Many lawyers blog. But what about live blogging while at a conference?
One of the most exciting conferences for interactive (technology) as well as film and music is going on right now in Austin: SXSW . Social Media Today’s Lee Oden, blogging live from SXSW, posted some great tips for effective live blogging while at SXSW.
Lawyers could apply these same tips while blogging and posting live during legal or industry conferences.
For example, Lee suggests checking out the conference schedule in advance, and planning to arrive at key sessions early (so that you’re seated near a plug.) I’d also suggest examining all concurrent sessions and selecting ones that would be particularly interesting your blog readership.
Lee suggests typing the posts in an application like Notepad and then transferring them to your blog. This works well in case you lose your internet connection during a session.
Promoting your posts immediately is also key, Lee notes, via Facebook, LinkedIn and the like. To take advantage of the “real time” nature of your blogging efforts; you want to get the word out fast.
Live blogging has an excitement and sense of “urgency” that blogging after the fact doesn’t (much like live journalistic coverage is more thrilling than recap reporting). Of course, blogging during conferences is also a great way to reach readers across the globe who couldn’t ravel to attend the conference in person; even if they read your posts the next day rather than in real time, the coverage will still be fresher than the summaries printed in post-conference newsletters months later.
By now, many lawyers are using (or considering using) social media sources like Facebook and Twitter. In her helpful article “Social Media 101” for a recent issue of the Texas Bar Journal, lawyer coach Debra Bruce sets forth the pros and cons of various professionally-focused networking sites for specifically for lawyers like Legal OnRamp, Martindale-Hubbell Connected, JD Supra, and LawLink.
But what about lawyers who wants to start networking internationally?
Facebook is a good, general place to begin international social networking expansion, especially with the 2008 launch of Facebook en español (with French and German versions expected next). In South America, Orkut, Sónico, and Fotolog are also very popular, with 54% of Orkut’s users being Portuguese speakers from Brazil. (Americas Quarterly reports that asking a Brazilian for his/her “Orkut name” is as common as requesting a telephone number or email.)
The Google-owned Orkut remains popular in India, although Facebook recently unseated it as the most popular social networking site. Friendster continues to be popular in Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, although its influence in the region is slipping–coinciding with Facebook’s rollout of sites for Malaysia, the Phillipines and Vietnam. China boasts a number of popular social media sites. According to ReadWriteWeb, while China’s Renren.com may have the most members, but Kaixin001.com claims to have more educated members.
Lawyers wanting to reach European clients should consider joining European social networking sites in addition to Facebook. According to Bas van den Beld, owner of stateofsearch.com, Facebook leads the way in 11 out of 17 European countries, but Skyrock (France), Tuenti (Spain), StudiVZ Group (Germany), Hyves (Netherlands), all have hold in their respective country. The social networking site Xing (founded in Germany) markets to all European professionals.
Creating a social media presence abroad can be an effective and inexpensive way to start relationships globally. Why not extend your social media reach abroad into your prospective clients’ backyards?
Some lawyers are notorious for emphasizing risks and potential downfalls–so much so that they turn off their clients.
So, while sitting in the Frankfurt airport’s business lounge yesterday, I was interested to happen on a story about just that–but in this case, the “negative spin” was caused by a cross-cultural discrepancy. As my Knowing how another culture thinks = Payoff post in my Global Rainmaking blog notes, one culture’s concept of detailing business risks (British, in this case) may discourage potential clients in another culture (Americans, in this case). Again, the potential American clients didn’t like the British proposal because it seemed too negative; this was caused by a basic difference in the the parties’ respective cultural attitudes about disclosing business risks and rewards.
As mentioned, one of the great things about yesterday’s article in the International Herald Tribune is that it shows how increased awareness of such cultural business differences improves the chance of global business success. So, before submitting your next client proposal, you might do a culture check; even if the language is the same, the cultural norms and attitudes might differ.
What can lawyers possibly learn from FarmVille’s international social media success? As discussed in my Global Rainmaking blog, FarmVille’s creators took an idea that appealed to a wide variety of people, regardless of gender, culture or age–and developed it into a global phenomenon. Similarly, international lawyers who work with a wide variety of clients must think of social media strategies that appeal to prospective clients regardless of culture. For more suggestions, read Learn from FarmVille’s Social Media Success.
The ABA Journal has posted some great, simple tips for using Facebook more effectively and securely. These tips include: using, and regularly changing, a “strong” password; updating privacy settings; and segregating clients on a “friends list”–and treating this list differently in terms of which Facebook information your clients can access.
