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If you have hesitated putting yourself on Social Media websites, read this guest blog post from Lead Generation Lab.

Okay, so it’s not so secret. But why are so few law firms maximizing on the incredible benefits of social media for marketing their services?

It’s simple. Lawyers and social media just don’t mix well together. But with today’s online social trends, it’s about time law firms should conquer that social media dragon. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn give you that ability to reach out to hundreds of individuals and potential clients at the same time.

Forums, blogs, and video sites also give you the chance to interact personally and give helpful advice that will establish you as a thought leader in your area of expertise.

Here are other reasons why you should jump on over to the social bandwagon:

• Websites that cater to business people and professionals attracts thousands of people daily. Take for example LinkedIn, it has over 200 million registered users with 35% of those visiting the site daily! Even if just 1% of that can see your posts, that’s 2 million people and potential clients!
• It is the fastest way to promote your website. You could have the greatest law firm website in the world that has complete attorney profiles, list of cases and former clients, and full contact details but it’s not getting as much traffic as you want. Why? Because people these days no longer surf the web as much as they used to. They search for something, they avail the service, and that’s it. Being on social media marketing ensures that you can reach out to more people, and at the same time tell these people that there’s someone behind that company name that actually reaches out and interacts with them.
• Everybody’s on social media. Well not really, but consider the latest statistic that says social media has overtaken porn as the number one activity on the net. Now that’s saying something, isn’t it? (http://youtu.be/QUCfFcchw1w)

There is no doubt at all that any marketing strategy should involve social media. But law firms should be careful, as abuse of social media can have its consequences too. Every post on social sites should focus more on marketing and less on actual cases, current and otherwise, to avoid possible legal problems.

Just remember that when it comes to social media, as with any other marketing platform, too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

About Lead Generation Lab:

The Lead Generation Lab (LGL) team represents the most comprehensive and integrated group of Performance TV professionals under one roof in Australia – Creatives, Copywriters, Strategists, Data Analysts, Media Buyers, TV Editors, CGI animators, Producers and Client Service Managers. 

At LexisNexis' LegalTech New York 2013 panel, "Taming the Wild West of Social Media: The Secrets of Social Media Success in the Legal Profession," moderator Steve Mann (chief marketing officer of the Research & Litigation Solutions business at LexisNexis^®) set the tone for the session by walking attendees through some important demographic changes underway in the legal profession.

Here is a video clip from the panel discussion:

Lead generation scams have spread across the Internet and can affect your law firm.  You need to know this because one of the scammers may be using your law firm name and address as their location in Google Local or on Yelp.com.

I just ran a search for a lawyer in New York and unexpectedly discovered a fake Google Place page. Clicking the link referred me to a law firm in another state.

Back on the Google search results page, I noticed there was a link I had never seen before on Google, asking: "Is this accurate?" I clicked it, completed the online "Report a Problem" form and reported that the link misdirected me.

Here's how the scam works: A "lead-gen" company, as they're known in the biz, collects leads from consumers needing services. They do this be creating hundreds of phony Google Local places and Yelp businesses listings online. A potential customer will conduct a search such as "lawyer in Seattle" and will view a selection of law firms with supposedly local name, address and phone number, all pinpointed on a local map.

However, when the customer clicks the displayed hyperlink or calls the number, they'll reach a phone bank -- sometimes in other countries -- which will refer the caller to a business that has paid to receive leads from that city, state or zip code. The scam is so widespread, the New York Times ran an article about it on July 10.

Many of the lead-gen scams will use the name and address of an actual business or law firm to steal leads that should rightly be coming to them. To see a video of how the scam has spread like a plague in the locksmith industry, watch Consumer Alert! on YouTube.

It was amazing to see the brazen audacity of the phony Google Places listing for the New York law firm I was seeking. The fake listing showed a picture of the real lawyer, his address, phone number and location on a Google map. But the link to the firm directed me elsewhere.

What you should do if it happens to you

• Google your firm name, address and telephone number immediately and determine if all the search results are legitimate.
• If you find a fake listing, click the "Is this accurate?" link provided by Google.
• Find the "Edit This Place" link in the fake listing, and next click the link "You can report a problem."
• Contact Gabriel Stricker, the Director of Global Communications & Public Affairs at Google Inc, at 650.253.0139 or gstricker@google.com.