Archive for the ‘Reputation Management’ Category
Monitor your firm and attorney names
In today’s age of continuous innovation and new technologies on the web, monitoring and managing your online reputation must be a critical part of your overall marketing strategy. Web 2.0 makes it easier than ever before to create customer-driven content, particularly in the form of blogging. Whether the content is praise, badgering, or even false, Google will find it and index.
When a potential client is searching for an attorney in their area, chances are that one single website will not influence their choice, rather the collective research from various websites will aid in their final decision. Human nature dictates an element of curiosity when searching for products or services on the web. If someone is searching for a Miami personal injury lawyer, being #1 in Google no longer ensures that person’s business. They will naturally reference several entries on that first SERP in Google, searching for news, reviews, opinions, and case studies for your firm. One bad piece of press could easily provoke the potential client to take their business elsewhere.
So how do we actively monitor our firm and attorneys names on the web? Google alerts! With Google alerts, you can specify any number of keywords to ‘monitor’, and when Google crawls and indexes a new instance of that keyword, they will notify you via email or RSS. You also have the option to choose real-time notifications or bundled notifications on a daily or weekly basis. For more information and to set up Google alerts for your law firm, visit their site here.
Importance of Client Relationships
Like the structure of almost all businesses, clients – or customers – are perhaps the most important elements. Especially if you’re in the process of developing a business, a strong relationship with your clients – new and old – is key.
In the legal world, client relationships are extremely important. Lawyers work closely with clients to ensure they achieve the legal outcome they desire in all types of scenarios. Whether it’s a divorce case, a personal injury lawsuit case or a situation involving a will or trust, attorneys work side by side with their clients from start to finish.
Not only from a business development perspective are sold client relationships important but marketing-wise it can make or break your law firm’s reputation. The most significant factor in a legal marketing strategy is promising the most concrete and personal client relationships as you possibly can. Lawyers need to realize this should be their main focus – if they haven’t already.
Make sure you’re in-tuned to what makes your clients happy, what makes them angry, what stresses them out or what they think can improve regarding your services. Acknowledge their concerns and work closely to understand their needs and wants.
This effective strategy will keep your existing clients happy and loyal and will bring about more positive referrals to grow your business even more.
Reputation Management
Managing your Law Firm’s Online Reputation
One of the greatest things about Web 2.0 technology is its accessibility – the ease with which someone with little technical knowledge can set up a social networking profile or blog and start sharing information and interacting with a worldwide or local community, depending on their preference. With this ease comes a problem, though, which is why it’s important to preserve your professional integrity with online reputation management.
What is Reputation Management?
Online reputation management, or ORM, is the practice of monitoring your online presence. There are many avenues that anonymous and identified users can utilize to provide information about you and your firm, or you on a personal basis, to the internet community.
Websites that review businesses and rank individuals are one area you should keep an eye on. Although everyone is entitled to have an opinion about you or your work, someone posting untrue or slanderous comments online can have a negative impact on your status. You may also be able to gain valuable insight into what your clients are happy or unhappy about regarding the services your practice is providing via review-style sites.
Guarding Against Social Media Identity Theft
As mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog, it’s easy to set up a social media persona. It’s also easy to impersonate someone else if you are so inclined; and many social media sites do not check the identity of their users or regulate this aspect of their communities. Basically, users are on the honor system as far as their identity is concerned, and you are at the mercy of the site administrators if someone happens to steal your good name.
Luckily, there are a few great services out there that your marketing guru can utilize to safeguard your reputation online. One site charges a one-off fee to register your chosen name on over 120 popular social media sites. Whether or not you choose to make use of the accounts is up to you, but you’ve taken a great step towards preventing others from impersonating you online and damaging your status.
There are many other services available to help protect you and your firm’s interests in the world of Web 2.0 and social media. Some offer to establish one login ID for all of your accounts and others offer identity verification for your logins. You can also be proactive on the review/ranking front and sign up for a site that allows you to invite clients to provide reviews and feedback about your firm.