As part 2 in my 3 part blog series (you can see part one on Networking and Events here) I am talking about social media for Business Development (BD).
For this purpose, I am going to focus this blog on LinkedIn, but let’s just quickly tick off Facebook and Twitter, which in my opinion are less useful when talking BD.
Facebook – Is your company page live with relevant content shared there? If not, create one. No, Facebook isn’t a particularly engaged channel when it comes to Law, but you need a page to be able to run ads and it all feeds into your overall online visibility.
Twitter – A fast paced platform most often used for complaining and controversial topics. As with Facebook, make sure you own your brand and have a company profile, even if you aren’t using regularly. From a BD aspect, it is wise to follow and engage with your Business clients here. It can also be a great research tool.
For me top of the class is LinkedIn when talking BD.
Most people don’t realise how much you can do for free on LinkedIn. Paying for a premium profile? Cancel it! I have yet to meet a lawyer that needs the paid for version. I live on LinkedIn and even I can’t justify it.
So, what should we be doing on LinkedIn to aid Business Development? I will break this down into 2 areas:
1. Research – hopefully, having read my first blog about why you should be networking you are now doing so. In which case, you can use LinkedIn to aid this activity by researching the other attendees. This will give you intel on their back story and help you build conversations that will accelerate the know, trust and like process. Not only that, if you are connecting with them. you will hopefully continue to engage and communicate and thus relationship build.
2. Targeting – really for me this is the LinkedIn gold. You can target your ideal client on LinkedIn, for free – yes for free! (However, please do not outsource this and do en masse, it doesn’t work!) Here is a screen grab of what the search function looks like.
To get to this page you need to follow these steps;
1. Click my network
2. Click on connections
3. Click search with filters
4. Click all filters in the top nav bar
5. Your search box as below will then appear
You now have the ability to search by location, industry and job title.
Firstly, make sure you have ticked the 2nd connection box and unticked the 1st connection box.
If you are a conveyancer you may want to know the estate agents in your area. You would select Greater Brighton and Hove area, Real estate (remember it’s an American platform) and Director in the keyword section under Title.
LinkedIn will search for your second-degree connections that meet these criteria. You can then work through the list and connect with those that are relevant (remember to personalise your message!)
However, that alone is not enough.
As with everything, the follow up here is key…
When the person accepts your connection request, make sure you follow them up. No, not with a generic sales message but with something relevant to them. For example, keeping the property theme, you might want to offer an introduction to your head of private client for probate referrals. Maybe over lunch or a coffee (depending on the value of the target).
Right now, law firms are not doing this. I am sure there will come a day when they do, by which point if you haven’t yet taken advantage of this process, you will be missing out. Other sectors are successfully using LinkedIn as a business development tool and no, they are not all recruiters. My agency and others that supply businesses have won business from this approach so what’s stopping you?
Need more hand holding and advice? You can book me to train your team and remember as a LFMC member you benefit from a discount.
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