I have worked for a lot of attorneys over the years and I have not seen one attorney in recent years who didn’t use their computer heavily. Sometimes, the computer takes over an attorney’s life.
I remember some years ago when Blackberries were the newest thing and a young attorney in my office dubbed his the “Crackberry.” He didn’t want to miss any messages from his supervising attorney because he wanted to make partner asap.
If you are old enough to have a child past the age of 12 you probably have heard yourself saying “No, you can’t sit at the dinner table with your phone next to your plate. Put it away.” (I have a 17 year old son, so I say this fairly often, unfortunately.)
My point is simply this: if you’re checking messages and emails and on the computer [iPad, iPhone. Etc.] all the time anyway, why can’t you post something on the firm Facebook page, or Tweet, or post on LinkedIn, every couple of days?
Let’s say you are in a small firm and your firm has a Facebook page. After you invite all your friends and your partners invite all their friends to “Like” the page, then what?
Learn to think in terms of Twitter and Facebook and what is going on in the firm and in the world outside. Read a couple of online newspapers every day. Be aware of what’s happening not just with your cases, but in the firm at large.
Look for articles that touch on what your firm does, and post links to the articles on the Facebook page and your Twitter feed.
For instance, if you do family law, post a link to a story about celebrity divorce.
Here are some more ideas: Somebody’s assistant had a baby? Post “Welcome to the world Barney Xavier Smith!” and a photo (with permission, of course).
New carpet in the conference room? Post a photo of it and a comment like “Love the new red carpet and it matches my eyes!”
Just won a big case? Post a brief synopsis and how much the jury awarded.
Make your Facebook page interesting and/or FUN. Yes, even if you do only wills and estates, it is possible to make your page fun.
Example: My dad was a trust banker who did estate planning. He would come home and tell us about his oddball customers all the time. One time, he had a customer who wouldn’t answer her phone, so he got concerned and went to her apartment, only to find she had been dead for several days. In summer. If he had had a Twitter account he could’ve tweeted “Good day to not eat anything else. I need to lose a few lbs. anyway.”
Another time, he had a man come into the bank and say his father had passed away and left a fortune but nobody could find it, or the will. Dad got in the car and drove up to the old shack where the man lived, way out in the country, and found the man’s money, in cash, under the mattress. Dad grew up in a tiny rural town and knew how country folks generally felt about bankers. If Facebook had existed in 1978 he could’ve posted an entry on Facebook like this:
Five Reasons My Bank is a Better Place to Store Money Than Your Mattress
- Your mattress doesn’t pay interest.
- There are no pretty tellers anywhere near your mattress.
- In the bank, nobody will have to use a box cutter to get to your money.
- No bedbugs in our bank vault, promise.
- Your crazy uncle Jedediah can’t get to your money when it’s in our vault.
There is nothing wrong with using humor to attract attention. Attorneys aren’t generally known as being comedians, but think about it: you want your clients to like you and recommend you to their friends? Then lighten up.
True story: when I worked at my first paralegal job we had a partner who was in his 70’s. One day I was in the breakroom laughing, and he came in and said “This is a LAW FIRM. We don’t LAUGH here.” He was totally serious. Of course, all his clients were insurance companies. You get the picture.
Let’s say you are a real estate attorney. Go volunteer at Habitat for Humanity and actually build a house. Write about the experience. That’s worth a blog post, and a Facebook mention. Maybe even a few Tweets, i.e. “Just learned that a screwdriver is also a tool, not just a drink. Good to know. Didn’t bring any orange juice anyway.”
Charity events like that, or like a 5K Fun Run, are excellent ways to network. Wear a firm tee shirt to the event. Don’t have a firm tee shirt? Get one. Stick some business cards in your pocket.
Get an Instagram account and make photos of yourself at the charity events. Post those on Facebook and Twitter, too.
This is a link to Buzzfeed. There are a million interesting/funny/silly stories on there. Post links to Buzzfeed stories.
Are you a sole practitioner? Post a funny photo of yourself from your younger years. It will make you seem more human and approachable. [Just don't post that one of you passed out at a frat party...]
Still wary of Facebook and Twitter? Ask your teenager how to use those sites. Or borrow the neighbor’s teenager. They can show you everything practical you need to know in 10 minutes.
My point is simply this: there is no need to feel like Facebook and/or Twitter are the enemy. Get your name and your firm name on the internet as much as possible, and watch your rankings in the search engines go up.
...and just to make you feel better, here's my geeky self as a teenager - don'tcha LOVE the glasses?! I could never get my hair to do the 70's side flip either...
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