Posts Tagged ‘online reputation strategy’

By now you’re probably using a program to track and evaluate your social media strategy, such as Google Analytics (and if you’re not, you should be!).  But there are also tools specific to certain social media sites, like Twitter.

For example, Tweetbeep will give you hourly updates whenever you or your company is mentioned, while Tweetstats will graph your Twitter use so you can judge how effective your tweets are.  Both of these are useful tools if you’re on Twitter consistently and would like another way of measuring your Return on Influence.

If you are not actively managing your online reputation, feel free to contact us and see how we can help.

Having recently watched a cyber-argument between two attorney-coaching industry leaders, it occurs to me how very important managing your online reputation can be.  These particular leaders, both of whom for which I have the utmost respect, recently experienced a professional break-up and I learned a few lessons about how to handle this type of situation in today’s new ‘everything is wide open’ society.

Lesson number one:  Learn how to announce changes in your firm that aren’t exactly pleasant in an open and transparent, yet professional and courteous manner.  If, for example, you need to announce a partner’s exit, downsizing of staff, or the end of a collaborative relationship, write it just as you would if you were writing for the New York Times.  Sometimes people take the somewhat relaxed nature of social media for granted and make these announcements with veiled jabs and sarcastic comments.  You should avoid doing this for several reasons.  First, it always makes the writer appear spiteful which does not sit well with potential clients.  Who wants an attorney that may turn that not-so-well-hidden temper on you?  Second, you may just irk the other party enough to begin their own cyber-dissing campaign.  Which brings me to lesson number two…

Lesson number two:  If you have been cyber-dissed always, always respond, but do so in the most courteous manner that you can muster.  Wait 24 hours to respond if you must, but do not get into a pissing contest that will drag you both down into the mud and damage your credibility.  Absolutely nothing good can come from this!  Getting into a cat-fight online can make you look petty, mean, and even a little unstable.  This is not the picture someone wants when they think of the estate planning lawyer that is going to be there for their family if something happens to them.

The moral to this story is this: if you plan to use social media to build your brand and establish your presence as an industry leader, carefully monitor what you say online and what is being said about you (or hire a professional to do so for you).  And, If you haven’t yet set up a Google Alerts with your name and the name of your firm, do so today.

With so many professionals using social media and posting articles, blogs, and ebooks today, part of your social media strategy should be making sure that nobody else is plagiarizing the work you submit online – and, also, that the work you submit is not already out there, so that you don’t get accused of plagiarism.  If you outsource any of your social media plan, having a tool to occasionally check what is being submitted under your name is especially helpful.  Check out www.copyscape.com, where you can enter search terms or your own blog page, for example, and see whether or not others are taking credit for your work.

You could also use that site as part of your online reputation management strategy.  What if someone has a running negative commentary regarding your blog or your practice?  You’d find such a site using a tool like CopyScape.  Consider implementing a site like this into your social media strategy, to protect the content you work so hard to produce.