Law Firm Marketing Strategies in a Social Media World Stephen Fairley CEO The Rainmaker Institute www.therainmakerinstitute.com How to Use LinkedIn, Facebook & Blogs to Generate Leads, Connect with Clients & Referral Sources
About Stephen Fairley CEO of The Rainmaker Institute the nation s largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small and solo law firms generate more referrals and convert more leads Developed the first automated lead conversion follow-up system for attorneys Coached, trained and spoken to more than 8,000 attorneys Nationally recognized expert on internet marketing, blogging, and social media for attorneys International best-selling author of 12 books and 10 audio learning programs World traveler: Visited over 32 countries and taken 13 cruises 888-588-5891 www.therainmakerinstitute.com
SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED What is Social Media? Social media is an online, 2 way conversation that is taking place right now! Who is involved in the conversation? your clients your competition... your critics your employees your prospects your fans www.therainmakerinstitute.com
SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED Social Media is Powered by... Blogs Social Networks Facebook LinkedIn Microblogging Twitter Status Updates Videos & Podcasts YouTube itunes, Blog Talk Radio Vimeo & Viddler Legal Social Media Avvo.com JDSupra www.therainmakerinstitute.com
The Social Media Conversation... You can either... SOCIAL MEDIA DEFINED Ignore it... at your own risk Inspire it... by giving your opinions Influence it... by joining the conversation Direct it... by becoming a thought leader You cannot...control it www.therainmakerinstitute.com
SOCIAL MEDIA IS CONNECTION Social Media is about Connection! 79% of US internet users visit a social media site Social Media websites account for 11% of TOTAL TIME spent online in the US It s not a fad! It s a fundamental shift in how we communicate! www.therainmakerinstitute.com
BENEFITS The Benefits of Social Media Marketing
SOCIAL MEDIA IS VISIBILITY Social Media is about Visibility! People use social media the same way they use search engines... Over 16 million searches for the words attorney or lawyer every month! Google LOVES fresh, relevant, unique content! Social media allows you to generate and distribute massive amounts of fresh content which drives targeted traffic to your website!
Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Be All Over Social Media...
Social media is one of the most cost effective ways to SOCIAL MEDIA IS PLATFORM BUILD A MASSIVE PLATFORM! Your PLATFORM is How many people know WHO YOU ARE Who you HELP How you are DIFFERENT www.therainmakerinstitute.com
#2 Reason to Use Social Media: Increase Traffic to Your Website Blogs INCREASE WEB TRAFFIC Videos Social Media Inbound Links & SEO
#1 Reason to Use Social Media: Lead Generation! DOES SOCIAL MEDIA WORK? Does Social Media Work? That s the WRONG QUESTION! The RIGHT QUESTION is Which Social Network Will Work For My Practice?
7 SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS 7 Major Social Media Tools for Lawyers All logos have been taken from their respective homepages. All of these websites can be reached by adding a.com to their company name.
SOCIAL MEDIA BLUEPRINT Your BLOG Is Pivotal To Your Platform!
RAINMAKER BLUEPRINT The Rainmaker Social Media Blueprint
Statistics on The most widely used business networking site Grown from 14 to over 120 Million active users in 4 years Another 1 Million people join every 12 days! Average of 22 Million unique visitors per month! Filed to go IPO in January 2011 Over 750,000+ Senior Executives who use LinkedIn ALL the Fortune 500 companies are represented 46% of users describe themselves as Decision Makers Average household income is $109,000 Average age is 41 years LINKEDIN Is this a demographic you want to reach? www.therainmakerinstitute.com References for all statistics can be found at: http://bit.ly/lrk4j
LINKEDIN Over 96,000 lawyers joined in 6 months! That s not a trend... That s a TIDALWAVE!
Use it to connect with: Referral sources and Potential Clients Push your blog into it Be recognized as an expert and leader Build Your Platform! Call 888-588-5891
LINKEDIN 8 Steps to Get You Started on LinkedIn 1. Create a comprehensive profile 2. Start by connecting with people you know Tip: Use LinkedIn Toolbar for Outlook 3. Recommend Others 1 st...then ask to be recommended 4. Join groups for attorneys, referral sources & prospects 5. Start a group for your target market 6. Answer questions 7. Update your status at least 3x per week 8. List all your events on LinkedIn Call 888-588-5891 Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenfairley
Statistics on FACEBOOK Aug-11 750 May-11 665 Jan-11 585 Over 750 Million active users! 149 Million active users in US! 20 Million new users each month!
Become my friend at: www.facebook.com/fairley References for Facebook Statistics can be found at: http://bit.ly/7cmgd The Rapid Growth of Facebook.com More than 11 million people log on to Facebook every day FACEBOOK More than 35 million people update their status each day (many by using their cell phone) Fastest growing demographic is over 35 years old! 408,000 US Facebook users will die in 2011 From what? Car accident? Drugs? Nursing home abuse? Did they have a will? Do they need a probate attorney? Does their spouse need to file for bankruptcy? How many will get divorced? File a lawsuit?
FACEBOOK As of January 2010, Facebook was the 2 nd most visited website only Google was Bigger! Facebook had 133 Million Unique Visitors in January 2010! Google had 140 Million Unique Visitors in January 2010
Google Versus Facebook FACEBOOK In March 2010 Facebook Overtook Google By August 2010 Facebook had more traffic than: Google, Gmail, Google Video and YouTube COMBINED Significantly cheaper PPC Reports are starting to come in that Facebook PPC can convert BETTER than Google PPC!
FACEBOOK Google Versus Facebook Facebook accounted for 10% of ALL pages views in 2010! 3 out of every 10 US internet sessions included a visit to Facebook! Facebook is the ONLY company Google has publicly admitted they are afraid of! www.therainmakerinstitute.com
Why Is Facebook So Important? Marketing 101: Fish Where The Fish Are
Marketing Your Law Firm on Facebook Using Fan Pages FACEBOOK
Why You Want a Facebook Fan Page Anyone on Facebook can Access & Follow You Email Addresses Constantly Change Facebook Accounts Rarely Do! You can market to your Fans all at once Blog Entries Can Be Published on it Fan Pages can be used to Build Your List! It Can Be Fully SEO Optimized Facebook Page #1 In Organic Search Results Google is GOING SOCIAL (Feb 2011) FACEBOOK www.therainmakerinstitute.com
FACEBOOK Build Your List Using Facebook Fan Pages
FACEBOOK Use Fan Pages to: - Promote Your Law Firm - Post Blog Content - Make Connections - Build Your List
FACEBOOK 1. Need to update your Fan page regularly! 2. Focus more on Conversations than just Connections! 3. Referrals are all about Relationships!
Over 133 million blogs Legal Blogs THE TOOLS Only about 5-6,000 legal blogs! Focus your blog posts using specific keywords and phrases Post a minimum of 3-5 times per week Improve your search engine rankings Gain expert status by providing education, information, tips, etc
Blogs Versus Websites Only use WordPress! Blog Basics: update it frequently! Over 270 Million Websites in existence today, containing over 48 Billion web pages (156M in 2007, 182M in 2008, 234M in 2009, 255M in 2010) Unique content! Blurring the line... www.therainmakerblog.com There are more than 133 Million blogs, with a new blog being created every second 30% of Americans read a blog each day
www.therainmakerinstitute.com Website or Blog?
www.therainmakerinstitute.com Website or Blog?
www.therainmakerinstitute.com Website or Blog?
More Rainmaker Blogs
3 Reasons to Use Blogs BLOG 1. Blogs Build Your List! KEY: Use a Freemium to capture visitor s contact info Free Special Report, Free White Paper, Free CD Must be more than just a Free Consultation Ask for Name, Email, Phone Follow up with monthly e-newsletter Follow up with Email Autoresponders www.therainmakerinstitute.com
BLOG 2. Blogs Build Links! www.therainmakerinstitute.com
3. Blogs Generate MORE LEADS! BLOG
BLOG Lead Gen Depends on Blog Frequency 5X Per Week is Optimal for Lead Gen www.therainmakerinstitute.com
BLOG More Qualified Traffic on Your Blog & Website Where You Capture their Contact Info via Free Education Improves Rankings on Google leading to... Create a Post on Your Blog Feeds Google Fresh Content which... Distribute via Social Media which...
Rainmaker Social Media Blueprint BLUEPRINT Your Blog Content is Pushed to All Social Media Networks 1. Use a Freemium to Capture their Contact Info All Link Back to Your Blog Using a Traceable Link! 2. Follow up with Prospects using e-newsletter & Autoresponders 2011 by The Rainmaker Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
LET S CONNECT! Connect with Stephen Fairley Stephen@TheRainmakerInstitute.com Maria@TheRainmakerInstitute.com www.rainmaker.mylinkinvitation.com www.facebook.com/fairley www.twitter.com/stephenfairley www.youtube.com/stephenfairley www.therainmakerblog.com