Legal Internet Marketing Blog

Over a month ago, Facebook announced the most expansive and innovative update to its site to-date: Facebook Timeline. However, the general public has yet to experience this new update for itself (at least those users who haven’t already gone out of their way to add the new layout to their profiles). While Facebook has hinted at multiple release dates over the course of the past month or so, the redesigned profiles have yet to become official, which has some people asking what the hold up is about.

For anyone who has kept on top of Facebook news since the social network’s f8 conference, it’s no secret that Facebook Timeline has fewer fans than the company anticipated it would. Given Facebook’s poor track record of user-pleasing platform updates though, it’s really no surprise that the general sentiment towards Timeline was less than positive. This time, however, it’s another web company that is possibly the most displeased opponent of Facebook’s new update.

Timelines.com is suing Facebook for the exact same thing that Facebook has gone after a variety of other companies for: using a term that it feels is directly tied to the branding of its company and is therefore off limits for all others to use. While it may be safe to speculate that Facebook will eventually make this matter fade into the past, a pending lawsuit could be the very thing that is tying up the release date of Facebook’s new profile layout. So, until this legal matter is cleared up in court or some sort of settlement is reached, Facebook Timeline will continue to sit on the shelf, waiting to be made available to the public, whether with open arms or not.

As far as legal Internet marketing campaigns are concerned, any updates to Facebook’s site should be examined, learned about, and utilized in whatever ways possible to help market one’s brand. In the meantime, the best strategy to maintain in regards to Facebook should be to maintain a complete and active profile. That is, if Facebook gives you an opportunity to reveal information about yourself, use it. That way, once the Timeline update does take place, you won’t have to worry about completing your new-look profile, but will merely have to embrace it, continue to be an active participant on it, and look for ways to help promote your company’s message.

In case you missed our tweetup last week, the SLS Consulting team discussed the importance of Facebook fan pages and how law firms, and businesses in general, can benefit from them.

We started off the conversation by pointing out that a Facebook fan page should be different from your personal, private Facebook page. Why have a Facebook fan page at all? It’s a great way to reach a wider audience as well as a more targeted one. Believe it or not, a lot of discussions happen online now, which is why it’s called “social networking,” and Facebook is first in the lead. If you’re not in the loop, you may miss out. Another benefit of a Facebook fan page is that it gets indexed by search engines, thus increasing your online presence and making your law firm easier to find.

During the tweetup, we also discussed how to get people to “Like” your Facebook fan page. Ultimately, if you put time and effort into your fan page, in addition to participating on other fan pages and profile pages, you will help make yourself known as an authority in your field. If you’re interesting and offer others insight visitors consider to be valuable, there’s a good chance they will want to share your fan page and your information with their friends.

Having a successful Facebook fan page requires you to be consistent and aware of what tools to utilize. Post relevant pictures, links, and videos to engage people more. Update your status regularly and don’t always make it about you. Notes are a great tool because you can use simple html to include links back to your site or other sites of interest.

Deciding to create and manage a Facebook fan page may seem like a giant leap at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. To learn more about how to make the most of your Facebook fan page, read the entire transcript of our tweetup, “Do People LIKE You?”, on our Facebook page. Also, feel free to direct message us on Twitter – our account is @LegalBlogs.

To join the discussion next time, find us on Twitter at 10 a.m. on Fridays. Include #knowSEO with your tweets or send us a direct message for more information.

At the end of April, Facebook launched a new feature, its Send button, which will render the “email to a friend” button on most websites obsolete. The Send button is very similar to Facebook’s already popular Like button, which celebrated its first birthday recently and is installed on over 10,000 websites every week. However, this new Send button has a few differences from the Like button.

When a user clicks on the Send button, a pop-up box appears which allows them to send the page or article to a friend or group on Facebook or to any email address. A message can be added before sending the page or article to the friend’s Facebook inbox or the wall of the group. Facebook designed the button to make it easier for Facebook users to share content they like or find interesting with their close group of friends, with a focus on private sharing rather than public sharing.

One significant detail of the new Facebook Send button is that Send counts towards the total number of Likes a webpage or article has, according to Mashable. Now, the Like total is calculated by adding the number of Likes, comments, shares, and inbox messages that contain the specific URL. Over 50 major websites have incorporated the Send button, including People.com, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Anyone who wishes to include the Send button on their website can find the code on Facebook’s Developer website.

Related to Facebook’s introduction of the Send button is the relatively new start-up Likester, which is a database users can search to see what their friends have Liked on Facebook, as well as users across the globe. Searches can be limited to friends-only, or to a certain location. For example, at the time this blog was written, the three top Likes on Facebook for the Los Angeles area were pages for Star Wars, Good Fellas, and swimming. A search can also be done to see what is popular for the current day, as well as to see what people who liked a certain page were more likely to Like based upon their Like history. Results can also be filtered by specific categories. Users can also browse through a “Like log” which lists everything a user’s Facebook friends have liked, and when, which is convenient since Facebook typically hides repeat Likes from users’ newsfeeds. Likester may be the only platform on the Internet right now that gives both users as well as businesses an effective and efficient way of finding trends in Facebook Likes.

While it remains to be seen how effective Likester will be and its impact on marketers, there’s no doubt about the value of Facebook Likes for a business page. With Facebook’s users nearing 600 million, having the chance to connect and engage with these users is an almost invaluable opportunity for law firms and attorneys. Now more than ever, the impact Facebook has on the Internet across the world should be recognized, and if it is not something you or your law firm is a part of, it’s something you need to be considering, as well as joining other social networking sites.

Sources: http://mashable.com/2011/04/25/facebook-send-groups/; http://mashable.com/2011/05/04/likester/

Attorneys and other businesses with a Facebook page have a new way to increase discussion and commentary on their websites and blogs. Facebook just released a restructured Comments plugin to allow publishers to sync comments throughout a site and a Facebook page. The updated plugin also includes threaded comments and moderation controls.

According to Mashable, the new Comments plugin will put Facebook in the spotlight more than ever. The updated plugin also offers a way to improve and contextualize commentary and bring a Facebook-like conversation to other websites. As users read through various comments left on a website off of Facebook with the plugin, they can mark comments as spam or report inappropriate or abusive comments. There is also an option for users to share comments left on a website with the Comments plugin by posting the comment to their wall and being distributed to their Facebook friends. In creating threaded conversations, the new plugin is designed so that comments on an article or a post are shown together in the same conversation so no one misses a part of the conversation.

Users who would like to integrate the new Comments plugin can access the code on Facebook’s Social Plugins page. However, it’s important for publishers to remember that it takes more than simply adding a plugin to generate discussion and an online community. Active participation is also essential so that you don’t miss timely comments or questions left by visitors.

Facebook offers various plugins that can be added to websites off of Facebook. The Like button has broken ground on many blogs and websites, allowing anyone with a Facebook account the chance to give their two cents. Similar to how retweeting on Twitter registers material as relevant in search results, Likes and Comments on Facebook and within websites that contain Facebook plugins also serve as potential ways to gain high search results and be considered an online authority.

The new Comments plugin also gives publishers the opportunity to synchronize comments so that they appear on both their site and Facebook page. Publishers can control comment visibility by adjusting settings to make comments private or hidden. Certain users and specific words can also be monitored through backlist controls.

While the new Comments plugin offers some great features, it’s unclear at this time how the plugin might influence site performance or page load time since it uses a script.

Have you ever sat back and really looked at your website? Is it interesting? If it wasn't yours, would you explore it? Is it easy to navigate? Does it provide pertinent information and invite viewers to contact you if they need more information?

Hopefully, you answered yes to all of those questions. If you didn't though, an effective Internet marketing campaign can correct those issues.

Once you feel as though your site is interesting, you may want to consider adding a "Like Button" to it. What's that? You have no idea what a "Like Button" is? Don't worry; it's pretty easy to explain.

With the huge popularity of social networking sites, attorneys and law firms would be wise to establish a strong social networking presence (in case you're lost on how to do so, don't worry...your legal Internet marketing company should be able to help you out). If you only pick one site to establish yourself on, Facebook should be it. Not only does the site have 500 million users worldwide, but it has essentially cornered the market on social interaction on the Internet, and is often the first place people go when they begin surfing the web.

As of late, a popular part of the Facebook experience involves the site's Like Button. That is, when a Facebook user stumbles across something on the site that they find interesting, or like, that user can choose to "Like" it. The addition of this "Like" will post to the user's Facebook Wall and their Newsfeed, which means that it will also show up on the user's friends' newsfeeds. Ultimately, the Like Button should be viewed as exposure, a chance for users to market your business even if they don't realize that they're doing it.

So, if you have a website that you like, why not add a Like Button to it? It'll not only show up on Facebook, but it'll include a link back to your website, increasing web traffic and the chance that a potential client in need of legal advice will find your site. But remember, unless your site is well designed and worth navigating around in, don't add a Like button just for fun. You don't want Facebook users to click a link to your site, be disappointed, and then mention to their friends how lame your site is. Social networks are, after all, giant forums for recommending and discovering cool new places on the Internet. Unless your site is up to par, you may want to forego the Like Button at this point. Never fear though, because site redesign is just a point and click away from becoming a reality.