I’ve decided to take a break from politics and the deterioration of the world as we know it. My sanity at stake, I’m bravely taking refuge in the safe and practical territory of my blog, this time to implore all the LinkedIn skeptics in my world—friends, family, colleagues and, especially, clients–to allocate three minutes to this short, sweet, well researched report from BTI Consulting.* So help me out please.
Here’s what BTI found:
“The most demanding and sophisticated Chief Legal Officers in the world are hiring new attorneys through LinkedIn.”
And the conclusion? It’s obvious, albeit inconvenient, right?
To those of you long ago converted, no, this isn’t really news. GCs have been looking to LinkedIn since at least 2015 for news, opinion and—yes—ideas for new lawyers and law firms. To date, however, the statistics have not convinced the holdouts, those among us who consider social media to be confusing, undignified, “salesy”, irritating, frivolous or just too time consuming.
A few direct quotations from the BTI report:
- “21% of top legal decision makers are actively using LinkedIn to find new ideas [and] new attorneys, network, and stay noticed themselves.”
- These 21% “are the biggest spenders with the biggest needs”, spending “twice as much on legal as other companies and 3 times the amount of those who don’t use LinkedIn”.
- “15% of leading GCs [share] knowledge and [look] for knowledge in return. 1/3rd are looking for and reading articles. We expect these numbers to double in the next 3 years.”
- “Almost half of all GCs (48.4%) are using LinkedIn, just not to the extent of the power spenders/users discussed above. These early stage users rely on LinkedIn to research attorneys they plan to hire, and to maintain and grow their networks.”
Now what?
1. Rework your LinkedIn bio, jettison the cut and paste from your firm website and write something brief and compelling. (If you don’t have a profile at all, pull yourself together, honestly… It’s time!)
2. Connect with all of your professional contacts. Do so, whenever possible, directly from their profiles, including a personal note. A good way to catch up or reconnect.
3. Start posting news and information of interest to your contacts, always including your own take on it. Share articles others share(again, always adding your insights)
3. Always keep in mind that LinkedIn, like other social media platforms, is a collegial place. It is not for boasting or pitching. People come to learn.
4. Build LinkedIn into your schedule. Half an hour a week? Ten minutes a day? Try it out.
Briefly put:
Maintain a readable, memorable profile.
Connect.
Promote others.
Offer value.
Make it a habit.
That’s it. Carry on!
*BTI did its homework for this report, conducting 330-plus interviews (between February and August last year) with CLOs and General Counsel at Fortune 1000 companies and large organizations.
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