Legal Recruiting Using LinkedIn and Social Media

Legal Recruiting Using LinkedIn and Social Media: Best Practices for

Success

2015 FALL SYMPOSIUMOctober 23, 2015

@guylaw1313

Agendao Introductiono The Purpose of Social Mediao It all Starts and Ends with

Contento Best Practices for LinkedIn

o Your profileo The new LinkedIn publishing

platformo Groups

o Best Practices for Twittero 10 Tips for Using Social

Media for Legal Recruitingo Q&A

My Story Recovering Lawyer Spent early part of my career as

head of Law Journal Extra which today is Law.com

Moved on to become Global Director of Digital Marketing for KPMG

Founded Business Development Institute

Became Director of Social Media at PLI

Have consulted for a wide array of companies and firms in and outside the legal market over the last 15 years on digital marketing and social media.

Our Mission

To help firms in the legal vertical to understand and leverage the power of digital marketing to enhance their thought leadership position in the market and to better engage with their clients and prospects.

Using the latest technologies and methodologies, we help firms sell their services, build their brands and develop digital platforms that power and transform their marketing and business development efforts.

Why are Professionals so Reluctant to Use Social Media?

• Fear• Lack of

Understanding• How?• Why?• Where?

• Culture

@guylaw1313

Why did I Join Twitter?“I took to social media in an effort to engage in candid conversations. I hope others who lead law firms will join the discussion. Do I think Twitter feeds from one – or even many – of us will materially change our industry? Of course not. I do believe that we need to speak frankly and listen intently and the more voices the better. After all, open dialogue can only be good for our clients.” - Stephen Poor, Chairman, Seyfarth Shaw LLP@stephen_poor

Bloomberg Business of Law Article, June 2, 2015

The purpose of Social Media Stay “top of mind” and

listen to your target audience (clients, prospects, alumni, colleagues, influencers, press)

Develop Strategic relationships

Thought Leadership: Demonstrate your skills, knowledge & experience

Gain Competitive and Business Intelligence

Drive traffic back to your website/blog

It all Starts and Ends with ContentYou cannot have a successful social

media strategy without the right content

What is the right content?◦Client centric◦Provides guidance or value◦Non – promotional◦Free of jargon◦Easily consumable◦Shareable◦Personable

First Things First: Social Media Listening

Best Practices for • Update your photo. It should be recent, professional

and represent you or your firm.

• The Headline a.k.a. the most crucial 120 characters on your profile should standout, include important key words that are specific to your practice area and make people want to learn more about you.

• Write your summary in a tone you would use to address clients over coffee. Your description should make them want to hire you.

• Provide specific instructions for potential clients to learn more about you and your firm. Share specific links or documents that will help them contact you.

Best Practices for • Join groups. There are hundreds of groups related to law on

LinkedIn. These give you the chance to increase your relevancy, find new people and send direct messages to thousands of people who aren’t in your network. Definitely get involved in a group where your clients are likely to be and contribute the discussions when the opportunity presents itself.

• Connect with all of your clients. They are your best source of referrals, so reach out and thank them!

• Share a status update every day. This is an easy opportunity to share relevant information, demonstrate your experience in your field and stay prominent in your network.

The LinkedIn Headline

Wrong Approach Correct Approach

Typical Summary on LinkedIn

Guidelines for Creating Your LinkedIn ProfileCreating a strong online profile is one of the most important steps in establishing an effective online presence. This is true for all professionals where personal trust is such a central element in the hiring decision. As the adage goes – people hire people not companies. Not only is your online profile critical in forming a prospective client’s first impression but online research indicates that LinkedIn profiles pages often account for well over 50% of the page views on LinkedIn. So it’s really worth spending some time to get your profile right. We think an effective profile has 3 components:

Present your bona fides. This of course is the traditional element of every professional’s resume. Explain what you’ve done, major accomplishments, professional and educational background, etc. The trick here is to try not to sound like everyone else. Don’t limit the description of what you do to narrow or purely professional accomplishments. If you are active in your community or organizations outside work, then by all means include it.

Make a personal statement about why you do what you do. Most people have

very bland and impersonal online bios. It’s really important to break the mold and take off the professional mask. Take the opportunity to say something more personal in your profile by explaining why your work is important to you (instead of just telling people you’re good at it).

Don’t be afraid to show your personality. Your GPA in school and professional

accomplishments don’t really say to much about who you are. So it's important to say something about your interests outside of work, including community involvements, hobbies or family life.

Example of a Good Summary on LinkedIn

How To: Four Ways to Update Your Status on LinkedIn

1. Write Your Own Status UpdateWhen you log into LinkedIn, you end up on the home page which looks something like this:


2. Share Articles You Find On LinkedIn

If you are following Influencers on LinkedIn or have set your Pulse news feed to share the right information, you easily have access to loads of information to share. Just scroll through your home feed and look for an interesting article. (Remember, on LinkedIn people prefer updates on industry and company news, or tips/hacks to make them better at their jobs.)


3. Share An Article You Find ElsewhereEvery website provides sharing buttons (almost) so you can share the article on many different social media sites. Just click on the icon to share it to the social media platform and you’ll be on your way. If you don’t see the icon you are looking for, let’s say LinkedIn, usually there is a more or plus button and you’ll find the platform. A best practice is to add your thoughts/comments/questions to the introduction of the post so your network gets a better sense of why you are sharing the article.


4. Buffer ItIf you find lots of great articles and you don’t want to share them all at once, you can space out your status updates by using a scheduling tool like Buffer. Buffer is a free app that lets you auto schedule or set the date and time you want a post to appear. You can link it to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+. Here’s the time saver tip: if you find five great articles in one day, you can space them out and share only one per day by using Buffer. Your work is done for the week!

Best Practices for1. Twitter is part of your personal brandWhether you like it or not, you have a brand. Your social presence is part of that brand, so you need to ensure it is an accurate, and positive, representation of who you are, what you do and what you care about.

Ensure your profile is always up-to-date and relevant. This includes using a nice-looking headshot and a relevant background image. When you write your description remember you are more than just a lawyer looking for business. Include information about family, hobbies or things you enjoy in your free time.

2. Be active and engageLike most things in life, you get out what you put in. While there are no hard and fast rules on how often to tweet, the general rule of thumb is the more the better. This includes communicating with other users on Twitter.

3. Follow the rule of thirdsThe rule of thirds is an easy way to remember that Twitter is a tool for conversation, not monologues. Make sure you are loosely following the rule of thirds:

1/3 of the time: Share relevant or educational information1/3 of the time: Engage with others (replying, re-tweeting or mentioning)1/3 of the time: Take the time to read and discover influencers or content that is useful to you and your practice.

Best Practices for4. Use hashtagsHashtags (or the # symbol) allow all Twitter users to follow a central idea, or engage in a single conversation. It’s a great way to find like-minded users and relevant conversations. (i.e. #landuselaw #fairuse)

5. Be humanTweeting can be weird and awkward. The good news is that the more you do it, the less weird and awkward it will become. So a good rule of thumb is to remember that you are human and you are talking to humans. Don’t automate and don’t be afraid to offer commentary.

6. Use images and linksAlways use images and/or links to make your tweets more visually interesting. This will encourage other users to interact with you and share your information.

7. Interact with clients and your peersA great way to start on Twitter is by following peers and your clients. Interacting with each other bolsters all of your reputations and following your clients enhances your knowledge about what they are interested in and what is important to them.

8. Take it with youTwitter has a great mobile app that is easy to use on your phone or tablet. You don’t have to dedicate copious amounts of time to Twitter. In fact, it’s amazing what a couple minutes in line at the grocery store or waiting on hold can do for your Twitter presence.

Consider using • Hootsuite is a free social media management tool that helps you manage

your posting to your social networks• Hootsuite also allows you to set up feeds to monitor your engagement on

social media as well as to discover influencers and relevant content

10 Tips for Using Social Media for Legal Recruiting

1. Build a blog and blog about each job opportunity. Make sure you use visuals and post a link back to each blog post on social media.2. Use hashtags when posting jobs on Twitter and also when trying to build relationships. Hashtags enable you to categorize your content and also to look for people who are actively writing about different practice areas.3. Build your network on LinkedIn. Engage with active and passive candidates as well as in-house recruiters and hiring manager. Join LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions. 4. Create original content that is of value to potential candidates and in-house recruiters. Don’t just post jobs. Give tips or share insights. Provide interview tips or statistics that may be of value.5. Use LinkedIn recruiter and the LinkedIn Connect App to build relationships and expand your network. Participate in practice or industry specific groups to strategically grow your network.6. Create Twitter lists to monitor in-house recruiters and potential candidates. Create practice specific or industry Twitter lists. Seek out influencers and engage with them on Twitter.7. Discover and reach candidates through Facebook groups. Join groups where potential candidates hang out. 8. Use social media to identify similarities and connections between candidates and in-house recruiters or attorneys. Look for things like volunteer work, interests, hobbies and non-professional networks, which might be a match.9. Focus on substance and networking. Don’t just use social media to post jobs. Use it to strategically build connections with candidates (active and passive) as well as in house recruiters.10. Be creative and think outside the box. Use video, infographics. Memes or other visual elements to engage with your target audience. Try out social networks where most recruiters are not: i.e Google+, Instgram, Pinterest, Medium, Slideshare and Periscope.

QUESTIONS?Guy Alvarez

[email protected]

@guylaw1313

Legal Recruiting Using LinkedIn and Social Media

Law

Transcript of Legal Recruiting Using LinkedIn and Social Media