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Checklist: Online Reputation Management for Lawyers Flipbook PDF
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CH E CK LI S T
Online Reputation Management For Lawyers
About this Checklist Legal consumers no longer turn to the Yellow Pages to f ind a law yer; instead, they run a search on Google. The results of that search can of ten result in a phone call to your of f ice. That ’s why, for most law yers, online marketing is a power ful – and of ten af fordable – way to reach potential clients and bring in business.
Table of Contents Introduction Online Reputation Management
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STEP 1 Follow what’s Being Said About You and Your Firm
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STEP 2 Be Aware of What’s Being Said Online Review Sites
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STEP 3 Request and Track Feedback
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STEP 4 Augment Positive Reviews
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STEP 5 Manage Negative Reviews
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INTRODUCTION While online resources can help legal consumers f ind
You could hire a reputation management company to handle
law yers, they can also be used by those ver y same people to
this task for you, but the costs can add up. If you’d rather
express dissatisfac tion with a law f irm’s ser vices. With the
avoid the expense, then you’ll have to handle it in-house.
rise of Yelp and other online review sites, reputation
Here are some tips to help you do just that.
management has become more impor tant than ever. Knowing how to respond to online reviews both ef fec tively and ethically is key.
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STEP 1 Follow What’s Being Said About You and Your Firm. Monitor online chat ter by creating Google aler ts for discussions about you and your law f irm. Once you create the aler t you’ll receive emails whenever new matching results are located. You can also utilize tools that track online mentions of your law f irm, such as Social Mention, BrandWatch, or BrandsEye. Monitor online chat ter
Review summaries of online mentions
Create Google aler t s
Determine whether to take ac tion
Es tablish account s with online monitoring ser vices
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STEP 2 Be Aware of What’s Being Said on Online Review Sites The sites clients use to f ind law yers are of ten the same sites where they later leave feedback about their experience. That ’s why it makes sense to track what ’s being said about your f irm on those sites. The sites of ten used by legal consumers to provide feedback about law yers include: LinkedIn, Justia, Av vo, Yelp, Law yerRating, Mar tindale.com, Law yers.com, Yahoo, Yellow Pages, Google Places and Google Business. Choose online review sites to follow
Track comment s made about your f irm
Regis ter at those online review sites, if needed
Determine whether to take ac tion
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STEP 3 Request and Track Feedback One way to manage online feedback is to encourage positive comments from happy clients. These will balance any negative comments that may come your way in the future. Throughout each case, make sure to obtain regular feedback by s ystemizing the feedback process. Make sure to be receptive to your clients’ comments, and, if necessar y, make changes. Then, at the conclusion of each case, consider including a request for positive comments in your closing communications. Make sure to include a link to relevant sites to make it easier for your clients to leave comments – and for you to track them.
Create s ys tems to obtain client feedback throughout the life of a case
Implement necessar y changes
Review feedback regularly
Reques t online feedback at specif ic sites from client s at the close of a case
Determine whether changes are needed based on feedback
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STEP 4 Augment Positive Reviews When your clients leave positive reviews about your law f irm, make the most out of them. Highlight them by adding them to your law f irm website’s client testimonial sec tion. Also consider mentioning and linking to them on your law f irm’s Facebook page. Sharing good reviews engenders trust and encourages potential clients to retain your f irm’s ser vices.
Track internal and ex ternal client reviews
Pos t positive reviews on your website
Get permission from client s to use reviews
Consider sharing them on relevant social media sites, such as Facebook
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STEP 5 Manage Negative Reviews Hopefully, you’ll never receive a negative review. But if you do, you need to carefully and thought fully respond to the former client ’s feedback. Avoid addressing specif ic fac tual allegations since doing so adds credence to the claims and could also potentially violate client conf identialit y. Avoid expressing anger and instead, provide a brief response that is empathetic. Be aware of the optics should a potential client stumble upon this review. And f inally, counterac t the negative review by encouraging other clients to leave
Track online reviews
Make sure to avoid including conf idential information in your reply
Carefully and thought fully address negative reviews
Counterac t the review by asking other client s to leave positive reviews
positive reviews on that site.
Provide a brief, measured response and tr y to move the discussion of f line
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About the Author Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York at torney, author, journalist, and the Legal Technolog y Evangelist at MyCase, legal prac tice management sof t ware. She is the nationally-recognized author of “Cloud Computing for Law yers” (2012) and co -authors “ Social Media for Law yers: The Nex t Frontier ” (2010), both published by the American Bar A ssociation. She also co -authors “Criminal Law in New York,” a Thomson Reuters treatise. She writes regular columns for Above the Law, ABA Journal, and The Daily Record, has authored hundreds of ar ticles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersec tion of law and emerging technologies. She is an ABA Legal Rebel, and is listed on the Fastcase 50 and ABA LTRC Women in Legal Tech. She can be contac ted at [email protected].
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