Helping others may be all it takes to market via social media

Lawyers and law firms struggle with how to use social media for marketing and business development. Ironically, using social media effectively may just require helping clients and others in your community.

Orange County IP lawyer, Sandra Thompson (@PatentDoc), shared yesterday that helping others goes a long way in social media.

First, help your clients. You know who they are.

We all have clients – hopefully – and most of those clients have businesses, win awards, do important things, which brings me back to impact marketing. Share their accomplishments, like and promote their businesses, share what they post on your own social media feeds. To make gathering this information easier, set up Google alerts for your clients and connect with them on LinkedIn, so that when something is posted publicly – you get an alert. Check to make sure the article or post is good news (because if it isn’t, you may want to get in touch with them directly) and then share that news or event on your Twitter feed, Facebook page and other social media sites. You don’t have to say: “Hey everyone! This is my client!!”, but helping them promote their own activities means they are going to remember you.

How do you get information to share on clients. Thompson suggests following clients on LinkedIn.

Add to this Google alerts for the names of clients and their executives, leading trade associations (influencers count) and relevant products/solutions. Set up a Twitter list for your 25 largest clients and their key people using Twitter. Like their company Facebook pages and set the preferences so you see any updates. If you are using Facebook well, personally, and so are some of your clients’ people, friend and engage them on Facebook.

Follow social groups, blogs and people that align with with your lifestyle, interests, and activities. Connect with people within those communities, which can mean as little as liking, sharing, or commenting on what they are saying online.

Give shout outs to companies and their products within your interests. Ala Thompson:

Several years ago, I went vegan, and as part of that – I started trying new products, shopping for new things and getting a lot of good information from companies who provide products and resources for vegetarians and vegans. I tried this fantastic coconut milk ice cream and decided to let them know by tweeting about it. I mentioned the company in my tweet by using their Twitter name and then used the hashtag “vegan”, so that those on Twitter who follow that hashtag could see my tweet. The company saw my tweet, read my professional profile, which said that I am a patent and trademark attorney, and contacted me about helping them in advance of a trade show with respect to their logo, packaging and trademarks.

Thompson nails why you ought to use Facebook, personally, as a lawyer.

I reconnected with a friend from college several years ago on Facebook who knew someone just sued by a patent troll. My Facebook was clear about how I work with companies of all sizes with respect to their intellectual property portfolios and subsequent legal actions around those portfolios. Her friend contacted me right after they were sued to ask me to handle the case for that company.

Facebook is for personal, not business, or to be stayed off altogether? Bunk. Facebook is one of the mediums that is revolutionizing how we communicate and build relationships.

Get other business owners to market for you on social media or to pass your name on to a friend of theirs. How good is that to get others to market for you – for free.

Thompson is doing it from a firm with North of 100 lawyers in a huge city – metro LA.

[W]e all go to restaurants, get our hair cut, visit all kinds of local businesses where they know us. Return the favor of a good experience by liking them on Facebook, following them on Twitter, and following them on other social media sites. When you have a positive experience there, get a good meal or something nice on sale, recommend them or share your experience. These interactions are the ones they will remember and when they need an attorney – and they may just return the favor.

Two big lessons here. One, listening is more important than talking on social media. You need to listen to what your clients and other people are proud of and/or interested in before you can engage them.

And two, social media is like Zig Ziglar always said, “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

Image courtesy of Flickr by Keoki Seu