Kevin O’Keefe recently wrote an article, Are There Too Many Social Networks for a Lawyer to Keep Up With? It’s a great article sprinkled with the opinions of other lawyers, business owners and marketing professional, Brian Solis. Be sure to check it out.
Kevin’s opinion is that as a practicing lawyer, you should try a few networks and see which ones add value to your life. You don’t need to do them all.
I agree. With the explosion of social media it can be a daunting task to decide which network to start off with. Law is also an “oddball” of sorts where not all mediums are accepted or encouraged. Take Foursquare for example, I don’t think law firms should use Foursquare for business development. I know some won’t agree, and I guess it depends on your practice area, but I think Foursquare is more product driven (not professional services). Law carries a certain “trusted advisor” reputation and your social networks need to portray that.
Google Plus is one of the newest social media players. For now, Google is only allowing personal accounts. Business accounts are not permitted and this policy is strictly enforced. I’ve been playing around with it since the beta version was first released on June 28, 2011. When it comes to law firm marketing, I’m confident Google+ will have its place among the other networks. Especially because Google is so important when it comes to SEO. Perhaps business accounts will tie in to Google Places? We’ll see!
My advice is to start off with LinkedIn if you’re just starting off with social media. Create a comprehensive profile and then move on to blogging and/or Twitter. Master one before you move on to the next. These are my recommend choices. Let me know how it works for you!
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Samantha Collier
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Samantha,
I’m SO glad you didn’t recommend starting with blogging, and that you cite it as a possible — not mandatory — next step, because I honestly think any lawyer who doesn’t have a blog by now should think long and hard before starting one (saturation, shifting online preferences and behaviors — More about that in an upcoming post
)
I would also add that content sharing services like JD Supra and SlideShare are good candidates for discovery and engagement. But yes, LinkeIn is a must. It’s the new business card.
Hi Jay,
Thank you for your comments. I agree starting a blog is a big endeavor as well as a big time investment (especially when you have billable targets to reach!). JD Supra and Slideshare are excellent services to start off with. They are easy to maneuver, and the content produced is easy to share!
I look forward to reading your next post
Samantha
Kevin’s post and yours made me think of an article I wrote for Texas Lawyer laws year. Interesting to look back on it now with the addition of G+ to the mix.
http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202473733161&rss=ltn&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1