Tips from the Professionals on How to Market your Blog

The Importance of Marketing Blogs

The reason most legal blogs fail to gain awareness is because the attorney has poor skills in internet marketing.  Legal blog writers need to take specific steps not only to create a following, but maintain a following—another reason a large percentage of blogs fail maintain popularity. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #1

Create your own domain name while marketing blogs.  You’re likely to see much more success if you have blog attached to your legal website’s domain or a blog with a domain all to itself rather than going through a hosted service. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #2

The word “community” has particular emphasis within legal marketing.  Blog publishers need to participate with the community as much as possible, and some of the following steps can increase your presence:

·         provide links to other blogs and posts

·         comment on other blogs

·         offer to write a post as a guest on another blog

·         access the power of Twitter to gain more followers

How to Market your Blog: Tip #3

Marketing blogs rely on the optimization of the website as well.  You need to optimize your HTML code, title tags, URLS, your sitemap, and more.  The biggest factor to consider is how your keywords will affect your marketing.  Legal blog publishers need to adjust their content to incorporate keywords and keep updated on trends within the field as well. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #4

One of the most important tips in marketing blogs includes registering the blog with related blog directories.  Depending on the marketing,  attorneys can find a large amount of directories by doing a simple search over the internet. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #5

Marketing blogs is impossible if your content is not updated.  If readers find that you’re only posting once in a while, they’ll only visit your website occasionally if you’re lucky (and they probably won’t stay there too long).  Depending on what you’re marketing, attorneys should update their blog every day or at least 3-5 times every week.  If your blog focuses on legal news, update it at least once every day.

How to Market your Blog: Tip #6

Marketing blogs doesn’t just depend on your online presence; it depends on your presence off the web as well.  How are you going to reach community members who don’t use the internet regularly? Even if the community members do use the internet regularly, how are you going to remind them to visit your blog?

Apart from online marketing, blog publishers need to use marketing techniques such as posting business cards, handing out newsletters, and more.  Consider advertisements at restaurants, sporting events, and more that provides information about your website and your blog. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #7

This tip on marketing blogs relates to tip #6.  At all costs, get out of your office and interact with the community face-to-face.  Offer a free seminar on tips your community members can take, and take similar approaches for marketing.  Attorneys should also consider attending a blog conference. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #8

Offer incentives to your readers to increase the reach of your marketing.  A law firm should offer incentives to clients through their blog such as a free consultation or a similar service. 

Another good idea for marketing blogs is to offer an incentive if the reader recommends that blog and brings in other readers.  The results are not necessarily easy to measure, but if you offer surveys, you’ll be able to tell who recommend whom.

How to Market your Blog: Tip #9

Ask for recommendations from your readers.  If your readers feel like they’re contributing to the blog, they will visit the website often and recommend that website more.  This tip somewhat applies to tip #8, but you can offer an incentive if the reader makes a good recommendation for the website.  Marketing blogs depends largely on how you connect to your readers at a personal level. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #10

Create a fan page on Facebook to increase marketing.  Attorneys will begin to notice an increase in traffic volume by creating a fan page, and you’ll expand your network to new readers through the followers you have already.  Post updates about your blog on your fan page, as well as updates about your services in order to increase your efforts in marketing blogs. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #11

Never underestimate the capability of Twitter for marketing.  Legal blogs should tweet every day, provide links to their blog and their website, and even

offer incentives through Twitter as well.  You should also use mentions and hashtags for marketing blogs through the followers you have already. 

Make sure to use valuable keywords within your Twitter accounts, and consider advertising with promoted trends, tweets, or profiles as well. 

How to Market your Blog: Tip #12

Try marketing blogs through LinkedIn as well.  This type of marketing will broaden awareness of your blog to your professional peers, and you can even begin to ask your professional contacts to write guest posts as well.  Provide links to your website as well. 

How to Market your Blog: Conclusion

All of the tips listed within this article can greatly increase marketing for your legal blog.  You should also research other legal blogs and see how they are marketing their services.  The process for marketing blogs is a changing process, so make sure you stay updated. 

Steps for Creating a Network Marketing Blog

What are Network Marketing Blogs?

A blog for network marketing allows a company to sell a product indirectly through an outside associate by offering a percentage of commission to the associate.  Network marketing blogs have received a fair amount of negative speculation over the last couple of years, and the technique has become somewhat unpopular.  . 

Setting up a Network Marketing Blog

The steps listed below are standard step common across all network marketing blogs:

Step #1: The Home Page

Every blog for network marketing will have a homepage that gives a general overview of the company.  Most homepages have reasons why the particular company is better than all other similar companies.  There are often videos along with testimonials from members that have helped in the past. 

Step #2: The Transparent Review

The best network marketing blogs will usually have a page completely devoted to the positive and negative aspects of the company.  These pages often try to gain the trust of the reader and still provide an overview of the company.  A separate website is needed apart from the network marketing blog to explain specific details about the company. 

Step #3: The Compensation Plan

Every blog for network marketing needs to provide a page that is completely devoted to the compensation plan established by the company.  This is usually a detailed article about commission rates and related content, and this is where the majority of network marketing blogs go wrong. 

A large percentage of networking marketing companies offer commission rates that are extremely low even though the companies states the individual can make a large amount of money.  These statements are often misleading, but the best network marketing blog will offer rates that are reasonable and truthful. 

Step #4: The Bonuses Page

A blog for network marketing will often try to bring in people by offering a bonus at the beginning.  The network marketing blog will offer a bonus that is actually reasonable, but then the compensation rates prove to be unreasonable for the amount of work put in. 

According to the Federal Trade Commission, a network marketing blog that offers compensation based on the number of other distributers recruited is actually illegal.  The best network marketing blogs will offer ethical compensation plans and bonuses as well. 

Step #5: The About Page

A blog for network marketing should always have an about page that allows the company share their success stories and their experiences.  The page on the network marketing blog will often explain how the person can benefit the company as well as other members working for the company as well.  These pages are often there to build trust as well. 

Step #6: The Team Training Website

This is the most important step within network marketing blogs.  The team training website must provide specific instructions on how the new member can start creating their own blog for network marketing.  These pages will need to have instructions on how the person can set up pre-written emails and other types of tools for following up on a lead. 

Step #7: The Meeting Place

Any successful network marketing blog will have a forum or chat room where members can come to have questions answered by other members.  A forum allows members to efficiently communicate.  Additionally, the forum is a good place for announcements and other updated information. 

Establishing Connections with Network Marketing Blogs (Legally)

In no way can a blog for network marketing compensate members for recruiting other members.  This action is in direct violation of US law and state attorneys and prosecutors have investigated numerous companies as recently as 2010.  If a network marketing blog wants to try and bring in more members, the following methods are acceptable:

Method #1: Rely on Social Networking

A large amount of network marketing blogs have begun to provide information about their services on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more.  A blog for network marketing will often try to post success stories in order to reach a large audience.  A network marketing blog will also use social networking to help their members stay connected to each other instead of using a forum. 

Network marketing blogs will often encourage members to create their own accounts as well and post their stories about working with the company

as well.  Although this technique borders on recruiting outside parties, the action is still legal as long as the member is not being paid for bringing in other members through social media. 

Method #2: Providing Tips within the Network Marketing Blog

A blog for network marketing will often have will often post information on the same blog or develop another blog to provide tips for members within the industry.  Such a technique allows those searching over the internet to research information on network marketing blogs even if they are not in the industry as well. 

Things to Consider about a Network Marketing Blog

You should always be hesitant before signing up for anything on network marketing blogs.  The Federal Trade Commission recommends you take the following steps before joining a blog for network marketing:

1.       Research the company’s history

2.       Learn about all of the products

3.       Ask as many questions as possible

4.       Understand the restrictions of the compensation

5.       Speak with as many distributors as possible

6.       Ask for an outside opinion

7.       Don’t rush your decision

8.       Ask yourself if the plan fits your goals

Conclusion: Network Marketing Blogs

There is a large amount of debate concerning a blog on network marketing.  Although a large percentage of network marketing blogs offer limited means to a member, there are some good companies out there that are willing to offer good rates and incentives to its members. 

Essential Terms to Know for an Online Marketing Blog

Understanding a Web Marketing Blog

There are literally hundreds of terms you could identify in relation to an online marketing blog on law, but this article covers some of the more common jargon within web marketing.  Understanding these terms can help you understand how a legal web marketing blog works and can even further your knowledge if you have a blog already.

Essential Terms for Any Attorney in Online Marketing Blog

301 Direct– this action automatically directs a URL to another URL and tells a search engine that the redirection is permanent.  A 301 direct is important in a legal web marketing blog for search engine optimization in some cases, and it differs from a temporary redirection—called a 302 direct.

Advertising Network– this is a collection of website in which an advertiser has control over.  For example, the Google Search Network incorporates all Amazon websites, Ask.com, and many other websites.  Google offers a search ad network and a display ad network, both of which are important for a legal online marketing blog.

Anchor Text– this is a piece of text that serves as a hyperlink.  The standard form is a blue underlined word.  This term is especially important for a web marketing blog because an anchor text can greatly improve SEO. 

Backlinks– this occurs when a website provides a link to a specific page on your website.  Search engines view backlinks as a way to judge a website’s popularity and credibility, and this term is especially important in a legal online marketing blog because it can improve SEO. 

Behavioral Targeting­– this term is becoming increasingly popular in online advertising and especially mobile advertising.  This type of advertising allows a search engine to know where a consumer is currently located by using cookies and adjust advertisements on, for example, a web marketing blog. 

Click through Rate (CTR) – this term describes when a reader clicks an advertisement on your legal website.  The rate is calculated by how many times your advertisement appears compared to how many times a reader clicks the advertisement.  Again, this term is especially important for an online marketing blog, especially if the blog is being used for affiliate marketing. 

Cascading Style Sheet– this term is called CSS in short.  This is a method for a legal web marketing blog to improve the loading speed of pages, file sizes, and more. 

Day Parting– this term describes the way advertisements are provided during specific times of the day or specific days of the week.  This action can either be performed manually or automatically, and Google AdWords will perform this action automatically.  Most social media websites do not offer automatic day parting—at least yet. 

Doorway Page– this term is used to describe the first page a reader will see on an online marketing blog.  An attorney usually needs to create a doorway page with a “call to action” section to rank highly within a search engine database. 

Eye tracking– this is an emerging technology that a web marketing blog will often use to test how readers will respond to their website.  There are companies that perform complex testing and research on how a reader’s eyes will move on a specific screen of a website. 

HTML– this acronym is short for Hypertext Markup Language and in particularly important for an online marketing blog.  This is the main programming language used on a website.  Programmers may decide to use HTML or another language that can be read by HTML. 

Image Maps– this is a region within an image that is linkable and encourages the reader to click on the click by creating visual appeal.  More and more blogs have begun to use this type of mapping to help readers navigate through their website. 

Local Search– this is growing term within online marketing.  A local search allows a person to perform a search for a business and see related businesses in their specific area. 

Long Tail Keywords– this term is increasingly important for an online marketing blog.  A long tail keyword is a phrase instead of a single keyword and usually allows legal blogs to increase their ranking within search engines. 

Natural Listing– this term is also called an organic listing.  The term is used to describe a listing within search engine that is not advertised.  Some search engines require fees for higher placement within natural listings, and other search engines solely rely on the ranking of the online marketing blog. 

Page Rank– a page rank is used, for example, by Google to list websites in certain indexes by using an algorithm.  Google will release an external page rank for a web marketing blog, but the external rank is not the same as an internal rank.  Google will use an internal rank for an online marketing blog for search engine results. 

Real Simple Syndication– this is increasingly popular within a legal web marketing blog.  This type of technology allows a viewer of an online marketing blog to directly view certain parts of a blog at their request.  

Return on Investment– this term is important for an advertiser that posts an ad on a web marketing blog.  The ROI is calculated by how much money was spent for the advertising campaign divided by how much revenue the advertisements made because of clickthroughs.

Spider– all search engines have spiders that crawl through linked pages on a website in order to find information for a natural listing.  A spider is also used to rank an online marketing blog.

Web 2.0– this is a general term that describes the internet as a specific platform. 

White Hat SEO– this term is used to describe SEO techniques that are recommended and accepted by a search engine.  Any legal web marketing blog that practices “Black Hate SEO” can cause harm to its ranking and listing within a search engine.

XML– a content developer of an online marketing blog will use this programming language for content like text, audio, video and more.  This language has been particularly important in Web 2.0.

Tips for Twitter Advertising and Protecting your Campaign

Advertising on Twitter

Multiple firms, both large and small, have had great success advertising on Twitter.  Twitter provides case studies for specific companies that have had great success, and you can access these case studies on Twitter’s website.  If you want to advertise on Twitter, this article will provide resources and tips for a successful campaign. 

How do I start my Twitter Advertising Campaign?

If you want to sign up for advertising on Twitter, you’ll have to fill out an electronic form and then go through various steps.  

Before filling out the electronic form for Twitter advertising, make sure you have the following information:

·         a good username that reflects your firm’s name

·         estimated monthly budget

·         vertical of your advertising campaign (theme of products of services you’re advertising)

·         all personal information

·         additional  comments and concerns you have before you want to advertise on Twitter

The Best Tips for Successful Twitter Advertising

You have a large number of options while advertising on Twitter.  The following techniques can help to ensure your Twitter advertising reaches the most amounts of prospective clients as possible:

Set up a Promoted Account

If you want to advertise on Twitter, you should set up a promoted account so you can connect to people with similar interests.  If you set up a promoted account, your profile will appear on the “Who to Follow Section.”  This section can increase the potential of your Twitter advertising because your profile will appear when people search for similar interests and have the highest chance of showing interest in your services. 

Promoted advertising on Twitter can be adjusted for geographic location and a designated marketing area within the United States as well. 

Engage in Promoted Trends

The trick to promoted trends for advertising on Twitter is updating your information and encouraging other users to talk about your services and even recent case results.  If you want to advertise on Twitter, promoted trends are the best way to raise interest in your specific geographic location.  A trend will appear if the subject is immediately receiving a large amount of attention.  Users can search for promoted trends and see what is being discussed in mass around their area.

Engage in Promoted Tweets

A promoted tweet can increase your Twitter advertising when a user searches for a term that is related to your services.  Additionally, a promoted tweet can increase your advertising on Twitter if you target certain followers and the followers of the user.  For example, if you want to advertise on twitter, you can make a promoted tweet appear at the top of the person’s timeline, and all of the user’s followers will be able to see the tweet.

You can increase your Twitter advertising awareness within the legal field by using the following tips as well:

1.       Adjust your advertising on Twitter for both mobile and desktop users.  What services are mobile users most likely to use? What services are desktop users likely to use? How can you adjust your Twitter advertising to market to both users?

2.       If you’re in a law firm and want to advertise on Twitter for a political campaign, you can enhance your promoted tweets.  Tweets for campaigns will have to meet standards for FEC-compliant notices, and the advertising on Twitter will have a purple promoted icon at the bottom of the tweet. 

Brand your Profile

One of the best techniques for advertising on Twitter is branding your webpage and enhancing its appearance.  If you want to advertise on Twitter, you can add a header image including a logo, image, or tagline.  All promoted tweets for Twitter advertising will appear at the top of your profile’s page as well. 

What are Sponsored Tweets?

Another form of advertising on Twitter is when a user talks about a particular service and the firm sponsors such tweets.  If a user wants to advertise on Twitter for a particular service, the payments are solely established between the tweeter and the company advertising on Twitter.  Twitter advertising through a sponsored link is only permitted in the following cases:

·         If the company is promoting itself

·         Tweeting about unpaid consumer recommendations

·         Tweeting compensated links if the tweets were manually approved by the user

Advertising on Twitter through sponsored links or tweets is a great strategy.  However, there are multiple rules when you want to advertise on Twitter using this method:

1.       The sponsored information must be manually approved

2.       The post should have a disclosure statement if the client was compensated

3.       The same tweets should not be repeatedly posted

4.       A third-party tool or app used to approved and post any tweets needs Twitter OAuth approval

Automating Actions to Users

Twitter advertising can also come in the form of automated responses to users, but this type of advertising on Twitter borders on being spam.  If you want to advertise on Twitter and send automated responses to users, they need to approve the measure in the first place.  Otherwise, Twitter discourages the following types of automation and Twitter advertising:

Automated Retweeting to Other Users

If your automate messages based on keyword searches, you’re automated messages and advertising on Twitter will likely be blocked and reported as spam. 

Automating Direct Messages

Although automating direct messages for a simple “thank you” can represent a good Twitter advertising practice, Twitter still discourages the messages because users will likely find the messages annoying. 

Advertising on Twitter: Conclusion

If you want to advertise on Twitter, you have multiple options to set up a successful campaign.  You’ll want to update your information as much as possible, provide incentives and good deals, and relay your messages in language that is easy to understand.  You can use Twitter Analytics to track your results as you advertise on Twitter as well. 

Everything About Facebook SEO

SEO on Facebook is critical if you want your social media pages to bring new visitors to your law firm from search engines like Google and Yahoo, and getting Facebook SEO tips can help.  Recent studies, however, show that over a third of law firms still don't have a Facebook page.  Even firms with Facebook pages often aren't looking for Facebook SEO tips that can help them get ahead.  That's why this guide can give you an edge.  Keep reading and you'll find out how to use SEO on Facebook before your competition does.

Does Facebook SEO Matter?

In a word: absolutely.  If you're doing a great job maintaining your Facebook page (or you plan to set up a new or redesigned Facebook page soon), you want as many people to see it as possible.  That means that the search indexers sponsored by the major search engines will need to see it, too.

Quality counts in today's Facebook SEO, like it does in all other search engine optimization efforts since companies started filtering out spam websites.  However, SEO on Facebook still depends more than you might think on traditional search engine optimization techniques like high keyword densities.

If you're not using Facebook SEO tips, odds are that your Facebook page won't be one of the first results when people search for your law firm.  That's unfortunate, because having a good Facebook page encourages new potential clients to not just research your firm, but interact and get involved in your social media marketing efforts.

Facebook SEO Tips #1: Don't Waste Your Time

Too many people, when starting out with SEO on Facebook, waste their time with several aspects of their new pages.  For instance, while it can be important to search engine optimize image titles and file names when you're working on your main website, Facebook SEO makes this a waste of time.

Why?  Because when you upload any image to Facebook, the website actually changes the URL to be one that involves only a long numerical sequence.  The same doesn't go for videos (more on that later), but make sure that before you post SEO on Facebook, you've read a lot of Facebook SEO tips and know exactly which places count and which don't.

Facebook SEO Tips #2: Get Linked

In order to have the best results with SEO on Facebook, you'll need to show that you have links coming in both from within Facebook itself and also from outside websites.  That's why it's important to cross promote your Facebook page with other social media pages and your main website—the more links, the merrier.

Generating links from within SEO on Facebook is also something you should strive for, and not just because that's the point of social marketing.  Facebook SEO depends largely on the number of links you're getting and how genuinely popular your page seems to be becoming.

Facebook SEO Tips #3: Titles Matter

SEO on Facebook, like all other kinds of search engine optimization, requires good, descriptive titles.  But with Facebook SEO, titles are actually weighted even more than they are for most other websites.

Does this mean that you should overload your titles with keywords, the way some early Facebook SEO tips would advise?  No—in fact, overuse of keywords, especially in your main page title, is likely to make your page look like spam and kill your SEO on Facebook.  Instead, you'll be more likely to get great Facebook SEO results when you keep your titles simple and descriptive with no trace of spam.

You'll also want to make sure that you're doing a great job with every article title you post.  Leaving titles and headers blank is the surest way to ignore a great opportunity for SEO on Facebook.  If you do Facebook SEO the right way, it won't be obvious to your visitors and will just make their experience on your page work better.

Facebook SEO Tips #4: Stay Public

In old lists of Facebook SEO tips, you may have seen advice about putting some (but not all) of your content behind “fan gates,” that is, making it impossible for someone to see some of your content unless they become a fan of your page.

While fan gates may sound good, most modern Facebook SEO tips recommend that you avoid fan gates at essentially all costs.  Great Facebook SEO depends on your public postings, and if a member of the general public can't see the amazing content you've got stashed behind a fan gate, neither can the indexers searching the web for the most relevant results pertaining to your firm.

Fan gates are problematic for other reasons that aren't related to SEO on Facebook, as well.  If you use a fan gate, you'll have the problem of “revolving door fans”: people who become fans of your page just to see the content, then stop “liking” your page after they've seen it.  That isn't the kind of attention you want to attract with your Facebook SEO—just keep your pages public and forget about fan gating.

Facebook SEO Tips #5: Use Video

If you're not already using video in your Facebook SEO strategies, you should.  No Facebook SEO tips guide would be complete without this one, and for lawyers, that's doubly true.  Law firm pages see the best conversion rates, by far, when they have great search engine optimized video.

SEO on Facebook is even easier when you use videos, because they give you even more ability to put keyword-dense text and titles into your Facebook page.  Again, pay close attention to titles for your video, because much like your other Facebook titles, they are weighted substantially more for Facebook SEO than any other portion of your text.

Don't look at video as just a way to search engine optimize—in order to get the best links, you're still going to need to pack your videos with informative, fun content.  But you can definitely still use video for SEO on Facebook, and this should always be at least one of your concerns when you're posting new video links.

Everything About B2B Social Media Marketing

The social media marketing definition has been changing over the last several years.  While even in 2006, B2B social media marketing was just getting started, today in 2012 over 90 percent of attorneys in small firms report using some form of social media.  This guide will answer some of your questions about social media marketing definition and help you build a B2B social media marketing strategy that will bring in consistent, profitable leads.

The Biggest Mistake You Can Make

Social media marketing makes it much easier to share successes and get your message out to the world.  Unfortunately, it also makes it easier for your competition to capitalize on missteps or for a minor gaffe to turn into a reputation ruiner.  The one mistake that will turn the most people away from your company for the longest period of time is thinking that social marketing is just like advertising.

Advertising and social media have completely different goals.  If your social media marketing definition looks a lot like how you define your firm's advertising, you need to think again before you make a highly visible—and highly costly—mistake.  

If you seem like a salesperson hawking his wares, you won't make an impression as a great advocate, but as a scammer or spammer.  There's no faster way to be blacklisted than to waste other people's time with advertising when you should have been engaging them with interesting storytelling and innovative content.

Tell Me: Who Are You?

This is a question that probably has a lot of different answers.  In order to get the most out of your B2B social media marketing, you'll need to think about them all.  Who are you, as a person?  Who are you as an attorney?  If your firm was a person, what kind of person would it be?  These questions can help to give your social media marketing definition, and develop your brand whether you're working for a large or small law firm.

Remember that the market you're reaching out to with B2B social media marketing may be skeptical of marketing campaigns.  Many of the people you want to reach will be alienated if you sound fake or focus on the hard sell. Make sure that your law firm's social media marketing has definition: someone in particular needs to be the voice of your company, rather than just having an impersonal, cold web presence.

There's no one social media marketing definition that will work for all firms, but every successful social B2B social media marketing campaign has something in common: they all focus on authenticity and communication.  Until you know who you are and how you communicate best, your campaigns will seem scattershot and unfocused, or—even worse—inauthentic or high pressure.

Give 'Em What They Want

For firms that are working primarily with consumers, it can be relatively easy to identify the audience for your blog posts or Facebook feed.  But what if you're focusing on B2B social media marketing?  You need to incorporate your audience into your firm's social media marketing definition, because different audiences will want different types of quality content.

Content is always king.  No matter what social media marketing definition you're using, successful social marketing takes thinking about the needs of the people you're talking to.  What's more, you should try to develop content that doesn't look like what your competition is using for its B2B social media marketing.  

Why not try something new—like a brief quiz (perhaps with a bit of humor in the questions or answers) about a legal topic your clients care about?  What about a professionally produced video?  Talented marketers are expanding the social media marketing definition every day, and you can get as creative as you want.  Maintaining a brand identity for B2B social media marketing means you have to be professional, but you don't have to be stuffy or uptight.

LinkedIn: The Gold Standard for B2B Social Media Marketing

There's a reason that the vast majority of attorneys today maintain a profile on LinkedIn.  For attorneys, LinkedIn is nearly 300 percent more effective at generating B2B social media marketing leads than either Facebook or Twitter.  

While it's certainly a good idea to maintain a social media presence on more than one website, if you need to prioritize and your marketing is exclusively or almost exclusively B2B, it's best to focus your social media marketing definition on LinkedIn, learn its tools and interface, and then branch out.  If your firm does both B2B and B2C marketing, you may want to focus on other sites even when you're just starting a social media campaign.

Maximizing the Effectiveness of LinkedIn Ads

When you start on LinkedIn, you may just have a profile and not know what to do next.  Attorneys who are already comfortable with pay per click (PPC) advertising on search engines often start branching out their social media marketing definition by purchasing PPC ads on LinkedIn.

This can be an effective way to start your B2B social media marketing, but be careful about not just what keywords you're using, but also when you're placing your ads.  You can use analytics tools to learn more about whether your ads have been successful, and what times of day or days of the week seem to generate the most profitable leads.  Running analytics often is key to figuring out what parts of your social media marketing definition are working and which parts need more work.

Getting the Most From LinkedIn Tools

LinkedIn has worked to expand the social media marketing definition for many law firms by making free tools available that help you share and present content to other businesses.  Let's say you've just made a killer presentation with some amazing ideas about an aspect of law that might interest your clients.  Using SlideShare can help you make that presentation visible to people far beyond your law firm.

The biggest key to effectively using these tools is keeping on top of new developments.  If you're using something first, and using it well, you'll outperform your competition handily.  Every tool you use is another weapon in your B2B social media marketing arsenal—and you'll need every one you can get to thrive in today's tough economic climate.