Social media is everywhere and everyone is using it. Well maybe not everywhere and everyone but a lot of people are using these new methods of communicating with other people about things they care about. As a lawyer you should be aware that there are good and bad aspects of social media. I have compiled a few links here for you to read through and get some new ideas about how to use this new medium to help grow your practice.
Kevin Okeefe of Lex Blog on Social Media Best Practices – This guy has been around forever and knows his stuff. Read up here and learn how to make more money as a lawyer online. From the philosophical to the pragmatic Kevin has a variety of posts to help you out.
Social Media for Law Firms: Win New Business Online – Very pragmatic post about 10 steps you can take to get your firm on social media. This post is a little light on the details but I like the idea of making it into steps and having a plan.
Social Media Networking For lawyers: A Practical Guide to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Blogging – In depth post going into the various social media platforms and their strenghts and weaknesses. Figure out where you like spending time and start there. You dont have to be everywhere at the beginning, just be somewhere.
Social Media, Ethics, and “Expertise”: What’s a Lawyer to Do? – This post gets into the philosophical part of doing social media as a lawyer and ethical issues that may arise. The focus here is on LinkedIN and its listing of ‘specialties’ which as a lawyer you cannot claim unless explicitly signified by your Bar association. Good read on how you can unintentionally get into trouble. Just make sure to double check overall practices and wording especially if you are working with a marketing firm or have hired someone internally.
9 Social Media Considerations for Lawyers – Great post on being aware of your client’s social media accounts and usage. Excellent stuff to implement internally and with clients to make sure something doesn’t slip out in the course of a case.
How Lawyers Are Using Social Media for Real Results – It wouldn’t be a social media post unless there was a link to Mashable which is known by social media professionals as the social media blog to read. This post covers various ways to think about using social media to help with marketing and while conducting cases.
This is a pretty short list but its a good one to start off with. My suggestion is to find one network and start posting your blog posts there. Reach out to everyone you know and want to know and build a relationship with them. Its called social media, not watch the page media. You need to get active and have conversations with people if you want to be effective.
What are some posts that you think are worth reading for lawyers and social media?