Posts Tagged: "Social Media"

About ten months ago I wrote, The Importance of Having a Web Presence where I discussed why you should have a website, where you can buy your domain name and how to find webhosting services. No matter what type of business you have, whether it be a brick and mortar retail location, a consulting business, a law firm or any other type of business, large or small, you need to have a company website if you are to have any real chance of keeping up with the competition. But what makes a successful website? How can you get consumers past the home page? What do you feature on your website? How do you set it up? Whether you are starting from scratch or simply trying to improve the website that you already have, there are key components that every website should possess, eleven of which I will share with you today.

When asked to name the Social Media Site most widely used by the business community, (in your opinion), I would venture a guess that more often than not people think of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is one of the few non industry specific Social Media venues that is widely utilized by professionals. But there is so much more to LinkedIn than just housing your resume. Since I wrote my series about LinkedIn there has been new capabilities that have emerged and new ways to customize your LinkedIn Profile. You can now even add a list of patents!

The demographics on users of social media can be surprising – a large percentage are over 35, and have six-figure incomes. These users have a lot of buying power and are often making the purchasing decisions for their households. Once they know this, clients can grasp the importance of both using social media proactively. But what is the risk? In the trade secret arena you could lose everything through inappropriate use by you or your employees, and the same is true in the trademark context as well.

What do you think of my jumping buddy over there? Let’s call him “George”. George is just one example of the enormous number of inventions being made to serve our newly emerging social networking economy. George was created using a patent pending process called Evolver. He’s an avatar that can be transported to any number of different full immersion virtual world networking sites. Many new companies are forming to commercialize these new social networking innovations. They are also filing patent applications. They have many challenges ahead of them to get those patents.

I am really looking forward to these PLI programs in particular. I will be signed up to attend via webcast the programs I cannot make live, and I will be in in Chicago, IL in March for the Patent Bar Review Course and in New York City for the 5th Annual Patent Law Institute from February 17-18, 2011. If your firm is a privileged member you can attend these and all other PLI programs for free, with the exception of the Patent Bar Review Course.

Chances are you have already put some thought into Social media at some point over the course of 2010. And chances are you or your company is currently finalizing your advertising and marketing budgets for 2011. But how many have included Social Media as a part of your marketing and advertising campaign? Are you are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, IP Alley and other social media sites pertinent to your industry or specialty with in your field? Those you have created profiles on different sites, how active are you in your social media marketing campaigns? How often do you update your work experience and other information? How often do you post content on your profile. How often do you tweet? This are all things you can and should do. And since we are nearing the end of 2010, I thought I would share with you a a list of “Social Media Resolutions” that you should add to your 2011 Marketing and brand building campaign.

As I learn more about my new mobile business tools, I am amazed at how much I can do with them to enhance my business. According to Apple there are over 50,000 apps available for download on the iPhone alone. In fact, we often play a game in our family that I like to call, “Is there an app for that?” We have found some seriously odd applications. But with all of the apps that are available, how can you determine which apps are most suitable for you and your business? Following is a guide to some of my favorite and some of the more popular non-industry specific iPhone, iPad and iPod applications that you can use to keep up with your Social Media no matter where you go.

One of the biggest myths surrounding Expertise is that in order to be considered an expert, you need to know more than everyone else about the topic at hand. In reality, you just need to know more than or at least be able to educate those within your target audience to be considered an “Expert” on the subject. The question becomes, with the vast number of businesses and attorneys turning to Social Media today, how does one stand out in the crowd? Perhaps the single most prominent way to stand out and Demonstrate Expertise and Build Credibility using Social Media, is through regular visibility while sharing your knowledge with others.

The Association of Patent Law Firms (APLF) will present its 2010 Annual Meeting in Chicago from September 29 to October 1 at the Hyatt Regency. The event will bring together lawyers and professionals whose practices are dedicated to patent, trademark and copyright law. Renee C. Quinn, of IPWatchdog, Inc., will be one of the speakers on the program this year, discussing Social Networking for the IP Lawyer on Friday, October 1, 2010. In addition to discussing the Social Networking phenomenon, the APLF Annual Meeting program will addresses contemporary IP law firm management issues in addition to current substantive IP topics. IP experts from Whirlpool, INVISTA and Clorox will share their IP experiences and issues and how they relate to recent IP developments.

In response to the privacy concerns being raised against Facebook, four United States Senators, Charles Schumer of NY, Michael Bennet of CO, Mark Begich of Alaska and Al Franken of MI, joined forces and on April 27th wrote a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting that Facebook alter its policies on privacy. Currently Facebook information is available on third party websites without user permission. However, the Senators want Facebook to change its provisions so that Facebook user information is kept private and can only be shared with the user’s explicit permission blocking non-Facebook websites from accessing this information.