Twitter for Lawyers 101

One of our aims on this blog is to provide brief reviews of the major social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) in terms of their value to lawyers as marketing and business development tools.

Twitter describes itself as "a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" But this is really not the main value for attorneys and other service professionals from a business development standpoint.

As pioneers such as Kevin O'Keefe, Steve Matthews, Bob Ambrogi and others have explained, Twitter can help lawyers develop business by:

• enabling you to network with like-minded peers (and by "like-minded" we mean sharing professional and/or personal interests), which can lead to business referrals, speaking gigs, and similar opportunities, as you and your growing circle of contacts seek to help each other succeed;
• showcase your expertise by publishing links to blog posts, articles and other content that you have authored, which can attract the attention both of prospective clients and media folks, who are always looking for experts to quote in articles;
• respond to questions published by others on Twitter seeking help in an area where you have expertise; providing assistance gratis to someone in connection with a simple inquiry may result in paying business down the road as that person confronts more complex legal issues;
• monitor conversations among your peers as a way of remaining aware of trends and developments in your field.

For further tips and tutorials on using Twitter, visit our "Twitter" category page. Check back regularly for new posts.

If you're a lawyer looking for additional "hand holding" in learning how to use Twitter (as well as LinkedIn and other social networking tools) for marketing and business development, consider contacting us for a brief tutorial. Click here to download our "social media training" brochure.

Happy Tweeting!

Comments

[Kevin OKeefe]

Thanks for mentioning my post about Twitter Josh.

I'm sure it seems that those of us referencing and using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the like must be spending a lot of time on these mediums. Not necessarily so.

In one case, you use them for news - so you go there when you have the time for catching up with what's going on just like you would browse a local newspaper. Here the news and information is coming from trusted friends. They're sharing links and quick snippets of news and information. And like a newspaper, you don't read every story, you glance and browse when you have a few minutes.

In another case, you use social networking tools for networking. Duh. And like networking in real life, you do it when you have the time. And knowing that it's networking that leads to some of your best work, you work networking into your schedule - otherwise your family goes hungry.

It's 4:30 p.m. on a Friday here on the West Coast and I haven't used any social networking tools or sites today except for commenting here now and posting a correction to my blog early this am. So though I am a 'user' of these mediums that some may call mad and all time consuming, they do not absorb all my time. I was involved in meetings with my CFO, VP of Client Development, and Creative Director until 2 or 3 and then working on client development matters after that.

Having said that, the seeds I planted yesterday via Twitter and LinkedIn are bearing fruit today. Took me 20 or 30 minutes yesterday to publish a blog post with links to a powerpoint and webcast of a recent webinar I did. Shared the post with folks on Twitter. Between people getting my RSS feeds and people following me on Twitter, I've seen mention of that powerpoint and webinar all over the place today - blog, other folks mentioning it on Twitter, and in copies of emails my readers sent to their business associates telling them about the powerpoint and screencast. Also received some nice emails thanking me for sharing the materials.

I also spent 15 minutes on LinkedIn yesterday inviting people I've had the occasion to meet via the net to join my my professional network. Received notice that a number of those folks accepted as well as one or two thank you notes for my asking them to hook up on LinkedIn.

Bottom line is social networking tools can be used effectively without them becoming all time consuming.

Now, just don't ask my wife and kids if I spend too much time on the net. ;

[Internet Law Attorney]

I am starting to come around on twitter as a way to market my practice. Although I have to admit to not spending enough time on it or fully understanding its functionality. I do see the enormous potential for it though, particularly for lawyers such as myself who concentrate on e-commerce and internet issues and clients.

[Los Angeles Lawyer]

There is also a nice twitter user directory at wefollow.com sorted by niches.