How to Come up with Blog Topics

By Gina Rubel

 

Blogging does not have to be a daunting task for lawyers. As most blogs address a single topic in a short and concise manner, it should be easy to come up with blog topics that serve your target audience with information about your  areas of practice to establish you as an authority.

·         Keep a notepad next to your phone or keep notes in your mobile device. Every time a colleague, client or prospect asks you a substantive question, write it down. The answers to those questions are almost always worth blogging about.

·         If you’re a transactional attorney, consider every transaction for a blog topic. For example, every contract has many clauses. Contract attorneys can write short blogs about the benefits and/or pitfalls of various contract clauses such as termination clauses, non-compete clauses, liability clauses, etc.

·         Review your memos of law and briefs for substantive (non-fact-specific) content that can be edited and sanitized of client-specific information and turned into blogs.

·         Utilize materials from CLE programs and seminars you have presented for blog topics. In fact, CLE presentations are a great source of imagery to support blog topics (such as screenshots of a single PowerPoint slide that supports the premise of the blog post).

·         Set up a free Google Alert on specific topics in your area of practice and review them daily. If something is breaking in the news, you’ll be on top of it. If you do set up a Google Alert, consider creating a rule in your email system that sends the alerts to a dedicated folder that you check once a day. That way, alerts will not clutter your inbox.

·         Subscribe to or regularly review any of the following syndicated news feeds to stay on top of the issues being discussed by other firms throughout the country: Lexology, Mondaq, JD Supra, National Law Review.


·         Have someone record presentations you are giving and then have them transcribed. Edit the transcription into several blog posts.

How Do You Set Up a Free WordPress Blog?

By Laura Powers and Heather Truitt

Do you have the urge to write and publish but don’t want to invest time and resources in establishing a full-blown website? A WordPress option allows users to set up a blogging website, for FREE. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be on your way to blogging in no time.

Step 1: Visit Wordpress.com

Click “Create a Website” or “Start a Blog” (both have similar results).

NEXT PAGE: Type in the name you have determined for your blog; this is the web address people will use to find your blog. The name will be appended by .wordpress.com, so your site name will be yoursitename.wordpress.com. WordPress will let you know if that address is already taken.

Choose a username and a password and type in the email address you want associated with the WordPress account. This should be an email that is monitored frequently. Click “Create blog.”

NEXT PAGE: Check your email to complete your registration. Your account is now active.

Log in to your blog account with your username and password. In the black menu bar at the top of the page, click on “Dashboard.” Select a blog title and tagline that will display at the top of the blog. These should be search-engine optimized to reflect the topics and subject matter of the blog. These can be edited at any time during the life of the blog.

Step 2: Activate Your Theme

Navigate to the “Themes” menu on the left column. Click “Customize.”

There are free themes to select from if you navigate to the right-hand side and click the bar that says “all” and select “free.” After selecting a theme, click “try and customize.” Using the left hand side menu, you can change colors, backgrounds, fonts, the header image, menus, and add widgets (see Step 3).

Step 3: Add Widgets

Navigate to the “Widgets” menu on the left column. Click “Widgets.”

Widgets enhance the design and functionality of your blog. On this page, you will choose what functional options you want the blog to show readers. The most common widgets are an Email Subscription form (a widget called “Follow Blog”), Categories, Archives, and a Facebook like box. It is recommended that you also add a Meta box so you can easily log in to your site.

Once you’ve decided which widgets to use, select them to add them to the list. Drag and drop widgets to move them around your blog layout. Feel free to experiment here.

When you’re satisfied with the layout, click on the “save and activate” button.

Step 4: Publish your first post!

Have you set up a free WordPress website or blog? How was your experience?

5 Ways to Take Advantage of Blogging Opportunities on Snow Days

By Megan Quinn

At Furia Rubel, we have learned to adjust to all kinds of wacky Northeastern weather. Our most recent snowstorm got me thinking...how can professionals make the most of their workday while snowed in at home?

One project that is custom-made for a snow day is working on a company or firm blog.

We recommend to many clients that they establish a company blog. Blogging helps you and your business to:

• Gain exposure
• Demonstrate expertise
• Establish thought leadership
• Support search engine optimization (SEO) 
• Reinforce the company’s brand 
• Manage your reputation 
• Raise awareness of your company's services
• Drive traffic to your company's website

But we also know that for many of our clients, blogging is just one more thing they have to do in a day that is already jam-packed with work.

While blogging efforts can and should be sustained through daily or weekly effort, the cancellation of day-to-day business by bad weather can offer a brief reprieve from daily pressures. Here are five productive ways to put that bad weather to good use.

• Take photos to use for future blog posts. Today's content is highly visual; blog posts get more attention and more shares when they are illustrated with photos. But you can't just grab any old photo from a Google Images search. If you're a decent photographer, use your down time to take generic photos - a stack of law books, a close-up of the dictionary definition of your major practice area, etc. - that you can use as visual content on your company's blog.
• Brainstorm topics for your next blog post. Millions of blog topics are waiting to be explored. Do a quick search of trending topics online at Google Trends to see what the world is talking about. Tie the issue in to your own industry or niche and provide your own unique perspective on current events.
• Research potential industry blogs to which you can contribute. If you haven't already, identify the leading blogs and influencers in your industry. Email the editor to see if they accept guest blog posts and find out what kind of content they want most. Guest blogging in your niche industry is an opportunity to promote your company and showcase how well-versed you are in the subject area.
• Reach out to your contacts and ask them to collaborate. Networking is vital at every stage of business development, but established companies especially sometimes let relationship building fall to the wayside. Getting back in touch with contacts and asking them to work with you on a blog post is a great way to enhance your relationships with professionals in your industry. By collaborating on a blog post, you can learn more from one another about your niche industry area and can showcase your work to more people.
• Review existing material to see if it can be re-purposed. We encourage clients to maximize their time by re-purposing information whenever they can. Did you recently write a legal brief? Turn some of that information into a blog post. Did you recently speak at an industry event? Use some of the information from your talk for a blog post. 

Damages: Recap from TLI Litigation Summit, Part V - The Legal Intelligencer Blog

In September 2012, Gina F. Rubel attended The Legal Intelligencer's first annual Litigation Summit and captured highlights from various programs shared throughout the event. She recently authored a blog for The Legal titled, "Damages: Recap from TLI Litigation Summit, Part V," which recaps the damages program presented by Frank D. Tinari, the principal economist of the Tinari Economics Group, along with Kristin Kucsma from the same organization; Jane A. North, a partner with Deasey, Mahoney, Valentini & North; and Lawrence R. Cohan, a shareholder with Anapol Schwartz. Read the full blog post and take-aways from the program at Damages: Recap from TLI Litigation Summit, Part V.

Newsweek Ceases Print Publication – Going All-Digital

Media icon Newsweek has decided to cease printing and convert to an all-digital format. Its last edition will be on Dec. 31, 2012.

Founded 80 years-ago, Newsweek was once one of the nation's top-selling news weekly publications. However, it has seen a significant drop in audience – 51 percent since 2007 – and a resulting decline in advertising revenue.

Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise though. The Internet, blogs, social media and mobile technology have fundamentally changed the way that we secure, consume, publish and interact with news, opinion and analysis.

Personally, I hope that Newsweek remains an influential source of news and analysis. In today’s communication environment, we need the insight and professionalism that legacy media like Newsweek provide. For more, read the full Philadelphia Inquirer article.

Please Don’t Ask To Pick My Brain

Written by Gina Rubel


Amanda Walsh from our office shared a great article with me from Forbes.com. No, You Can’t Pick My Brain. It Costs Too Much by Adrienne Graham hits the nail on the head. (That’s two clichés in one sentence – I’m on a roll.)


My office mates have heard me say time and time again how much I dislike when people ask if they can “pick my brain.” It is by far one of the most unappealing requests one can make. Think about the visuals: a monkey grooming its young, a chicken pecking for grub, or a surgeon performing a cranial exam. The images are endless – none of which are pleasant.


But the truth of the matter is that it does cost money when someone wants to “pick your brain.” Time is money.


Graham provides a few tips for maintaining boundaries so as to not give it all away for free. In a nutshell, she advises:


• Believe that what you know is valuable.
• Create a fee schedule
• Decline lunch/coffee invitations unless they are strictly non-business.
• Keep it light.
• Prominently post that there are no freebies.
• Exchange for equal value.
• Refer them to your “free” resources (referring to blogs, articles, podcasts, etc.).
• Don’t be afraid to send them to Google.
• Ask them for a paying referral.
• Don’t back down.


If you are an expert at what you do: a lawyer, accountant, financial advisor, doctor, marketer, publicist, and the list goes on, remember, your knowledge has value. Be sure to read Graham’s article and remember that people know that they get what they pay for (there’s another cliché) – and will usually ante-up.


Images courtesy of Gina Rubel.

Blogging Platform Options - Which Blog Platform Should You Choose?

Posted by Laura Powers

We are frequently asked for our recommendations on blog platforms and blogging best practices. Some of the most popular platforms for establishing a blog are WordPress, Blogger, TypePad and Tumblr.

Tumblr was established in 2007 and is a relative newcomer to the blogosphere. The platform offers integrated features to be used for sharing and promoting a blog, rather than having to add those functions into the blog platform. Digitial media strategist, Steve Rubel recently switched his long-time blog platform from Posterous to Tumblr which was met with a mix of follower resistance and approval. Tumblr has grown exponentially in popularity and prominence and has now joined the ranks as a credible platform for consideration.

WordPress.org offers customizable website software that you can install on a hosted website server to create easy-to-build websites and blogs. WordPress.org was created in 2003 and later branched out to bring a basic blog platform to a larger audience with Wordpress.com. WordPress.com offers an easy, free blog solution without the need for technical knowledge.

Established in 1999, Blogger was purchased by Google in 2003. Some believe that this relationship gives Blogger an inherent advantage in search engines, however there are many more search engine optimization plugins for WordPress. Recently, Mashable broke an article about Blogger being renamed Google Blogs in a rebranding initiative in the advent of Google+, the search engine company’s new social networking site.

Originally launched in 2003, Typepad is a paid-subscription blogging service that is based on an open source platform called Movable Type. This may be a good choice for companies or organizations that generate text for a living. For example, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and USA Today all utilize Movable Type to host their numerous high traffic blogs.

Prominence, high average readership, a clean visual presentation, and the ability to adapt to changing trends are vital components to any blog that wants to grow and thrive. A successful blog entails the buildup of a substantial amount of content while utilizing a stable platform to share and promote the content.

We recommend avoiding platforms that may fold in the burst of the social media bubble and focusing on long-established platforms with successful track records.

Webinar Recap: The Science Of Timing With Dan Zarella

I listened in on a webinar about social media and marketing, "The Science of Timing," given by Dan Zarrella, the author of The Social Media Marketing Book and The Facebook Marketing Book. Dan studies the data surrounding social media behavior and educates marketers on best practices. The webinar discussed the best times to Tweet, post status updates on Facebook, post blog entries, and send email marketing blasts. Social media "noise" is similar to the din at a cocktail party - when you deliver content in the more silent times you have a better chance of being heard. However, these times also naturally have less traffic. Thus a paradox arises that Zarrella called the idea of “contra-competitive timing.” Does a post get more attention when things are quieter and it is more noticeable, or when more people are available to read it and it gets more natural traffic? Some platform-specific data results:

TWITTER

• Retweets are diurnal as opposed to nocturnal – more retweets happen during the day. The hours between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. are when retweet traffic is highest.


• Retweets happen more frequently later in the week. (To discover which of your tweets have the most retweets, go to tweetwhen.com.)


• Click-thru-rates for links remain consistent throughout the day and spike slightly around 5:00 p.m.


• Frequent tweets about the same subject have low click-thru-rates. If you are promoting one event or site, don't crowd your content, "let it breathe a little" instead.

The takeaway: Tweet more. If you're posting useful and interesting tweets, you can't post too many times, so post frequently!

FACEBOOK Facebook pages that post every other day have a better follow-rate. It is much easier to flood your friend's streams on Facebook than in Twitter. Content is published more on the weekdays on Facebook (many employers block access at work), but many more stories are shared among friends on the weekends.

EMAIL MARKETING

• The majority of people spend the most time with email in the morning and data shows a big drop off at night.


• People are more likely to flag your marketing emails as spam (click abuse reports/ spam report/ junk email) on Saturdays and Sundays.


• Bounce rates (when your marketing emails do not get through to the intended recipient) are higher on Saturdays and Sundays.


• Open rates are much higher on the weekends. Marketing emails will get more attention on the weekend, but so do all the other emails sent by other marketers.


• Emails are most likely to be opened by the recipient between the hours of 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.


• Marketing emails sent 1x/month have the highest click-thru-rates.


• Click-thru-rates for marketing emails are highest on the weekends.


• If you increase the frequency of your marketing email blasts, data shows there is no loss of interest (click-thru-rates) from recipients. Rates are about the same for emails sent 3x/month as they are for 30x/month


• Unsubscribe rates are highest with fewer emails per month. People will unsubscribe from your marketing email list whether you send frequently or not. They will make a quick decision soon after they subscribe about whether they want to receive your news.


• Data shows that the more recent the subscriber, the more they click on your email links and the more frequently they unsubscribe. So it makes sense to send your best offers and high-value news to new subscribers.

The takeaway: don't be afraid to send email campaigns out more frequently – data shows that your list members want to hear from you!

BLOGGING

• Page views for blogs take a dip on Saturdays.


• Blog post comments spike on Saturdays and Sundays because people have more free time to write and post comments.


• Posts around 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. get the most views. Early morning 5:00 a.m. posts have the lowest statistics for views.


• Posts published between 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. have the best chance of becoming source material for the “linkerati.” (Linkerati are their own class of writers who blog for work and link to other blogs.)


• Posts published on Mondays and Thursdays are also most frequently referenced by the linkerati.


• Blogs posted more than 1x/day are by far the most referenced and have the most unique page views.

The takeaway: blog more and know your audience. Your target audience data should support your timing strategy.

GENERAL TIPS

• Since almost half of the population of the United States lives in the EST zone, Zarrella recommends using this time zone when targeting a national audience.


• To track click-thru-rates on a bit.ly link, add a + sign after your bit.ly url (for example, http://bit.ly/gxeaQa+). This generates statistics for that particular link.

To summarize, research supports Tweeting more, updating the Facebook status on a Fan page no more than every other day, increasing the frequency of marketing emails and updating a blog once a day. A replay of this webinar is available with a link to the slideshow here. Enjoy!

The People Behind The PR Lawyer

Posted by Leah Ludwig

Many of you know our PR Lawyer bloggers very well from our daily posts about social media insights, updates in technology, PR and marketing tips and tactics and much more.

Well, here is a behind-the-scenes, everyday-person sneak peak at one of the Furia Rubel team members who helps to fuel The PR Lawyer with breaking industry news and content.

Allow me to first set the stage.

My husband and I recently purchased our first home from a family member. Along with the home, we inherited a herd of nine chickens (hens).

This morning at the wonderful time of 7:30 a.m., as I was strolling to the kitchen of our home to pack my lunch for the day, I noticed our nine hens ranging freely in our backyard. They had broken out of their pen! With my husband (the main chicken caretaker) long gone and off to work, it was up to me to get the escape artists back into their pen. I proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes sweating, cursing and doing my best to make all right with the world and to get our new “pets” out of harm’s way – only to have my feathered friends break out through a hole in the pen’s wiring just 15 minutes later. What a morning!

My colleague and the founder of The PR Lawyer, Gina Rubel, thought our readers would get a kick out of hearing about the people behind the blog. I hope you all got a good chuckle from my Friday morning frenzy.

Legal Tabloid Blogging With David Lat

I had the pleasure to hear the entertaining and informative David Lat, Founder and Managing Editor of Above the Law, speak in Philadelphia yesterday. Here are some interesting facts and takeaways from his discussion about the popular legal blog:

Readership: The blog has between 200,000 to 300,000 page views on any given day. This number can jump as high as 700,000 with a really popular story.

In-House Counsel: To expand the blog's perspective regarding in-house counsel, they will be adding two new bloggers to their roster soon: one in-house senior lawyer and one in-house junior lawyer.

Audience: Although their audience is mostly large firms, they recently introduced a new column with content targeted toward small firms.

Geography: The blog's largest reader base is in New York and D.C., with Chicago and the Bay Area close behind.

Text Tips: You can now text tips for news items to the blog at (646) 820-TIPS.

Submitting News: They do accept press releases, but tend to favor news submitted by readers because it is more organic. They try to add value and context on the blog with the stories they post.

Follow the Above The Law blog team on Twitter at @ATLBlog, @DavidLat and @ElieNYC, find them on Facebook and sign up for e-updates at the blog.

Thanks to the Delaware Valley Law Firm Marketing Group for organizing this event.

Technola 2010 Pro Bono Celebration Blog Challenge

Posted by Amanda Walsh

Kate Bladow over at Technola.la posed a challenge to bloggers everywhere last week; to post one blog post between October 24 and October 30 in honor of the 2010 National Pro Bono Celebration. The week- long celebration is sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. Last year, the celebration was a success but as Bladow notes, "only a few bloggers published posts to recognize the lawyers and paralegals who provide free legal services to those who can't afford to pay."

To participate, write a post about what pro bono means to you. You don't need to be a lawyer, but lawyers are certainly encouraged to participate. You could be a client, for example, who received pro bono services or you could comment on what you admire about a legal colleague for their dedication to pro bono work. The options are endless! Bladow does a wonderful job of giving some ideas to help get you started. Check out her challenge here.

We'll also be participating over here at ThePRLawyer!

Call for Blawg 100 Amici Top Law Blog Nominations

Posted by Amanda Walsh

Are you a frequent PR Lawyer blog reader? Do you find the entries that we post are helpful and relevant for you and your business?

The American Bar Association Journal & Blawg 100 Amici are looking for nominations of the best legal blogs on the Internet to compile a top 100 best legal blogs (or blawgs).

These should be the blogs that you visit regularly and think lawyers and other legal professionals should be checking out too!

The criteria:

• Nominated blogs should be updated (at least) weekly
• ABA Journal Editors will have the final say, so highest number of votes will not determine the top 100 list

To submit your vote, check out the ABA Journal website here. Votes are due no later than October 1, 2010.

Thank you for all your support!

Philly Legal Blawgers Event You Don’t Want To Miss!

Don't miss the "Meet the Legal Blawgers: An Insiders' Perspective on Connecting with the Legal Blogosphere" event on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 12 p.m. presented by the Bar-News Media Committee Meeting of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Furia Rubel Communications' CEO and Bar-News Media Committee chair, Gina Furia Rubel, Esq. will be moderating the event.

Panelists include:

* Jeff Blumenthal, Staff Writer, Philadelphia Business Journal
* Chris Brennan, Political Writer, Philadelphia Daily News, Co-Writer, PhillyClout

* HughE Dillon, Editor, PhillyChitChat.com
* Hank Grezlak, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, The Legal Intelligencer
* Catherine Lucey, Staff Reporter, Philadelphia Daily News Co-Writer, PhillyClout
* Saul Segan, Esq., Contributor, The Huffington Post

Event Location:

Philadelphia Bar Association

1101 Market Street

11th Floor Conference Center

Philadelphia, Pa 19107

Lunch will be available for $8.00.

To register, please visit The Philadelphia Bar Association website.

For more information about the Bar-News Media Committee, please contact Committee Chair Gina Furia Rubel at Gina@furiarubel.com.

For questions about the event, contact Dawn Petit at 215-238-6367 or via email DPetit@philabar.org.

Libel Lawsuits in PA Must Be Filed Within One Year Says Judge

According to Shannon P. Duffy of The Legal Intelligencer, a "PA Judge says a blog is legally the same as any other 'mass media,' meaning that any libel lawsuit filed against a blog in Pennsylvania must make its way to court within one year." The article, Judge Says Discovery Rule Doesn't Apply to Blogs - Internet Is 'Mass Media,' Federal Court Holds, Tossing Defamation Case, is a must read.

Six Recommended Marketing and PR Blogs

Written by Lauren Sullivan & Laura Powers

Marketing, social media and public relations are blogged about every hour of every day. To keep up with opinions, advice and trending topics in these arenas, The PR Lawyer follows many sites including other blogs. Below is a list of blogs that we frequent - we hope you enjoy them.

Scobleizer: Exploring the 2010 Web
- Author and blogger Robert Scoble explores a variety of topics on Web publishing for business through his blog. He is the author of a great book called "Naked Conversations."

Chris Brogan: Community and Social Media
- Chris Brogan's blog advises businesses, organizations, and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.

Mashable
- Mashable is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and social media news. It’s a great resource for PR and marketing professionals who are interested in utilizing Web 2.0 and social media initiatives in PR and marketing campaigns.

The Steve Rubel Lifestream
- Steve Rubel is SVP, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital. This blog helps clients identify emerging technologies and trends that can be applied in marketing communications programs.

How To Change The World
- Twitter guru Guy Kawasaki has written many books on sales and marketing and uses this blog to show how online publishing can be a useful tool for business growth and other initiatives.

Greg Verdino: Marketing, Media, Technology & Trends
- Greg Verdino is a futurist, marketer, writer and speaker who works as Vice President, Strategy & Solutions at full service social media agency Powered, Inc. In his blog, Greg discusses trends in media and marketing along with changes being brought on by disruptive technologies, new business imperatives and the rise of the empowered consumer.

PR Squared
- In this blog, Todd Defren discusses Web 2.0 in the public relations arena. He frequently speaks across the country on social media.

Just Your Average Blogger

Posted by Katie Noonan

The typical blogger is, (drum roll, please!) a lot like one of us, here at ThePRLawyer according to a June report released by social media monitoring and analytics technology firm Sysomos. The firm recently monitored over 100 million blog posts that provided information about the author's age, gender and location. What they found out about the blogosphere is interesting even if it's not surprising.

Here are some key takeaways:

• The majority of bloggers are ages 21-35, while only 7.1% of the blogosphere is comprised of individuals over the age of 51.

• Bloggers are split right down the middle according to gender with 49.1% of bloggers being male and the other half female.
• It also probably doesn't come as a surprise that globally Americans have the largest share of the blogosphere with 29.2%. The UK, Japan and Brazil are behind the United States with 6.75%, 4.88%, and 4.19% respectively.
• Of Americans who blog, most reside in California, New York, Colorado, Texas and Pennsylvania (What, what!)
  

So there you have it- we fit the profile for the average blogger, with the PR/legal know-how to go with, of course!

Posterous- Easy Posting For Blogging Experts And First Timers Alike

Posted by Amanda Walsh

I´m pleased to share with ThePRLawyer audience another amazing tool for public relations and marketing professionals called posterous.com. This website is designed for just about anyone to post music, videos, pictures and content on the Internet just by sending an email. There are options for first-time bloggers with simple instructions to get started and more advanced options for seasoned blogging experts.

Getting started is easy, sign up by sending an introductory email to posterous@posterous.com with the option to attach files like photos or videos and voilá! The reply is almost instant and you are set up with your very own part of the information superhighway. A variety of platforms (up to 30!) such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and/or Picasa can be integrated with your posterous. Once set up, you control where your information is going to be posted. It´s just that quick and easy.

Duct Tape Marketing´s John Jantsch explains the benefits for users by pointing out that "for many people, particularly those that rely on email as their primary communication and storage tool, this is a great way to create and curate content." Jantsch also points out that posterous can be used as a hub for distribution with easy options to pick and choose what information to post and which platform it will be sent to.

Social media expert, Steve Rubel, first wrote about posterous in a post on June 25, 2009 saying he was giving up traditional blogging for posterous' "Lifestreaming" ease of use. His blog, now fully based on posterous proves to be a social media and public relations goldmine of resources. Shortly after reading this post last summer, I decided to explore my own posterous and use it to supplement my personal posts on Facebook and Twitter. I was amazed at the easy of posting!

In addition, posterous has rolled out the new Facebook "like" button feature that can be added in posts. It's surprisingly simple to add to your posterous website. Check out the posterous blog for more information. Another neat feature is linking Google reader and posterous. Rubel explains how to easily share content between the two sites at his blog here.

I hope you take a minute to check out posterous and consider it as another tool in your PR toolbox for sharing news and events with your clients.

Why Blogging Should be a Priority in Your Social Media Strategy

Kevin O'Keefe wrote a good post today about the use of blogs by lawyers in their overall social media outreach. The point that Kevin makes is that blogs are a constant presence (if updated regularly) that can demonstrate the a full story of an individual's thought leadership, unlike efforts on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

As with Facebook, blogs allow you to post video, images and links. Like LinkedIn, you can point colleagues to your blog to have them understand more about your specialties. And like Twitter, you can make a concise point on a blog. However, you also have the opportunity on a blog to elaborate on the methodology behind your reasoning.

The most important point, I believe, is that the blogger owns their content and "Web real estate" on their own blog. A social media platform may decrease in popularity or simply fall out of the spotlight, but a blog has true staying power if created strategically and effectively maintained.

Read Kevin's full post at Real Lawyers Have Blogs.

New Jersey Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog Makes Its Debut

Colleagues of Furia Rubel and New Jersey full-service law firm, Fein, Such, Kahn & Shepard, P.C., recently announced the launch of the New Jersey Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog, authored by Shareholder Deirdre R. Wheatley-Liss, Esq. The blog will address the complex and often difficult questions surrounding estate planning, elder law, estate and inheritance taxation, Medicaid, probate and estate administration, and related concerns. Business and tax law and strategy, as well as financial planning, will also be featured among the comprehensive blog’s topics.

Check out the New Jersey Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog by visiting www.njelderlawestateplanning.com!

How Corporations Succeed with Social Media

Posted by Leah Rice

Amy Mengel of SocialMediaToday.com covered the October Inbound Marketing Summit led by social media gurus Chris Brogan and Justin Levy. During the summit Mengel picked up five key reasons why corporations are struggling with their social media efforts. But instead of focusing on negative examples of companies doing it wrong – Mengel highlighted a few of the companies that just get it. Below see the tips she mentions in her article titled, “Five reasons corporations are failing at social media.”

1. They can’t talk about anything broader than their own products. Mengel highlighted Kodak’s photography blog that Chief Blogger Jenny Cisney mentioned during the summit. Cisney spoke about how the Kodak blog is about photography and creativity in general, not about Kodak cameras. And I couldn’t agree more with Mengel when she says, “If a company is only talking online about its specific products and not looking for ways to connect to the bigger picture, it’s pretty difficult for people to be engaged.”

2. They listen to customers but don’t take any action. Corporations that are willing and able to make the plunge into the social media realm and ask for customer feedback need to be ready for public responses and to do something about it. Afterall what is the point of asking for someone’s opinion if you really don’t want to hear it.

Mengel uses an example involving Southwest Airlines. In her article she shares that, “Paula Berg from Southwest Airlines discussed how a simple blog post stating the airline was considering assigned seating amassed tons of customer comments showing a lack of support for the idea. This feedback changed the direction of their internal debate and led to a new boarding procedure that maintained the open seating arrangement.”

3. They aren’t calibrated internally with the technology. According to Mengel, a few of the summit speakers rebuked corporate Web sites for being glorified online brochures and that customers expect interaction. Similar to what Furia Rubel preaches to our clients and colleagues, summit speakers pushed the fact that content creation is key to social media success and every company should have a Web site with a content management system that allows for quick, easy content creation.

4. They’re not framing risk accurately. She also mentioned how, “NBC cameraman Jim Long said that often a company’s entry into social media is a clumsy, shotgun blast and that there’s an equal chance of looking foolish by having a ham-fisted marketing department launch a social media presence as there is if a rogue employee ‘goes off’ on Twitter. The risk of social media is not abated by not participating and social media has yet to be the undoing of any company.”

5. Their internal culture isn’t aligned for social media success. Zappos and Southwest Airlines were cited by Mengel as some of the corporations doing it right with a great social media corporate culture. Because these companies have corporate cultures reflective of their core customer service missions, they succeed with building trust and advocacy for their brand through social media outlets.

So here it is – participating in social media is not a life or death choice for corporations. Have a plan; be honest, trustworthy and transparent with your social media efforts; provide interaction with your customers; and be ready to do something about the feedback that you receive.

Thank you, Amy, for providing us with these easy-to-follow tips on bettering all of our corporate social media efforts.