Smart Lawyers Are Using Social Media To Get More Cases Are You?

Social media is the next frontier for internet marketing, especially for attorneys. But what social media sites should you be using and how often? Here are the most important social media networks that you need to be actively participating in on a daily basis.

Facebook...duh! Facebook should be every lawyer's best friend. It now boasts over 500 million users and is the most important social media site that you need to be participating in. In addition to having a personal profile, you can create a business page, a group, organize an event and post photos and links. Facebook business pages now allow you to add functionality to your page. Fans can watch videos or sign up for your newsletter. A strategic Facebook campaign will get your current clients more engaged in your firm and help prospects get to know you in an environment they are already very comfortable with. Ben Glass even offers you a free Car Accident Kit and a camera just for "liking" his page.

One year ago, there were 55 million new tweets posted everyday. Today, more 155 million tweets are posted each day. Twitter has experienced unprecedented growth from the time it was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006. What does Twitter represent to its 200 million users? Information at your finger tips (literally, since more than half of users access Twitter on a mobile devide) as fast as its happening. How can lawyers leverage Twitter effectively? You need to be providing legal information and news that is interesting to everyone, even people who aren't currently looking for a lawyer. All that great content you've been writing for your website? Use Twitter to let the world know...and make sure to use hashtags for keywords that represent hot topics.

Where does LinkedIn fit into your social media marketing campaign? LinkedIn takes social media networking to a new level, making it easy for lawyers, doctors, small business owners and other professionals to connect on the web. Join groups that are relevant to your practice area, answers questions and leave comments. Just like any other social media site, the people that are actively engaged are the most successful!

Did you know that YouTube is one of the most active social networks on the internet? It's not just for silly videos and Justin Bieber anymore. How can a lawyer take advantage of the incredible power of video? Simple...get on camera and make videos all the time! One video isn't enough. You post 30 new articles on your blog every month and the idea is the same with YouTube. Videos can be indexed by search engines and frequently come up on Page One of search results. If you truly want to dominate the first page of search results, you can't ignore YouTube any longer. YouTube users are aggressive internet users - commenting, "liking" and sharing videos more than any other social network. YouTube is friendly with other social media sites also. More than 400 YouTube videos are Tweeted every second. Answer the questions that your clients typically ask you, optimize and get them on YouTube before you miss another case!

Avvo is a website where anyone can find, rate and review lawyers. You haven't signed up Avvo yet? Don't worry, they signed up every lawyer in the USA. You can claim your already existing profile to add information including photos, videos, client testimonials and FAQ's. You can also engage with prospective clients by answering legal questions. No one dominates Avvo like Ben Glass. People can already find you there...make sure they like what they see!

Quora

What the heck is Quora? Quora is Yahoo! Answers for small business owners and especially lawyers. Anyone can post questions, answer them, follow topics and "thank" people for answering your questions. Again, you need to be engaged to be successful but we think you might have fun with this site. Legal questions that confound the average Joe are often a breeze for a lawyer. So why not help out someone who needs it and get your name, links to your site and brand out there?

JD Supra helps you turn all those boxes of briefs, court filings, articles and newsletters into effective marketing tools. Create a portfolio of your work and the let JD Supra syndicate your work to other social media sites, blogs and even the media. They will optimize all of your content for search engines and allow you to track the results. It's powerful tool for lawyers to connect with prospective clients and other lawyers...referrals are great too, right?

Most lawyers have at least a few PowerPoint presentations on their hard drive. You can use these to market yourself on the web with SlideShare. Upload presentations, PDF's and even webinars to SlideShare so the world can see how well you know the law. Twitter and Facebook are already integrated so you can share with the click of a button. The bigger your portfolio, the better!

Hootsuite for Lawyers

Okay, that is a lot of social media...how are you going to keep track of all of it!? Don't worry, Hootsuite has you covered. With a Hootsuite account, you can manage multiple social media sites from one place. On your dashboard, you can easily see what's going on in the world of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as post and schedule messages, add teammates, auto-syndicate blog posts and track click-thrus. Social media is a lot to handle but its important that you stay on top of it. We understand where social media fits into the legal marketing landscape. If you need a hand, don't hesitate to give Foster Web Marketing a call at 877-477-STUDIO or fill out a contact form. We understand where social media fits into the legal marketing landscape.

Social Media for Lawyers

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