5 Social Media FAQs for Lawyers

By Gina Rubel

We recently discussed the top social media trends that we are likely to see in 2017, many of which apply to organizations that have been active on social media for some time. Still, we field questions all the time from lawyers and law firms about whether social media should be a part of their marketing plan. During a recent legal marketing webinar hosted by MyCase, I addressed the basics of digital marketing for lawyers. Here are links to a full recording of Digital Marketing for Law Firms along with a MyCase recap of the webinar on their blog.

This program discussed the reasons why lawyers should be engaging on social media, in blogging and what types of content draw the most attention. Here are answers to some of the most common legal marketing questions that came up.

Should companies that have various office locations make separate profiles for those locations, particularly on Facebook?

For companies such as franchises, the answer to this question is yes, and there is a framework in Facebook that allows users to do that. There is a Facebook discussion on the issue at Can you set up multiple locations for a business’ Facebook page?

For law firms, however, I do not recommend setting up separate social media profiles for each office location. The bottom line is that it dilutes the firm’s brand, increases marketing costs unnecessarily and decreases marketing productivity, thus diminishing the return on investment in marketing.

How often do you recommend lawyers update social media?

Social media is just that, “social.” Pick one platform to start with and make sure it’s the one that is used by the majority of your clients and referral sources. Remember, people do business with those they know, like and trust. Then spend 10 to 15 minutes each day updating your profile, connecting with people and sharing relevant information. That’s it.

If I’m posting on LinkedIn, do I really need my own blog?

If you are publishing on LinkedIn Pulse already and you are sharing that out, you do not necessarily need a separate blog. LinkedIn Pulse is essentially a blogging platform, but remember that it is not branded for your business nor does it have a URL that is unique to your practice area or location, which helps with search engine optimization.

Is there an application that will allow you to post on Facebook and Twitter at the same time, for efficiency purposes?

At Furia Rubel, we use Hootsuite for some clients and CoSchedule for others. There are many other apps that allow you to share on multiple sites and schedule your shares. Keep in mind, however, that when scheduling your social media shares, if something happens in the media, your posts can be easily misconstrued. For example, you don’t want to be advocating for Second Amendment Rights on the same day as a mass school shooting.

What is a reasonable ‘investment’ in SEO? Recommended budget figures seem to vary widely.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in many forms. “Organic” SEO is supported by creating and sharing content such as blogs, images, videos, and making website updates, distributing online press releases, garnering online media coverage, and just about everything we do at Furia Rubel for our clients. Organic SEO is a strategic byproduct of well-thought-out marketing and public relations initiatives. On the other hand, there is paid SEO services, which vary greatly from company to company, practice area to practice area, and region to region.

A good place to start in determining your SEO budget is to read “How much should you spend on SEO services,” published on Search Engine Watch, which provides more technical and detailed information about search engine marketing.

Top 2017 Social Media Trends

By Caitlan McCafferty

Whether your business is already firmly established on social media, or whether you are just getting started, social media should be a top consideration for your B2B marketing plan for 2017. Here are some of the most important social media trends to consider in your social media marketing planning for this upcoming year.

1. Live Video

Social media users are increasingly interested in vicarious experiences. People don’t want to just see what their friends are doing, they want to feel like they’re there with them.

Snapchat’s success and popularity has encouraged other social media companies to incorporate live video into their platforms. Snapchat is likely to grow in 2017, with increased messaging services and real world glasses that capture a user’s world view.  Facebook and Twitter have also incorporated livestreaming into their platforms with Facebook Live and Periscope, respectively.

Due to the increasing popularity of the feature, brands should consider incorporating livestreaming into their social media marketing to reach their target audiences. Livestreaming would be a perfect social media tool to engage with your audience about grand openings, customer appreciation events, or product announcements.

2. Employee Ambassadors 

With LinkedIn’s Pulse feature, employees can be brand ambassadors for their companies. Ryan Holmes, Founder and CEO of Hootsuite, suggests motivating employees to post about the company on a regular basis. Employers should make it simple to share and allow the employee to edit the post to suit their audience.

Employee advocacy is digital "word of mouth" that allows a company’s brand and message to reach more people, with no cost to them. If the content is shared by the employees, the content then can be shared by the employee’s network, building an enthusiastic, engaged audience for your brand.


3. Facebook and Targeted Ads

Facebook’s audience is changing rapidly. It is no longer the favored social media platform for millennials. A survey from 2016 found that 41 percent of millennials still use Facebook every day, but Facebook is more popular among non-millennials. Simultaneously, Facebook has changed its algorithm making it more difficult to build an audience organically.

In 2017, targeted advertising will be the best way to push your message to an audience. The change in the algorithm might seem disappointing, but targeted ads provide better analytics to understand the ROI of a communications campaign.


4. Influencer Marketing 

EMarketer predicts that digital advertising will surpass TV advertising in 2017. With this new development, companies have more opportunities for Influencer Marketing.

A survey found that 47 percent of consumers block advertisements, so influencers are becoming the best way for brands to reach an audience. Influencers have established credibility with their audiences, and now they are using that credibility to vouch for a company’s brand. Using their own personal brand and voice as support, influencers can bring increased visibility and awareness for a given brand.

5. Chatbots for Customer Service  

Similar to the Influencer Marketing trend, consumers are craving a personal connection with their favorite brands. A way to service that connection is Chatbots for customer service.

With the evolution of messaging services with each social media platform, and the popularity of Chatbots like Slack and Skype, customers are interested in more conversational experiences.  This allows marketers to engage with their consumers on a regular basis. "Conversational Commerce" will only grow in 2017, and it will allow brands to provide their audiences an easier way to access their products and services.

The preferred social media platform for any given audience continues to evolve, but one thing remains consistent: consumers want brands that are easily accessible and personable. Incorporating these trends into your 2017 social media strategy will ensure that your brand stays ahead of that changing landscape.

5 Reasons Your Business Should (Still) Be on Twitter

By Sarah Larson

If you follow financial or tech news, you know that Twitter has had a rough go of it lately.

In the two years since its Nov. 7, 2013 IPO, Twitter’s stock price has fallen and it recently announced it would cut more than 300 jobs as it struggles to find a way to make money. Meanwhile, other younger, prettier social media platforms (e.g., Snapchat, Instagram) have gained ground on Twitter and the two other best-known networks, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Those may be good reasons for you to examine your tech stock portfolio, but it does not mean that your business’ social media strategy should boot the birdie out the door. At least not yet.

If your organization is investing in content marketing, Twitter still should be part of that mix. Here are five reasons why.

Twitter is public. That means anyone who goes to the Twitter app or site can see the photos, status updates, and links that have been shared. Not so on Facebook, where users must create their own profiles before they can see the profiles of others, or LinkedIn, where access to profiles and newsfeeds is very limited if you don’t have an account.

Twitter shows your content to all of your followers. Businesses that use Facebook to connect with customers often are frustrated by the filtering algorithm Facebook uses to decide which posts those customers see. They may have 5,000 “likes,” but they are ecstatic if even 1 out of 10 of those people ever see a given photo, video, or status update. That does not happen on Twitter. Unlike Facebook and some other social media platforms, Twitter does not filter your content in any way. Anyone who is using Twitter and has elected to make your content part of their feed will receive all of your content.

Twitter is easily searchable. The use of hashtags to categorize content ensures that people looking for that type of information will be able to find it. A Twitter user may not follow you directly, but if you’ve posted about #finance or #leadership, #healthcare or #IP, people looking for information related to that topic will be able to find it with a simple hashtag search or follow stream. (For a real-time demonstration of how this works, try following the hashtag of any major sports team’s name during one of its games.)

Twitter is a favorite of journalists. If you are looking to get to know journalists who cover your industry, Twitter can be a powerful research vehicle. Journalists interact there, they look for sources there, and they monitor and contribute to developments in real-time there. Watch for the stories they tweet. Check out their interests. See what hashtags they are using and, if you have relevant observations or content to share, reply to them and use the same hashtag.

Twitter is great for repeated sharing of content. There are 347,222 tweets sent every minute of every hour. That’s 500 million tweets a day. That means that users’ news feeds move quickly and continuously. That enables you to share the same content repeatedly over time, increasing the number of views on each piece of content in your content marketing initiative. Just be sure to space the shares out over time. Scheduling apps and services can help you plan accordingly.

While social media continues to evolve, its use in content marketing changes as well, and PR and marketing professionals need to be prepared to change strategy. For now, though, keeping Twitter in your marketing mix still makes good sense.

Is Your Law Firm Making These Social Media Mistakes?

By Megan Quinn

Social media in general and its various platforms in particular are not always easy for lawyers to fully understand, much less embrace. Social media engagement also is something that must be maintained over time to be successful. Unfortunately, too many attorneys and other professionals refuse to invest the time and energy needed in order to use social media as a successful public outreach tool, and so end up doing it poorly.

Other industries that adopted social media sooner have invested that time and energy into social media plans. They’ve practiced and learned from their mistakes, making them better marketers in the process. Getting the most out of social media requires the three Ps: practice, patience, and perseverance. It requires calculation and investment. It also requires a willingness to overcome preconceived notions about social media. Below are five mistakes attorneys often make regarding social media.

1. Thinking that simply being on social media equals engagement with target audiences. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter allow you to engage with your audiences, but this can be tricky because it requires actual two-way participation. Social media is not like a billboard or a newspaper ad. You can’t just push, push, push out your own content and messaging. It has got to be a real conversation.
2. Deserting a social media account when you’re not the getting results you expected. Great outcomes from social media marketing take careful planning and lots of time. Earning the users’ trust is key, and that can take months, if not years. Posting consistently about current industry happenings, commenting on others’ posts and being part of the conversation can help establish your credibility.
3. Not knowing the difference between social media platforms. For example, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn each have different posting and image standards so it’s important to research each platform before diving in. Put in the time and effort to understand each platform and tailor your posts according to each network’s best practices are the best ways to boost the results of your social media marketing. 
4. Not tracking and measuring metrics. This can be the most difficult task for attorneys to accomplish for several reasons. First, because many want to be able to draw a straight line between a social media post and a new client, and that often just can’t be done. Second, breaking down metrics is time-consuming and requires an in-depth understanding of each platform in order to determine whether what you are doing is working.
5. Not driving your social traffic to your website. Social media offers an opportunity for law firms to engage online with all target audiences and, by doing so, to be seen as a valuable resource. When a potential client or referral source has a legal issue, guess who they will be calling first? The firm that comes to mind first. That's where content marketing comes in. Sharing links to your firm’s blog posts about trends in the industry or to news items should point back to the firm's website. This will help you establish a following and keep you top of mind for the day when they do need your services.

The only way to truly know if your social media marketing plan is working is to define SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound. What are your goals for your social media marketing plan? What tools or approaches have worked for you? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Does Your Headshot Make You Look Competent, Likeable or Influential?

By Megan Quinn

I recently tested out my professional headshot through a web service called “Photofeeler.” This photo comparison website has been gaining traction lately as a tool used by professionals - and even for Tinder or Facebook users - to see if their photos are attracting the right audiences for business, dating or social purposes.

This website allows users to upload profile photos for those three categories, and receive feedback on the effectiveness of each photo. Users can vote on the photos of other participants to gain virtual credits to use in turn for their own photo comparison analysis. A brilliant, endless feedback cycle!

I chose a headshot that is on our company’s website and my personal LinkedIn profile for the “business” section without hesitation (and when I had time) proceeded to vote and earn 40 credits. Votes are cast on a 0-3 scale of whether the photo communicates a sense that the person is “competent,” “likable,” and “influential.”

The rankings are a comparison between your photo's score and all the rest that have been tested on the Photofeeler site given as a percentile. So, for instance, a score of 71% means your photo did better than 71% of photos tested on their site.

I guess I can give the influential category some leeway since I am at the start of my career in public relations. Even though I may not have received the kind of numbers I was hoping for in that section, overall, the voting style is very classy.

After casting a vote, you may also submit constructive feedback on a user’s photo. There are no write-in comments, instead there are options to choose from such as “a little too blurry,” or “would like it better with a different background,” to say politely. Some users commented that my photo is great and for this I have Allure West Studios to thank!

The biggest takeaway from this experience has been realizing how much a person’s photo can count as a first impression. Since many of us probably have our photos online, it’s important to remember that our photos should be sending the right messages. For example, a professional traveler isn’t going to be wearing a suit in an office setting for their headshot. There really isn’t a cut and dry method!

Social Media Etiquette for Business on the ‘Big Three’

By Kim Tarasiewcz

We all have those friends whose updates you dread seeing in your Facebook feeds – they type in all caps, they post their political rants, or they just can’t stop posting every move they make on any given day. You try to scroll past them, but they just keep coming. And for whatever reason, you can’t unfriend the person without causing family, business or friendship issues.

Fortunately, privacy settings can be used to hide feeds entirely or to allow you to see less of certain types of posts in your news feed. Just click on the small arrow in the top right corner of the post and chose an item from the drop-down screen. Currently, however for Facebook, there is no way to unfriend someone without alerting them, so hiding posts is the best way to remove them from your feed so as not to cause disputes.

In business social media, the rules become a bit diluted and are still evolving, but there are three main platforms with which every business should be familiar. Where Facebook is the most common and one of the oldest social media platforms, LinkedIn is probably best known as the connection spot for business. LinkedIn is less about your personal connections and more about sharing business ideas and networking. Twitter moves faster with shorter “bursts” of information which can be great to get news out to the public quickly, but can be dangerous if the information is incorrect or controversial.

Facebook allows flexibility when sharing information on the site, but how often should you “tag” another business? Probably never unless previously approved by the business. At Furia Rubel, we share our client’s news and events, but only after they have sent it out and only with their permission. Our site is maintained and reviewed so that nothing offensive is on it and there is no need for clients to worry if we share news. Allowing other businesses to tag you can lead to problems if their site isn’t constantly monitored.

So what are the connection rules on LinkedIn? I’ve had several times recently where a salesperson has called and as soon as I hang up the phone telling them we don’t have a need for their services, they are connecting with me on LinkedIn. Do I accept their connection or not? I find it a strange concept to connect with someone you’ve never met and most likely won’t meet or ever develop a relationship with. But it’s business, so most of the time, I will connect because there may be a need in the future for their services or for business leads, but also because I don’t like to burn bridges.

Twitter can be a great tool, especially for events like a press conference or seminars as you can give quick updates on what is happening and provide links to details if people need more information. Because Twitter limits the number of characters in an individual tweet to 140, it forces creativity with wording in your messages and choosing hashtags or you may end up with a stream of unwanted items. It’s so easy to send something off; before tweeting or re-tweeting, be sure the information is legitimate.

But as with any social media platform, too many posts, tags or tweets can cause viewers to hide or to skip your posts. Look around – if the same person repeatedly comments on your items or if no one is commenting, maybe you need a campaign to attract new followers or to add something more interesting to your pages. And for goodness sakes, DON’T POST IN ALL CAPS – no one likes to be yelled at.

10 Post-Event Tips to Get the Most Out of Conference Attendance

By Gina F. Rubel

What do you do to follow up with people you met and things you learned about at a meeting or conference? Do you just take the business cards that you received and stuff them in a drawer or do you do something with them? Do you take the conference materials and put them on a shelf?

This past week, I spent several days in San Diego at the Legal Marketing Association International Conference (#LMA15) where I had the opportunity to both teach and to learn. I co-presented a program with three other experienced legal marketers: Roy Sexton of Trott & Trott (Ann Arbor), Heather Morse Geller of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger (Los Angeles) and Megan McKeon of Katten Muchin Rosenman (Chicago). We discussed collaboration and coexistence among marketers and lawyers, touching on law firm culture, the generations in the workplace, how to communicate effectively with lawyers, and much more.

After a long, cross-country journey and time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, I took time upon my return (that I had set aside) to follow up and process information I had acquired. Here are some of the things that I do to get the most out of the conference after attending:

1) Connect with everyone that I met for the first time on LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter.
2) Send hand-written notes to people with whom I want to follow up.
3) Add select individuals to my personal contact database and CRM system and update contact information for those who are with new companies.
4) Download all important materials and review them for a second time.
5) Share conference take-aways with my marketing and public relations teams.
6) Make notes on the restaurants we visited (and perhaps rate them on TripAdvisor) in the event we end up back in the same city for a future conference or meetings.
7) Capture the Twitter stream using TweetArchivist.com (assuming I remembered to set one up pre-conference) and review it for trends and nuggets of important information.
8) Send thank you notes to anyone who took the time to do something special such as invite me to dinner or pay for a taxi.
9) Download and begin using valuable apps that I learned about at the conference.
10) Follow up and schedule meetings with people who I said I would follow up with.

While these 10 post-event tips to get the most out of conference attendance seem simple, it takes hours to complete them and most people say they are simply “too busy” to do anything once they return to their offices. Take the time to capitalize on all of the great relationships you developed and information you learned. Otherwise, it all just falls on deaf ears.

The Dreaded LinkedIn Profile Photo

By Rose Strong

Did you know that the likelihood of your LinkedIn profile being viewed is 11 times higher if you have a profile photograph of yourself than if you don’t?

In today’s technological business world, it’s been said that a website is a company’s front door. If that’s the case, then LinkedIn must be the window through which we are seen as employees, employers, recruitment managers, and business networking opportunities.

By the end of 2014, the social network had 347 million members, according to Statista.com, The Statistics Portal. 

According to the marketing site, ExpandedRamblings.com, LinkedIn reaches more than 200 countries and territories and is available in more than 20 languages. The site draws about 187 million unique visitors and more than 40 percent of them log onto the site each day.

With that widespread influence in mind, let’s get back to the photo. Don’t like to have your picture taken? A bit squeamish in front of the lens? Or do you fall the other way and turn into a ham or have a few crazy shots of yourself drinking from the keg hose at the frat party? Having a photo is important, but using the right ones and knowing the damage the wrongs ones can cause is imperative (take that frat party picture down ASAP) to you being taken seriously in the business world.

Just recently, I sent an invite to connect with someone on LinkedIn and suddenly got a screen of headshots or silhouettes of people I might know and may wish to connect with. I caught myself ignoring the blank ones and focusing only on the ones with photos. I’m not a career coach or hiring manager, but some of the photos I saw were clearly not advantageous to the folks’ professional profiles.

One was a selfie taken on a plane. Really? In plain view were the overhead luggage compartment and the head rests of the seats behind the person staring out at me.

Several profile photos were of people being interviewed or filmed by local media or even a cover shot of a magazine. I know it may seem impressive, but all the viewer sees is the distraction of the news people, camera or microphone or the magazine cover.

Pets in photos, yea or nay? There were more than a few of these. If you’re the executive director of the city humane society or president of the region’s farm animal rescue,  a tasteful photograph with a relaxed animal may be appropriate. However, cuddling your Bearded Dragon lizard or Asian Box Turtle or letting Polly your Rainbow Lorikeet sit on your shoulder may not be quite the image you wish to project.

Spouses in the same photograph won’t do anything to showcase your individuality and strengths. Although you may love one another and work together, you’re not joined at the hip; you each have something to offer the world. Stand out on your own, with an individual profile and a photo.

Glam shots in your wedding dress, gazing pensively out the window or your long, flowing hair covering one eye with your head tilted just so, aren't the shots of someone moving up the corporate ladder.

If you’re trying to do something different, that’s okay, but you want to stand out and be the center of the viewer’s attention, not a distraction. Your credentials may be stellar, but that view of your photograph can make or break what someone thinks in those first few seconds.

The old cliché that you only have one chance to make a first impression rings true even on social media. For more guidance on choosing the appropriate image, this article by Tommy Landry for Business2Community.com gives some excellent tips on how to make the most of your LinkedIn profile photograph.

Social Network Sites: How do they Work for you Personally?

By Rose Strong

What started out in 2004 as a small network at Harvard has grown into something much, much bigger than just a group of students using “the facebook” to connect with one another on a Massachusetts campus. Besides giving us the ability to keep up with friends and family, social networking sites became the go-to space by which business connected with their audiences / clients / customers.

In PR and marketing we know what it’s used for: pushing out product information, connecting with customers, seeking new business leads and the like. But, how do you make use of sites such as Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook for your personal connections that have nothing to do with business?

How do you use social media personally?

A few weeks ago, my wife had a medical emergency just after we had eaten dinner. After heading to the emergency room and sitting there for hours on end amidst a sea of flu-stricken adults and toddlers, I kept my friends and family updated through Facebook’s Messenger app. When texts wouldn’t go through, the Messenger app, posting directly on Facebook or sending a picture through Instagram worked!

The best thing about using social networking sites during an emergency like we experienced was that my friends, several of which are insomniacs or in different time zones, were there and supported me through a very long and intense night.

This is just one example of how these sites also have given us ways to get information out en masse to those we wanted informed.

How’d we do it back then?

In the olden days – she said very sarcastically – I would have had to wait until I returned home to make many phone calls to family and friends. It would have been exhausting. By the time things were stabilized at the hospital and I was able to go home at 6:45 a.m., I only had to make a few personal calls and take a much-needed nap.

According to a survey done by PewInternet.org, Facebook remains the most popular social networking site today, although its growth has slowed somewhat. Other popular sites, meanwhile, are making headway and seeing growth.

From the highlights of PewInternet.org survey, I found the following pretty fascinating:

• Social networking sites are increasingly used to keep up with close social ties
• The average user of a social networking site has more close ties and is half as likely to be socially isolated as the average American
• Facebook users are more trusting than others
• Facebook users have more close relationships
• Internet users get more support from their social ties and Facebook users get the most support

I know it may sound strange, but I’ll admit that I have friends online whom I’ve never met but who still mean a lot to me. I belong to several closed Facebook special interest groups. The people in these groups share my interests and we often speak beyond our interests either online in the group or through email or instant messaging, becoming distant participants in each other’s lives simply through social networking.

We share our lives with each other. And only what we want to share. Several people have lost husbands or wives, some long-time members have passed on, family members of the group associates have become sick, graduated school, seen the births of their first grandbabies, and lost pets or adopted new ones, been in car accidents, won awards, traveled around the world, been laid off, fired or found new jobs. In each instance, members of the group rally, be it with tears, kind words, encouragement or congrats.

Without these folks from all over my social network sites, I don’t know what I’d have done to get through such a long and arduous night in the emergency department. I found it a godsend to be able to keep my friends and family updated and gain their support back as I needed it.

The Best – and Worst – of 2014

By Kim Tarasiewicz

Not a day goes by without one of our team mentioning something seen online; part of our business is to keep up with trends in the industry. As the year comes to a close, the Furia Rubel team decided to share The Best and The Worst of 2014 for advertising, social media and technology. So many to choose from, but here is our sampling…

Entertainers Shared on Social Media: Anything with “stars” seems to happen at awards show, perhaps because they are “live” (so what does that say about our actors?). Our blooper/failure awards are a tie between John Travolta butchering Idina Menzel’s name while introducing her at the Oscars and Brendan Fraser and his very strange clap. Our top award, though, goes to Ellen Degeneres for use of both social media and technology in her star-studded group selfie at the Oscars, which she then shared on Twitter, where it became the most-retweeted tweet ever.

Worst Print Advertising Campaign: This is one that our entire team agrees on…Urban Outfitters outrageous ads get our attention with the shock factor, but we find them tasteless.

Best Print Advertising Campaign: We love the Harley Davidson campaign from the Czech Republic, which many of you may not have seen (unless you’re secretly a world traveler). The photography is striking, as is the historical story about WWII riders hiding their bikes from the Nazis.

The Old Spice Mom commercial is strange, yet we need to keep watching to see how it ends, so we give it the Most Creepy, Yet Somehow Funny Commercial award.

Most Memorable Hack: We started the year with the announcement that the Neiman Marcus network had been breached undetected for three months in 2013 and we finished with the incredible Sony Pictures email hack from Thanksgiving week, the fallout from which appears as though it will continue into 2015.

Social media can raise awareness of a cause or need. The Best Social Media Campaign this year stands out in my mind, not for the negligible controversy, but for the positive impact the ice bucket challenge made on the ALS Association, raising more than $100 million in a few months.

Finding a Best LinkedIn post is tough since the website feeds you articles geared toward your interests or areas, but a recent corporate post is generating interest as they try to increase viewers with a contest to have Liam Neeson make a video on your profile page.

It’s tough to choose one Best Viral Video, as so many seem to pop up each day in our news and social media feeds, so we chose a few favorites. We can find many funny animal videos, but the Best Animal Video is the cat saving his boy from a dog attack. The young man who finds out he is getting a sister and is not too happy about it is Best Kids Video. And the Best Viral Song that spawned more viral videos and parodies goes to Pharrell and Happy.

Favorite New Buzzword: There are always new buzzwords, especially when it comes to business and marketing, so we chose a video that pokes a little fun at how we use buzzwords from the eccentric Weird Al.

So there is our list. Of course there are more, which I’m sure we will share at our annual holiday office party along with our family traditions and hopes for the New Year. For me, I know one buzzword from 2014 that I could do without – Polar Vortex.

From the team at Furia Rubel, here’s hoping your 2015 is happy, healthy and warm.

Easy Steps to Increase Your Corporate Social Media Presence

By Kim Tarasiewicz

Many companies these days are eager to launch a social media program, but once you have your system set up and your employees trained, how do you keep your people engaged with corporate social media? To be successful, any social media endeavor must be sustained over time. It isn’t enough to post a few things to Facebook and call it a day.

#169937638 / gettyimages.com

A monthly reminder email is a perfect way to keep social media top of mind for your employees. Send them a note asking them to connect with your company’s social media sites. This will boost your social media presence and expand your opportunities for potential clients to learn about your company.

Explain to your employees the importance of supporting your marketing and public relations efforts. Show how sharing corporate social media pages will increase business and benefit everyone. Prompt employees with the following in a monthly email or perhaps an internal newsletter:

Ask your employees to keep in mind these questions and provide material to your social media manager when available:

1. Have you seen any significant industry trends or news about which you would like to write an article, blog post, etc.?
2. Do you have any industry-related experience that we could use to promote you as a resource for the company?
3. Is anyone in the company scheduled to speak at a business function within the next 60 days? Or have you spoken anywhere in the last 60 days?
4. Have you hired any new staff members that should be highlighted?
5. Has anyone in your department been nominated for an award or received any awards or recognitions?
6. Has anyone in your department been nominated or elected to any boards, committees or other positions? Even if it does not pertain to your industry, it can still help increase your SEO.

Remind employees to make corporate social media part of their weekly routine. Ask them:

1. Have you shared the company’s most recent blog post through your own social media sites? If not, please do (And provide them the link).
2. Have you reviewed the company website and, most importantly, your own bio lately? If not, please take a look and let IT know if anything needs to be updated.
3. Have you updated your LinkedIn profile with company contact information? Have you endorsed anyone for business skills? Invite at least two people to connect each month. This is a great way to create business leads and get the corporate name out there.
4. Have you visited a competitor’s social media pages? It’s always good to compare notes and make sure nothing negative is out there about your company, too.

Everyone needs a reminder once in a while. Whether a senior manager or an intern, when employees understand the importance of corporate social media and how it fits into your marketing plan, they are more likely to be engaged in it, thus helping your business reach its full potential.

How engaged are your employees with your company's social media presence? We would love to hear from you.

Who Has Your Company’s Twitter Password?

By Kim Tarasiewicz

#176641868 / gettyimages.com

Small businesses today recognize that social media can enhance a marketing strategy. Too many, however, do not think to take simple steps to secure their company’s social media accounts. 

Here are factors to keep in mind when setting up a social media presence and policy for your company:

• Protect your password – Use the same policy for access to your company’s social media accounts as you would for your company’s other sensitive information. Limit the number of employees with the password; the more people who know the passwords, the higher your risk of a leak that will allow someone else to access your account without your permission or perhaps even your knowledge.
• Control account use – If several employees will have access to social media accounts such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, consider using software such as HootSuite. It allows approved employees access to the accounts without giving them the actual password, thereby adding another level of security to your accounts.
• Alert employees about phishing – Employees can be the targets of phishing emails which leave the company open to security breaches. Phishing is when you receive an email that looks as if it is from a legitimate organization but contains a link to a fake website. If these links are opened, they may capture secure passwords that employees have recently used or saved. 
• Set security policies – Don’t assume your employees know all the rules regarding online security; take time to make them aware. Clearly include social media rules in company handbooks and security-related policies. Social networks have privacy settings that need to be administered on all sites so that your social media platform is not left open to attack.
• Provide training - Require employees to learn about security measures for their personal accounts and suggest they use maximum privacy settings. This will make them more aware of security settings and policies so if employees “share” company social media pages and links, they are doing so in a more secure manner.
• Monitor your sites - All corporate accounts should be monitored regularly and kept up to date by an assigned person or committee. Often, organizations set up social accounts and then don’t update the password on a regular basis, which makes it easier for accounts to be hacked.
• Create a crisis plan – If you find immoral, illegal or offensive content on your social media channels, you want to be able to stop it immediately, so determine ahead of time who will be assigned to deleting inappropriate postings and responding to or handling damage control. 

2013 Top 10 from The PR Lawyer – Vote for Your Favorite

Radio and TV stations, magazines and websites all are compiling “Top Ten” lists of something as 2013 comes to a close. As a marketing and public relations firm, we are always interested in measurement and analysis of the work we do. Our clients span many industries, but each one comes to us searching for the right combination of marketing and public relations in today’s ever-changing world.

Our team makes it our mission to keep up with new technologies, fast-paced social media outlets and search engine optimization rule changes. We then share that information with each other, our clients, and even here on The PR Lawyer. Each week, we write about new or updated technologies, information we think our clients could use or sometimes just a topic we find interesting and hope others will too.

So as we close the year, we decided to create a list of some of our favorite blog posts from the past year. In no particular order, here is our list of Top Ten 2013 Blog Posts:

Top Email-Related Post: Rein in Your Inbox: 7 Tools for Email Efficiency 

Top Holiday Post: The Well-Crafted Holiday Greeting – Marketing Tool, Holiday Message or Both? 

Top Frustrations Post: When YouTube and Google+ Profiles Violate Copyrights – How to Protect Your Image Online   

Top Emotional Post: U Could be Liable 2 

Top Facebook-Specific Post: Facebook Graph Search – Are You Ready? Big Brother is Watching You. 

Top LinkedIn How-To Post: LinkedIn Now Allows Users to Display Portfolio Pieces, Presentations and Videos   

Top Mobile Website Post: Mobile Website Design and Development: Font Treatment and Readability 

Top Webinar Post: Leveraging Website Content for Maximum Engagement 

Top Social Media Strategy Post: Beyond Facebook and Twitter: Using the Conversation Prism to Guide Your Social Strategy 

Top Legal Post: Do Google AdWords Work for Law Firm Marketing? 

Which one is your favorite? We’d love to hear from you what topics or information you would like to see in 2014. Meanwhile, we wish you a happy, healthy New Year.

To Be Anonymous or To Not Be Anonymous on LinkedIn: What are the reasons?

By Rose Strong

Have you ever wondered how you can view someone’s profile on LinkedIn without them knowing you’ve been rooting around their information? I recently did and after a bit of digging on the Internet, I found out how it can be done and learned a few things in the process.

I often check to see who has been looking at my profile, simply out of curiosity. Sometimes, instead of a person’s name and title, I see ‘LinkedIn Member’ or ‘Someone from XYZCorp’ viewed your profile. Wondering how that could be done, I did a Google search for how to be anonymous on LinkedIn and viola! Found my answer. I followed the directions by Emily Co in her post on PopSugar.com and I was suddenly invisible on the professional social media site.

So, off I went to lurk for a bit.

Why would you want to be anonymous on a social media site set up for professionals to network with each other in an open forum? For several reasons.

1. It’s great for researching everything from job applicants to would-be clients. Lawyers, managers, physicians, marketers, job-seekers, hiring managers, college recruiters - you name the profession and someone may have a reason to be searching for information on LinkedIn without their targets being able to identify them. LinkedIn makes it easy to review someone’s professional affiliations and check directly on their employment experience.

2. It’s also useful for checking out the competition. See what your competitors’ companies and organizations are doing and to whom they may be connected. See what thought leadership articles they’re sharing and what kind of engagement their posts are eliciting.

3. Filling in details on the unfamiliar name left in a voice mail. If you can spell it, you can search for the person’s name to see if you know them and have an idea who they may be before you call them back.
LinkedIn’s privacy settings offer a range of options for displaying your identity. You can set up your profile for full disclosure, showing your name, the company you work for or the first line of your profile. You also can opt to share less information, displaying only your business type and title. Or you can go full cloak-and-dagger by hiding your identity completely. But beware; this article by Andy Foote, a LinkedIn management consultant and social business strategist, outlines some pitfalls when you operate on the site unidentified.

After a few days of exploring LinkedIn in anonymity, I thought I’d check out my own profile and see who had been viewing it. However, it seems if you’re not visible on the network, you can’t see who’s been looking at your profile! Here’s the message I saw when I opened my profile while still anonymous:

We only show you who viewed your profile when you browse under your full name. That means whenever you switch to anonymous, your viewer history gets erased. To see all your views, be sure to always browse as yourself. ~ LinkedIn

A blog post from Matt Hubbard at FullContact.com discusses the ins and outs of privacy settings on social media and LinkedIn in particular.  Hubbard’s article discusses a way to override the inability to see who has been looking at your own profile if you have a smart phone, but LinkedIn appears to have disabled that loophole on its mobile app.

It seems it is mostly frowned upon to be anonymous on LinkedIn, but anonymity can be used judiciously when needed; I won’t hesitate to poke around quietly on occasion. What about you?

When YouTube and Google+ Profiles Violate Copyrights – How to Protect Your Image Online

What a way to start the day. I got an email from my friend Ken Jacobs who alerted me to the fact that “Katie Smith” is using my personal (and copyrighted) headshot on Google+. So I searched Katie Smith – I had to scroll through several hundred “Katies” until I found: https://plus.google.com/u/0/113040793477820168275/posts

This is the second time Ken has seen a profile on a social networking site that falsely uses my photo. Last year the same thing happened on LinkedIn and I had to jump through several hoops to get LinkedIn to flag the profile in violation.

I filed a copyright violation notice with Google / Google+, at: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?hl=en&pid=1

We will see what happens….

So I decided to run my Google Images search early. I usually run one every six months just to make sure I am who I purport to be online and that no one is using my image falsely.

To my chagrin, I found several profiles on YouTube and one on a website where my photo is being used as someone else’s profile. The “company” name is Orthofill and the website is a dot net. Since I know it’s a bogus site, I don’t want to include a link here in the event that the website carries a virus or some other malware. My photo is being used on the “team” page attached to a woman named “Claire Hamel.” Rest assured that our legal counsel will be contacting GoDaddy.com since the site is registered with them (and of course, Orthofill’s registration is private). A cease and desist letter will also be forthcoming.

So here it is, several hours into my day and I have spent all of my time cataloging the URL’s where my rights are being infringed, filing a complaint with Google / YouTube regarding all of the video which have a profile image of me (that I did not post nor authorize), and posting a comment below every YouTube video that falsely uses my image stating:

“This person is using my copyrighted photo on their profile. This is a violation of my intellectual property rights! I want this photo removed immediately!”

Needless to say, I’m beyond aggravated! I just hope the folks at YouTube do the right thing by removing all the B.S. video posts that have my image attached to the person who posted the videos.

So here is what you need to do proactively to protect your image, reputation, and personal intellectual property rights online:

1) Schedule a Google search of your name (in every conceivable form) on your calendar every three months. Look to see what is out there about you. I also do this with the names of various family members, my company and blog. If you find anything suspicious, you may have to take steps to have the content removed (not an easy task).

2) Schedule a Google Images search of your headshot. Here is an excellent video that demonstrates how to do this.

It is important to know who owns the copyright to your headshot too. I own mine which I purchased from the photographer but oftentimes, the company that commissioned your headshot or the photographer actually owns the copyright. This can lead to more hurdles when dealing with infringement issues and filing complaints with social media sites.

3) After filing a complaint, if your issue is not resolved, you may need to contact legal counsel. Start with an attorney that focuses on intellectual property law issues and be sure they have experience dealing with IP issues and the Internet.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the several complaints I filed today. Stay tuned and share your Internet identity war stories too. Misery loves company.

LinkedIn Now Allows Users to Display Portfolio Pieces, Presentations and Videos

By Kim Tarasiewicz

LinkedIn is an online social network that allows users to display their work accomplishments, education history and other professional credentials. Its main function is to allow users to build a professional network . Out of all the social networks, LinkedIn is by far the most professional and reputable. Profiles and content are also searchable on Google and other search engines, leaving a search footprint.

LinkedIn has been a great platform for users to present their credentials in list and word form since 2009, but never had the functionality for users to upload creative materials until now. Just recently, LinkedIn added an area for users to display work such as portfolio pieces, presentations, videos and other demonstrative materials. This not only allows important portfolio pieces to be displayed, but also provides individuals and companies with a new way to promote their capabilities.

The function is located in the background section shown in the image below circled in red:

Click on Add Link and you will get this screen where you can fill in the appropriate information:

When you add the link, it will appear on your page like this, grabbing any images from the webpage you added that are available:

This is a great way to add a personal touch and brand to your LinkedIn profile.

Social Media: The Best Times to Post and Why

By Liz Jenei

Social Media has become an everyday norm. With platforms being flooded with millions of people live tweeting through their favorite TV shows, and posting pictures of what they had for lunch, it is critical to time your business content sharing for maximum views and engagement.

Almost a half of the country lives in the EST Time Zone, with the next largest group of people living on Central time. It is important to keep this in mind when applying these suggested times written throughout the post.

Twitter

MediaBistro published a study that indicates the best time to post on Twitter as 1 p.m.

According to by Dan Zarrella, the author of “The Social Media Marketing Book,” surrounding social media behavior data, Twitter has the highest level of re-tweets from 2-5 p.m., and more people use Twitter towards the end of the week than on a Monday. Surprisingly, more people read their Twitter feeds on the weekends than they do on a Monday or a Thursday. Want to post something on a Friday?  Posting before 3 p.m. is crucial because after that, Twitter traffic dips very low.

By using a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite you can compose and schedule tweets to be sent out over time. This allows you to tweet over the weekend without having to work on the weekend. But if you’re going to schedule your tweets, be sure to monitor in real time. You also want to ensure that what you have scheduled to post is innocuous – especially in the event of major breaking news that could taint the perception of others as to why you posted such a thing at that moment. There have been many faux pas posts that were scheduled and then posted at inopportune moments.

LinkedIn

The Houston Chronicle states the best time to post on LinkedIn is in the evening.

“Early evening, starting between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. is another great time of the day to publish content to LinkedIn, because you are catching users at the end of their work day.”

Zarrella says the best days to post are Tuesday through Thursday. Saturdays and Sundays are often high traffic days for LinkedIn, but not as popular as mid-week posts. 

Facebook

The problem with Facebook is that if you flood your friends’ or followers’ feeds too much, they will delete or unfollow you. It is easier to flood friends’ feeds on Facebook than it is on Twitter. Keeping this in mind, it is best to share Facebook links and posts every other day as opposed to daily. 

According to a blog post written by Mashable regarding the best time to post on Facebook:

“Links sent between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. get the most traction, with Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. being the best time to post on Facebook all week.”

Email

5-7 a.m. seems to be the time for the most open rates for emails sent and once a month corporate email frequency gets the highest click-thru-rates, says Zarrella.

People pay the most attention to emails sent on the weekends, but people are also inclined to unsubscribe more on a Saturday or Sunday than a weekday. 

Blog Posts and Google+

Blog posts and Google+ seem to have their highest traffic at 10 a.m. with the optimal time for engagement being between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.  Men are reported to read blogs in the evening and experts warn that Google+ engagement drops significantly between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Comments spike on Saturdays and Sundays (probably because people have more time to comment) but blog views take an overall dip on Saturdays.

Pinterest and Instagram

A study conducted in 2012 and published by MediaBistro indicates that the best time to post on Pinterest is 11 p.m.

Statigram gives us the ability to determine the times and days that our Instragram photos get the most likes. The rates of usage appear to change depending on the audience targeted. Keep in mind, however, that Instagram is less of a corporate business tool than a photo social media sharing tool.

Many marketers use Instagram as an easy way to cross promote images on Facebook, Twitter and other social sharing sites – since it can serve as a one-stop shop.

When it comes to social media, every platform is slightly different as are the audiences who use those platforms and those that you target.  By making the most of user engagement statistics, you can enhance your social networking presence and engage more strategically. 

The LinkedIn Top Percent Marketing Plan

By Liz Jenei

The past couple of years have been filled with people occupying the streets in protest of the 1 percent versus the rest of the 99, so when I received an email from LinkedIn telling me I was for once in the exclusive top percent, I was elated – even though it had nothing to do with money.

A day later, my co-worker was also congratulated by a LinkedIn email stating that she was in the top 1 percent of most viewed profiles on the site. An hour later, when I was just about to hop on Twitter to boast my ranking for everyone to see, I saw a colleague had tweeted that she was congratulated as well.

It seemed like my exclusive congratulatory email wasn’t so exclusive after all.

In mid-February, LinkedIn sent an email commending its top users on being in the top 1, 5 or 10 percent of viewed profiles in 2012. The proud email seemed sincere until the LA Times reported that 10 million other users got the same exact one. Since LinkedIn has a span of 200 million profiles, the elite top 1 percent email was sent to two million users alone. 

After receiving the email, thousands of people with LinkedIn accounts who received such high rankings ran to their favorite social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and proudly showed their hierarchy to the world. In fact, the email made it quite easy to do because by clicking the read more button, it brought you to a page with a lovely letter congratulating you on your success more formally and an easy share tool that allowed you to brag about your status to all your social media followers on Twitter, Facebook and of course, LinkedIn.

The tactic of their marketing team seemed to have worked and suddenly countless of social media outlets and news publications were reporting on its outcome.

But how did the LinkedIn marketing team know it would work so well?

I think Media Bistro says it best when they write: “Never underestimate the power of an ’aren’t you special’ message.”

Sure some of the tweets were not necessarily the exact response LinkedIn was hoping for, which was written out in their easy to share tool, but regardless of the responses people were tweeting, boasting or even making fun of it across the Web.

On the other hand, even though the LinkedIn marketing ploy seemed to have gotten people talking, it also left a lot of others feeling like they had been tricked. 

As one of the most credible social networking websites, many professionals rely on LinkedIn as a valuable tool for their marketing, business development and information gathering needs. Taking advantage of the predicted egos of its users may have been more of a risk than LinkedIn had anticipated. It did get people talking, but the congratulations also left a lot of people questioning LinkedIn’s integrity. While I think part of the marketing plan was poking fun at social media’s constant strides in making everything seem newsworthy, at the end of the day the tactic did get people talking. Some say all press is good press. Others disagree. I’d love to know if LinkedIn gained or lost members or advertisers as a result of the ploy – because what marketing is really about is measurable and quantifiable results. If their goal was to get the attention of 10 million users, then they completed their mission.

Did you get a congratulatory email from LinkedIn and if so, did you share the accolades on your social networking profiles?

10 Must Reads About LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Media and More

Furia Rubel Social Media Illustrations (Copyright 2013 )

I recently shared a number of article links on my various social networking profiles. However, I believe these articles are so valuable that I am re-posting links here. Enjoy.

LinkedIn

The Secret Benefit of LinkedIn Endorsements - (Social Media Today)

8 Ways to Get More Leads for Your Business on LinkedIn - (Social Media Examiner)

Twitter

Your Tweets Are Now More Important Than Your Resume - (Business Insider)

6 Truths About Using Twitter that Traditionalists Might Not Want to Hear -
 (JeffBullas.com)

Seven Easy Ways To Expand Your Business With Twitter - (Soshable.com)

Social Media Tips and Tricks

How to Size Images for Social Media: Cheat Sheet - (Entrepreneur.com)

How to Choose the Right Social Media Management System to Scale your Social Media Marketing -  (JeffBullas.com)

Blogging / Writing / Content

The Science of Storytelling (For better blogs) - (PRBlogger.net)

PR Firm Gets Client’s Site Blacklisted for Duplicate Content - (Spinsucks.com)

Business Productivity

Multitasking Paradox - (Harvard Business Review)

Personal Branding – You Are What They Google

Laura Powers of the Simpsons(tm)

OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve got Google Alerts set up for my name. I also like to Google my name from time to time, just to see what comes up.

Think I’m weird? An ego-surfer? Maybe, but there is a reason why I monitor my name on Google. You see, I’m not just interested in how I see myself – I want to know how you see me.

In today’s hyper-connected world, you are what you can Google – or rather what others can Google about you. Increasingly those without an online presence are viewed as out-of-step at best and suspicious at worst. Consider these statistics:

• 79% of recruiters screen applicants using information available online
• 86% of hiring managers rejected someone based on information they found online
• 7 out of 10 of people who are online check other people’s profiles

Typically, when someone does a casual search, they will only read what appears on page one. Most won’t even bother to scroll down to the bottom, so it’s the first five or six links that matter the most. Therefore, owning that digital real estate, or at least a significant part of it, is important to your credibility.

That’s not a big deal if you have a relatively uncommon name like mine. However, what if you have a more popular name, like Laura Powers?

Just who is Laura Powers?

• The musician heard on albums like “Legends of the Goddess?”
• The teenage girl who lives next door to Bart on the Simpsons?
• A custom jeweler from Atlanta?
• Vice president of marketing at Furia Rubel Communications?

Obviously, she’s our VP of marketing. If you know anything about her, it’s not hard to distinguish her from the others. But, what happens if her name drops out of the top five? Her credibility could suffer or she could be missed altogether.

To increase your chances of appearing in the top five, try these tactics:

Blog: Creating a blog can help you to be seen faster. Google’s algorithms like blogs and,
so long as you update the content regularly, you’ve got a good chance of being seen. Make sure your bio and profile information are up-to-date so that you put your best foot forward when someone clicks through.

Engage in social media: It’s rare to find a person who does not have at least one social media profile on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. Make sure you post regularly and that your profile information is complete and presents you in a professional manner. Also, don’t ignore Google+. Connecting your social media profiles to Google+ will help them to appear closer to the top in a Google search. Google likes Google – go figure.

Integrate keywords into your blog and social media: By using keywords specific to your profession, you will score higher when someone searches for your areas of expertise (e.g., marketing), it will help to differentiate you from someone else with the same name (e.g., Laura Powers the jeweler from Atlanta).

Use a content manager: If lack of time is keeping you from engaging in social media, then consider using a content manager to organize your posts. A content manager is simply a computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying of content on a website. A blog coupled with an RSS feed can serve as a content manager. Other programs like Hootsuite let you set up and distribute media messages at predetermined times. It’s all about using the technology to be more efficient. 

Photos: Don’t underestimate the value of a professional photo, especially in the online environment. Your social media profile photos will often appear in your Google search, so make sure they’re good ones. Ask yourself, could I show my profile photo to my mother? If not, upgrade it now and be sure to use your name in its title. IMG.001 doesn’t cut it.

Video: YouTube has become the second most powerful search engine and Google indexes YouTube videos instantly. In fact, Google owns YouTube, so creating, personalizing and optimizing a YouTube channel will help you to rank higher in a search. Here are a few things to remember: Include your name in the title, check the visibility box, check the email location box and most importantly, choose three to five relevant keywords, separated by quote marks. 

Post on your company’s website: Having your profile connected to other high ranking websites will help to increase your search engine visibility. So, if it’s appropriate, post your bio and photo on your company’s website and blog on your company’s blog.

Get quoted in articles, press releases or on popular blogs: Being mentioned in a relevant article will help your name to rank higher in a search. This can also apply to press releases, if they are optimized with appropriate keywords or appear on a popular website. Is your company’s website popular and well optimized? If there is an opportunity, ask your PR department to issue a press release that mentions your name.

Submit for professional awards: Prestigious awards carry value for your name, especially if the organization posts the winners on their website or in a press release.

Wikipedia: Few of us have the chops to have a Wikipedia page or appear in a Wikipedia article. That said Wikipedia articles appear in over 96% of Google subject matter searches, so being cited in a Wikipedia page will increase your visibility.

There are other ways to increase your visibility on Google, but this should give you plenty to work on. If you’re fighting for that coveted Google space, then you’ll want to start using these tactics on a consistent basis. You never know who is watching.