Legal Internet Marketing Blog

Of the many social media networks available, Twitter is extremely unique, allowing individuals, businesses, organizations, and media outlets of all kinds to express themselves and let their voice be heard in 140 characters or less.

Twitter is ever-increasing in popularity and can certainly be a valuable marketing tool for all businesses, big or small. As a law firm, increasing your visibility on the Internet is vital in order to reach potential clients and make an impact on your colleagues, and as such, improving your interaction on this viable social networking platform is essential to making the most of your time and applying effective strategies.

The following are four practical tips for attorneys using Twitter:

1. Create a plan. Having a clear strategy and goals will help Twitter become an important digital channel for your law firm. Understand why you want to be a part of the Twitter universe by asking yourself certain questions, such as, how can you build your firm’s brand awareness, and, how can you stand out from other law firms in your field? After determining your goals, craft your strategy accordingly so what you’re tweeting is relevant, insightful, and helpful to your followers and will attract new followers.


2. ReTweet others, and thank those who take the time to retweet you.ReTweeting is an excellent way to increase your firm’s visibility and get the law firm’s name in front of consumers and those within your online community who may not have heard of you before. But be sure to retweet tweets that actually interest you or that you feel have an impact. Also, create a solid list of individuals or other groups you may want to target or interact with. Be sure to thank fellow Twitter users who have retweeted you - be personable and start a conversation! Your tweets will begin to gain more traction and will reach a broader audience.


3. Considering scheduling some of your Twitter use. Not everyone who may be interested in your law firm will be online at the same time, so scheduling will help ensure your Tweets travel and get good exposure. For example, try and set up Tweets when you’re out of the office or in court all day. Most importantly, scheduling can help you be around outside of your normal hours! Potential clients may be looking you up on evenings or a weekend, so scheduling will ensure your Twitter presence is not only during business hours. However, it is important to not solely rely on scheduled Tweets, otherwise you may neglect to apply live Tweets as well; therefore making your Tweets less genuine. After all, Twitter is accessible on Smartphones, iPads, etc., which makes being social and marketing your law firm easier while on-the-go.


4. Make yourself, and your tweets, stand out. Take a look at what the competition is doing and create a strategy that’s different than what others are offering. Also, don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through! Though your account may be for your law firm and you have to be professional, being unique will remind others that they’re interacting with an actual person which will in turn make your Twitter use more successful.

Increasing your law firm’s presence on social media sites, such as Twitter, can help your business grow, help you create an online community, and help you get new clients who may be in need of legal representation or advice. For more information on strengthening your law firm’s social media presence, contact the legal Internet marketing team at SLS Consulting. Call (323) 254-1510 today for a free growth assessment.

A day in the life of a lawyer is never finished; there is always something that needs to be done. Who has time for social media?

It’s true that social media is time consuming, but it’s more about remembering to stay active on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Avvo, just to name a few, and implementing these platforms into your daily routine when you’re already online anyway checking email. It pays to spend time on social media, especially for lawyers, since most social media platforms don’t cost you anything and are easy to use – think of it as an opportunity for free advertising! And, with most social media sites having mobile accessibility, using these platforms is all the more convenient for your on-the-go schedule.

While it’s quite common for an attorney to brush off social media, underestimating its power may leave you at the end of a competitive race. To emphasize this point, let’s take a closer look at Twitter.

Most of the time, lawyers don’t know what they should tweet about on Twitter or they are afraid how Twitter will affect their reputation. It’s not about being shy more than it’s about liability. Of course, you’re not going to tweet about confidential information, but even if you are simply expressing your opinion, social media is publicly available and you don’t want to offend anyone. A good rule of thumb is that if you wouldn’t say something to a current or potential client in a meeting, don’t tweet it!

So, how can you be interesting yet responsible on Twitter?

A recent HubSpot blog shares that from a survey of 1,443 Twitter users who rated 43,738 tweets during a 19-day period, only 36% of tweets were considered to be worth reading, 39% were thought to be mediocre at best, and 25% of tweets were not worth reading at all. With this in mind, here is our Twitter attorney DOs and DON’Ts list.

What You Shouldn’t Do

1. Share Private/Confidential Information


2. Tweet inside jokes


3. Talk only about yourself


4. Document your every move throughout the day


5. Complain constantly

What You Should Do

1. Respond to tweets directed at you, even if controversial/negative


2. Ask your followers questions


3. Retweet or tweet at others to start conversation


4. Share links to content of interest


5. Promote events, community involvement, offers

What Types of Results Should You Expect?
Twitter, and most social media, is all about keeping a balance. There is definitely a way to overuse Twitter if what you’re tweeting isn’t interesting or of importance to your audience and your followers. Twitter is a platform where you can build relationships, such as finding another law firm or attorney that will participate in guest blogging. It’s possible that Twitter can get you clients, but it can’t be used with that as a goal – followers will see right through you!

Gaining followers on Twitter takes time – be patient, be considerate, be intentional, and have fun!

If you’d like to learn more about how to leverage the power of Twitter for your law firm, the legal Internet marketing team at SLS Consulting can help. For over a decade, we’ve assisted attorneys and law firms throughout the country obtain successful search engine results through content development, search engine optimization (SEO), custom website design, and social media marketing. Call (323) 254-1510 today for a free growth assessment.

What is your company doing on Twitter these days?

If you’re posting about your industry, talking about industry events you’ve attended lately, or regularly interacting with other Twitter users while acting as an authority in your industry, you’re on the right track. However, have you ever thought about other ways that you can utilize the micro-blogging service to help promote your business?

There are a variety of ways that a business can use Twitter to help promote their brand. Just like on other social media sites, photos and links to videos can be posted to your Twitter feed. Generally speaking, both photos and videos are clicked on and viewed more often than posts merely containing text. However, posting links to specific pages on your website or new blog posts is also a popular strategy. By directing people to your primary branding source (your website), you are not only exposing them to more information about your company, but are increasing the likelihood of retaining new clients via interaction initiated on one of your social media sites (Twitter).

Another strategy that you might want to try out is the Twitter-View, an updated take on a traditional interview that can help highlight the accomplishments or biographical information of one or all employees at your company. By posting a Twitter-View on your Twitter feed, you are accomplishing two important things:

1. You are promoting your brand through an individual employee, hopefully linking back to that employee’s other company related social media profiles; and


2. You are being an active Twitter user, populating your Twitter feed with posts and showing your followers and potential followers that your account is worth paying attention to because you regularly post to it.

A Twitter-View can utilize a unique hashtag in order to be easily searched within Twitter, and is a slightly different approach than the traditional 140-character post.

Continue reading "Can We Twitter-View You?" »

Are you on Twitter? Did you know that for even the least social person in the world, Twitter is a great place to interact with other users and post links to your own work? And did you also know that, as an attorney, there are many people that may turn to your legal prowess on Twitter during their time of need? In you answered “no” to any of those questions, you’re unfortunately missing out on one of the best ways to promote your online brand, and interact with others who have already done a good job of marketing themselves.

Twitter is the world’s most recognizable micro-blogging service. In 140 characters or less, users are able to talk about anything they want, and are even allowed to post shortened URLs to web addresses that would otherwise be too long and cumbersome to include. Pictures can be posted, links to social media profiles can be shared, websites can be promoted, and links to blog articles can be automatically posted. Twitter users have “followers,” not “fans” or “friends.” Unlike Facebook, where users are likely to personally know the people whom they interact with, Twitter users generally follow individuals and companies whom they typically do not know in real life, but are interesting enough to subscribe to, nevertheless.

For law firms and attorneys, having a presence on Twitter can only be beneficial. Not only does it allow for a forum to address client questions, concerns, and complaints, but it also allows companies to post links to photos, videos, blog articles, and other interesting web pages. For Twitter users who establish themselves as authorities in their respective fields of law, priority ranking amongst search results can be another benefit. That is, Twitter accounts that are recognized as authoritative, and that have a fair amount of “real” followers, are awarded by search engines, such as Google, and are often highlighted in search results. Obviously, if an account benefits from this search engine boost, so will all links that the account Tweets about.

Bottom line, it’s good to Tweet. While it may seem as though no one is listening to what you’re saying via Twitter, gaining followers is a good indication that people are listening. How do you gain followers? Be interesting, be informative, and be yourself. People want to follow people and companies that are real, those who are clearly willing to interact with others and engage in discussion. Remember, if you’re just posting links, and not doing much else, the whole social component of this social networking site is lost. Talk to people, like you would bumping into them on the street, direct them back to your brand, and you’ll be followed in no time.

Using social media can seem overwhelming at first, but the team at SLS Consulting helps guide lawyers in the right direction. We utilize the latest in social networking, web development, and blogging to help our clients establish and maintain a strong web presence. Call us today at 323-254-1510 for a free growth assessment.

During our most recent tweetup, the team here at SLS Consulting talked about Twitter, and how lawyers and law firms as well as other businesses can best utilize this valuable marketing tool.

While most attorneys are aware that they can use Twitter to share links to their blog posts and press releases, many forget that Twitter is another social media platform and fail to actually be social. Talking with other attorneys, discussing what’s happening in their local community, answering legal questions… there’s unfortunately so much lawyers fail to do on Twitter. Showing online audiences your personality can make them want to engage with you further.

We also talked about many common mistakes lawyers and law firms make on Twitter, such as only sharing links, and not including a description of the link when posting the tweet. Both actions scream, “SPAM!” Attorneys should also shy away from including trending hashtags with their tweets in order to appear in Top Tweets searches, unless including the hashtag is actually relevant. Consistently tweeting is also key; users will be turned off if an account has a flurry of activity only to not tweet for days or even weeks at a time.

Importantly, links on Twitter are valuable, particularly when tweeted from established accounts. In particular, when a link is retweeted, doing so is found to translate to rankings increases in organic search. Search engine giants Google and Bing incorporate data from Twitter as well as other social media platforms into their search results, making the activity on Twitter all the more valuable.

We also discussed what can make Twitter accounts successful. For that information and more, read the transcript of this tweetup, "Successful Twitter Accounts and SEO", on our Facebook page or send @LegalBlogs on Twitter a direct message or tweet.

This coming week, the topic of our tweetup will be the value of LinkedIn for attorneys. To participate, join us on Twitter on Friday at 10 a.m. PST and include #knowSEO with your tweets. Be sure to search the hashtag to follow the discussion, and feel free to ask questions! We hope to talk to you soon!

“Hey! Didn’t you want to talk to us about legal Internet marketing the other day? You did? Great! Let’s Tweet-Up later…”

For those of you who may not be as well versed in Twitter-speak, a Tweet-Up is a virtual meet-up with friends/followers on the micro-blogging site, Twitter. The way it works is fairly simple. One Twitter user declares that he or she is going to be readily available on Twitter on a certain day and at a designated time. This Twitter user then serves as an administrator for online discussion about a particular topic, or variety of related topics. Other Twitter users can ask and answer questions during the Tweet-up, officially labeling themselves as part of the discussion by using a predetermined hashtag.

So, what does this mean as it pertains to legal Internet marketing for attorneys and law firms? Well, it represents an opportunity for attorneys to establish themselves as trusted authorities in their respective fields (and remember, with a maximum use of 140 characters, both the questions asked and their answers are rather limited in their scope). It allows attorneys to be interesting, personable, and even funny. In short, it helps establish a relationship between an attorney and his or her audience, which is the ultimate goal in creating a well rounded social networking presence on the web.

Be Social!
For attorneys however, a Tweet-Up shouldn’t be judged according to how many potential clients contact your firm. In fact, no social networking profile should be used as a means to acquire clients. That may eventually happen, and we hope it does, but social media should primarily be utilized to connect with others, not blatantly market towards them in order to acquire their business. Ultimately, the end goal is be social, and positive word of mouth is hopefully what results from your efforts.

SEO Tweet-Up
Here at SLS Consulting, we want to connect with our audience on a more individual basis. Do you want to Tweet-Up with us and talk about marketing, social media, blogging, and web content? Every Friday, at 10:00AM PST, the knowledgeable staff at SLS Consulting will be available to answer your legal Internet marketing questions and just talk shop. To join us on Twitter, you have to first have an account. Once you’ve created your Twitter profile, log into your account at the above mentioned time and be sure to use the hashtag #KnowSEO so that we can easily find your question/comment. And remember to keep in touch with us too!

FOLLOW us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/legalblogs
http://twitter.com/slsconsulting

And don’t worry, if you don’t have a Twitter account and aren’t sure about how to go about creating one, you can always contact SLS Consulting and ask us about our Social Media package. For attorneys who want to establish a presence on Twitter and other social networking sites, please contact SLS Consulting at 323-254-1510.

When it comes to Twitter, there are generally two types of people: those who see the point, and those who don’t understand how it can possibly be useful, especially from a marketing standpoint. Rest assured, for those attorneys and law firms who currently use the micro blogging service, Twitter use will only benefit one’s marketing efforts.

Thanks to Twitter’s recent creation of the “Follow” button, it has now become much easier for lawyers and law firms to integrate the micro blogging service into their website marketing efforts. Whereas previous Twitter integration mainly consisted of “Tweeting” or sharing an article link from a third-party website to one’s own personal Twitter account, Twitter has now made it possible for website visitors to Follow companies and individuals straight from that third-party webpage. Basically, the Twitter Follow button now bridges the gap between an Internet user’s Twitter account and a law firm’s Twitter account. Now, if a company has a presence on Twitter, that company will be able to promote that presence with a simple Twitter plug-in on their primary marketing source. The new Follow button will allow Internet users to discover companies on Twitter without having to search Twitter’s website to do so.

So, why is this new update and a Twitter presence important? Law firm websites are notoriously informational, and rightfully so. Visitors to a law firm’s website want reassurance that the attorney or firm they are about to hire is an authority on a particular area of law. Unfortunately, this informational content rarely sets one law firm apart from another, particularly if it is clear and concise in both instances. Twitter and other social media websites are therefore the ideal place for attorneys and law firms to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack.

Rooted in the idea of community, social networks are where attorneys and law firms can be friendly, funny, and establish an identity that is worth paying attention to. In essence, when comparing attorneys, the social attorney is probably going to be the more memorable attorney. Thanks to the new Follow button, attorneys and law firms can now invite website visitors to follow them on Twitter where they can hopefully further establish a positive word-of-mouth effect that may lead to additional business in the future.

It’s easy for law firms and attorneys to underestimate the effectiveness of Twitter for their online marketing. Typically, most of the news about the social media site surrounds the antics of celebrities such as Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, and the like, so it’s understandable that many don’t see the value in using a Twitter account and tweets for marketing purposes. Recently, Hubspot released several statistics that help clarify and solidify the potential value of engaging with users on Twitter.

Did you know 75 million people use Twitter worldwide? While many may scoff at this number in comparison to Facebook’s 600 million users, there’s no denying the power of Twitter, whose users share information and actively participate with one another on a global scale. These users collectively generate approximately 140 million tweets per day in conversation. Twitter is a place where users are engaging with each other; whether it’s with friends, businesses, or celebrities. Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of this dialogue?

Overall, about 7 percent of Americans are currently using Twitter, if you were curious what the activity level was here in the States. Again, compared with Facebook, which about 50 percent of Americans use, the percentage of Twitter users in the U.S. seems small. However, consider this—about 460,000 new Twitter accounts are added every day. It’s obvious that Twitter will continue to grow, and rapidly.

Also, about 42 percent of Twitter users use the social media platform to learn about new products and services from businesses, with 41 percent of them sharing their opinions about these products and services on Twitter. It’s essentially free advertising, which should be used to the advantage of businesses and law firms alike.

All of these are compelling reasons why attorneys and law firms should consider using Twitter to connect and engage with potential clients, as well as share relevant news about the firm and other matters that relate to their practice and location. There’s never been a better time to join the conversation!