Twitter Strategy For Lawyers

This week - I'm all about the strategy. Twitter strategy for lawyers, that is. The past few years have seen a huge increase in lawyers and law firms using Twitter. Is this a great thing, or all just a terrible misunderstanding? Well... that depends.

Twitter is a wonderful thing for business development and great for raising your personal profile or your firm's profile, but - used without strategic direction - ultimately a brilliant time-waster.

So, a word from the wise - before you jump in - consider what you're trying to achieve. I'm not suggesting you should write a 1000 word strategy document, just have a think about what you want to achieve by joining Twitter; an ROI if you will.

I didn't do this when I joined - but then I was quite an early adopter. Back then, I'm not sure any of us knew what we were doing. Nowadays, I know that I can use Twitter for the following:

1. Breaking news: time and time again I discover things on Twitter before they are reported anywhere else. Often hours before. 
2. Meeting people (yes really): By responding to tweets and chatting away with people I don't know, I build on-line relationships. I then take these off-line and start to grow 'proper' relationships IRL (in real life).
3. Business development: I say this cautiously. I don't sell on Twitter. Never have, never will. However, I do promote this blog there, and I also have a dedicated LexRex account which I sometimes use to spread good news and business achievements. I suppose really this heading should be 'raise awareness of LexRex'. Whatever. *Another word to the wise - don't sell on Twitter.
4. Spreading news: A lot of people do this on Twitter now, and it's a quick and easy way for you, or your firm to be associated with a certain industry, theme or trend. I try and tweet breaking legal news - it's of interest to the people I want to appeal to, and it means I'm associated with the legal profession. 

So - Twitter strategy. Do you have one?

By Victoria Moffatt