Over Thanksgiving I came across an Entrepreneur Magazine Social Media Challenge Series. As you will see when you read the introduction, Entrepreneur Magazine says:

We asked the creative thinkers Denver digital marketing firm LeeReedy/Xylem Digital to help us take a local business, Big Papa’s Barbeque, from zero social presence to big-time social network strategist.

I bet you know my immediate thought:

Which suggestions in the test can you utilize and how can you utilize them?

The first post was Shh! You Have to Listen to Learn. The authors say:

The first step in any good social-media campaign is to listen. Find the conversations and become a fly on the wall.

I believe the first step in any client development campaign is to listen. You should determine what is being said about you and your law firm. One way is to set up Google alerts for your name and your law firm name. You also want to set up alerts on your legal specialty. The writers suggest you set up the same terms using Hootsuite. So, if I was still practicing transportation construction law, I might have alerts on each of my clients, my clients competitors, my clients’ industry associations and:

  • Bridge construction
  • Highway construction
  • Road construction
  • Airport construction
  • Rail construction

I realize that those broad terms will give me more information than I really want. So, I will have to determine if I can scroll through the information I am not interested efficiently or if I need to narrow my alerts.

Why should you listen? For me, the answer has always been simple: I want to learn of breaking business issues and figure out how they may generate a legal issue for my clients.

The second post by Entrepreneur Magazine was The Launch: On the Scene with Big Papa’s BBQ. In Part 2 of this series I will share my thoughts from that post. In the meantime, I urge you to subscribe to Entrepreneur Magazine, subscribe to its blog and follow it on Twitter.