How is the Legal Profession using Social Media?
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Social Media is still a largely unexplored area for most legal firms. I am not from a legal background, but understand from my readings that there are laws in place that prevent you from commenting on cases or giving direct legal advice.
But that should not prevent you and your company using social media to stay in touch with the market, grow a following and brand your business.
And with the latest news, that Judges are to let live Twitter feeds take place in court, I think it shows a real shift to open sharing of information.
The best way to demonstrate Social Media is to list a few examples of legal companies using it effectively :
Blogging
Pick a niche area to be seen as an expert, talk about this area of the law through a Blog, its easy to set up and is always high up on search engine rankings.
Smaller practices are doing this well, but some of the larger firms do not want individuals to grow their own personal brand; they want the company to have control. I think this misses the point completely as demonstrated below.
An example of this is a Lawyer in America called who runs a Blog called Quirky Employment Questions, run by Roy Ginsberg that has seen him collect over ten thousand new visitors and landed a few six figure accounts for his firm.
Twitter is a great tool to aggregate and share links to industries that they may want to become experts in.
A lawyer in America called Bob White, twitters technical links, and has gained a number of large technical accounts who believe that he understands their industry. And remember Twitter is the ideal place for you to source industry experts too.
This morning I read about the lawyer in England using Twitter to source new clients, he believes people often find it intimidating to make that first contact with a legal firm, and he want to use twitter to break down barriers.
Why build a following?
From what I understand, large firms are not looking for clients off the street, but rather referrals from leaders in very specific market sectors, Social Media is the perfect place to get connected with thought leaders who you can assist with information, that will in turn see them referring clients when they are looking for a knowledgeable person.. you.
There are so many examples of Lawyers getting noticed by the press, getting called to comment on industry specific pieces, once again building their expert status.
Just a few ideas and points on why everyone should be looking at how they can use Social Media in their business, not why they shouldn’t.
I think every company needs to have a Social Media Champion. I am always happy to come along and meet you and offer advice on how you can find the best person to develop and manage you on-line strategy.
Posted on January 4, 2011, in Social Media and interesting tools and tagged facebook, Helen Tonetti, How are proffessionals using social media, how can I use Social media as a Solicitor, how to get my company using social media, How to use social media, linked in, Marketing and Advertising, marketing today, postaday2011, social media marketing, Solicitors and social media, twitter, using linked in to promote my legal practice, why use social media. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Helen Tonetti
Blogging is something that lawyers in the US have taken to but it’s not really happened in the UK just yet. But it will, it has to, as law firms (as everyone else) are looking for a better ROI on the time and money they devote to online marketing. Blogs are time consuming but they are also cheap and give lawyers the forum to demonstrate expertise outside of the traditional confines of a website bio. it’s just a shame them many law firms don’t get Twitter yet – simply barking a series of press releases is not really what it’s about. They need to engage.
Good blog though, cheers for sharing!
Thanks Mark,