As a follow up to my last blog post on be good at what you do and be visible,

…and back up your visibility with consistent performance! Remember, performance trumps all. Expert first – speaker second!

The changing dynamics in buyer behavior will force many organizations to engage and influence their current and prospective customers very differently in the “new norm” of 2010 and beyond.  Marketing will have to focus much more proactively on one-to-one relationships (as advocated by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers of Peppers & Rogers Group in the early 90s – talk about being ahead of your time!) whether on the corporate website/blog, or a multitude of social networks.

The organizations of 2010 and beyond must become much more astute in how they identify and respond to the ever fluid market dynamics.  In short, they have to learn to engage and influence more and mass broadcast less, participate in communities, set up LinkedIn groups and Facebook fan pages, read blogs and respond to tweets, create conversations, and share photos – in short, Listen Louder! In many ways, social networks are changing the rules of influence and engagement.

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The prevalence of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other social networking tools has certainly raised awareness for personal relationship development and social networking best practices. When the use of the same social interaction functionality is brought into an organization to manage client or customer interactions and partner or supplier engagement in order to enable and manage collaboration within your organization, the mindset becomes one of Enterprise 2.0.

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West LegalEdcenter and LawBiz are pleased to offer this joint webcast on social networking best practices…

Law management guru, Ed Poll, JD, MBA, CMC, and social networking strategist, David Nour show listeners how they can extend the reach of their business development activities using social media strategies such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Second Life, and Plaxo.

Host, Ed Poll, is a nationally recognized management consultant who has helped to transform many law practices into profitable and successful businesses. Featured guest, David Nour, is a social networking strategist and author of Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2008). In this webcast, the hosts will show listeners how to develop a meaningful online presence on social networking sites that enhance online visibility and search engine ranking, modernize business development by bringing it into the 21st century and increase profitability.

This one-hour presentation will provide an overview of LinkedIn: the ultimate business-to-business social networking platform, and discuss how to create a content-rich profile that will position a law firm or an individual practitioner on one of the networking platforms to enhance prospective client outreach and provide quality information about the services offered.

Additionally, the webcast will discuss the best practices used by social networkers on how to handle stagnated relationships, unanswered requests, unsolicited invitations and how not to abuse the system. Content covered in the webinar will also include the more advanced strategies of social networking, including advanced search techniques for a more targeted effort, turning answers into alliances, knowledge management, and the value of premium memberships.

About Ed Poll

Ed Poll, JD, MBA, CMC, is a nationally recognized expert in law practice management. He helps attor­neys and law firms increase their profitability, consulting with them on issues of internal operations, business development, and financial matters. Ed brings his clients a solid background in both law and business. He has 25 years experience as a practicing attorney and has also served as CEO and COO for several manufac­turing businesses. In 1990 he founded LawBiz® Management Company and is now focused on coaching, speaking, and training law firms.

Ed is the author of numerous publications that have become the definitive works in the field and has just released his newest book Law Firm Fees & Compensation: Value & Growth Dynamics (LawBiz® Management Co., 2008). He is also a columnist for the Association of Legal Administrators and contributes the “LawBiz® Coach’s Corner” to Lawyers Weekly. 

About David Nour

David Nour is a social networking strategist and one of the foremost thought leaders on the quantifiable value of business relationships.  In a global economy that is becoming increasingly disconnected, Nour Group is solving global client challenges with intracompany, as well as externally focused, Strategic Relationship Planning™.

David is the author of Relationship Economics (Wiley, 2008) and What Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Raising Capital (Praeger, 2009), a senior management advisor, and a featured speaker for corporate, association and academic forums, where he shares his knowledge and experience as a leading change agent and catalyst for Relationship Economics® – the art and science of business relationships.

For the past five years I have chosen to invest my professional online social networking efforts in using LinkedIn. Currently, I have over 1,000 contacts, belong to a dozen different groups, have been recommended by over 50 people, and am an active user of the answers and recently released application sections. I also spend much of my time conducting “best practices” consulting, training and coaching on effective use of LinkedIn for senior executives and front line staff.

With over 30 million LinkedIn users, less than 10 percent actually know how to get the most from this platform. The goal of this article is to serve as a wake up call as much as a future foretold. I believe there are five fundamental reasons as to why the demise of LinkedIn is imminent if there are not critical improvements:

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