Tips on How Attorneys Can Build Trust Through Social Media

In the previous article, 4 HUGE Benefits of Social Media for Attorneys, we went over the tremendous value that social media has to offer lawyers.  Some of these advantages include increasing your client conversion rate, building brand recognition, creating loyalty and reaching a more targeted audience.  While there is no question that social media is a great Internet marketing tool, figuring out how to build trust with your prospects can be tricky.

When you communicate online with your potential clients, you miss out on the opportunity to read facial expressions, body language and voice intonation.  This dilemma leaves many lawyers and business professionals wondering the best way to proceed with social networking. 

According to the article on Mashable.com, The Science of Building Trust with Social Media, there is a way to communicate well in the digital era, which has to do with responsiveness.  The article features the advice of Judith Olson, the Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences in the Informatics Department at the UC Irvine, who believes that when only text is available in a message, people judge trustworthiness based on how quickly others respond.  She said that it is better to acknowledge a long Facebook message than to just wait until you have the time to respond with a longer reply.

Another great way to build trust with your online prospects is to create Web video.  Online video gives your potential clients the opportunity to get to know your mannerisms and personality, not to mention your particular knowledge on a subject.  Read the article, 5 Reasons Why Lawyers Need To Use Web Video NOW, to learn more.