(Part 1)
So how do a lawyer or a firm use social media to promote themselves for free? The first step to a following is to know your audience. You have to give readers some content. The nature of the content depends on the audience. And who wants to read your stuff? Potential clients, lawyers, law students, and even legislation drafters and politicians. If you share really useful stuff, online communities will take care of much of the promotion. That’s where sites like Twitter come in. You post a link to your content and interested followers will spread the message or at least look at your stuff.
But to share content, you need to post it somewhere. The most basic way is to slap some writings on your personal or the firm’s website. If you don’t have a website and can’t afford a professional one, get a free one from Google Sites. They have easy tools to put together descent looking pages quickly. But there are better ways than just having your page out there. Some websites will host your content and help promote it at the same time. Their advantage lies in existing communities, distribution channels, and tools helping create content. These sites can be organized as blogs, content directories, lawyer-only social networks, or forums. To choose the format, keep in mind some basic differences among these services described in my previous post.
Assuming you already have a website, you can complement it by creating a profile on many legal and non-legal sites that have some social media aspect. The more sites list your profile, the more often search engines will associate your name with important keywords. That’s how people find you online, so take all the publicity you can get plus more. Have a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, forums like AdviceScene, and on any other open sites that let you create a profile for free. Don’t just put your name there. Include links to your website, email addresses, descriptions of your practice, and photos if you’re comfortable with that. And for your profiles to gain you any reputation, begin sharing content.
A popular content directory is JD Supra. You start there by creating your page and adding some expert content on it. JD Supra organizes members’ articles or documents into categories and spreads them to audiences of interest to you. It also helps your content appear in search results when potential clients or colleagues are looking for related information. JD Supra has free or paid accounts differing in the number of services added to basic hosting of your documents. The site also publishes rankings of contributors based on the number of documents they shared. Check out their FAQs for more information.
Legal blogs are another, simpler way to get your content and name out. Two things matter: the blog owner must be interested in your content to let you contribute; the blog must be highly popular for your contribution to be worthwhile. Two Canadian legal blogs stand out: Slaw and Law is Cool. Most contributors on Slaw are practitioners or academics. It is also widely read in the legal profession. Law is Cool is run by law students who create most of its content. It is also highly respected by search engines and read across diverse audiences. Also, take a look at The LexPublica Blog. And don’t forget: you can always contribute to more than one blog as long as blog owners want you in the first place.
Another notable player in the legal social media field is AdviceScene. Its core is a forum organized by legal topics and a lawyer directory. The idea is to let lay people ask legal questions on the forum. Lawyers interested in getting their name out there answer questions on the forum and add themselves to the directory. One of the big contributors on AdviceScene is Justice Brownstone, a well-known Canadian family-court judge and the author of “Tug of War.” Another contributor is John Gustafson, a criminal lawyer from British Columbia. You or your firm can advertise on AdviceScene for free by answering questions. Each time you post, you can have links to your website and other contact information published too.
JusticeNet.ca is also a legal directory. Its approach is quite special. This not-for-profit service will refer clients to you if you agree to take them at a reduced rate. So although it does involve some cost on your part, even if in the form of giving up some income, JusticeNet.ca appeals to your interest in access to justice and offers a chance to make a difference. The site definitely promotes you and lets you do some public service. Besides, it’s all about the network. The next paying client may very well be referred by the previous one charged at the reduced rate. The directory on JusticeNet.ca is fully searchable by area of practice, keyword, location, spoken languages, and even wheelchair access.
(to be continued)
