what lawyers need to know about social engagement
DESCRIPTION
I was recently invited to share some of the socal engagement basics to a division of the King County Bar Association. It's surprising how few of the attorneys in attendance were taking the use of social media seriously.TRANSCRIPT
Rod BrooksVP & Chief Marketing Officer, PEMCO InsurancePresident: Word of Mouth Marketing Association
Social Engagement:What Every Professional Needs to Know[Especially lawyers that want to be successful]
Who is PEMCO?
• Personal-lines mutual insurance company founded in 1949
• Serves niche market of preferred risk policyholders
• Provides coverage to ~200k Washington households
• Historically conservative and legacy oriented
• Leads with relationship
The BHAG: Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal
4
PEMCO customers can’t stand the thought of friends & family doing business with anyone else.
“Never have to advertise
for a lead again”
Challenges: Old and New.
• Highly regulated industry • Viewed as an unsought commodity-like product • Orientation is conservative, cautious, risk adverse
Industry1
Environment2
• Dynamic, open, engaged, and on the move • Consumers influenced by peers, friends, and strangers• Unfamiliar channels are sustaining
brand conversations
BHAG Sounds Great: But How?
Build engagement opportunities by enabling
audiences to:
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
BHAG Sounds Great: But How?
Build engagement opportunities by enabling
audiences to:
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
SOCIAL MEDIA
Awareness To AdvocacyAw
aren
ess
Perc
eptio
n
Pref
eren
ce
Sele
ctio
n
Rene
wal
Refe
rral
Advo
cacy
Identify, Engage, Enable, Encourage Advocates
Transaction Stage
PEMCO’s success depends on the positive opinion of people like me. They listen, participate, encourage and enable me to share with others.
Listen
Participate
Encourage
Enable
10
+
Partnership
My clients success depends on the positive opinions of people like me. We listen, participate, encourage and enable them to engage via S.M.
Listen
Participate
Encourage
Enable
11
Partnership
Develop A Game Plan:
Establish the rules
Select the teams
Practice safely
Listen to the fans
Inform stakeholders
Enter the game
Develop A Game Plan:
Social Media Guidelines
Boot Camps
Yammer
Ratings and Reviews
Leadership Summits
Pilot Projects
Social Media Guidelines
• Clear statement of purpose• Inform and reassure
reluctant stakeholders• Establish engagement
expectations • Educate employees on
best practices
14
Appease reluctant stakeholders and empower employees
Be consistent with corporate culture
15
Values based empowerment balanced with risk management.
• Integrity and ethics• Use common sense• Speak in the first person• Use good judgment• Don’t tell secrets• Respect those in the community• Fix mistakes first• Transparency matters• If it gives you pause, pause.• Don’t forget your day job!
Boot Camp
Increase familiarity & comfort of employees
• Explain guidelines• Tutorials provide a step-by-step
how-to approach• Examples demonstrate
consumer use • Case studies explore social
media engagement and suggested responses
Finding The Right Tools
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Share Voice of the Customer 1
Empowering Employees
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Share Business Ideas2
Real Time News Updates
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Share News and Updates3
It’s Not ALL Business
Reduce communication barriers with employee networking tools
Foster Employee Community4
Ratings and Reviews
• Give back office employees
access to customer voice• Celebrate & share your
success stories • Learn from mistakes and
consistently improve• Own the results
Increase customer-focus through direct access to Voice of the Customer
• Start every meeting with a customer story!
Customer comes
first!“In my business, I
understand and
appreciate the
importance of customer
service, and everyone I
have dealt with at
PEMCO has been
terrific.”
When Paul learned that his dream home had been burglarized and stripped of $10,000 of new hardware, he didn’t know where to turn. Though a unfortunate setback to the project, Shelly from PEMCO helped make a quick decision and the project moved forward on time.
Appreciate
PEMCO!“I wanted to show you my
appreciation for the
awesome job you’ve been
doing… I’ve never had
customer service as
professional and
thorough as what you
have provided.
Pulling into a parking spot, a passenger in the car next to Jack opened their door. Both cars were damaged – but Denise, Jack’s PEMCO claims adjuster, was friendly, efficient, and made the customer feel like taking care of his claim was her top priority!
Social Media Leadership Summits
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
Social Media Leadership Summits
Do Something1
Share Something2
Get Something3
Engagement
Pilot Projects:
• Decentralize ownership • Enrich social media team• Decrease concentrated
demand • Experiment with new
channels • Facilitate idea sharing
Empower employees & encourage innovation
Social Media Partner:
• Inspire, define & defend business opportunity.
• Encourage participation and effective use of social tools
• Implement social listening & gathers/shares insights
• Help brainstorm, create, deploy engagement programs
• Define & measure analytics
Facilitates the journey
Social Media Partner: A lawyer?
• Protecting the client / business from the social media maverick.
• Slowing things down, avoiding personal use of the new tools
• In search of clear evidence and the rule book
The Lawyer that Gets It and Facilitates It!
Or are you viewed as hoping it will just go away?
• Paranoid – Controlling – Lacking trust
Looking for the lawyer that gets it
Where are YOU?
“Lawyers that get social media”
Less than 15 seconds to think of, type, and return
21,800,000 results
The big three… a place to start:
• No one knows more about your opinion than you do. Blog about it!
• Build your brand, expand network, grow reputation. Tweet about it!
• Leverage contacts, share insights, get valuable referrals. Link others to it!
You can’t learn to swim on the beach!
The big three… a place to start:
• No one knows more about your opinion than you do. Blog about it!
• Build your brand, expand network, grow reputation. Tweet about it!
• Leverage contacts, share insights, get valuable referrals. Link others to it!
You can’t learn to swim on the beach!
I’m a lawyer not a writer. Why blog?
• Communicates your passion, philosophy, reasoning and skills.
• Builds credibility for you and your practice. Positions you/your firm in thought leadership role.
• Makes you easy to find when people are searching.• Makes you a local, regional, national news source.• Allows for engagement with your readers. • Makes you human, less intimidating, one of us.
I’m a lawyer not a writer. Why blog?
Blogs weekly Three years 10,000 visitors Six figure client Makes him real
140 characters just aren’t enough!
• King of learning, brand building, network expanding, reputation enhancing tools.
• “The most powerful branding tool since television.”• You become the media providing the relevant news.• Provides easy access to information from others.• Easy to balance between expertise & personality.• Makes you human, less intimidating, one of us.
140 characters just aren’t enough!
Shares the best tech articles weekly
Not legal advice After 3 months, added
2 new clients Shows that “he gets it”
3 degrees: Link in or be locked out.
• Game over! Linked In has won the social networking directory space.
• The power is in the quality of the YOUR network… and THEIR networks.
• Connect to people you know / answers you don’t.• Activate discussions and relevant groups.• Potential clients can’t hire you if they can’t find you.• Makes you human, less intimidating, one of us.
3 degrees: Link in or be locked out.
Local - Seattleite 17 recommendations 500+ connections Website, Blog, FB Human / Nice smile 2 degrees to 8 friends
3 degrees: Link in or be locked out.
Family man Married to a
saint Smart (Lawyer) Relevant Gets it!
3 degrees: Link in or be locked out.
Relevant tweets Webinar Credibility Speaking schedule Someone I’d like
Listen
Practice
Learn
MonitorParticipate
JoinEngage
Invite
Teach
Are You Engaged?
Listen
Practice
Learn
MonitorParticipate
JoinEngage
Invite
Teach
QUESTIONS?
•Credible word of mouth marketing and use of social media.
•Ethical Leadership: Protect consumers. Protect your brand.
•Best Practices: Helping you become a better WOM marketer.
•Measurable ROI: Standards that improve impact and
accountability.
•Community: Enthusiasts – Brands – Service Providers
A Shameless Plug “To advance and advocate the discipline of credibleword of mouth marketing both online and offline.”
www.womma.org
Let’s ConnectTwitter: @NW_Mktg_GuyFacebook: Rod Brookse-mail: [email protected] - Blog: www.rodbrooks.com