Recently, we shared an article, “Launch Your Social Media Presence in One Day,” discussing how to establish a presence on both LinkedIn and Facebook.  We provided some simple steps to get you started.  Now that you have your profiles setup, this article will help explain how to maximize your so­cial media to enhance your rainmaking efforts in as little as 10 minutes a day.

We are all very busy and can be over­whelmed by large daunting tasks like participating in social media.  However, by only spending 10 minutes each day (no more, no less) you can take your social media to the next level.

LinkedIn: Maximizing Your Profile

Keep it Simple, Be Thorough, Be Consistent

Simplicity, consistency, and depth are criti­cal when building your LinkedIn profile. For instance, post a picture of yourself that you use consistently across all social media sites and use your full name so that it’s easy for people to find you. Your profile should reflect your biography and work experience to its fullest. Provide details that completely explain your responsibilities and clientele in your current occupation and, when describ­ing previous employment, include all the industries in which you have experience as well as services you’ve offered.

Use Keywords

While LinkedIn provides default website set­tings, such as “My Website” and “My Com­pany,” when editing your profile, you can choose “Other” and replace those headings with keywords. This gives you an opportunity to expand and better describe your services as well as include your other social networking accounts like Facebook and Twitter.

Use Social Media “Groups”

An underutilized feature on LinkedIn and Facebook is “Groups,” which allows you to connect with even more people. Take some time to look at the groups currently available and give thought to which ones you’d like to join. Participating in and creating Groups provides you and your firm with opportuni­ties to share information, enhance brand awareness, and attract and interact with Group members, among many other activi­ties. Don’t just consider professional organizations, but also think about charitable organizations with which you’re involved. Through Groups, you can create or join a network of other professionals with common experiences, professional connec­tions, philanthropic interests, and goals. You can also share announcements and/or mes­sages each week via a news feed that only reaches Group members. LinkedIn now offers a new feature, “Sub-Groups,” ena­bling members to collaborate on specific projects, participate in discussions, and engage in many of the same activities offered through Groups.

How to Create a LinkedIn Group

In order to create a LinkedIn Group, find the Groups option on the menu at the top of the screen.  Place your mouse cursor over this option and select “Create a Group” from the drop-down menu that appears. Then, up­load a Group logo and enter the Group’s name. Briefly describe the Group and include a corresponding URL and contact email address. Additionally, you can indicate whether the Group is open for any LinkedIn member to join or if prospective members must send a request. You can decide if you’d like the Group to appear in the Groups Directory and if the members are able to use the logo on their individual profiles. To complete this process, select a language and provide the location of the Group’s headquarters. After you have confirmed that you’ve read the Terms of Service, simply click “Create Group.”

How to Create a Facebook Group

To create a Facebook Group, first make sure you are viewing the “News Feed” page.  Now, find the “Create Group” option under the “Groups” category on the left side of that page and click on the “Create Group” but­ton.  In the pop-up box enter your Group name, list the people you would like to add and select a privacy option for the Group.  The privacy option decides who can find your Group in a search, and who can see Group posts.  After you’ve finished filling out this form, click on “Create.”  You will then be taken to your Group’s page, where you can share photos, information, create polls, create documents or schedule events.  Clicking on the wheel icon button in the    up­per right-hand corner next to the “Notifications” button will open a drop down menu where you should pay special atten­tion to the “Edit Group” option.  Once clicked, this option takes you to a menu that allows you to edit the description of your Group, change member permissions and privacy settings, and set up a Group email address.  Once a Group email address has been activated, any email sent to that address will go to all members of that Group.

LinkedIn: Taking It to the Next Level

Ask for Recommendations

Ask for recommendations from clients, for­mer colleagues or employers to demonstrate your credibility on LinkedIn.  Don’t be shy about asking for rec­ommendations. LinkedIn provides an email template that enables you to request recommendations; people can then submit their recommendations with just a few clicks. You can also add a message to the template, such as suggesting that you will draft the recommendation for their approval. We suggest customizing the message available on the standard template so that you can reiterate your positive experiences with a particular individual or firm, and offer­ing to draft the recommendation for approval.

Boost Credibility by Answering Questions

A powerful, but often-overlooked business development tool on LinkedIn is the “Question and Answer” section found under the “More” tab. This section is not meant to advertise your firm. Instead, it is supposed to generate thought-provoking discussions, with a goal of sharing knowledge and show­casing your expertise and experience. It’s also a great way to connect with people you’ve never met. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with it. Find your field of expertise from the many categories and subcategories of professional disciplines and see what questions people are asking and who is responding. If you’re an account­ant, for instance, you may find that people are asking questions during tax season.  As you begin answering questions, you may find that people now come to you directly for answers, rather than looking for any other expert.

Choose a few categories that you’re confi­dent about and review the categories to see if there are questions to which you can add value. Review others’ comments to ensure that a question hasn’t already been answered and always re-read your com­ments before posting them. When you are answering questions, remember it’s about branding your firm and yourself. Everything you write reflects your credibility. Try to answer questions on a weekly basis. The more questions you answer, the more you boost your credibility and online presence. It’s important to avoid making a sales pitch at the end. Instead, for instance, we often say something similar to: “At Berbay, we address this issue every day. Call or email if you have additional questions.”

Social Media: Posting Updates

Provide Relevant Content

When it comes to posting updates, quality beats quantity. There is no need to reinvent the wheel or struggle to find new things to say each day. If you publish an article, whether in a magazine or firm newsletter, announce it on your social media pages and provide a link. If you are delivering a lecture, provide the topic, date and location. And if nothing particularly exciting is happening at the firm that day, just share something of in­terest, such as a reference to an article in The Wall Street Journal you read that might be useful to your markets.

Use the website www.tinyurl.com to shrink a long URL in order to fit in Facebook and LinkedIn’s character limit.

While there is an abundance of software options to organize your social networking activities, including posts, we recommend TweetDeck and Ping.fm. TweetDeck is a free desktop software application that allows you to view and post to your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts at once, saving you a great deal of time while helping you to achieve your visibility goals. Ping.fm allows you to post a status on all of your so­cial media accounts without having to open all of them.

Set Social Media Goals

Set realistic goals for yourself.  If you don’t think you’ll be able to post updates every day then try once a week.  Create a tickler on your calendar that lists action steps to which you can commit 10 minutes each day. For example, daily goals might include post­ing an update, connecting with three people and answering one question. With a small time investment, the effects will snowball, and your visibility among your target markets will increase.

Social Media: A Few Do’s and Don’ts

Do…

We’re reiterating: Add your links for LinkedIn and Facebook to the contact information that appears at the bottom of your firm’s out­going emails. During the next revision or re­printing of marketing collateral, include your links there as well, giving people another way to connect with you.

Use the same profile picture on LinkedIn and Facebook.  Don’t confuse people by posting different profile pictures or different keywords.  It is important to keep your sites as consistent as possible.

Don’t…

Don’t use your profile to sell your services. The purpose of social networking is to con­nect with people, share useful information and create a dialogue with prospects.     con­tacts you establish in this manner may eventually meet you for a face-to-face    con­versation at which time you can expand on the services you provide.

Don’t bore your audience with lengthy post­ings. People want quick updates. If you have a lot to say, it’s best to do so in a blog or on your website and provide the appropriate link on your social media page.

Don’t use social networking sites to discuss relationships, alcohol, politics or religion, unless these topics are pertinent to your professional discipline.

LinkedIn gives you the option of upgrading to a fee-based premium profile. In most cases, there is no need for that expense. Most professionals don’t even take advan­tage of the full range of benefits available through the free profile. Consider upgrading only if you’re certain you have gone as far as you can with the basics.

The End Result: Instant Gratification

In today’s social networking world, it’s all about instant gratification – instant news and instant contact.  Social networking is a marketing tactic that allows you to position yourself as a thought leader and expert. Of­ten in as little as 10 minutes a day, social networking lets you take your rainmaking skills to the next level without spending a dime. Today, all professional service provid­ers, company owners, and entrepreneurs need a social media presence to raise search engine rankings, establish credibility, and increase visibility among target markets.

As professionals, we are so focused on what’s in front of us that it can be hard to believe we are already in the second quarter of 2012. The beginning of the second quarter, however, is a good time to stop, take a breath, look back at the first quarter’s marketing results, and determine what, if anything, needs to be adjusted in order to improve.

At this time of year, you have two significant advantages — a quarter of data to give an indication of this year’s opportunities and challenges, and if you haven’t yet built momentum, the time to adjust and make things happen. You can use the data as a guide to what’s working and what’s not and where the gaps are. If things are heating up, you can use the first quarter momentum as a springboard to make this a great year.

The following can help you evaluate your marketing plan to date and determine next steps.

Evaluate the results of your first quarter marketing in terms of number and quality of leads. The ability to evaluate this information underscores the need for a mechanism to capture your lead-generation results — not just those for new business. If you don’t have a system in place, start with an Excel spreadsheet and commit to keeping track of your leads. Ideally, this should be done on a firm-wide basis. Do the same for your sales efforts; tracking prospects who have become clients.

Consider what this information means to your marketing results. While one quarter is a relatively short period, it is worth analyzing. Is there anything surprising in your analysis? Does it track last year’s results in terms of where your best leads are coming from? What marketing tactics might warrant further investments? Let’s say that you received a couple of quality leads through your website, but know it needs more work in terms of search engine optimization. That would seem a smart place to increase your budget.

Revisit the list of marketing resolutions or goals you most likely made for this year. With several months of reality under your belt, you can consider these more realistically. Sometimes you find that what looked good on paper has been challenging to implement. If that’s the case, it doesn’t mean failure. It means revising your tactics and winnowing down what you can do for the balance of the year.

Take a hard look at this upcoming quarter — and plan it in detail. Although you need to plan for the balance of the year, you’ll find it easier to address a relatively short period as opposed to looking at the remainder of the year. If you plan to schedule two webinars over the next quarter, for example, get focused regarding how that will happen, who is responsible for each aspect and what the timing of each activity is.

Separate short-term and long-term projects. For instance, if obtaining speaking engagements to target audiences is a key element of your marketing program, now is the time to identify and reach out to decision-makers for conferences later this year and especially for next year’s conferences. Speakers for this year’s conferences were booked months ago.

Consider how you can systematize your marketing. Systematized and disciplined marketing can make the process easier and less stressful. If you haven’t already, consider how you can schedule the next three months so you know what happens when — for instance, your e-newsletter goes out the first Tuesday of the month, or Monday and Fridays are your days for blog posts.

Keep your marketing materials up-to-date so that they showcase you and your firm today. Think about your firm’s noteworthy events for the first quarter — deals transacted, settlements, new hires, etc., and how they should be incorporated into your website, social media, and hard copy materials. What material needs to be updated? How can these events be leveraged further? To illustrate, if you’ve had new hires or promotions, decide whether you should issue a press release and/or announce the news via social media. Are these team members’ biographies and headshots up-to-date on your website? Do they warrant a write-up in your upcoming newsletter?

If you know your website needs an overhaul but there is so much to do that you don’t know where to start, focus only on completing updates from the first quarter. Add news or success stories. Taking the time to update your site so that it reflects the first quarter will make redoing, or “refreshing,” it that much easier.

If redoing your website is one of your long-term goals for this year, then now is the best time to start. If you plan to revamp your website now, with months ahead of you, you can still achieve your goals this year. However, do not delay. Involved projects like this always take longer than you think or would like. It’s helpful to have a firm deadline, such as Dec. 31, to motivate you.

Look at your marketing calendar for the balance of the year and make sure you have key events highlighted, including upcoming speaking engagements and conferences you’re planning to attend. Look ahead and determine when you need to start making the most of these events and who else needs to be involved. For example, if you’re exhibiting at a conference, confirm that your booth and materials are ready, so that it doesn’t become a crisis. It also may be time to start inviting clients, prospects, and referral sources for meetings during the event.

Examine your seasonal marketing initiatives. You may want to do something around certain corporate or personal tax due dates. Are there initiatives you considered last year, but at a time when was too late to put them into play?

Consider nominations and rankings. Obtaining a spot on “top” lists among lawyers, dealmakers, or other professional groups has become very important to many attorneys, and some of those lists have longer lead times than others. Find out when the lists you’re interested in will be published. Then, find out when the outlet starts gathering the information. Remember that these deadlines can vary from year to year.

Your first quarter marketing review may have indicated that you need more resources to support your marketing. If this is the case, explore internal resources that might be available to you. Sometimes, for instance, an administrative assistant has an interest in marketing and would like to help out if asked. Perhaps the marketing department at your firm’s main office will provide some additional support if you made that team aware of your need.

It could also be that you’re shouldering the business development mantle all by yourself. Offer additional training to other attorneys in your office, if necessary, so that they can contribute to generating leads. It also may be that you need to cut back and reprioritize.

As lawyers focusing on keeping clients satisfied, it’s easy to get caught up in accomplishing day-to-day tasks. This tendency highlights why it’s critical to check in periodically, such as at the end of each quarter. After all, as the adage goes, what’s the use of running if you’re on the wrong road? A regular evaluation can help you confirm that you are on the right path.

Reprinted with permission from the “April 2012” edition of the “The Recorder”© 2012 ALM media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. For information, contact 877-257-3382, reprints@alm.com or visit www.almreprints.com.

One of the things that I’d like others to know about Berbay is that they are results-oriented, cost-effective.  I think you get a good return on your investment, a very professional group of people and they’re fun to work with and they do things the way we do.  I mean and so it was a good fit and I think it would be a good fit for other service firms such as ours that are looking outsource the PR function.

With regard to recommending Berbay, the partners of our firm have been CEOs of a half a dozen other companies before we formed HMS twenty years ago and in those capacities,  we’ve retained and hired numerous PR firms for those other companies and based on the experience that we’ve had with Berbay, we think they are at the top of the list and is the best PR firm that we’ve worked with in our careers.

Berbay has moved us closer to our goals because we found that our firm is much more well known throughout the industries that we cover.  We’ve had a lot of exposure throughout the U.S. and we have had very little experience encountering situations where a prospective client or others have not heard of our firm before.

Our experience with Berbay has been outstanding.  We found the firm to be very professional and extremely responsive.  They are quick on their feet and when we’ve had to adjust and change things, they’ve been Johnny-on-the-spot to get things done.

Berbay has done several things for our firm.  Number one, they successfully improved our exposure nationwide in the industries that we cover which are the restaurant, retail and financial industries.  In addition to that, they improved our presence on our website, developed an e-blast marketing campaign and also enabled us to get numerous speaking engagements in conferences throughout the country.

“We are pleased to support the Legal Marketing Association in its efforts to serve the legal marketing community,” commented Sharon Berman, Principal of Berbay Corp. “Like Berbay, the LMA strives to lead the way in professional marketing.”

Berbay Corp. is an ongoing supporter of the LMA, an association focused on fostering and educating a strong network of legal marketing professionals. Since 1985, the LMA has served thousands of members worldwide, including attorneys, marketing directors, key law firm administrators and legal marketing professionals.

Berbay Corp. has announced a new program obtaining MCLE-accredited presentation opportunities in law firms for professionals whose business comes from attorneys. This program allows professionals who regularly work with attorneys to share their expertise with their target audience and provide MCLE credits at the same time.  Attorneys benefit by accruing Bar-required MCLE credits without leaving their building.

“This service is designed for professionals who need to be credible and visible to the lawyers who refer work to them or engage their services on behalf of clients,” said Sharon Berman, Principal of Berbay Corp. “Through this program, participating experts bypass the onerous steps of obtaining these engagements, and spend their time giving the presentations, not hunting them down.”

Making what can be an arduous process simple, Berbay facilitates the application process to certify your presentation with the State Bar, identify law firms and MCLE decision-makers, generate and gauge interest, help develop presentations, and coordinate presentation schedules and certification requirements. Berbay also helps professionals with post-presentation marketing.