LinkedIn is growing in numbers and functionality. It is permitted by my most, if not all, law firms.
Compare this to Facebook which causes angst like nothing else.
But there is a fork in the road:
A) The personal profile;
B) The company [firm] page (have you looked at your firm’s profile lately?).
Which camp are you in?
How do you integrate the two?
Firms need to understand that LinkedIn undermines your website. Will more people begin to see results a.k.a. instructions through LinkedIn and far, far less through the website? I know which camp I am in.
But once you/they achieve a degree of achievement how will the firm control:
2. Your Profile?
3. Ownership of y-o-u-r connections?
4. The message?
In truth, they won’t. The trap has been sprung.
Those in a position to manage the company page need to consider how they can harness the power of the internal network – think events, collateral and your best news. Have a strategy by all means but you need to think how you can leverage the 1st, 2nd and 3rd level connections of everyone. If you have a team meeting or two then make sure you keep LinkedIn high up the agenda. It is more important than your moribund advertising.
My prediction is that unless firms begin to invest time, effort and meaning to their website that more and more of your fee earners will see the road paved with LinkedIn gold. Don’t let it get to a point where you have no understanding of what is going on.
For those of you committed to the LinkedIn cause, you are on the right track to building a superlative Brand You.