law firms alike in iniatiating and supporting powerful relationships in mass … thus facilitating the opportunity to create more meaningful connections leading to increased business opportunities. It is important to note that while social media is a great place to begin relationships, it does not replace the need to follow-up with folks in your target audience in a more personal way.   There are many ways to effectively follow-up.   At UpwardAction, we can certainly help you out in this regard. 

Professional service providers who are serious about becoming more powerful rainmakers understand the importance of leveraging the power of social media (as a part of your comprehensive interactive marketing plan) to build strong relationships that result in increased pre-qualified clients and a stronger referral base.   

When you understand how to use social media platforms for business, you have a tremendous opportunity to experience accelerated business success through the initiation of relationships that begin (but should not end) with *small* group or mass interaction.  

In fact, effective use of social media platforms is a powerful way to execute our
UpwardAction® Relationship Principles for Business Success:  Listen ~ Assess ~ Share ~  Learn ~ Receive!

Let’s explore a few ways to effectively use the most popular social media platforms. 

• Facebook and Myspace are two examples of platforms providing an easy non-obtrusive way to share photos from your life (best to use photos from vacations or events that tastefully give a sense of your personal interests); lists of your favorite books and music; your favorite motto or quote.  This type of sharing allows your ideal clients to connect with you through shared experiences and interests.  Connections that are born of shared interests are powerful because people by from those they know, like and trust.

• LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo Groups and Ning social networking groups are examples of platforms that provide an opportunity to “listen” in on conversations happening in your industry.   People who use Twitter (which includes a number of CEO and high profile business people) often give amazing insight into their worlds in just 140 characters.  

• LinkedIn Answers is a great way to monitor the type information your target audience is requesting and determine what products are missing from your industry and needed by you prospective clients.  LinkedIn also provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase your expertise through posting thoughtful questions and providing thoughtful answers to the questions posted by others.

• Twitter is a great tool for gaining insight into what your “ideal client” is working on, listening to and who they consider influencers - and visable in your comunity.  Just be certain that you are thoughtful about your Twitter “Tweets”.  Twitter is also great for monitoring marketplace buzz.  You can gain valuable information about what is being said about your industry, competitors and you.  

• Blogs are a great medium for providing useful information about your areas of expertise, services and client success to your target market in a way that provides value and encourages *conversation*.   Powerful blog posts and articles that effectively use “Calls to Action” will establish you as an industry leader and help you enhance your services and/or financial products to meet the needs of the market.   Such enhancements can be in areas ranging from customer service, follow-up and status reports to substantive information.

• Electronic newsletters and Client Alerts are fantastic ways to send articles, case studies, new legal happenings and client success stores to your audience. This is another great way to establish yourself as an expert and your firm as a resource of authority.

As we have just discussed, social media provides an excellent way to start and strengthen relationships while learning valuable information for improving your law practice or other services business.  

Just as with all other forms of interactive marketing, you will experience maximum success from your social media efforts when you engage a professional in developing clearly define social media goals and creating a strategy designed to make the goals a reality.  

If you are ready to use the power of Interactive Marketing and Social Media to expand your business and build your professional brand , I invite you to visit our website and sign-up for an introductory coaching session.  We can help you develop a custom UpwardAction® Interactive Marketing Plan for your accelerated success.

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Today’s Feature Social Network: Ning

Ning, a social media site, is quietly changing the face of social networking. While it has been around since 2004, Fast Company recently featured Ning co-founder and CEO Gina Bianchini on their cover and in April of this year there was speculation that Ning’s value was then approximately half a billion dollars (not that this is unusual in the world of a $1 billion YouTube purchase). Ning sites are extremely easy to navigate and they look and function very much like a lot of social networking sites that are open to the general public. There are existing Ning groups for every conceivable interest and Ning is continuing to build momentum.

You may be asking, “Why is a discussion about creating a “personal” social network important or even relevant to lawyers or lawyerpreneurs?” Well … creating or joining a Ning community around a topic that is of interest to your industry or that relates to your subject matter expertise is simply another great way that social networks can be used to build community, your professional brand and showcase your expertise … all resulting in increased business opportunities.

Ning is a powerful tool because it allows you to develop a network (Ning supplies all that you need … except the contacts) instead of just hooking into more “general” communities like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Ning is also extremely easy to use! For example, if you want to create a special network for colleagues, leaders in your industry or maybe people who are interested in your areas of specality, you would first reserve the name for your community (which will be hosted on the Ning service for F*REE), select the networking tools you want to be available to members (forum, photos, music, events, text, etc) and then select a template design.

This entire process takes less than 5 minutes and allows you to create a really professional interface for your social networking community.   Once you’ve created your community, you are free to invite colleagues, friends and clients to your new “professional” community, start discussions, schedule events and even further customize the look and feel of the website (ifyou so desire) by updating the template with HTML.   It’s just that simple!   If you like the idea of creating your own social community, but have no desire to do the formation legwork (regardless of how easy it is) just let me know in the comment section and I’m happy to make a recommendation.

UpwardAction® SuccessWork:

I have five questions for your consideration.

1.  Do you know where your “ideal clients” spend their time - both online and in-person?’

2.  If yes, are you making valuable contributions in those places?

3.   If you don’t know the answer to question one, how can you find out?

4.   What needs to happen for you to show up in the places that are most powerful for your business development and that supports your authentic-self?

5.   What else needs to happen?

Always - Expect the Best!

Coach T.C.

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