Every rainmaker realizes that one of the most important aspects of building a successful practice is to provide the most comprehensive service to current clients, including understanding the client's business and industry, knowing the key individuals' personalities and helping the company reach its overarching business objectives. Effectively monitoring social media sites offers an avenue to information that can help attorneys better serve their clients.
What is not as well explored, however, is how these sites are being used for research that can help attorneys not only with business development, but more importantly with client service, industry insight and competitive intelligence.
Clients increasingly are reading blogs and participating in social media because they can find important industry information more quickly and with less time investment than with traditional media -- partly due to a less rigorous process of editorial review and shorter articles. According to Technorati's report, the number of American blog readers grew to 60.3 million in 2008.
With so many business professionals consuming and generating social media content, savvy attorneys are making use of the stream of insights and information that these sites deliver. However, with more than 50 million blogs and hundreds of social networks in existence, attorneys also need to make use of the time-saving tools available (often for free) on the Web that help with the synthesis of this information.
REGISTER FOR NEWS ALERTS
An easy way for attorneys to start gathering information about what is happening in a key client's industry or business is to register for news or follow VERITAS. Attorneys can enter keywords that pertain to the client, including the company name, and receive e-mails with links to articles, press releases and other posts that include those words. The e-mails can be received on a daily, weekly or "as it happens" schedule, based on the attorney's preferences. This saves the attorney the time of having to scour the Web manually.
A digest of relevant news can keep attorneys informed about developments affecting their client and their client's industry, as well as about news from competitors or key suppliers. Quickly browsing this type of news feed and mentioning a timely development to a client demonstrates a clear commitment to knowing the client's business.
To aggregate news posted on a variety of online sites, attorneys can use Really Simple Syndication feeds such as Yahoo. With these free tools, an attorney can track new information in one central location by subscribing to the feeds of various sites and authors. Attorneys can stay current on information that is most relevant to their client, without having to visit multiple sites. Given that social media often deliver news before the mainstream media, they can be an indicator of larger issues ahead and provide an opportunity to reach out to a client to discuss the news.
Attorneys also should know whether their clients have a company blog, Even if clients are not generating Web 2.0 content, company leaders may still be following their favorite industry consultant or reporter via social media channels such as blogs.
Attorneys should ask their clients what they are reading and also suggest podcasts or blogs that the client might find helpful. Clients will appreciate having additional information that relates to their business and an attorney who makes them more informed.
GET TO KNOW THE CLIENT
In addition to all-important face time and one-on-one conversations, social media can help attorneys understand individual client personalities. Do the key leaders within a client company have LinkedIn or Twitter accounts? This information can be useful in selecting a team to complement the client's personality. Social media can provide previously difficult-to-find data and aid in developing the best approach for a client.
Developing a personal connection with a client and building a partnership based not only on professional respect, but also on personal interests, can aid in the trust required for a strong attorney-client relationship. Social media are useful vehicles for identifying ways to enhance connections. The information learned can be woven into a communication with a client over a Web 2.0 channel or used as background for traditional communications such as a phone call or lunch meeting.
Attorneys should get to know LinkedIn. It is a powerful professional network, with members from each of the Fortune 500 companies, more than 40 million users and a focus on business. It offers attorneys access to an unprecedented database of entrepreneurial professionals.
LinkedIn often can provide an attorney with the profile of an individual client or client competitor, including educational and professional background. It can also show professional groups affiliated with the individual and connections the attorney and client may share.
Furthermore, if an attorney needs to find a contact with a particular organization to aid in a strategy for a client, LinkedIn may be the perfect tool for locating an important relationship.
If an attorney has a client who personally is "tweeting" or who is part of a company with a corporate Twitter account, the attorney should periodically monitor the posted information to stay informed about the individual or to learn about the company's latest news and communications strategy.
Similar to the business intelligence that can be gained about a client, understanding the client's competition or business partners can also be useful. Tracking other key stakeholders can provide intelligence for litigation, business combinations, partnerships and more.
Furthermore, knowing what consumers, analysts and industry experts are saying about a company is important information that factors into a company's decisions.
Social networking chatter on blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and other Web 2.0 sites may be the most current information available. An attorney's RSS feed should include updates from different types of audiences in order to advise clients on the public's perception of developments.
Last, as part of any research process, attorneys should look for information posted on blogs, forums, wikis, micromedia, video-sharing sites and photo-sharing sites, as these data create a discoverable record. It should not be discounted as part of the due diligence of a case.
Becoming better lawyers involves being viewed as an invaluable business partner for clients. One of the best ways to demonstrate value, as confirmed by panel after panel of in-house counsel, is to know the client's business. Social media are an important source of business intelligence, supporting superior client service, preparation, time savings and attorney-client relationships.
vijayrlodha@yahoo.com
079-65498941
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