Identify Your Personal Reasons For Plugging In
Where To Start Plugging In?
Here is your simple roadmap to social media success. Follow these steps and with a modest amount of effort, you too can be a plugged in lawyer. The true beauty of social media is that it is scalable. Put up the simple bones and see what aspects catch your fancy. You can spend more time, energy and money on those aspects later, but I encourage you to get the whole machine in motion.
Resist the temptation to be perfect (yes, I know how your lawyer brain works). Just get your machine up and running. Perfection is an evolutionary process.
If you get stuck, start by reading the Help! I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up post. If you’re really stuck, email me at tracy @ pluggedinlawyer.com and I’ll put you in touch with paid consultants who can help you with your process. Don’t get lazy, though. The web is all about transparency, and using paid consultants for everything gets a little obvious.
Each of the steps below has dozens of sub-steps, but I wrote this list the way I did to give you the biggest picture view possible. Think of it like a checklist. Follow the link for each big picture item to drill down to the detail steps.
Identify Your Personal Reasons For Plugging In
Identify Your Core Search Terms
Outline & Execute Your LinkedIn Strategy
Outline & Execute Your Twitter Strategy
Help! I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up
Relax and trust the process.
And That’s Just How I Roll…
With my deepest gratitude, I acknowledge the following social media thought leaders (in no particular order) who have helped shape me into the plugged in lawyer I am today:
- Marina Tarasov (the woman who started me on this journey)
- Brian Clarke (recovering lawyer and blogger extraordinaire)
- Jim Cronin (aka “The Real Estate Tomato”)
- Dustin Luther (real estate social media pioneer)
- Joseph Ferrara (recovering lawyer and real estate industry guru)
- Jeff Turner (new media/technology god)
- Active Rain (and its amazing community)
- AboveTheLaw.com (for showing me there is room for irreverence in the law)
And this gratitude page would not be complete without a big hat tip to my spiritual thought leaders who shaped me into the kind of girl who could conceive a giveaway like this project:
- My hubby, Doug
- My daughter, Zoe (who reminds me everyday that life is full of wonder and adventure)
- Reverend Michael Beckwith
- Louise Hay
- Wayne Dyer
And that’s how I roll! With a lot of gratitude and love in my life.
How a Solo Gained More than 600 Facebook Fans for His Fledgling Firm
Reprinted from ABA Journal Mobile
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A solo practitioner in Massachusetts who struck out on his own about six months ago already has more than 600 Facebook fans for his law firm.
Solo lawyer Richard Vetstein tells the ABA Journal that the accomplishment, touted in a press release, has “absolutely” brought in new business. His goal was to promote his new law firm, the Vetstein Law Group in Framingham, and his blog, the Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog.
“Did you ever see the movie Field of Dreams—If you build it they will come?” he asked. His Facebook success, he says, is “kind of that theory. It just started gaining momentum.”
Before striking out on his own, Vetstein worked as a litigator for 10 years with the law firm Edwards & Angell, now known as Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge. He jumped to a law firm closer to home, Mirick O’Connell, before starting his own practice.
Vetstein says he got a Facebook boost from lawyer David Barrett, director of social media legal marketing at the Rainmaker Institute, who recommended his site. “All of a sudden, I got flooded with fan requests,” he says. Vetstein also has an extensive network of contacts through LinkedIn and Facebook, and many of those colleagues became fans.
Vetstein built his contacts through old-fashioned networking. “I’m one of these guys, I take a card at a networking function, and I ask if they’re on Facebook,” he says. He also uploaded his e-mail contacts onto Facebook, which used them to search for potential friends. He also searched for old acquaintances stretching all the way back to his elementary school days.
His press release notes that he feeds his blog onto the Facebook fan page, “which helps immensely with search engine optimization.” He also posts articles and information about hot topics in real estate law.
Vetstein says social networking not only brings in new business, it also helps build relationships with existing clients and friends. He learns about their children, for example, or their favorite sports teams.
“People do business with people that they like,” he tells the ABA Journal. “Facebook enables you to get to know people in a way that strengthens the overall relationship.”
via ABA Journal Mobile.
Lawyers Continue Moving to LinkedIn… Faster
Reprinted from Law Practice Matters
DateWednesday, June 17, 2009 at 3:43PM
Hi, I'd like to add you to my professional network.
If you are already using LinkedIn, you'll recognize that message right away. You're also in good company.
Since he first blogged about it in June 2008, Steve Matthews of the Law Firm Web Strategy Blog has kept tabs on how many lawyers are creating profiles at LinkedIn. The growth rate has been impressive throughout and the most recent quarter is no exception. Steve cites that there are 840,000 people in the law practice industry with profiles on LinkedIn as of June 2009.
That is a growth rate of 49% in the most recent quarter, up from 39% the quarter before.
There are a lot of good reasons to create a LinkedIn profile: it helps your search engine visibility, it's free, and it affords users access to lots of vibrant groups, discussion boards and communities. More important than any of these, though, is that it is a low-stress and nearly painless way to begin the process of networking. (Or, re-begin, as is the case for so many of us.) No cold calling, no awkward conversations, no feeling slimy for hitting up contacts for business. In about 10 minutes per week from the comfort of your own home or office you can build and curate a decent LinkedIn profile.
Go on ahead and give it a try. If you like, I'll be your first contact.
I'd like to add you to my professional network.
via Law Practice Matters – Blog – Lawyers Continue Moving to LinkedIn… Faster.
Plugged In Lawyer 