THE MISSING LINKS: How To Reinvigorate Your LinkedIn Initiative.

AuthorWang, Judy

The rising influence of social media continues to be a hot topic in legal marketing--and rightly so. Today, corporate clients look to social media platforms like LinkedIn as trustworthy sources of information on outside counsel. In fact, LinkedIn has gained so much steam in recent years that it may have even surpassed law firm website biographies as the primary stop for background information on lawyers.

Marketing and business development teams around the world seem to agree that lawyers ought to leverage LinkedIn to enhance client engagement and demonstrate thought leadership. But there is less agreement on how to execute a successful social media strategy that will maintain its early momentum on this platform.

To stop LinkedIn initiatives from dwindling, we need to reexamine our general approach to the training process. The initial launch in particular needs to be more carefully handled than one might assume. Here are six practical steps to help you get started the right way and maintain interest down the line. They have proven successful in my current firm, and they can be used whether you are launching an initiative for the first time or rebooting ongoing efforts.

1 Loop in the general counsel early.

Bar associations are racing to catch up with the increasing dominance of social media in the legal field. Many are revising their LinkedIn recommendations as they learn more, and some even contradict each other on key questions: should endorsements be turned off? Should everyone have a firm approved photo? To what extent can firms even enforce these rules?

Your general counsel can help you devise social media regulations that will both protect the firm from ethics violations and provide enough breathing space to use social media to the firm's advantage. Furthermore, it helps to have a recognized voice of authority to back your recommendations as you send out social media tips in the future.

If your firm doesn't have a GC, reach out to the management committee to see if you can appoint a "social media czar." Identify a marketing partner who focuses his or her work on media and technology. Reach out to them and ask if you can review ethics guidelines together.

Additionally, the American Bar Association publishes regularly on these issues on its website (www.americanbar.org), and watching out for articles is a good way to keep abreast of new developments.

2 Maintain an active firm profile.

In other words, lead by example. Before you even start...

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