Kirsten Hodgson – Founder of Kaleidoscope Marketing, helping professional services firms to grow their existing client base and attract more of their ideal clients
Emily Miller – Founder of Marshall Walker, an independent LinkedIn training organisation based in London. Experienced professional services marketer and business developer
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With over 315+ million members worldwide, LinkedIn is a powerful tool that lawyers can leverage to grow their practices. What can we know about LinkedIn? Especially, that it’s a very important tool for today’s attorneys
Adv. Benjamin Waltuch, corporate and securities partner at the international law firm Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz, has been using LinkedIn since 2004
‘LinkedIn is a must,’ he says. It has helped him raise his profile in Israel (where there are over 1.1 million LinkedIn users), and keep in touch with contacts worldwide. Mr. Waltuch, based in Tel Aviv, isn’t just raising his profile; he’s getting work via LinkedIn
Engage with your contacts
In order to see success, professionals need to use the platform purposefully and alongside other marketing initiatives
Mr. Waltuch says: You have to be realistic – a nice profile alone does not mean revenue will double. Just connecting is not the end goal – you must engage with your LinkedIn contacts in a focused way
For example, Mr. Waltuch uses advanced search feature to
A- find and set up meetings with prospective clients in specific cities
B- uncover whether any of his contacts know people working for specific companies he’s interested in
C- Prepare for meetings by knowing more about the person you are meeting with
Some top tips
If you want to energise your own firm’s LinkedIn marketing, here are a few tips to get you started
A) Make the business case to achieve internal buy-in
One of the best ways to help people understand how LinkedIn can benefit them is to share case studies. Ideally use case studies from within your firm but, if you don’t have any, then here are 5: http://lawfirmsandsocialmedia.com/free-chapter/
B) Develop a LinkedIn strategy and metrics
Developing a LinkedIn strategy and metrics can help you and your team get best value out of the time spent on LinkedIn. Make sure each person is clear about why they’re on LinkedIn, and what they’re looking to achieve
C) Make sure everyone’s profile positions them and the firm well
In a webinar we ran for 225 lawyers recently, 87% were on LinkedIn but only 25% of those felt that their profile positioned them well
That’s scary, when you consider that LinkedIn profiles rank highly in search engine results and that, according to BTI Consulting, online search is the second most common way of clients finding a lawyer, after personal recommendations. A weak LinkedIn profile will do more damage than good
D) Encourage colleagues to grow their LinkedIn network
Walk them through the various ways to find people to connect with. Encourage your team to connect with their colleagues – doing so will not only help them to market internally (if sharing content via LinkedIn) but will also help to uncover client relationships that your CRM may not flag – such as personal friendships
E) Set up a content plan
LinkedIn is a content platform. Opening up its publishing capability to all members, its purchase of Slideshare and its Pulse application all provide huge opportunities for professionals to position themselves, overcome pigeon-holing and stay top of mind with their clients and other contacts
F) Encourage colleagues to join groups
While the majority is a waste of time, there are some incredibly valuable and well-managed groups on LinkedIn. Prior to joining, take a look at the statistics for the group, as well as who in your network is a member
If you want to know more
If you want more practical ideas for effective use of Linkedin, sign up for our CPD accredited (in the UK) online course “Grow your Practice with LinkedIn: for Lawyers.” It’s the complete roadmap to growing your practice with LinkedIn. http://www.linkedintutors.com/online-course-for-lawyers/
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About the Authors: Kirsten Hodgson & Emily Miller, co-creators of – Grow your Practice with LinkedIn: for Lawyers
Kirsten Hodgson
Founder of Kaleidoscope Marketing, helping professional services firms to grow their existing client base and attract more of their ideal clients. She has led LinkedIn workshops throughout New Zealand, Australia and the UK, showing professionals how they can harness the power of LinkedIn to grow their practices. Her first book “The Complete Guide to LinkedIn for Lawyers: Connect, Engage and Grow your Business” was published by LexisNexis in Sept 2012
Contact details: http://www.kscopemarketing.co.nz/index.html kirsten@kscopemarketing.co.nz
Emily Miller
Founder of Marshall Walker, an independent LinkedIn training organisation based in London. She is an experienced professional services marketer and business developer and helps her clients learn how to use LinkedIn as an effective, efficient business development and marketing tool.
Contact details: http://www.linkedintutors.com/ emily@linkedintutors.com
