social media

That’s a pretty powerful question with many different answers. Back in June, I tweeted about a high-profile case that involved an MD who was blogging about his medical malpractice trial as the trial was in progress. I used this as an example to illustrate why Certified Legal Nurse Consultants should recommend that their attorney-clients check out social media (and the blogosphere) for postings by opposing parties (and their own parties), before and during a trial. That case ended in a substantial settlement for the plaintiff after the MD was shown to have exposed trial strategy, ridiculed the case and made generally inappropriate postings for which he was confronted during the trial.

Another MD blogged about a recently concluded medical malpractice trial. His blogging initially raised all sorts of HIPAA questions (which became a nonissue once the suit was filed and anything happening at trial became public). Just to be safe, the MD allegedly changed some of the “facts” as you can read in his disclaimer. This raises issues of what sort of information should or should not be exposed, even after a trial. Granted you can sit in a courtroom, listen to the testimony and see the evidence, but you are not privy to the thinking, reasoning and strategy decisions of the attorneys and the parties they represent. Perhaps that’s something an attorney wouldn’t want his defendant or plaintiff blogging about. Read the articles and analyses on both these cases and make your own decisions. Keep in mind that attorneys are under their own ethical restrictions that we’ll discuss below.

A famous poker player won’t appear on those poker television shows that televise a player’s hand. He doesn’t want people to see how he plays, bluffs or calls on certain hands because they could develop a strategy to beat him. Trial attorneys might feel the same way about having their strategies exposed.

That being said, let’s look at a different set of potential bloggers, the jurors and/or courtroom spectators. In our electronic age no one, and I mean no one, likes to be “off the grid.” Spectators blogging from the courtroom are the equivalent of news reporters and don’t present a problem.

Smart phones with easy Internet access like the Blackberry^® or iPhone^® have created modern day courtroom issues. Judges have always admonished jurors not to read about a case or view television trial coverage, but how many judges give jury instructions regarding blogging? Tweeting (micro-blogging) and even researching the basis of the parties’ claims raises issues during a trial. Even something as simple as texting can be problematic. Remember, jurors are supposed to make their decisions based solely on the information they receive in the courtroom – only the evidence introduced at trial. So if a juror reads a blog about the trial, that would be the same as viewing a news report about the trial or Googling the underlying claims. That sort of behavior risks prejudicing the case or raising the possibility of a mistrial. Attorneys should search social media and the blogosphere during and after trial for traces of this type of misconduct. Some people are shameless about what they post, so armed with a few keywords and content of text messages sent during a trial, it can be quite simple to discover and possibly render a juror liable for contempt.

So far we’ve discussed the plaintiffs, defendants and jurors – what about the plaintiff and defense attorneys? Any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant will remember from the Institute’s CLNC^® Certification Program that attorneys are ethically prohibited from disclosing certain confidential client communications without the client’s consent. This applies to the blogosphere both during and after trial. But what about statements made in advance of trial or while selecting the jury that might tend to influence a well-read jury pool? A few attorneys make money writing books about their high-profile clients but that’s well after the client’s gone to jail (or not). A gag order by a judge can preclude an attorney from blogging about an ongoing trial. Attorneys may use hypothetical postings as long as there is no reasonable likelihood the client or situation can be identified. With all this in mind, blogging, texting and even list serve postings will be an issue to watch (or read about).

Judges, like attorneys, are ethically restricted from discussing pending or ongoing matters being litigated. So, if you think you see the judge texting from beneath the bench, let your attorney-client know. They may not want to risk the ire of a judge who’s simply discussing dinner plans, but might infer the judge wasn’t fully present during trial.

Finally, there’s you – the legal nurse consultant. As you work closely with the attorney-client and the litigation team, you’ll have inside information about the case, the parties, strategies, etc. As an agent of the attorney you are also precluded from disclosing certain confidential information. If you value your legal nurse consulting business you must refrain from tweeting and blogging about a trial in progress (“The defense expert is getting blown away – we’re moving in for the kill with my questions on SOC.”) without your attorney’s knowledge and permission. In fact, I recommend you not discuss your cases at all on the Internet. Frankly, it’s poor business practice.

Social media and blogging are emerging parts of cyberspace and both sides in the legal arena need to explore and monitor their usage. It’s a brave new world of communications and communicability for legal nurse consultants and the legal profession. If you use your mind (while others around you are losing theirs), you’ll successfully avoid any amateur mistakes.

Success Is Inside!

I’ve previously blogged about the fact that potential employers are searching social media to discover what people have posted prior to hiring them (and in some cases after they’re on the payroll). Tom has discussed the fact that photos posted on the Internet may contain metadata that includes date, time and even a GPS location of where the photos were taken. We’ve also explained how Certified Legal Nurse Consultants can use deep-web search engines to locate information about an expert or party who is not generally available on the Internet. I’ve also talked about whether legal nurse consultants (or parties involved in a lawsuit) should be blogging or texting about legal cases. Even your cashless toll-pay tag and the information from the computer that runs your car’s motor can provide relevant information. Now it’s time to tie it all together and discuss the potential discoverability of all those postings a plaintiff or defendant has made to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other similar sites.

In a lawsuit, almost all communications concerning the suit or its subject matter made by a party to anyone other than their attorney (and in some cases their spouse) are potentially discoverable. These social media communications may be used as a statement against interest, evidence of wrongdoing or character evidence. In the old days, paper records in the custody of a party were the primary source of discovery, but today discovery extends to all sorts of electronic communication.

In any case where the information may be relevant to a plaintiff or defendant, the social media communications of the parties may be discoverable and as Joe Friday used to say, “can and will be used against them.” There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in information generally available to the public. There may be such an expectation for information posted to a “protected” group on Facebook or Twitter where only “Friends” or “Followers” may see the info – but this hasn’t been fully hashed out by the courts. Two famous cases used photos posted on Facebook and MySpace to aid in sentencing of defendants.

The savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultant should recommend to all attorney-clients that communications or other information relevant to the suit (or likely to lead to the discovery of relevant information) be requested from relevant parties (plaintiff or defense) through interrogatories, requests for production and requests for admission. This would include:

• The email addresses of all email accounts (business and personal) used by a party before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• The domain names of any websites (business and personal) owned or operated by a party before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• The user names and account information for any social networking sites that a party belonged to or interacted with (such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• The domain names or address of any blogs owned, operated or contributed to by a party before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit regarding the subject matter of the lawsuit;

• The domain names of any blogs posted to, or comments posted to any blog or similar website(s), before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• Whether or not any information posted by a party was posted to a “password protected,” “by invitation only” or otherwise restricted website or portion thereof before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• The account names and telephone numbers of any cell phone or other telecommunications account used or belonging to a party before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• Names of any web browsers used or belonging to a party before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit;

• Names and addresses for any Internet service provider (ISP) used by a party, before, during and after the period relevant to the lawsuit.

An attorney may have to request copies of some of this data pulled from back-ups of the relevant computer systems and may need to request access to the computers of a party to obtain this information.

Finally, think about how you personally use social media. Anything and everything you post online, whether it’s a review of a product, a critique of someone or something, pictures of you, an email you send, a blog you comment on, etc., all are likely to be discoverable and may end up being used as evidence in cases where they are relevant.

If you use your social media wisely it shouldn’t be an issue – but as illustrated by the cases above, not everyone is likely to think before they post.

Success Is Inside!

First impressions are important. Today, more and more Certified Legal Nurse Consultants are making their first impressions online, not only with the legal community but also with other CLNC^® consultants. So, what impression are you making with your online presence? Do you have a plan to guide and steer your online efforts in the right direction? Here are some strategies for making your first online impression count.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the fastest growing forms of social media. My own Facebook profile is open to anyone to view. This includes attorneys, legal nurse consultants and just about anyone with a Facebook account. Keeping an open profile makes it easier for people to find me and takes up less “housekeeping” time. Other people choose to keep their Facebook profile open only to their “friends.”

Whatever your preference, think about who your “friends” are and what they are saying. Screen your prospective Facebook friends carefully. Do you personally know everyone on your friend list? Whether you do or don’t, you’ll need to check your Facebook postings daily and keep your profile page tidy. While you don’t have a lot of control over your “home” page you do want to cut out postings like “Susan invited you to a squirt-gun fight” or “Jamie scored 100,000 petals on flower-pot-mafia-shootout.”

You may not write something offensive on your “wall,” but someone else might and if an attorney-prospect sees it while vetting you, that might put an end to a relationship before it even begins. Make a choice, Facebook is either business or personal but you blend the two at your own risk.

LinkedIn

Another form of social media is professional networking sites like LinkedIn. We’ve discussed LinkedIn in past blogs. Be sure that the members of any networking organizations (online or offline) that you join act professionally. As social networking grows in popularity, more and more people are drawn to it. But another caveat – be careful who you endorse, recommend and admit to your network. There’s an old saying that people judge you by the company you keep so keep that in mind when signing up for some of the networks out there.

Twitter

As Twitter has grown in popularity, it has also grown in the number of people who send nothing but endless streams of meaningless dialogue (“RT @SammyTune Rock on You Mad Dogue”). In my opinion there are fewer and fewer people tweeting content. Just take a look at the main Twitter timeline and you’ll see what I mean. Yogi Berra is credited with saying something to the effect of “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” Twitter is rapidly reaching that point as spammers are now getting on board. Despite that, I’m staying with Twitter as an effective way to communicate with my “followers,” that is, people who read my tweets.

Be sure to use Twitter carefully. If you join Twitter you should know why you’re joining and be prepared to put some thought into your tweets. Be careful who follows you and who you follow. Just because someone has 2,121,407 followers doesn’t mean they have something important or relevant to say. There are lots of ways to artificially inflate follower totals using “autofollowing” programs. If you want to follow someone, take a look at who is following them. If their follower list is packed with spammers, crackpots or other undesirables you may not wish to follow that person. Likewise though, it’s easy for people (and their inane comments) to appear on the list of people you follow (and on your timeline). The more popular you become, the more people will try to ride on your coat-tails. (Believe, me, I know. Tom says some people have hung onto mine for so long they couldn’t even stand if they let go and tried to walk on their own.)

I recommend that you cull your Twitter followers, and people you follow, no less than daily. Again, people will judge you by the company you keep and I personally don’t believe Twitter is the place to let it all hang out on your religious and political opinions or anything you wouldn’t want your children to see.

Twitter is also no place for shameless self-promotion and you don’t want to be a serial tweeter. If someone has nothing to do but tweet all day, it’s apparent they’ve got nothing else to do and that tells you all you need to know about their success level. Tweet when you have something to say that informs and entertains.

Just remember to “protect your tweets.” You should approve each potential follower. It’s a slower way to build a following, but more reliable than letting just any old twit follow you. (If you want to entertain, remember Ashton Kutcher can show Demi in her undies but we don’t want to see your spouse in theirs!)

If your Twitter homepage is public and you list it in your marketing materials, you want only professional tweets appearing in case a prospective attorney-client visits your Twitter homepage. That means you follow only people who tweet professionally. My motto is quality over quantity. If you want to use Twitter for personal use only – keep it out of your business materials. There’s no middle road in my opinion. Tweet professionally and to professionals and expect the same back.

Keep It Professional

If you’re using your social media networks for professional use, the same rules apply to all social media sites regarding headshots, biographies and content. Post only a professional-appearing photograph for your thumbnail and reflect the image you wish to convey when adding photographs to your galleries. Those Catwoman Halloween costume shots are out no matter how much you like them.

Write a professional biography for your profile and only post when you have something to say. Make sure your posts are about something you’ll be comfortable with other people reading (friends don’t let friends drink and post). Always remember, social media is a form of communication that will last on the Web for a long time after you (or someone else) have posted and may come back to haunt you when you least expect it.

Remember, when posting anything online there’s no such thing as personal use only. More and more attorneys and their staff are searching the Internet, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites for such diverse purposes as expert witness screening, jury selection and looking for evidence. Companies have long been Googling not only prospective, but current employees as part of the hiring and retention process. You’re being looked at whether you want to be or not.

Keep It Your Own

In whatever types of social networking you choose to participate, use the same good judgment you would when creating your website or running your legal nurse consulting business. Don’t use materials or intellectual property owned by others without their permission. Remember, as the ultimate publisher, you’re the one who will be held responsible for any infringements.

Find Yourself

Savvy legal nurse consultants run variations of their name through the different search engines at least once a month. These used to be “vanity searches,” but today think of them as “image maintenance.” Look to see what profile you present to the web and to prospective clients. You might be surprised, pleasantly or otherwise. If it’s unpleasant, it’s time to take some steps to correct that image. See you on the Web!

Success Is Inside!

Attorneys are flocking to Twitter. So are over 4,000,000 other people who have signed up for this site along with your technologically-advanced potential attorney-clients.

What Is Twitter?

Twitter is the fastest growing social media site on the web today. It is taking the Internet by storm with about 10,000 new users per day signing up to participate in this Internet revolution.

Twitter is best described as a micro-blogging platform. You are limited to 140 characters each time you do an update, which initially, may seem a small amount. However, as you become an experienced Twitterer, it’s amazing what you can fit into 140 characters.

That said, Twitter is like one huge chat room with as many people as you choose to connect with…in your case, I’d focus on attorneys and other Certified Legal Nurse Consultants.

So let’s get started and set up your Twitter account.

How to Set Up

There are a few things that you should be aware of when organizing your legal nurse consulting account. Even if you have an existing account, consider these tips to improve your Twitter experience.

Go to http://www.twitter.com. If you don’t have an account, then you will need to register, otherwise login as you usually do.

Registration

The Twitter screen will ask you for your full name.

The next box asks you for a username. This is where you need to give some thought to how you are going to represent yourself and your legal nurse consulting business on Twitter. Using your name or business name is up to you.

It isn’t critical that you register your own name, but I would advise you to if you can, particularly if your name is an unusual one. I’m sure the last thing you want is someone else impersonating you or your CLNC^® business on Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter.

If you wish to register your business name, then you can do that also. Just make sure you use your own name in the sign up process so you are identifiable and connected with the business name you register.

You are now asked for your email address. Email addresses are linked to accounts and you will only be able to use your email address once. For every Twitter account you register, you will need a different email address.

Be sure to fill in the Captcha letters you see and click Create My Account.

The next screen asks if you want to add any of your email contacts. You can skip this step, or Twitter will search your email address book to find all your friends and business contacts who are already on Twitter.

If you opt to have Twitter search your contacts, then the next screen presents those contacts who already Twitter and asks if you would like to follow any of them. Choose some if you like, but be selective. Social media sites like Twitter can consume a lot of your valuable time.

When you click Finish, you will see your very own Twitter account. You are logged in and ready to go!

Your Settings

On Twitter it’s important to fill out your Settings. You’ll find the access to this at the top right of the screen, fourth link from the left.

On this page you will notice there are some tabs across the top. We’ll cover each tab in detail.

Account Tab

The information you entered when you set up your account shows on this screen, but now it’s time to enhance it so people can find you and your legal nurse consulting business on Twitter and you also make yourself an interesting person to be followed.

People will use the information you enter here to make that decision. Beware that much of what is entered is searchable on Twitter and through various third-party applications.

One thing to note is that you can change your username at any time on this screen. You just have to enter your password to do so. Although it can be done, it can confuse your follower base, so I wouldn’t recommend doing it on a weekly basis.

First select the correct time zone.

Then add your website in the “More Info URL” box. Make sure to include the http:// prefix.

Now fill out your “One Line Bio” box. You have 160 characters here to “sell” yourself as a CLNC^® consultant. Take some time and include your USP.

Add your location so people can search and find you if you are in their same area.

English is the default language in the language box.

Then you’ll see a check box titled, “Protect updates.” This is included if you want to have a private account and you wish to approve followers. NEVER turn this on if you intend to use Twitter to meet new attorney-clients. They won’t bother to request permission to follow you unless they know you personally.

You can now save your settings, but note here that there is also a link to delete your account should you ever wish to do so.

Password

This tab lets you change your password if you want.

Devices

You can enter your mobile phone number here if you want Twitter to send updates to your phone. Personally, I can’t think of anything worse, particularly when you get close to a thousand followers.

Notices

You can have Twitter “nudge” you with a text to your mobile phone if you haven’t updated in 24 hours. What a pain!

The Replies function is an interesting one and will determine what tweets you see that are prefixed with the @ symbol. This is how you direct a tweet to a particular individual or your attorney-client. Read the great help-screen explanation on this, before you make your decision.

The rest of the notices are self explanatory.

If you are new to Twitter and you are following someone and they are following you, Direct Messages can be sent that won’t appear in the Twitter timeline. They are private messages between you and the other person only.

If you are an infrequent user of Twitter, it may be worthwhile to switch on receiving notifications by email so you can respond. Otherwise leave it off as it will just fill up your email inbox with more clutter.

Likewise, the notifications that you have a new follower also clog your email and I would leave it off unless you like the buzz of knowing someone new is following you.

Picture Tab

This is really important. When you open this page you will see the small avatar on the screen which is the default for Twitter.

Add a professional photo of yourself to stand out for a good first impression. This is often more important than your name when people are scanning Tweets.

Design Tab

Here you can change your Twitter page background from the default. Select from the options Twitter provides or you can upload your own background.

You can also change all the colors if you wish. Again, the point is to change it to demonstrate you have taken some time setting up your account.

A note here worth mentioning is that with the plethora of Twitter client applications out there, many people don’t even look at your Twitter page anymore. Still, it is one component of your presence on Twitter and is worth doing well.

Just make sure you save your changes, and you’re done!

Well, that’s it for the setup. The last thing to do now is to click on Home at the top of the screen and send your first Tweet. Something like, “Hi, I’ve just joined Twitter and am looking forward to meeting interesting people” is a good first one to send. Just type it in and click the Update button.

You are up and running! You now have the official “cool factor” of being a CLNC^® consultant who is up-to-date with this social media site.

Guest Blogger Profile

Brian Horn is an Internet marketing consultant who specializes in search engine marketing, site optimization, social media marketing, link building and web data analytics. Brian has consulted with Vickie Milazzo Institute for over three years.

Brian also speaks at seminars and conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada on how to use the Internet to improve business.

First off, if you have not yet heard of Facebook, thanks for exiting your cave. I’d like to heartily welcome you to the Internet. I think you’ll like it here.

But seriously, here are some quick stats on Facebook which should be of interest to you as a CLNC^® business owner.

1. There are more than 150 million active Facebook users.
2. The number of active users has doubled in the last year.
3. About 34% of users work as professionals. This includes attorneys, sales people, executives, educators and techies.
4. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook consists of users 25 and older.

Though Facebook started in the student demographic, it’s quickly grown out of it. So, my guess is that at least a few of those 150 million active users (active users spend about 20 minutes a day on the site) are prospective attorney-clients for your legal nurse consulting business. The question is, what do you do about it?

All you have to do is sign up for an account…then start joining relevant Facebook groups to find attorney-clients for your CLNC^® business.

While you are signing up, you’ll have many options to customize and flesh out your CLNC^® profile page. Include as many details about your CLNC^® business as possible…and don’t forget all your business contact information (you want to make it easy for the attorneys to contact you).

Joining Facebook Groups

Joining Facebook Groups is easy. Simply log in to your Facebook account, and on the left tab, you will see a list of applications.

Click Groups, and once you are there, you will see two tabs, one indicating groups recently joined by your friends and the other indicating your recently updated groups.

Browse the groups and you will find more than a thousand groups available.

There is no limit to the number of groups that you can join. The more groups you join, the bigger your social network becomes.

While browsing through the groups, you can find the name of the group, its population, its type or category, the latest number of new members, the latest number of members who left the group and any updates to the group.

Even though you can offer your CLNC^® services across the country, let’s start by narrowing your focus to find local attorneys. All you need to do to find local groups is to click the Search for Groups box, enter your city (or state, if you are in a small town) and the word attorney or lawyer. Hit Enter and Facebook will give you a list of local Facebook groups for attorneys.

If you see a group name that looks interesting, view the group and read the information about it. If you feel you want to join the group, look for the Join This Group button. You automatically become a member of the group if it is a public group. If it is a private group, you’ll have to wait to be approved by the group’s admin.

Join as many groups as you can that are relevant to your quest to find more attorney-clients for your CLNC^® business.

Once you become a member of a group, you have the option to upload photos and videos for the group, write on The Wall and join discussions in the discussion board or perhaps start your own topic. Joining these different Facebook groups is not only fun but it expands your network, giving you more opportunities to market your expertise.

After you join a group, you should post a comment on their wall. Do not…I repeat…DO NOT promote yourself at this time. Simply compliment their group and thank them for creating it. Then invite the group’s admin to be your Friend.

Try to interact with others in the group by participating in the conversation on The Wall, commenting on pictures/videos and joining discussions in the discussion board. Once you interact with another member, feel free to invite them to become your Friend. When someone makes an interesting post, send that person a “Friend invitation” mentioning that you enjoyed what they had to say on the topic.

As a member of a group, you can see a list of all the group’s members. You can also send Friend invitations to people who haven’t participated, just as you did with the people who have participated. These connections won’t be as powerful as ones with people you’ve had a dialogue with, but they’ll still be your target market.

Once you have a few key people in the group as Friends, feel free to start adding a promotion to their wall every now and then.

A Word of Caution

Don’t get too gung ho about inviting every attorney you can find in your area to join your group on day one.

Facebook has a limit of how many new invitations you can send in a given day or week. The exact number isn’t posted anywhere, but if you exceed this amount you can get a warning and could get cut off from Facebook. If you stick to no more than twenty invitations a day you should be safe.

When you are sending invitations, don’t copy and paste a standard message. This can lead to a warning from Facebook. Be sure to customize each invitation you send.

Don’t Just Limit Yourself to Connecting with Attorneys

Connect with your high school, college and nursing friends also. You never know where you’ll find an attorney-prospect. I got three clients off Facebook from old high school friends…without even trying.

I think you’ll have fun with it also!

Guest Blogger Profile

Brian Horn is an Internet marketing consultant who specializes in search engine marketing, site optimization, social media marketing, link building and web data analytics. Brian has consulted with Vickie Milazzo Institute for over three years.

Brian also speaks at seminars and conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada on how to use the Internet to improve business.

To protect your identity, reputation and even your savings account, as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you need to strongly manage your online passwords.

Very often people make one, or both, of these critical errors:

1. They pick a password that is easy for someone to guess.
2. They use the same password for many different websites.

Let’s look at each error in more detail.

Easy to Guess Passwords

When I was an IT director at a large company in Houston, this was one of the most common issues I ran into. If I knew just a few personal details about someone, I could guess their password more often than not.

If they had pictures of their kids all over their office, they most likely used some form of their kid’s name. If they had Notre Dame stuff on their desk and walls, their password usually was related to the Fighting Irish football team.

Here are the most common bad password ideas:

1. Words that one can find in a dictionary (nurse, hospital, attorney, etc).
2. Sequential sets of numbers or letters such as “asdfghj” and “123456.” These are sequences of letters/numbers that are next to each other on the keyboard.
3. The same letter repeated over and over again (nnnnnn or 111111).
4. Your pet’s name.
5. Your own name.
6. Your spouse’s name.
7. Your child’s name.
8. Your grandchild’s name.
9. Your favorite hobby, sports team or recording artist.
10. Your birthday or anniversary.

Using the Same Passwords Across All Websites

Let’s say you have a great password that no one could ever guess. In fact, it’s so good, you use it for all your website accounts.

One day, you have an issue with one of the sites, and call their technical support. They ask you for your password to walk you through the issue. You give it to the tech support rep.

Now there’s another person out there in the world that can access all of your personal accounts, change the password and contact information on your account and wipe you out. Most companies have some security in place to help prevent bad things like this from happening, but you should make it as difficult as possible for the bad guys.

The Solution

I use a site called PassPack to help manage my passwords.

You can store all your passwords securely, generate hard-to-crack passwords, and automatically log on to websites that you have stored passwords with…and it is totally FREE. Go here to sign up.

Although, everything is pretty much self explanatory, and you should have no problems signing up or using the site, you can find detailed instructions, and plenty of articles in their knowledge base to walk you through any issues.

Passpack can also suggest passwords for you. Just click the “Suggest” button when filling out the entry details for a particular site. You’ll need to make sure you update the site with this new password.

I have had no issues with PassPack so far. I have changed all my passwords and manage all of them through this site. However, I do recommend that you print out each password and store it in a safe place (like a home file system, or safe), in case PassPack disappears one day, you still have your passwords in one place.

Seinfeld fans probably remember the classic episode where Kramer guesses George’s ATM code…just by knowing a little bit of personal information about him. It’s a funny scene, and not too far off from how people can really guess your password.

P.S. Have you ever had a password problem or had an account hacked? Share your story in the comments to help other CLNC^® consultants prevent a similar thing happening to them.

Guest Blogger Profile

Brian Horn is an Internet marketing consultant who specializes in search engine marketing, site optimization, social media marketing, link building and web data analytics. Brian has consulted with Vickie Milazzo Institute for over three years.

Brian also speaks at seminars and conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada on how to use the Internet to improve business.

Entrepreneurs are using the newest Internet trend to meet and collaborate with colleagues worldwide. Professional social networks such as LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter and Facebook, can provide legal nurse consultants another way to promote and expand their CLNC^® business.

Social media marketing is the systematic approach to using social networks and other “Web 2.0″ and “Web 3.0″ technologies as a part of an all inclusive marketing plan.

Step One: Define your goals, then match the network tool to your goal.

Goals vary from business-to-business and professional-to-professional, but the identification of goals is key to determining what characteristics are needed in a social network.

Step Two: Set boundaries and budgets that govern the efforts expended in social networking.

Most professional social networks offer a free, and one or more “premium,” membership. In most or all of those with “premium” memberships, it is possible to “earn” free premium upgrades by recruiting new members to the network platform. With these incentives, it is only necessary to spend money on professional social network membership if a specific paid premium membership function or service is needed to achieve the goals set in Step One. This does not mean that social networking is free. Most successful business social networkers agree that success requires a minimum of 40 hours per month spent building the network and communicating with network members and online contacts.

The biggest area of budget bloat for online networking is time. Time has a definite value in real dollars and time spent on social media marketing must provide a real and measurable return on investment.

It is all too easy to spend endless hours enjoying the many “features” of social networking sites. Whether answering posted questions and earning the tag “Expert” or racking up endorsements and testimonials, every minute spent online must have a purpose, must contribute to achieving your legal nurse consulting goals and must provide a return.

Step Three: Begin networking.

Once your goals, budgets and boundaries are set, it is time to begin networking. Whether online or in person, the most important tool of the social networker is dialogue. Online networking must include direct and individual communications with every member of the network.

Every time a new member joins your network, that new contact must receive a personalized email welcoming them to the network. This mandates that the new contact’s network profile be read and the contact’s interests be made the focus of the email.

The process of customizing the welcome to the new contact has a side benefit to the business because it forces the business to define its relevance to an ever expanding and ever deepening market demographic described by the online social network.

Step Four: Communicate and connect, don’t just collect.

The object of the entire social media marketing effort is to build a network with a personal bond and the ability to refer paying customers or become a paying customer. This means the network members must become raving fans even before they make a buy or referral.

Those who have been networking in real life for years know this is much harder than turning a satisfied customer into a raving fan. Unlike in-person networking, online networking limits the level of interpersonal exchange and thus “likability.”

A social network makes the transition to raving fans because of the personality of the network leader. Use the regular communication with network members as a “personality conduit.”

Step Five: Attract like-minded people, then lead them.

The key to becoming a leader in a market niche is to become a gathering point for other online professionals and their respective networks. All professional social networking websites have the ability to create clubs, or groups, or collectives. By volunteering to create and manage such a group, the leader becomes the point of convergence for everyone interested in the topic.

Step Six: Make it real in real life.

Depending on the local culture and networking traditions as well as the subculture of the online network, a traditional “dinner and drinks” networking event may be in order, but a “picnic in the park” or a “burgers and baseball” format may be more appropriate. The key is not the surroundings, but the opportunity for people who have built an online, but nonetheless real relationship, to put a handshake, or a hug, to the profile and prose.

Guest Blogger Profile

Brian Horn is an Internet marketing consultant who specializes in search engine marketing, site optimization, social media marketing, link building and web data analytics. Brian has consulted with Vickie Milazzo Institute for over three years.

Brian also speaks at seminars and conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada on how to use the Internet to improve business.