What is Twitter anyways? And how can it help your law firm?

Twitter, the social media platform that has 218 million users who can each post just 140 characters at a time, is a communication tool to build relationships and create new business. Here are 2 fundamental reasons why Twitter is paramount to marketing your law firm.

1. Twitter is an echo chamber to tell the world what your law firm is all about.

Twitter can be local. Share information about your city so people know that your firm services their area. Show hometown pride. Follow local influencers, like media outlets and other lawyers, and build relationships with them. They may share your tweets in the future.

from @CurbedNY – How Much Do #NYC Renters Save By Living Farther From Work? – Cool Map Thing – http://t.co/xicVlB9VYC

— Oshman & Mirisola (@OshmanLaw) Nov. 22, 2013

Twitter is a platform to share your writing. If you are not posting to your blog already, get to it. Take an hour out of each day or, if you are as busy as every other attorney out there, break that up into at least 3 hours of writing each week. Writing will help you better understand your practice. It also adds more pages to your website and will increase incoming traffic. Once the content is written, turn to Twitter and post your article for everyone to see.

From our own blog, #MedicalErrors Kill More Patients, Legislators Protect Doctors http://t.co/AuYCivNlsL

— Plevin & Gallucci (@PlevinGallucci) Nov. 19, 2013

Twitter is an outlet for content you find interesting. A big part of using Twitter has to do with sharing engaging content. The content you share should show your personality and illustrate what you and your law firm are all about. The articles you share don’t necessarily have to be about legal topics — and they probably shouldn’t be. They can be anything, really, so long as the topic is suitable to be passed around. Good things to tweet might include heart-warming stories, timely news stories that affect your audience (like drug recalls, for example), posts about your hobbies and anything else you find interesting.

Inspiring – when paralyzed by a #SpinalCordInjury… “I had two choices: to give up or get on” – #wingsforlife – http://t.co/SS6L3u9abU

— Perey Law (@PereyLaw) Nov. 11, 2013

More tips on tweeting content:

• When sharing someone else’s content, mention the author’s Twitter handle. This will alert the author that you tweeted their article. The idea here is that you are validating the author’s writing and stroking his or her ego. Once you share their content, they may in turn be more likely to share yours in the future.
• Only be self-promotional 1% of the time. Let’s face it: nobody likes to hear you talk about yourself. Sharing only your own content is boring, unflattering and unsuccessful in winning over readers and gaining followers.
• Be yourself. Simple as that.

Your tweets will help consumers find you and understand what your law firm is all about. If done correctly, Twitter offers all the context they need to select your law firm when they are in need of an attorney.

2. Twitter is easy and efficient.

What I love most about Twitter is that it doesn’t rely on lengthy posts that take time to write. It also it has a number of tools that make posting as easy as a couple of clicks. With that said, here are some tools you can use to meet your Twitter needs.

HootSuite

At Obu, we use HootSuite because it helps us monitor a plethora of clients and social media platforms — namely Twitter, Google+ and Facebook — all in a single interface. What I like most about HootSuite is that there is a Chrome extension to go with it for sharing content called Hootlet.

If you come across an article you want to share with your firm’s Twitter followers, simply select Hootlet from your extensions or right-click on the highlighted content. That’s all you have to do. Another nice feature of HootSuite is that it comes with an automated schedule that allows you to space out your tweets to optimize sharing performance. With this, you can find a number of articles at one time and share them throughout the day.

TweetDeck

Another option for monitoring your law firm’s Twitter feed is TweetDeck, which is owned by Twitter. It comes with much of the same functionality as HootSuite. However, you can not post to Facebook and Google+ from it, which is quite limiting.

Other Tools

Buffer is another alternative I’m not too familiar with, but give it a try if you’re curious and let me know what you think.

Don’t forget that you can always use Twitter directly at twitter.com. Rand Fiskin of Moz recently mentioned in a blog post that he doesn’t use any tools to tweet — and he’s pretty darn good at social media. So do whatever suits you best.

An important note about using tools: they can limit some capabilities available by posting directly to a social network. For instance, it might make more sense to post to Google+ directly from Google+ so you can add images and make the optimal post.

Obu helps with our client’s social media presence as part of our Appointed Local Leader (ALL) product. We create assets for our ALL law firm clients to generate new business, from targeted pay-per-click advertisements to a productive Twitter account.

Ultimately, your law firm should either handle social media yourself or work with a marketing company for best results. Both choices are far better than doing nothing. Remember: being real is a serious key to succeeding in the online marketplace. You know yourself and your firm best, so make sure you stay involved.