Way More Concerned With YEO Than SEO
One of my biggest influencers in the world of social media has been Jeff Turner, a guy who was at the forefront of blogging and all things social media in the real estate world before we even had the term “social media.” Jeff is one of the most authentic, plugged in and generous voices I’ve ever found on the web.
I haven’t checked in recently on what Jeff has done, but I’ve been busy digging up my thoughtleaders and their Twitter information so I can reconnect with my roots. That led me to Jeff’s Twitter homepage and his amazing, stop you in your tracks bio statement, “Way more concerned with YEO* than SEO…. *You Engaging Others.”
Not only does this statement capture the essence of who Jeff Turner is, it captures the essence of what social media and social networking should be all about. SEO still has its place as part of a smart social media marketing strategy, but search engines, for all their complicated mathematical algorithms, are (at the end of the day) looking for relevance. Engagement is what is relevant on the web right now.
Everybody should be more concerned with YEO than SEO. Jeff was smart enough to recognize and articulate the concept. Big, big, “drop everything and create a post” hat tip to Jeff Turner for his social media brilliance.
By the way, I see from Jeff’s bio that he has also added two more little ones to his brood since I last checked in. So glad there are more little Turners in the world. =-)
Plugged In Lawyer 
Excellent point, Tracy. By engaging our audience we can establish trust more effectively than would otherwise be possible. It’s tough for lawyers do to that, though; we’re trained to be better fixers than emphathizers. My hope is that this will begin to change as more lawyers discover social media platforms. Perhaps a first good step would be for law schools to begin to emphasize the role of a lawyer as one who counsels clients.
I’m not holding my breath on the law school angle, Jay. The more likely scenario is that Rex Gradeless and guys like him will step in and guide law students. Or even more likely, the students themselves will be telling the schools and oldsters like us how it should look.
As a 20 year lawyer myself, I know firsthand how hard it is to be transparent online. And transparency is what it takes to engage people at an authentic level. It’s a lot of thinking and overthinking that is going to have to be undone by my lawyer brain. Hopefully we can all help each other out, using sites like PluggedInLawyer.com and other meetup places.
YEO, love it. One problem we see is that many lawyers have very little time as it is to engage others online. As the benefits of engaging others online become more apparent, there is no doubt that more lawyers will begin to make YEO a priority. Many lawyers are beginning to recognize these benefits, but need assistance in implementation. We have received great feedback on some basic whitepapers we offer to help lawyers get started with social media.
Yes, Gyi, finding time for social media can be a challenge, but the returns are exponential compared to one on one in person networking. I find that you just have to dive in and start. Once you have a few miles under your belt, whitepapers and implementation guides make a lot more sense and are invaluable for upping your game. Thanks for swinging by and sharing!