Lawyers getting results out of Social Media
While law firms have generally been hesitant to market via social media, some savvy firms have given social media ago creating new opportunities and portraying themselves as thought leaders and entrepreneurs.
Lawyers and solicitors are now also looking at social networks to obtain their business, legal and industry news. Using social media has effectively raised the profile of the firm or lawyer, whilst many of their competitors are hesitant to use social media.
Another trend i have noticed recently is more and more law firms are creating blogs which allows the firm to voice their legal expertise to the public and even encourage participation.
I was lucky enough to see a presentation by Adrian Dayton, a US lawyer and now social media consultant for law firms. Adrian discussed how it was hard for big firms to trust social media and their people to interact with the social landscape. Lawyers are only to aware of the legal implications of saying the wrong message through a social media channel.
Law firms and consultants can enhance their brand and create new opportunities by becoming a source for news and information in your legal area. If you discuss your legal expertise in social media people will be able to understand your niche and even create referrals and extra business.
Category: Legal, Social Media, Social Media Policy, Social Networking
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My name is David Cowling and I am the Founder and Chief Editor of Social Media News AUS and I also run my own 
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Hi David, great article and I would like to comment as a law firm engaged in social media. We are a highly specialise employment law firm and have seen such great benefits from using social media that we have expanded our service offering into the social media space.
You are spot on – we both gather and disseminate information via social media – mainly Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook but also YouTube. I have found Twitter a huge source of industry information and a great way to stay on the pulse of what's happening in employment around the world.
We also use social media as part of our marketing strategy and it has expanded our ability, as a small firm on a limited budget, to raise our profile. We have been blogged by Iggy Pintado and quoted by Inc.com, a large US business publication, which never would have happened without using social media. We now have three specialist blogs, each covering different aspects of law (including social media).
Social media also presented us a new business opportunity as we see a big gap in the provision of social media law services from law firms who are actually engaged in social media and therefore understand the full commercial implications. You are also right about lawyers being understandingly hesitant to engage in social media as they are all too aware of the risk management issues. We have created a free sample social media policy that can be downloaded from our website that gives companies an idea on ways to mitigate risk http://www.blandslaw.com.au/checklist_ssmp.html.
We have also developed a specialist social media service, offering businesses the opportunity to engage a law firm fully versed in the social media landscape http://www.blandslaw.com.au/socialmedia.html
Kind regards
Vivienne
http://twitter.com/mysocialpolicy