Summer was no reason for Stem clients to slow down. Here’s a quick list of what they were up to in the month of August:

• In his second post about legal in-sourcing, McClanahan Myers Espey LLP attorney Randy McClanahan called for an end to the billable hour and encouraged companies to consider retaining outside counsel by contingency fee or other performance-based fee structures.
• New York personal injury lawyer John Hochfelder guest-blogged at Point of Law, covering a variety of topics such as golf ball injuries and wrongful death pain and suffering awards. While most law blog readers wouldn’t see John as a tort reform kinda guy, he seemed to fit in quite well. Walter Olson recognized him as ‘POL’s first plaintiff’s side guest blogger‘,  along with a little recognition from fellow New York PI lawyer, Eric Turkewitz.
• And speaking of Mr. Hochfelder, his (critical) post about a skydiver’s parachute failing to open, and the woman suing her ‘life saving’ instructor was a viral marketing hit last week. Over a 48-hour period, the post logged more than 22,000 unique visitors!
• Clark Wilson LLP’s Corporate Finance and Securities Chair Bernard Pinsky wrote an article for Lawyers Weekly entitled “Raising capital across borders: Why we need an international agreement on securities regulation“.
• On his Nursing Homes Abuse Lawyer blog, Chicago elder law attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld wondered whether nursing home chains intentionally attempt to deceive the public about true corporate ownership.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz LLP launched a new practice page for Fleet phospho-soda, as well as a new microsite, HerbalFenPhenLawyers.com.
• Phoenix criminal attorney Lawrence Koplow answered seven frequently-asked questions about Arizona search and asset seizure.
• West Palm Beach lawyer Ronald Chapman discussed a little-known law: that it is illegal for a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to possess a firearm.
• Themis Solutions, the makers of legal case management software Clio, described why they take a “less is more” approach to software design, usability, and purpose.
• Our only non-legal client, The Meadows Addiction Center launched a new FAQ website at AddictionandFamily.com.
• And finally, NJ criminal attorney John Marshall wrote a post describing an increase in identify theft and credit card fraud cases in New Jersey.

And, we’ll be back next month with more client news to share.

Heather Morrison of the CNW Group, formerly Canada News Wire, released a 11-pg report yesterday titled Canadian Law Firms and their Use of Social Media. I am quoted in it, so please excuse the vanity reference.

The report itself offers a nice overview of the benefits of social media investment. That’s important, but the part I appreciated most was the focus on relationship building. Great relationships are a key driver of success for any law firm (or lawyer’s) search strategy. The reason? Relationships not only improve our network of contacts, which alone is a worthy goal, but they form the basis of the link network behind most firm websites.

Links, remember, are ultimately a form of online currency and a driver of what many people refer to as ‘google juice’ – a measure of trust, and better search rankings.

At one point in the paper, I’m also quoted saying that firms ‘not skip steps‘. Let me explain that further. Broken down, I often consider these three components:

• content – eg. blogs, papers, newsletters;
• distribution channels – eg. twitter, email, RSS, JD Supra; and
• relationships - either mirroring & codifying one’s existing relationships with links, or driving new relationships with social media;

Most firms (not all) have content at least partially covered. They may be sending out paper or email newsletters (distribution) and connecting with existing clients. In the past, that’s what firms had to work with. Could they now have more forms of content? or distribute via more channels? Absolutely, but it’s hard to argue that having those basic pieces functioning (think: 80:20 rule, existing clients…) didn’t create some success.

But this 2/3 element scenario, also created a huge gap in search marketing. Without relationships driving links, firms weren’t creating any kind of an ‘after effect‘; where their published content continues to rank well in the search engines, and continues to drive new readers creating exposure. But with Social Media participation (I include blogger-to-blogger relationships here), and creating new relationships with the associated links, firms are often able to make their publishing work harder & longer. In the cases of extremely popular content, years after the date of publication.

As the years pass, and a firm’s volume of substantive publishing increases, so too does this ‘after effect‘.  And the driver in all this is pretty consistent. Having a solid network of ‘web friends’, who are also web publishers, is one tough combination.

There are lots of other benefits to social media usage, which are covered in the report. But that’s my take on the why SM participation reflects positively on search marketing.