Presentation at the 2015 NALSC Fall Symposium on how legal recruiters can use social media to generate new business and grow their networks

1. Legal Recruiting Using LinkedIn and
Social Media: Best Practices for
Success
2015 FALL SYMPOSIUM
October 23, 2015
@guylaw1313

2. Agenda
o Introduction
o The Purpose of Social Media
o It all Starts and Ends with
Content
o Best Practices for LinkedIn
o Your profile
o The new LinkedIn publishing platform
o Groups
o Best Practices for Twitter
o 10 Tips for Using Social Media
for Legal Recruiting
o Q&A

3. My Story
 Recovering Lawyer
 Spent early part of my career as
head of Law Journal Extra which
today is Law.com
 Moved on to become Global
Director of Digital Marketing for
KPMG
 Founded Business Development
Institute
 Became Director of Social Media
at PLI
 Have consulted for a wide array of
companies and firms in and
outside the legal market over the
last 15 years on digital marketing
and social media.

4. Our Mission
 To help firms in the legal vertical to
understand and leverage the power of digital
marketing to enhance their thought
leadership position in the market and to
better engage with their clients and
prospects.
 Using the latest technologies and
methodologies, we help firms sell their
services, build their brands and develop
digital platforms that power and transform
their marketing and business development
efforts.

5. Why are Professionals so
Reluctant to Use Social Media?
• Fear
• Lack of
Understanding
• How?
• Why?
• Where?
• Culture
@guylaw1313

7. Why did I Join Twitter?
“I took to social media in an effort to engage in
candid conversations. I hope others who lead
law firms will join the discussion. Do I think
Twitter feeds from one – or even many – of us
will materially change our industry? Of course
not. I do believe that we need to speak frankly
and listen intently and the more voices the better.
After all, open dialogue can only be good for our
clients.”
- Stephen Poor, Chairman, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
@stephen_poor
Bloomberg Business of Law Article, June 2, 2015

8. The purpose of Social Media
 Stay “top of mind” and listen
to your target audience
(clients, prospects, alumni,
colleagues, influencers,
press)
 Develop Strategic
relationships
 Thought Leadership:
Demonstrate your skills,
knowledge & experience
 Gain Competitive and
Business Intelligence
 Drive traffic back to your
website/blog

9. It all Starts and Ends with
Content
 You cannot have a successful social
media strategy without the right
content
 What is the right content?
◦ Client centric
◦ Provides guidance or value
◦ Non – promotional
◦ Free of jargon
◦ Easily consumable
◦ Shareable
◦ Personable

10. First Things First: Social Media
Listening

11. Best Practices for
• Update your photo. It should be recent, professional and
represent you or your firm.
• The Headline a.k.a. the most crucial 120 characters on your
profile should standout, include important key words that are
specific to your practice area and make people want to learn
more about you.
• Write your summary in a tone you would use to address clients
over coffee. Your description should make them want to hire
you.
• Provide specific instructions for potential clients to learn more
about you and your firm. Share specific links or documents
that will help them contact you.

12. Best Practices for
• Join groups. There are hundreds of groups related to law on
LinkedIn. These give you the chance to increase your relevancy, find
new people and send direct messages to thousands of people who
aren’t in your network. Definitely get involved in a group where your
clients are likely to be and contribute the discussions when the
opportunity presents itself.
• Connect with all of your clients. They are your best source of
referrals, so reach out and thank them!
• Share a status update every day. This is an easy opportunity to share
relevant information, demonstrate your experience in your field and
stay prominent in your network.

13. The LinkedIn Headline
Wrong Approach Correct Approach

14. Typical Summary on LinkedIn

15. Guidelines for Creating Your LinkedIn Profile
Creating a strong online profile is one of the most important steps in establishing an
effective online presence. This is true for all professionals where personal trust is
such a central element in the hiring decision. As the adage goes – people hire
people not companies. Not only is your online profile critical in forming a prospective
client’s first impression but online research indicates that LinkedIn profiles pages
often account for well over 50% of the page views on LinkedIn. So it’s really worth
spending some time to get your profile right.
We think an effective profile has 3 components:
 Present your bona fides. This of course is the traditional element of every
professional’s resume. Explain what you’ve done, major accomplishments,
professional and educational background, etc. The trick here is to try not to sound
like everyone else. Don’t limit the description of what you do to narrow or purely
professional accomplishments. If you are active in your community or
organizations outside work, then by all means include it.
 Make a personal statement about why you do what you do. Most people have
very bland and impersonal online bios. It’s really important to break the mold and
take off the professional mask. Take the opportunity to say something more
personal in your profile by explaining why your work is important to you (instead of
just telling people you’re good at it).
 Don’t be afraid to show your personality. Your GPA in school and professional
accomplishments don’t really say to much about who you are. So it's important to
say something about your interests outside of work, including community
involvements, hobbies or family life.

16. Example of a Good Summary on LinkedIn

17. How To: Four Ways to Update Your Status on
LinkedIn
1. Write Your Own Status Update
When you log into LinkedIn, you end up on the home page
which looks something like this:

18. How To: Four Ways to Update Your Status on
LinkedIn
2. Share Articles You Find On LinkedIn
If you are following Influencers on LinkedIn or have set your Pulse news feed to share the
right information, you easily have access to loads of information to share. Just scroll through
your home feed and look for an interesting article. (Remember, on LinkedIn people prefer
updates on industry and company news, or tips/hacks to make them better at their jobs.)

19. How To: Four Ways to Update Your Status on
LinkedIn
3. Share An Article You Find Elsewhere
Every website provides sharing buttons (almost) so you can share the article on many different
social media sites. Just click on the icon to share it to the social media platform and you’ll be on
your way. If you don’t see the icon you are looking for, let’s say LinkedIn, usually there is a more or
plus button and you’ll find the platform. A best practice is to add your
thoughts/comments/questions to the introduction of the post so your network gets a better sense of
why you are sharing the article.

20. How To: Four Ways to Update Your Status on
LinkedIn
4. Buffer It
If you find lots of great articles and you don’t want to share them all at once, you can space
out your status updates by using a scheduling tool like Buffer. Buffer is a free app that lets
you auto schedule or set the date and time you want a post to appear. You can link it to
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+. Here’s the time saver tip: if you find five great articles
in one day, you can space them out and share only one per day by using Buffer. Your work
is done for the week!

21. Best Practices for
1. Twitter is part of your personal brand
Whether you like it or not, you have a brand. Your social presence is part of that
brand, so you need to ensure it is an accurate, and positive, representation of who
you are, what you do and what you care about.
Ensure your profile is always up-to-date and relevant. This includes using a nice-
looking headshot and a relevant background image. When you write your
description remember you are more than just a lawyer looking for business. Include
information about family, hobbies or things you enjoy in your free time.
2. Be active and engage
Like most things in life, you get out what you put in. While there are no hard and
fast rules on how often to tweet, the general rule of thumb is the more the better.
This includes communicating with other users on Twitter.
3. Follow the rule of thirds
The rule of thirds is an easy way to remember that Twitter is a tool for conversation,
not monologues. Make sure you are loosely following the rule of thirds:
1/3 of the time: Share relevant or educational information
1/3 of the time: Engage with others (replying, re-tweeting or mentioning)
1/3 of the time: Take the time to read and discover influencers or content that is
useful to you and your practice.

22. Best Practices for
4. Use hashtags
Hashtags (or the # symbol) allow all Twitter users to follow a central idea, or engage in a
single conversation. It’s a great way to find like-minded users and relevant conversations.
(i.e. #landuselaw #fairuse)
5. Be human
Tweeting can be weird and awkward. The good news is that the more you do it, the less
weird and awkward it will become. So a good rule of thumb is to remember that you are
human and you are talking to humans. Don’t automate and don’t be afraid to offer
commentary.
6. Use images and links
Always use images and/or links to make your tweets more visually interesting. This will
encourage other users to interact with you and share your information.
7. Interact with clients and your peers
A great way to start on Twitter is by following peers and your clients. Interacting with each
other bolsters all of your reputations and following your clients enhances your knowledge
about what they are interested in and what is important to them.
8. Take it with you
Twitter has a great mobile app that is easy to use on your phone or tablet. You don’t have to
dedicate copious amounts of time to Twitter. In fact, it’s amazing what a couple minutes in
line at the grocery store or waiting on hold can do for your Twitter presence.

23. Consider using
• Hootsuite is a free social media management tool that helps you manage your posting
to your social networks
• Hootsuite also allows you to set up feeds to monitor your engagement on social media
as well as to discover influencers and relevant content

24. 10 Tips for Using Social Media for Legal
Recruiting
1. Build a blog and blog about each job opportunity. Make sure you use visuals and post
a link back to each blog post on social media.
2. Use hashtags when posting jobs on Twitter and also when trying to build relationships.
Hashtags enable you to categorize your content and also to look for people who are actively
writing about different practice areas.
3. Build your network on LinkedIn. Engage with active and passive candidates as well as
in-house recruiters and hiring manager. Join LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions.
4. Create original content that is of value to potential candidates and in-house recruiters.
Don’t just post jobs. Give tips or share insights. Provide interview tips or statistics that may
be of value.
5. Use LinkedIn recruiter and the LinkedIn Connect App to build relationships and
expand your network. Participate in practice or industry specific groups to strategically grow
your network.
6. Create Twitter lists to monitor in-house recruiters and potential candidates. Create
practice specific or industry Twitter lists. Seek out influencers and engage with them on
Twitter.
7. Discover and reach candidates through Facebook groups. Join groups where potential
candidates hang out.
8. Use social media to identify similarities and connections between candidates and in-
house recruiters or attorneys. Look for things like volunteer work, interests, hobbies and
non-professional networks, which might be a match.
9. Focus on substance and networking. Don’t just use social media to post jobs. Use it to
strategically build connections with candidates (active and passive) as well as in house
recruiters.
10. Be creative and think outside the box. Use video, infographics. Memes or other visual
elements to engage with your target audience. Try out social networks where most recruiters
are not: i.e Google+, Instgram, Pinterest, Medium, Slideshare and Periscope.

25. QUESTIONS?
Guy Alvarez
www.good2bsocial.com
guy@good2bsocial.com
@guylaw1313