Thank you to the author Samantha Collier, a Knapp Marketing team member and author of the popular blog, Social Media for Law Firms.
As legal marketers, we know and love LinkedIn. More importantly, unlike Facebook, we don’t have to bribe our attorney clients to create LinkedIn profiles because it’s the preferred social network for business development for lawyers. LinkedIn recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a variety of new features. Today, we’re teaching you how to supercharge the LinkedIn Status Update with the new Facebook-Style Mention
Similar to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn recently rolled out the ability to mention people and companies in status updates. This feature adds a link to the company and/or person in the status update, and it sends a notification to that account about their recent interaction. (LinkedIn’s slideshow of screenshots is here.)
Why is this so important? In a perfect world, you would have the time to add everyone you meet at conferences, events and meetings to your LinkedIn Network. Previously, the only way to follow up with a lead on LinkedIn was to send the contact a direct message or interact with them in a discussion within a group, if you were both members.
Now, you can mention LinkedIn connections in status updates when relevant. For example, you can share an article authored by the person you’re trying to build a relationship with. Mention the lead in the status update and compliment their work. They’ll receive a notification and see your kind words. Additionally, you can share firm blog posts and mention the author and firm name. This will encourage LinkedIn connections to follow the company on LinkedIn which will broaden the firm’s reach online.
How to Craft the Perfect LinkedIn Update:
- When you want to mention a Company or LinkedIn Connection, begin typing the name of a company or connection in the status update box. You can also add the name naturally within a sentence – it doesn’t have to be at the beginning of the post!
- Select your desired Company or LinkedIn Connection from the list of connections that appear in the drop-down box. Complete your status update.
- The mentioned company or person will receive an instant notification informing them they have been mentioned on LinkedIn. Hopefully, they will return the favor and engage in conversation.
If you’re one of those lawyers who has never actually posted a LinkedIn update, a look at the facts may motivate you to speak up (i.e. post an update). A recent study found that 77% of LinkedIn users use the site to research people and companies. As last month’s Greentarget survey of social media use by GCs demonstrated, important potential clients are using LinkedIn to vet and research lawyers and law firms.