If your law firm is getting immersed in social media, some simple, initial steps will accelerate your learning curve and make your efforts more productive.
It’s important to understand why social media is such a great tool for:
- Professional Enrichment
- Research
- Branding
- Networking and New Business
Social media can be a bit overwhelming at first. To help legal professionals “get it” quickly, I recommend that they simplify the process by doing only 2 things over the next 30 days: Read and Write.
The first step is to develop your online reading habits. Instead of constantly searching for information, use an RSS Reader (RSS = Real Simple Syndication) to have the content sent to you in a central location.
I prefer using Google Reader. I make it a habit by starting each day by opening my RSS Reader. I have feeds from blogs, news sources, research, weather, sports all coming to one place. It saves a lot of time and keeps me from becoming distracted. I can scan through hundreds of articles for the important nuggets of information that will keep me ahead of the learning curve.
Through Google Reader you can also have your incoming content sent to specific folders to keep your reading organized. I can also easily save and share important information quickly through a number of tools that I have added to my browser bar (PressThis, Bit.y) without having to leave my Reader.
Secondly, I want to stress the importance of writing.
I truly believe that you don’t know what you know until you write it down.
All of us can improve our communication skills. I’ve found that writing regularly for your blog:
- Helps me to become a better communicator
- Guides me through the maze of social media and assimilate information much quicker, accelerating my learning curve
- Gives me more confidence in my ability to communicate staff and clients
The only way you are going to “get social” is to do it. It has to be experienced first hand.
The vast number of law firms aren’t leading in social. They are playing catch up. These two things, reading and writing, are the best ways to get you to where you need to be, in a position of leadership for your staff and clients.
LegalEase 