Social Media – Again

At any given time there are many trends in the legal industry. Current topics include everything from alternative fee arrangements to e-discovery to virtual law firms. Some topics die away without much fanfare whereas others stay around and eventually take hold. My focus today is on social media at the highest level, which is definitely part of the latter group.

Social media is here. It is here to stay and you need to be part of it to ensure a growing practice.

That said you don’t have to do everything and you will want to be realistic about your goals. Let’s be honest, there is not a lawyer out there that will surpass Justin Bieber or Katy Perry with the number of twitter followers. In case you are wondering, with over 44 million followers the Bieb has almost twice as many followers as @Twitter. A lawyer is also unlikely to be like Beyonce who has nearly 12 million followers and has posted exactly 8 tweets.

The thing to remember with Twitter, if you are using it for personal or business purposes, is that a tweet lasts forever. So if you felt compelled to comment on Miley Cyrus dance moves remember clients and colleagues may have read it and may not know you well enough to know what you were thinking.

We have all been inundated about the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn. To keep it simple LinkedIn is Facebook for business. Facebook can be LinkedIn for business depending on the business, in the case of law it’s not.

All lawyers should spend at least 30 minutes a week on LinkedIn this is after you have created your complete profile including photo and personalized URL. If you have a hard time remembering to do it, make it a calendar item. Use this time to see what others are up to, comment on stories that are interesting, actively participate in the groups you are member in, network.

There is no guarantee that this is going to get you new work. Very little marketing that lawyers do has such a guarantee. However, if you are not participating than the likelihood of people finding you or considering you an expert in your field diminishes very quickly.

Thirty minutes once a week or 6 minutes each day Monday to Friday is all it takes. You likely spend at least that much time in line for a coffee. If you look at it that way, why are you not spending the time?