Lawyers should follow these essential tips for effective social media marketing.
Protect yourself and the firm. Lawyers are responsible for the content they share on social media. They must familiarize themselves with the applicable advertising rules and how they apply to their personal and professional social media use. Never identify a client, partner, or coworker by name without their permission and never discuss details of a client engagement or confidential communication.
Avoid making social media a full-time job. Online activities should not interfere with a lawyer’s job or commitments to clients. We recommend the following protocol:
- Set aside time. Schedule time on the calendar to interact on social media sites. This step will help you avoid constantly monitoring new messages, contact requests, and updates that can interrupt your work. Schedule as little as 20 minutes each week to as much as 20 minutes each day, whether early in the morning, during the lunch hour, or at the end of the day.
- Limit distractions. Create folders for social media email alerts in Microsoft Outlook or another email system and establish rules that automatically direct email notifications from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to specific folders. These emails can be addressed during scheduled social media time.
- Keep it simple. Lawyers using social media for the first time should not attempt to join all three social media sites at once. They should determine which social media platform(s) best suits their professional and business development needs. We recommend starting with one social media site, creating a complete profile, and interacting regularly before becoming active on another.
Following these best practices will help lawyers leverage the power of social media for marketing. Click here to learn more about social media marketing strategies.
CEO & Founder of Social Media Law & Order
Ethan teaches social media CLE programs to lawyers, law firms, and legal associations. He can design a one hour, half day, or full day workshop at your office, firm retreat, or conference that will be approved for both ethics and general CLE credit. Learn more about how Ethan can be your social media law keynote speaker at your next conference on topics related to social media and the law.