Group items tagged

Let’s explore some of the best ones for the “big three” social networking sites for lawyers: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Taming Twitter

is a great way to network with other lawyers and potential clients interested in a given practice area.

an enormous number of tools have grown up around Twitter to augment and improve the user’s experience. Here are four ways to augment your use of Twitter, along with tools to get you there.

Once you start following more than a few people on Twitter, it can quickly become chaotic.

Organize your streams into groups

you need a way to organize your Twitter stream.

Third-party applications that allow users to create groups make quick work of imprinting order on the chaos. These applications let you organize your stream by your relationship to the Twitterer (e.g., family, friends, work colleagues) or by subject (e.g., law practice management, New York Yankees). You can even create a small VIP group for the people whose tweets you never want to miss.

Go multimedia.

the ability to send photos and videos change the way you can use Twitter.

TwitPic, which is free and easy to use, is our choice for photo sharing on Twitter.

to allow you to send videos to Twitter

TwitVid

Use Twitter to publicize your blog

Twitter can be an excellent avenue for publicizing your blog. Posting a short, simple tweet that says “New blog post at [insert blog name here]” followed by a link to the blog post is all that’s required. The authors are both bloggers who track our respective blog stats somewhat obsessively, and Twitter is often one of the biggest sources of traffic to our blogs.

There are several third-party applications that automate the process offeeding these short updates, including the blog URL, to Twitter.

Twitterfeed

Carry it in your pocket.

For many busy professionals, the number one objection to Twitter is “I just don't have time for it!”

There are many hyperbusy and productive people who use Twitter. The key is realizing that Twitter isn't something you make time for—it’s something that you fit into time slots that become available.

To capitalize on the small windows of time that become available in life

you must have Twitter available in your pocket. Which means the solution is to get a tool that lets you access it from your smartphone.

The options depend on your model of phone.

Figuring Out Facebook

Facebook (www.facebook.com) is a more complex social media site

it provides a means to extend your brand and demonstrate your ability to produce a deliverable service through relationship building.

Achieving that aim, however, requires using the correct tools on the site to focus the right content on the right people. Here are some tips and tricks to get the most out of Facebook.

Control where the information flows

Unlike Twitter, Facebook will open up your life (and your family and your old college friends) to the world unless you seize control. Consequently, you need to distinguish between people that get to share your life and those that don't. You do this by creating a “list” under the News Feed column on the left-hand side of your Facebook home page. For example, you can create one list for “Friends and Family” and a separate one for “Professional” contacts. Once you've created a list, you can then restrict the list members' access to certain types of information.

Test your restrictions by going to the top of the Privacy Profile page, where you can use the “See how a friend sees your profile” button. Very enlightening.

Monitor your Wall.

Go to Settings, Account Settings and then Notifications, where you tell Facebook to notify you (by e-mail or SMS) about what, when and where things are added to your Wall. Also, make sure that you know when you have been tagged in a photo, just in case you don’t like the view.

Remember Google in your privacy shield

At the Search menu, you can set your Facebook search visibility, which determines what content may be searched internally and, separately, you can choose whether to allow search engines to see your Wall.

Feed your blog post to your profile.

Facebook also allows you to extend the reach of your blog

by feeding your blog posts to your profile page.

You can do the same thing for your Twitter posts.

Try a more business-centric focus if you like.

If you believe your Facebook presence should be more about your law practice as an entity than about you personally, you should use the Business Page feature.

An alternative to a Facebook Business Page is the Facebook Groups option.

Living with LinkedIn

networking community that is targeted specifically to professional users

It offers excellent integrated applications for building your brand name and promoting your expertise, including the ability to create your own communities within the community. Here are the keys to using it successfully.

Develop a great profile.

profile that emphasizes your strengths and minimizes your weaknesses.

Be bold but truthful

Spread your message using the integrated applications.

The applications give you a number of opportunities to demonstrate your interests and your expertise

Get and give recommendations on the site

Actively participate in groups.

Using Your Time Slots to the Best Advantage

Last but not least, remember that social networking never stops. So, to stay in the game from wherever you are, you should go mobile with Facebook and LinkedIn. Based for your phone mode

There you have it—a whole list of great tactics for improving your social networking projects to get the most out of your online business development efforts. As they say, if you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Use the tips and tools covered here and you’ll see a whole lot more in the social networking world.