Real Lawyers Have Blogs : Law Blogs, Social Media, Twitter

Those of you following me on Twitter know that I follow lots of news sources, especially those that pertain to networking through the Internet, and share them with my followers. Some days I may share as many as 10 or 15 stories.

Each time I share a news story on Twitter I give attribution to the reporter who wrote the story. I do so by placing the reporter's Twitter username in parentheses following the Tweet (usually the title of the story) and before the link (shortened by bit.ly). Sometimes I'll also include the name of the newspaper, magazine, or news website, in which case I refer to the appropriate section of the newspaper too.

I find the reporter's and the appropriate section of the news publication via the 'Find People' section of Twitter.

An example of such a Tweet would be: 'The end of the world will come this Wednesday. (@sallyreporter in @wsjtech) http://bit.ly/ubc123'

A couple reasons for giving such attribution. One, it's common courtesy. It's been part of Internet protocol since I started using the net 14 years ago to cite your source by linking to them. Despite the decline of print publication and mainstream media, reporters and columnists are kicking out some great stuff of value to your audience. They should be given appropriate credit.

The second reason is to engage the reporter and news source. As a lawyer, you want to build relationships with the mainstream media. Reporters and editors are influencers of your core target audience of clients, prospective clients, and referral sources. Their stories also other influencers of your core target audience - bloggers, other reporters, conference coordinators, association leaders, and publishers.

How else are reporters or a particular section of a newspaper going to know you linked to their story on Twitter if you don't give them attribution like the above? They're not, unless you bring in such a huge amount of traffic to their story via your Tweet that they start looking for you in their referral logs. That's unlikely in the case of a legal profession using Twitter.

Newspapers and other mainstream media are trying to get their stories shared on social media. Especially with the type of demographic audience a legal professional can draw on Twitter. People and companies who can afford lawyers. Lawyers, financial professionals, business leaders, and association heads. Who wouldn't want their stories to be seen by that audience?

Letting a reporter or editor know you shared their story on Twitter is effectively giving them an 'attaboy, good story this morning.' It feels good to get attaboys. I know I like it when people tell me they liked a blog post of mine.

A reporter's boss may even be impressed by the reporter's story getting spread on social media. Their boss could be breathing down their neck to prove that social media, including Twitter, offers some ROI to their publication.

Reporters and editors are just like you and me. They like being social. They like meeting people. They like doing business with the people they know and who have been nice to them. Not only is it enjoyable for you, as a lawyer, to meet media people, it can mean being called on for resources or quotes for stories.

There are other ways to build relationships with the media through Twitter. One being to set up a column for targeted mainstream media and to retweet relevant Tweets of theirs.

But sharing news stories of interest that you pick up in your newsreader and giving the appropriate attribution is a a good place to start.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (6)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

For decades law firms have leveraged the intellectual capital of their lawyers for client development purposes. The goal being to establish the firm's lawyers as thought leaders and trusted authorities in their areas of practice.

Other than lawyers speaking and networking at legal and industry conferences, the primary means of sharing this intellectual capital to establish brand expertise and word of mouth reputation was through the traditional media.

Public relations professionals got media coverage, either highlighting law firm accomplishments or having lawyers serve as sources and be quoted as experts for reporters. Lawyers wrote articles for mainstream or trade publications.

With the rapid deterioration of newspapers and mainstream media, can law firms realistically expect traditional media to be there much longer as a means to share the law firm's intellectual capital? Add to that the declining number of Americans who read magazines, newspapers, and the like or watch traditional news shows on television.

Just yesterday, the New York Times David Carr, who covers the business media, lamented that business news, as we have come to know it, is over.

So you might expect the business press to be striking up the band and restocking the cigar cabinet. Instead, Forbes, a magazine that sells a beau idéal of capitalism, announced last week that it was cutting a quarter of its already decimated staff. The Wall Street Journal's Boston bureau -- historically a hothouse of game-changing business coverage -- is being closed.

Fortune magazine had already cut back to 18 issues a year from 25 and this week will be whacking anew at staff along with other Time Inc. magazines. BusinessWeek was sold for parts to Bloomberg a few weeks ago.

So, while the business of business may be back, the business of covering it with heroic narratives and upbeat glossy spreads most certainly is not. And probably never will be.

......Writers and editors who cover business now know that the jig is up, that those bespoke suits are put on one leg at a time by men that seem far less Olympian than they once did.

A recent survey of bloggers commissioned by Technorati and conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland is also ominous news for traditional media.

• 73% believe blogs are taken more seriously as source of news and information.
• 60% believe most people will get news and info from blogs in next 5 years, with 40% believing newspapers will not survive the next 10 years.
• 63% say that blogging has led them to become more involved in things they are passionate about.

Admittedly the survey is limited to bloggers, but there's little question the public's consumption of news and information from blogs is rising geometrically while traditional media and print viewership and readership is on the steep decline.

Businesses, including sports teams, have turned to blogging to get their message out. There were no longer reporters around to do so.

With the advent of the Internet a decade ago law firms began to archive articles and related content on their websites. But getting the firm's target audience to read that content on the firm's website has met with very limited success.

Already, nearly half of the largest 200 law firms in this country are blogging. Their blog content, in addition to being consumed directly by clients, prospective clients, and referral sources, is being automatically syndicated to mainstream media such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Such syndication taking place without any effort from the law firm or the need for a reporter.

By citing and commenting on lawyer's blogs, other business, legal, and industry blogs are further syndicating law firm blog content. Law blog content is also being shared via other social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

With the decline of traditional media and the growing number of current business leaders and the entire next generation of business leaders consuming their news and info via new media, do law firms have any other alternative than to blog?

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Just received an email from Dallas Family Law Attorney and LexBlog Network blogger, Michelle May O'Neil.

She just got off the phone with a local television reporter who plans to do a story about Facebook in Divorce. The reporter did a google search and up popped relevant blog posts on her Dallas Divorce Blog.

Michelle had posted two different posts on the topic. The reporter called to interview her and has scheduled an on-camera interview for Friday.

I know, a blogging lawyer getting a call from a reporter is not news to lawyers who are publishing good law blogs. But I talk to a lot of lawyers who are skeptical of what a blog can do for their practice development. This post is for the later group.

Lawyers who blog well are a reporter's dream.

• Solid research information from a person who knows more than anyone on the subject - a lawyer practicing in a niche.
• Information at a reporter's finger tips. How long does it take to do a Google search for the exact subject you're reporting on?
• An instant credibility gauge. A reporter can evaluate a lawyer's level of expertise and authority in a New York minute by looking at the blog content and the information on the 'About' and 'Legal Services' pages on the lawyer's blog followed by a Google search of the lawyer's name likely to display thought leaders' citations of the blog.
• Reporter no longer needs to rely on public relations professionals to serve up experts who have enough money to hire a PR person or publicist.
• Reporter doesn't reach out to just any lawyer to serve as a talking head. The reporter gets a trusted and reliable authority in the relevant area of the law.

Good stuff all around. Reporters under severe time deadlines no longer guessing who talk with. The viewing public gets better news and information. And the cream rises to the top for American lawyers - good lawyers who blog getting legal work by word of mouth over lawyers with less skill in the area and lawyers with big ad budgets.

On the LexBlog Network and have a story to share about media coverage coming from your blog? Drop me email. I'll try to get it on the blog.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Interesting new book out from PR professionals, Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge, 'Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.'

Most helpful to me was the review and summary of the book done by Lee Odden, a Minneapolis based Social Media and SEO professional. I culled seven points from Lee's review that I thought would be helpful to law firms and their PR agencies.

• Instead of information conduits, PR practitioners need to be part of the story and conversation. It's about dialogue, not monologue.
• Approach marketing more as a consumer and less like a 'PR person' to show your investment in knowledge, your empathy for customer needs and understanding of what's important.
• Social Media is not about the technology, it's about the people.
• Social tools can be overwhelming, so it's important to remember that tools will change, but the importance of engaging with people will always be important.
• Using standard marketing tactics and messages with social tools does not lead to engagement.
• PR professionals would be keen to focus on the sociology of internet communities more than their need to disseminate information.
• Participation with social networks (Facebook), micromedia (Twitter) and facilitating those channels to reach PR objectives is more about communicating with people, not at them.
• As PR professionals participate in communities and tell brand and product stories, they're also in a position to listen to customers and gain valuable insight into the effect of their efforts as well as new communications opportunities.

Public relations work and PR agencies are by no means going away. Traditional PR strategy and PR tactics simply aren't as effective. Adapting to and utilizing social media is the key to success.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

"If your business depends on free publicity from newspapers, what do you do when the papers can no longer afford to send reporters to cover you?" That's the question The New York Times' Richard Perez-Pena asked in reporting on the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings decision to hire a reporter to cover the team.

Rich Hammond, who had covered the Kings for The Los Angeles Daily News, will now be covering the team via a blog, LAKingsInsider.com, which will be featured on the team's website.

Per sports journalist and blogger, Paul Oberjuerge, Hammond's not being hired to do PR work.

Not to work as a publicist. Not to write press releases. To cover the team the way a newspaper reporter normally would cover a team. Thoroughly, daily, home or road, game day or off day ... but with the edge and skepticism that a veteran newspaperman brings to any beat.

Why hire a reporter? Per Perez-Pena:

After years of trimming jobs, pages and travel budgets, many big-city papers no longer provide regular coverage of every local sports team, and sending reporters on road trips has become rare.

Team spokesman, Michael Altieri, said "We have a passionate fan base who want instant information about our team, but there's been declining news coverage of us."

Oberjuerge adds:

A decade ago, even the least impressive of National Hockey League teams probably had at least two full-time "traveling beat writers." From the major metro, and its primary competition.

Meanwhile, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball teams usually had even more reporters following them around. As we have noted on this blog, as recently as the early 1990s the Los Angeles Dodgers had as many as 10 reporters who traveled with the team full-time. Ten.

That number is now one. Unless you count the guy who works for mlb.com. And I don't, because he works for Major League Baseball, not a newspaper.

I expect we're going to see the same thing for law firms. Traditionally, law firms hired public relations professionals to get their lawyers, the matters the firm's lawyers were working on, and firm news into print and onto the air.

But today we're seeing far less reporters covering the law. In some cases whole newspapers are closing. Add to that the declining numbers of people who get their news and information in print and on TV.

We already have thousands of lawyers publishing blogs. By and large, law blogs tend to discuss legal issues and share legal information with the lawyer's target audience. Over time, I expect we're going to see more lawyers and law firms using blogs to report on firm news and the matters their lawyers are working on.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Earlier this week, John Schwartz, the National Legal Correspondent for the New York Times, wrote a story on the implications of social media for lawyers. I a disagreed with the underlying message of his story and blogged my position.

Schwartz being a good reporter was monitoring his name or the url of the story from nytimes.com via a blog search and a newsreader. Perhaps, the New York Times uses a more sophisticated means to follow what is being said about their stories. In any case, the folks who work there are smart enough to monitor what is being said about them and their work product on the net.

A day after my blog post I got an email from Schwartz commenting on what I said. I reply via email with my position and though we may disagree on this issue, I asked if he'd be interested in having lunch next time I was in New York City. He responded, 'Sure.' I then connected with Schwartz on LinkedIn so I'd remember to look him up when I head to New York.

Now what are the odds a snot nosed kid who grew up and practiced law in a small town on the Mississippi River gets the chance to meet the the National Legal Correspondent for the New York Times when he goes to New York? John can make light of the fancy title, but to me, meeting folks like this is still a big deal.

Imagine I don't have a blog. After reading the story, I call up John and say 'Hey, I think you're out to lunch on that story, let me give you my two cents, let's exchange emails, let's connect on LinkedIn, and when I am in the city, let's do lunch.' Maybe John says great. But many reporters would say 'who the hell are you?' And I don't think I would have had the balls to do it.

But my blog allowed me to express my view, connect with John, and meet him down the road. I'm establishing a relationship with an influencer when it comes to the law. Reporters at major publications have that status.

What does that relationship do for me? I don't know, but I'll take it. Maybe John uses me as a source to get info on a story he's doing (truth be told, he did call me last week on the above story). Maybe I get to share my views on how lawyers can network through the Internet to help others, do practice development, and improve the image of the legal profession. In that those are the things that get me out of bed each morning, that's good.

I see so many law firms and other companies hiring PR agencies to pitch things to the press and line up interviews for their principals. Maybe it's a great way to get news coverage and an excellent way for reporters to work up a story. But it's awfully expensive and establishes no meaningful relationships between reporters and sources.

LexBlog's been around for six years. We've never sent out a press release nor hired a PR person. I've talked to countless reporters, editors, and publishers in the trade press trade as well as in the mass media. Many have become friends. It's all come about through my blog, as I used it here, and now Twitter.

PR professionals, especially those who know how to use social media and social networking, remain a great resource to law firms and other companies. But using your blog to build relationships with the press can go a long way.

Lawyers are often scared to death of the press, afraid they'll say something that'll get them in trouble or be 'misquoted.' Law firm communications professional are often charged with controlling communications with the press. 'No one talks with anyone unless it's vetted by me.' That's nuts.

Reporters, editors, and publishers are people just like you and me. They have a job to do and they like doing that job with people they know, people they like, and people who can be a great resource for them. Your blog can get you to be one of those people.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Sarah Needleman reports in Monday's Wall Street Journal that big businesses are finding it critical to monitor social media as part of their public relations efforts.

A growing number of businesses are tracking social-media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to gauge consumer sentiment and avert potential public-relations problems.

Ford Motor Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co., among others, are deploying software and assigning employees to monitor Internet postings and blogs. They're also assigning senior leaders to craft corporate strategies for social media.

Shouldn't law firms being doing the same for matters about their firm and the matters in which their firm is representing clients? In this day and age when it's so easy to set up a dashboard via RSS feeds monitoring names, subjects, and sources it borders on negligence for law firms not to be doing so.

Not only do law firms need to monitor the likes of Facebook and Twitter, law firms need to respond quickly. Per corporate communications pro, Shel Holtz, "Social media [has] magnified the urgency of crisis communication, seemingly small incidents can quickly spread into bigger PR problems via the Web."

Scarier yet for law firms is not having all communications go through the law firm's traditional communication channels. Per Needleman:

Some companies are training staffers to broaden their social-media efforts. At Ford, Mr. Monty plans to soon begin teaching employees how to use sites like Twitter to represent the company and interact with consumers.

Coca-Cola Co. is preparing a similar effort, which initially will be limited to marketing, public affairs and legal staffers. Participants will be authorized to post to social media on Coke's behalf without checking with the company's PR staff, says Adam Brown, named Coke's first head of social media in March.

We've already seen how woefully unprepared law firms are for this type of monitoring and rapid response. Embarrassing emails from law firm management leak to blogs or main stream media. Virally passed across the Internet, without any response from the firm via social media, these things take on a life of their own.

I heard from one national law firm communications director that stories spreading across the Internet about senior partners thinking of leaving the firm, whether true or not, all but put the firm on a path leading to its demise.

For lawyers doing litigation, there's little question news and information about matters in dispute are going to be spread across Twitter and Facebook. A gag order is going do do little to quash discussion effecting the news, your bargaining position, and the views of a fact finder - judge or jury.

No one's got the perfect answer on how to monitor social media and how to respond yet. All we know is that not monitoring social media is a dangerous proposition and not responding in a timely fashion via the same social media is even more dangerous.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Many companies will send out press releases to try to court bloggers and get them to write about new products. This usually has the opposite effect, as bloggers will promptly hit "delete" and take a skeptical view of that company in the future.

The MonetaSuite team is using the occasion of the ABA TechShow to take a creative approach other companies should emulate — actually coming to bloggers to introduce their innovative product and seeking out their feedback.

The company invited legal bloggers to a private dinner and breakfast in Chicago to introduce their new legal technology application MonetaMail. Attendees will receive a one-year's licence to MonetaMail, with the expectation that they will provide feedback and input on their experiences with the product as they use it. Tonight's dinner is at capacity; the Friday breakfast has only a few spots left. UPDATE: The breakfast is now full.

According to LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe, this is the most effective way to get bloggers interested in your product, as well as help yourself.

"You're building relationships with early adopters of these products, of which a lot of them are bloggers," Kevin says. "You're getting feedback from people on your product. They're helping you improve it, and those enhancements are dictated by users, not developers. You also have bloggers who are influencers who have bought in to what you are doing. As they use the product, people who feel like they're part of it will share their story with other people."

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Seth Godin discussed the downside of personal branding in the age of Google in a post this morning.

Seth's story was about a woman who ran an add for a housekeeper on Craigslist. Three resumes rose to the top and she Googled each to look at their backgrounds.

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, "binge drinking."

The second search turned up a personal blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like, "I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I'm annoyed by it. I'll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings."

And the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.

What do people deciding on a lawyer find when they Google your name? You don't need to have an arrest record or a blog post complaining about being a lawyer for the search results to reflect negatively on you.

Just having more of the routine results one finds when Googling a lawyer's name can be negative.

Profile on lawyer website. Boring and typical. A directory listing you've paid for. Been around for decades. Membership on a church committee. Better, but not necessarily a reflection of your legal skill and philosophy. And results in a list of 10k race finishers. You work out, but again, how's that help someone deciding on whether to retain you?

Fortunately, there's a lot you can do as a lawyer to build out your personal brand in the age of Google.

• Partake in conversations among thought leaders in your field via a blog. Thought leaders will begin to cite you and your content. Powerful stuff when people Google your name.
• Blog about stories in trade publications and newspapers that reach your target audience. Provide your take after a blockquote from the story. Email the reporter complimenting them on the story letting them know you shared it with your readers along with your insight. Of course also let them know you'd be happy to get them resources on stories they may be working on your niche, or even be available for a quote on short notice. Articles and news stories quoting put you in good light as an authority in your niche.
• Blog about conferences of interest to your audience. Let the conference coordinator know and begin to build a relationship with them. Google results referencing you as a conference speaker will follow.
• Twitter story headlines of relevance with an accompanying link and your very brief commentary of things you see in your newsreader. Better than the twitter posts which are indexed on Google are a growing list of bloggers and reporters following you on Twitter who are then more likely to see you as someone who stays up to speed in your niche. This results in the the reporters and bloggers citing you in their stories and blog posts.
• Post in your blog answers to common questions you receive from prospective and current clients.

Who's going to get hired when someone is comparing two lawyers who they've Googled?

The lawyer with the website profile, directory listing, committee membership, and 10k results? Or the lawyer who's been cited by authorities in the lawyer's area of expertise, quoted in news stories, spoken at industry and legal conferences, and who's got enough command of their niche to regularly answer questions?

What does your personal brand look like on Google? What are you doing to build your brand so as to distinguish yourself from competitors? If you're like most lawyers, you're in trouble.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link