Facebook is on top of the world right now. We've seen a major motion picture produced about the social network, a huge IPO and it's highly likely that you are a member of the social network. But does Facebook have staying power? Right now, most would be inclined to say *yes* but, if history is any indicator, Facebook will go the way of the Dodo eventually (see: MySpace, Friendster). We're not saying Facebook is going away. In fact, I think it will be around and will be relevant for quite a while. But what is around the corner? Let me introduce you to some other social networks that could benefit your law firm.

Google+

Google+ is a new social network being launched by, well, Google. The beauty of this network is the ease in separating contacts into different groups that can only see certain content you post. For example, your law firm could create a "law firm" group and a "clients" group that sees different content. This allows your firm to post only what is relevant to those particular groups and allows your firm to better manage its social media presence. Google+ is also tied to your Google account, so it could end up being better indexed by Google when compared to Facebook or Twitter.

Tumblr

Tumblr is a "microblogging" platform that also has social networking features. What is a microblog? It's basically a simplified blogging platform that is focused on short, quick posts and the ability to connect to other blogs. On Tumblr, you have a news feed like Facebook or Twitter that contains the posts of blogs that you follow. This allows you to quickly follow other blogs and comment or re-post their content. Your firm could use this platform to blog about new happenings at the firm, charity events your firm is taking part in or results from cases you are working on. Most Tumblr accounts are picture based, so if your firm has lots of photo content, this platform might make sense. Tumblr also can connect to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, so whatever you post on Tumblr can also be posted on Facebook and Twitter instantaneously. Go here to learn more about Tumblr.

YouTube

This isn't a new social network and is a service you are probably familiar with, but it amazes me that so few attorneys are using this platform. Your firm should be posting its testimonials, commercials, PSA's, any video content it may have on to YouTube. At worst, these videos will help your firm's SEO. At best, your firm might just get a case from long tail search. Video is the future of the web and as videos become more and more easily indexable by search engines, YouTube will become an increasingly important cog in your online marketing machine. If your firm doesn't have a YouTube account already, create one and get to posting. You won't regret it.

The beauty about these social networks is that content on one of these networks can easily be posted on another social network. It is a matter of copying and pasting or simply setting up the accounts to link with one another. Law firms who master social media will end up being the winners in the long run. Start educating yourself about these social networks now before it is too late. Contact Network Affiliates today to learn how to best use social media.

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Why Should I Keep In Touch With Past Clients? This is a question that should be common sense among lawyers, but it still isn't. For whatever reason, attorneys still operate very transactionally. This means they assume that when you are done handling a client's case, that is the end of that relationship, for all intents and purposes. It's almost like a fast food sort of mentality where you serve that person once and you move on to the next case like nothing ever happened. Not keeping in touch with your past clients is a huge mistake and is costing your firm money.

Referrals are the life blood of your law firm- It seems like we've said this a hundred times in this blog at this point, but it bears repeating; referrals are the best cases your firm can get. These cases cost you little or nothing to receive and most are well qualified and worth a lot of money. Where do you get these referral cases from? Your past clients. You can't get these cases if you aren't staying in touch with your past clients. So, how should you keep in touch with clients that have been satisfied with the work your firm does?

CRM still works- CRM is a great way of staying in touch with your past clients. Sending brochures and newsletters to past clients still works well and will help your firm win cases. If your firm doesn't want to kill any trees, your firm can send out your newsletters via e-mail. Sometimes, the simple gesture of sending a card is enough to distinguish your firm from others. Birthday cards, thank you cards and holiday cards are all still effective. We suggest, however, sending out cards for holidays where cards aren't as common. Thanksgiving is a good example. If you know your past client was a veteran, a card on Memorial Day or Veteran's Day might be appropriate. Really, the sky is the limit and any of these activities will help your firm develop more referral based business.

Social media was tailor made for keeping in touch with clients- Social media is a sector where few law firms are active. Having an active social media presence will allow your past clients to engage with your law firm and keep your firm top of mind. This results in more referrals for your law firm. Having positive reviews on Yelp and engaging with reviewers is another way to keep in touch with past clients and develop more referral based business. Your firm can also post testimonials online or videos discussing situations you have helped clients out with to show how your law firm can help. This is a new frontier for attorneys and is still maturing. Learning how to develop referral based business online can only help your law firm grow its business.

Choosing just a handful of ideas from this blog post and implementing them will make a difference for your firm. The question is, how many of these ideas are you willing to implement? Don't bite off more than you can chew. Start small and then add more to the solid foundation you have built. Referral cases are the best cases that come into your office. You owe it to yourself and your firm to do a better job in obtaining these cases. To discuss how to best keep in touch with your previous clients, contact Network Affiliates today.

One of our attorneys brought a very interesting article to our attention today.  Yahoo has reported that there are some states that are asking phone carriers to discontinue the publishing and distribution of the residential version of the White Pages.  You can read the full article here.  Here are some quick tidbits that may interest you as an advertising attorney:

• Only 11% of households rely on the White Pages for finding phone numbers
• Land lines are being disconnected at a rate of 10% per year
• 15 states have already given permission to phone companies to cease the printing and distribution of the residential form of the White Pages

So, what does this mean for your firm?  First, with so many people disconnecting their land lines, it is important that you have the most up to date contact information for your past clients.  Ask for their contact information in your CRM initiatives.  If you don’t have someone’s contact information, it is awfully difficult to stay in front of them.  And if you don’t have a database or aren’t using CRM to stay in front of your clients, this is a reminder for you to do so.  Keeping in touch with past clients is a great way to get referrals, which are the easiest cases for your firm to handle.  Ignore your past clients at your own peril.

The White Pages suffering and usage statistics also paints an interesting picture of the Yellow Pages by association.  While the Yellow Pages is reporting strong usage according to the article, the fact that the White Pages are getting used less and less makes one think that the consumer is changing.  Now, consumers are going to the Internet to find phone numbers for people and businesses.  So, why wouldn’t they do so when they are trying to find a lawyer?  The fact that only 11% of households rely on a paper book for their phone numbers should give you pause and make you think about your Yellow Pages spend.  Is your message only reaching 11% of the population in the Yellow Pages?  If your law firm is spending a lot of money on Yellow Pages, does it make sense to spend that money on a medium that only reaches a small percentage of the population?  These are issues your firm should be considering going into 2011.

This article also shows that the Internet is whittling away at paper books.  This means that your clients need to be able to find your law firm online.  Does your law firm appear on the first page for a Google search for personal injury law firms in your area?  Is your legal website up to date and helping potential clients out with their legal issues?  If not, you will be digging yourself a deeper hole everyday that goes by.  The consumer is now going online to do their research about people and businesses.  This includes researching your law firm.  Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward on the Internet.  As these paper books end up going the way of the dinosaur, people will have no choice but to find your firm online.  Act now so you can get ahead of the game and ensure your firm is getting the most out of the Internet.

It’s inevitable: as consumer’s habits change and the Internet continues to become more pervasive, books such as the White Pages and Yellow Pages will continue to become extinct.  In 15 states, there are already opportunities for phone companies to stop printing these books when they were once a requirement.  How long will it be before the White Pages aren’t in print anymore anywhere in the USA?  Furthermore, how long will it be before the Yellow Pages aren’t a book anymore at all?  The times are changing.  Contact Network Affiliates today if you are looking to change with the times and get ahead with your legal marketing,

Intake. The mere word can send shivers down the spine of any personal injury lawyer. It's an essential cog for any law firm, especially one that deals with diverse cases and markets through multiple mediums. But intake can also be the biggest source of frustration in a law firm.

A lot of the frustration with intake can be attributed to one thing: intake software is not designed for marketing. Intake software is designed to house information in a consistent format and manages your case files. While most intake software is great at its primary function of housing data and keeping your case files, none of them are designed to make your life easier as a marketer.

A step most lawyers take to make marketing to your database easier is developing a script for your receptionist to follow so that information is always consistent from record to record. This will make it so that your database is clean and mistake free. However, this does not solve all of your intake issues. One main issue is that the script may not line up with the way your case management software is set up. This issue makes it so that receptionists are taking the information in twice. Once when they are talking on the phone with the prospect on a pad of paper and a second time when they are off the phone and have to put the information into the database. This introduces human error, as mistakes are common when having to enter that data back into the case management system.

Another common issue with case management software is the lack of marketing centric reports. If you can't pull a simple report, it can de-rail your database marketing efforts. What this can lead to is a lack of follow-ups. Your database marketing has to be consistent. If you are not following up with clients, you are losing cases on a regular basis.

Luckily, there is now software that works in front of your database that handles information the way your firm handles it upon intake. These pieces of software contain fields for basic demographic information as well as fields for how they heard about your firm and the nature of their case. This software then dumps this information into your case management system and you can follow that case from start to finish.

Obtaining all of this information accurately is paramount. The old saying goes garbage in, garbage out. If you aren't putting accurate information into your database, you won't get useful tracking data out of it. This makes your life as a lawyer more difficult because your best cases are referral cases. How can you solicit referrals when you don't have a database that has complete information? Contact Network Affiliates today if you need assistance with your database marketing efforts.