Slide deck for presentation as part of seminar on social media for lawyers, Brisbane, Australia

1. Growing Your Practice
Through The Use of Social Media
Des Walsh
Legalwise seminar: Social Media - Ethics, Skills and
Practice Management
Brisbane, 28 March 2012
Copyright © Des Walsh 2012

2. What We'll Cover

Social Media Overview

Working It

Expand your network

Boost your visibility

Build your professional brand

Manage your career

Being Strategic

3. Learners All – a.k.a. Disclaimer
I'm learning too. These are my thoughts. They do not
constitute legal or business advice.
The social media landscape is changing as we speak
and will continue to do so.
Caveat lector, caveat auditor.
(longer version at the end of this slide deck)

4. Social Media Defined
Social media is an ever-growing and evolving collection of
online tools and toys, platforms and applications that
enable all of us to interact with and share information.
Increasingly, it’s both the connective tissue and neural net
of the Web.
Ann Handley

5. How Social Media Looks to Some

6. How it Looks to Others

7. Social media is about social science
not technology
Brian Solis, Author, The End of Business as Usual

8. Terminology

10. The New Marketing Context

Connected/social consumer

Expanded trust zone

Continuous partial attention

11. Current Social Platform Usage
by Law Firms Globally
Data source LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Global Social Media Check-up, 2011

12. Objectives, Platforms & Tools

Expand your network

Boost your visibility

Build your professional brand

Manage your career

13. Expand Your Network

How big should your network be? Dunbar's number

Granovetter and the Strength of Weak Ties

You need Quality + Weight of Numbers

14. Eventually, it Just Grows

15. Boost Your Visibility
Conversation not monologue
80/20 ratio information/promotion
Practice “fan” page with timeline
YouTube channel - “Ourpractice TV”

16. Build Your Professional Brand
Blog gives you virtually unlimited scope to share
knowledge and insight with clients and prospective
clients
Google+ - use Circles, Hangouts, Business Pages and get
value from Google Search Plus Your World

17. Manage Your Career

Keep your profile up to date

Build the network you need

Get helpful recommendations

Remember the smart passive candidate is active on
LinkedIn

18. Social Integration

19. Influence & Advocacy

Influence measurement – test and learn

The grail is measurable customer advocacy

20. How to be a Top Influencer

Be active in a sufficient number of channels

Create and maintain a high quality network

Participate frequently

21. Always Be Strategic

Align social strategy with practice business strategy,
values and culture

Ensure managing partner's and other partners' buy-in

Accept that authenticity can't be (fully) outsourced

Think social business, not just social media

Deal with cultural change

Think about reverse mentoring

22. Strategy Options

Comprehensive

Streamlined

Assessment (resist the temptation to skip this!)

Strategy Development

Implementation

23. What We Covered

Social Media Overview

Working It

Expand your network

Boost your visibility

Build your professional brand

Manage your career

Being Strategic

24. Case Studies & Success Stories

Lexblog.com – from Kevin O'Keefe's Seattle garage in 2003 to
6,000 blogs now

ChinaLawBlog.com - a recognised authority on law and doing
business in China: (blogger Dan Harris, based in Seattle, does
not speak Mandarin, although China-based partner does)

See Von Muenster Solicitors (Sydney) for integration of
website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube
vmsolicitors.com.au

Lots of good stuff, including Australian references, in the
Martindale-Hubbell study report – link at end of slides

25. Acknowledgements & Links
Images
Logos and other company marks are the IP of the respective companies
Coolangatta Sunday Market - Des Walsh
Gambling in Deadwood – via Flickr, stereogab, Creative Commons: http://bit.ly/stereogab
Sachertorte – via Flickr, Jennifer Woodard Maderazo, Creative Commons http://bit.ly/choctorte
Word picture by Des Walsh from wordle.net
Social Media Strategy methodology image – from Social Media Academy http://bit.ly/GH63Nl
Sources
‘Global Social Media Check-up: A global audit of law firm engagement in social media methods', LexisNexis
Martindale-Hubbell survey – download whole report free http://bit.ly/GChKFH
'Law firms taking a half-hearted approach to social media: LinkedIn predominates, firms hesitant to engage
with clients', Managing Partner (MP) Magazine http://bit.ly/mpmaglaw

26. Learners All – the Long Version
The data included are to the best of the presenter's knowledge accurate and
up to date.
Opinions and commentary about social media and business strategies are
drawn from the presenter's observation, study and experience and are
provided for information and general education purposes only.
The social media landscape changes on a daily basis and any reputable social
media strategist or consultant will tell you we are all learning as we go.
Strategic and tactical social media decisions should not be made solely on the
basis of the commentary and suggestions in this presentation and should be
tested against the specific practice's or individual's business goals,
resources, values, culture, and market context, preferably in consultation
with a suitably qualified/experienced social media specialist.

27. Thank you for your attention.
This slide deck is available from the day of the Brisbane seminar, 28 March 2012, on
Slideshare at my page there: http://slideshare.net/des/
I have uploaded to my website some resources, including links to examples of
successful use of social media by lawyers and law firms: the link is
http://deswalsh.com/sociallawyers/
For seminar attendees, if you wish to connect to my network on LinkedIn, I would be
happy to accept an invitation: please mention in the invitation or a separate email
that you were at this seminar.
All my social links at http://xeeme.com/deswalsh Phone: 0413 089 355 @deswalsh
To your success!
Des Walsh
Social Media Strategist, LinkedIn Specialist, Business Coach